LIAM (The Rylee Adamson Epilogues, Book 2)

by Shannon Mayer

  Three ogres came in from the right, weapons swinging. I leapt without thought, taking the center ogre down, tearing his throat out as we fell. We barely touched the ground when I’d spun and buried my teeth into the leg of the next ogre, pulling him off his feet. He went down with a thud, his head cracking on the pavement. The old werewolf was on him in a flash, tearing his throat out with a speed and viciousness that spoke of years of pent-up rage. I didn’t watch, but spun and took the next ogre from behind. I jumped up, my paws on either side of his neck and snapped my jaws over his spine. I pulled with all I had, removing his head with an ease that even surprised me.

  Around us, the world was a medley of chaos that erupted with the shrieks of terrified yet still-watching humans, along with the cries of the ogres as they went down, and with them both the growing sirens of the police cars in the distance.

  I didn’t want to shift into my human form. I’d missed being able to run on all fours more than I’d realized. But I had to shift in order to keep those who fought at my side safe.

  I slid back easily, thanking the gods that I’d learned how to shift and keep my clothes intact so I didn’t end up baring my ass to the world. Of course, Faris would have had no compunction about going nude. I could hear his laugh on the wind with those thoughts rolling through me.

  “Old man.” I glanced down at the werewolf, and he shifted with me. Like most werewolves, this meant he was completely naked. I slapped a hand on his shoulder. “We’ve got to stop the cops. Those weapons they have can’t become a part of this or we will be done in.”

  He gave me a nod, gray head bobbing and eyes bright with eagerness. “You’ve got a plan?”

  I nodded. “Take one of those cars and drive right into them. Think bumper cars.”

  “That won’t stop all of them,” he pointed out.

  “No, it won’t. But they love a good car chase, too.”

  All I could do was hope it would take some of them out of the battle.

  A roar went up from the ogres and I spun to see the wolves being scattered left and right by a club-swinging monster.

  Pic.

  “Go.” I shoved the old man, getting him moving, and he ran toward the abandoned cars in the middle of the street. I didn’t watch to see that he’d done what I asked. The animals were still taking the ogres down, but it seemed for every ogre killed, two more stepped up in his place. It was like an anthill, with a never-ending run of monstrous black ants that couldn’t be stemmed. Time to cut the head off the one who started the anthill. Kill the king, end the battle. No matter how it ended, I would end it now one way or another.

  “Pic, you piece of shit, let’s finish this. You and me, one fight and we can spare the rest of their lives.”

  He laughed at me. “You think you can challenge me? No, that is for ogres only. And you are not an ogre. I will fight you, though. But not before I do this.”

  He held out a hand and an ogre shot forward, putting a tiny rolling globe into it. I froze, recognizing the potential, if not the exact spell. I’d seen enough of Pamela and Milly’s spell bombs to know we were in serious trouble. Flames licked out around the rolling ball. This was going to hurt.

  CHAPTER 11

  I WAS WRONG ABOUT Pic, though. I should have listened to Bly. Should have recognized that he would have a way out of this mess, a way to keep my attention away from him. He rolled the glowing orb from one hand to the other, miniature flames lighting it up.

  “Your little friend is still in there, isn’t he? Did you know I put Mai and her boyfriend in the forest, too? That’s what we were doing. I knew you would come out, and we stuffed them in as you left the pool.” Pic swung and threw the spell at the trees at the edge of the park. The flames shot up instantly. The first row of trees burned so quickly and hot, they exploded, sap ripping from them in a spray of burning hot liquid.

  Laughing, he turned away, snapping his fingers. “Kill those you can, the rest, we’ll gather them up later.”

  Horror flowed through me. Without Pic’s head, Bly would not heal Mai.

  Mai and Levi were in that inferno.

  The triplets would die without Mai’s help.

  I shifted and leapt . . . right at Pic. I knocked him down, teeth snapping at the back of his neck. He rolled, a short sword in one hand as he turned and tried to slide the weapon across my throat. He caught my shoulder and drove the blade to the bone. “You stupid wolf, you don’t know when to quit.”

  My back feet scrabbled against his legs, digging in gouge marks as I fought to stay on top of him. My front claws dug into his leathery hide, but there was no real purchase for me. Which only left my teeth. I grabbed his right pec in my mouth and bit through the muscle, tearing and ripping. He kept his hands up, screaming at me as he drove his weapon into me over and over. The pain blinded me, but I followed my nose as I tore through his chest. Ribs suddenly appeared through the blood, white and no different than any other skeleton. He screamed for help, perhaps suddenly realizing that his death hovered close.

  Around me, I felt the animals shift, creating a circle of protection. They gave their lives as I fought to take Pic’s. Their cries were defiant, a last howl or snarl to the world that they would not be caged, they would not be taken again. That they would rather die free than live caged.

  I had my right paw digging at the ribs, the blond fur pure red with blood. Ribs gave way to a beating heart and I drove my muzzle through the tight space. The heart beat frantically, and I closed my mouth around it, squeezing it like an overripe tomato. It burst in my mouth, life blood flowing down my throat, burning a path to my belly like over-proofed whiskey.

  Below me, Pic gave one final kick and then stilled, his arm falling to the side. His sword was still jammed in my side, but as my body healed, it pushed the blade out. I raised my head and howled, the sound guttural and wet with the life I’d taken. The ogres went silent, they stopped their fight. The animals left around me were tense, waiting. I stood, wobbling. I shifted into my human form and stared at the ogres in a slow turn. “Leave now and you might survive this day.”

  They scattered like leaves on the wind, spineless without their leader. I took Pic’s sword, grabbed his hair, and sliced through his neck. His face was slack with only a glimmer of surprise etched in it. A wave of heat pressed against my back. Lion approached me and shook his mane as he shifted. He was coated in blood, his skin slick and shiny with it.

  “The flames have eaten most of the park, and with that the magic is failing. If you go in, you’ll be as trapped as those you are trying to save.”

  I shifted to my wolf form and grabbed Pic’s head with my mouth. I didn’t know if Lion was right, but I was guessing he was on to something. It didn’t matter, though. There was no turning back. I had to get Mai and Levi out of there. I wasn’t going to die. I was going to live, no matter what it took.

  I raced toward the burning trees, the smell of wood and seared fur filling the air as I launched into the heat.

  The flames licked at me, alive in their desire to consume anything they could. My fur crisped, and the pads of my paws blistered as I ran. I squinted against the smoke and held my breath as long as I could. I knew only the direction I had to go in order to get to the pool. Lion was right, around me the magic was fading and Kerry Park was being sent back to the form the humans knew. Within the flames, I could see the purple swirls of the magic that had made the park larger than it was supposed to be, and could see them breaking down in front of me.

  I put everything I had into moving faster, of getting ahead of the unraveling of a world I needed to hold together a little longer. Just a little longer was all I asked, long enough to get my people and get the hell out.

  I drew in a breath, forced to by a pair of screaming lungs and muscles that began to cramp in protest at the lack of oxygen. Not that the breath helped much in that department. Smoke filled my nose and I coughed, stumbled, fell into the flames, got up, and ran again. I flattened myself to keep my head as near to the gro
und as I could while still holding Pic’s stupid head. I could almost hear him laugh at me, a final bomb thrown to show his contempt for all those around him.

  The flames thinned, as suddenly as if water had been thrown on them, and I fell into the clearing where the smell of my and Lion’s blood permeated the air. I was on my side, panting, finally able to take stock of injuries that were not healing as they should have been. For a moment, I thought it was because of my doubt . . .

  “Ah, the magic burns deeply.” Bly bent over me and I cringed back, not wanting her to touch me. I didn’t dare shift, uncertain I could even hold my body together when I was so badly burned.

  The wind whipped around us, and the flames bent in our direction. Bly grinned. “Your boy can only hold the flames so long, despite the blood in his veins.” She motioned to Levi. He was on his knees, his hands outstretched, and it was only then I saw the wall of water I’d fallen through at the very edge of the clearing. That moment of crispness that had cooled the flames and kept me from burning up as I lost my footing.

  Bly kicked at Pic’s head. “Doesn’t much look like Pic, all burned up as it is. How do I know you didn’t just go and kill any old ogre and bring his head to me?”

  I lunged at her, snarling, my paws blistered so badly that even a step left me sticking to the ground. Behind her came a soft cry.

  “Bly, please. Please help us. For your grandson’s sake. For the sake of our people,” Mai said.

  I saw her, and limped to her side. My skin was cracked and bleeding, open from the blisters that broke out everywhere the fire had touched me. Magic bit deeply when it finally took hold, I knew that, and this was to the bone in several places. I lay beside Mai. I thumped my tail once, twice, and then let it still. I’d done all I could. Now it was up to Mai to make Bly see what she needed to do. What she’d promised to do.

  Tul lay next to Bly, his eyes closed, his chest barely lifting. His death was coming, I could smell it on him, the slow breakdown of organs and muscles as the tissue died. But Mai didn’t know that.

  Bly hobbled over, taking her sweet as time as Levi groaned under the strain of holding the flames back. Rylee had been right about him. Not that I was terribly surprised. She was so often right about the wayward souls she brought home.

  Without him, we wouldn’t have made it this far. If we survived, I needed to be sure to tell him that.

  I watched as Bly went to her knees and cupped her hands around Mai’s face. “I told you that you would raise the child that would save our people.”

  “Yes,” Mai whispered, pain lacing her voice.

  “But you are barren.”

  Mai’s eyes flicked to me. “There is more than one way to raise a child. They do not have to be of my blood to be mine.”

  Yes, she was the right one. I could see her now in our lives easily, filling a space I didn’t think even Rylee knew was truly empty. The space that Dox and the ogres she’d called friends had left empty with their deaths.

  Mai was pack, and that was why I’d been drawn to her, why I’d found her so easily.

  Because she belonged with us.

  Bly nodded. “Then let this be done. As I swore on the last breath of my grandson, I will heal you.”

  She put one hand on Tul and other over Mai’s heart. Mai cried out, “No, don’t, don’t, please!”

  Don’t what?

  Oh, shit.

  Tul’s breathing slowed as Mai’s heartbeat grew stronger. The wounds in her belly closed over and as she gained strength she tried to fight off Bly’s hand. But it was as if the old ogre mage was made of steel, and Mai was a child beating at a door she could not open. As suddenly as she’d put her hands on Mai and Tul, Bly stepped back.

  “It is done. I’ve had enough with all of you.” There was an edge of tears to her voice, but it was gone in a flash, making me doubt I’d even seen it.

  She snapped her fingers and a slice in the air opened . . . a cut in the Veil. I stood, cracked and bleeding as wounds reopened and oozed with pain and pus. We had to get through there, it was our way out of the forest. No matter where Bly was going, it would allow us a chance to get out of the fire and away from the remainder of the ogres. Who I had no doubt, once they regrouped, would be on our asses like white on rice.

  Bly stepped through the slice in the air and shut the Veil with a snap, and without even a glance behind.

  I sagged, my head drooping. Mai cradled Tul to her chest, sobbing as though her heart was gone. As though she would not leave him. Wounded, I needed help from my own pack. What I wouldn’t give to see one of my own stride through the forest.

  Levi . . . still had his cell phone.

  I forced my body to shift to human. I lay on my back, my clothes seared to me in places and the wounds even more apparent now that they weren’t hidden by the thick fur of my body. “Levi. The cell phone . . . Call Rylee.”

  “I can’t do that and still hold the water.” He panted the words.

  I crawled to him and dragged him back so we were all at the edge of the pool. “You can’t hold it forever. Let it go, call Rylee.”

  His eyes were filled with fear and the flickering image of the flames. I gave him a nod. “Trust me. We’re all getting out of here.” Gods, I hoped I was right.

  He dropped his hands, the water fell to the ground creating a thin moat, and the flames raged, the sound of the fire eating the magic and trees filled the air. He fumbled to get the phone out. “There’s only four percent left on it.”

  “Call.”

  I stared at the flames, listening as the phone rang through. Rylee picked it up, I heard the sound of her breath, the hitch in her voice. “Liam.”

  “I need help.”

  “Pamela and Marco are—”

  The phone went dead. I pushed Mai and Levi into the water of the pool. “Stay.” I shifted, my body feeling as if it were breaking as my skin tore. I tipped my head back, thinking of Pamela. She was part of my pack, a little sister, a wolf cub with a bite that could defy even the biggest wolf. I howled, putting my power and strength into the howl, calling her. Calling her to me.

  The sound rippled out of me, through the trees. Once, twice, three times I called and then the smoke slammed into me, like a wall of bricks crushing my chest. Someone grabbed my back legs and tugged me into the pool. Mai held my wolf body so I floated in the water with her.

  “You did all you can,” she said. “I’m glad you came. You stopped Pic. That . . . that is worth our lives.”

  No, I was not going to die. I tipped my head back again and howled, begging for Pamela to hear me. Begging her to find us.

  The flames surrounded us at the edge of the pool and the water began to heat. I knew we would be boiled alive. But I didn’t close my eyes. I stared into the fiery canopy above us as the leaves fell in flames and bits of branches and bark exploded into the air. Because above us, that was where Pamela would come.

  I had to believe.

  Belief was all I had left, and I refused to let it go. The water heated and I howled . . . this was the last. I would not have any more strength. I could feel it slipping. I suspected that being burned alive could potentially end my life as a Guardian if it was bad enough, but at that moment I wouldn’t even consider that possibility.

  A shadow passed over us, the wings of a gray Harpy I knew all too well. I howled Pamela’s name as I shifted and the trees were blown back around us and the earth heaved. Mai screamed and Levi clung to me, his fingers biting into the blistered wounds. But I couldn’t be happier. The fear was gone. My throat was blistered down the length inside, which made talking nearly impossible. I stumbled out of the water and went to my knees. I was a Guardian, toughest of the tough, but I still needed my pack around me.

  Pamela and Marco landed and she flicked her fingers at the flames. They went out in a snap, as though she’d stolen the air from them. Her hands raised above her head, the glow of green and blue in her fingertips grew until it seemed to be uncontainable. She let the magic go and
a blast sped outward, a spray of water and earth that damped the last of the flames. Wisps of smoke curled up here and there, the blackened char of the forest right to the edge of the pool, a testament to how very close things had come.

  Her blonde hair spun as she turned to me. “Liam!”

  She ran to me and caught my face in her hands. I flinched but held still. Her magic spilled over me, healing the wounds and wiping away all trace of the magical flames that had eaten at me.

  “I have never been so glad to see you in my life.” I wrapped her in a hug and spun her around, laughing. She patted me on the back.

  “I missed you, too.” I felt the hiccup from her, like a tiny sob. I put her down and held her at arm’s length. There was a deep sorrow in her that hadn’t been there before she left on her last trip. But now was not the time to ask. “You got it in you for one more healing?”

  She nodded and I took her to Levi. His eyes widened as he took her in. I knew what he saw. A beautiful girl with long silken fair hair and summer blue eyes. However though she was physically young she didn’t act it, and her eyes told a different story than her age. One of sorrow and strength, of fear, doubt and understanding that she was more than she seemed.

  She took his face in her hands and he shivered as her magic ran over him. I held a hand out to Mai and helped her out of the pool. “Pamela, we have to get Mai back to the babies.”

  Pamela drooped. “Liam . . . “

  I held up a hand, stopping her. “No, don’t tell me it’s too late.” No, we couldn’t be too late. Not for the babies. We couldn’t have gone through all this, all this death and destruction only to fail at the finish line.

  “There has to be a faster way to get home,” I said.

  Mai shook her head. “Bly . . . she could have stayed and helped us jump the Veil.”

  I closed my eyes, refusing to look at Pamela. I would not ask that of her, and besides that, I wasn’t sure she even knew how. “How long have we got left?”

  “Hours,” Pamela breathed. “They have hours, at best.”