by JL Madore
Next, I work on removing my clothes. When I turn back around, I have a jaguar, a bear, a wolf, and a hawk all sitting in a row watching me take off my clothes.
“Seriously? You boys get off on cheap thrills. If I could flash into my phoenix without ruining my clothes, I would. Why torch a perfectly good outfit without reason, amirite?”
Once I’m bare to the natural world, I check the height clearance and move to a spot a few feet away. Now that my mythological beast side and I are friends, it takes only the slightest thought to call my phoenix forward.
One minute, I’m an average-sized, slightly chesty blonde and the next, I’m a fifteen-foot mythical firebird with a thirty-foot wingspan of gold and copper flames.
It’s so freaking awesome.
Hawk hops off the forest floor and lands on Brant’s back and then Jaxx pushes in on the bear’s right shoulder and Kotah rubs against his left. When they’re all huddled in, I take a beat to stare at them and sigh.
Sooo freaking awesome.
No matter how fearsome they are, they’ll always be my personal fur babies. I finish taking a mental screenshot and then step closer, reaching around the four of them with my wings and encircling them in my hold.
The moment my fiery feathers brush over their fur and feathers, magic bursts free. The rush of power steals my breath. It overloads my cells with sensation and light and energy all at once.
The forest spins and I focus on the giant hemlock to keep from swooning. Whatever I am meant to become it’s happening—right now.
Fae magic explodes from within me.
It’s hot and wild and seems endless as my cells ignite and my phoenix feeds on the sudden influx of power. I lift my beak into the air and let off a shrill screech as I’m lifted off the forest floor and suspended in a vortex of fire.
Despite not knowing what’s happening, I’m not afraid.
Everything is as it’s supposed to be.
I feel that deep inside my soul. I am exactly where I am meant to be, with the men I am meant to be with, and we’re about to open the gate.
Shifting my gaze from my mates below to where Lukas is standing next to the massive hemlock tree, I see through the veil of magic to what lays beneath. It’s a seam in the fabric of our realm. A fissure sealed. A scar healed.
But it’s a seam none the less.
And with the influx of power comes a new understanding of what I must do. Change back, boys. It’s time for the mating crystals to unite.
I’m not sure how I know to communicate with them through the new mental wavelength, but I feel it. Like I felt them physically strengthening on the mating bond from the beginning, I feel them mentally now too.
The four of them return to their human forms and yep, their crystals are glowing.
Wrap them together. They’re ready now.
Hawk does what I ask and shouts as the four shards make contact. He tosses the bundle, but it doesn’t fall. It rises in the air, hovering like some alien entity in a movie.
Fused together, the four shards throw off a burst of light and energy like a small sun going supernova.
My mates shield their eyes, but I don’t need to. This fire is part of me. The supernova rises in the air and as it grows closer, it throws off the swirling colors each of the shards did as they awarded themselves to my guardians: silver, blue, gold, green, purple.
It’s a kaleidoscope of raw energy and it’s free at last.
Instead of coming to me, as I expect, the pulsing supernova hovers in the air, right in front of the sealed seam. My way is clear. I remember the cave paintings Kotah showed me that sunny afternoon in the grotto. The image had me hovering and blowing fire, creating the link between realms.
I breathe deep and blow a stream of fire onto the crystals.
As the crystals grow hotter, the power within vibrates and expands. The potential energy is building and tingles at the nape of my neck.
Opening a gateway between two worlds will take a huge amount of energy. I continue to heat the crystals and the seam of the sealed gate starts to shimmer.
The portal gate is opening again. I know it is. I feel it.
“Incoming,” Hawk shouts.
I look down to the forest floor, just as the entire area breaks into the battle of a warzone.
“No, Spitfire. Keep going.”
I’m torn. My mates are scrambling but this is everything we’ve worked for. Deciding to trust them to keep themselves safe, I return my focus to the little sun of power I’ve created.
This is my destiny.
This is what the past three months were about.
I take another breath and keep at it.
Gunfire echoes through the trees. Wildlings shift and their promise of violence permeates the forest. Magic snaps and expands as our war with the minions of the Black Knight explodes all around me.
The crystals are humming—the sound they give off a high-pitched whistle. It’s like the boiling of a kettle and I need to push it until it blows.
I breathe another breath and blow more fire.
Men in the forest below face off against me, emptying their automatic weapons but nothing penetrates the heat of my flaming form.
The whistle of the crystals becomes a scream and I smile as the colors are drowned out by the white-hot light. Something is about to happen. Something forceful and important.
Another breath and more fire.
The explosion is deafening.
I shriek as the air ignites with astonishing pressure. My wings are extended, and the rush catches me unprepared. I’m knocked backward, toppling through the air. The forest spins in a green blur as I’m thrown from my orbit and crash into the trees. I blink, trying to focus on the pulsing surge of power.
I flame out, my phoenix form lost, my energy spent.
Hopefully, someone else knows what to do next because I’ve got nothing left.
The world comes crashing in on me as Black Knight militia moves in. The first bullet snaps my shoulder back, the second shatters my knee…
The shouts of my mates are drowned out by the blood rushing in my head. As the world goes dark, I’m content in the knowledge that we did it.
My destiny is fulfilled.
Whatever comes now is of secondary importance.
The portal gate is open.
CHAPTER TWELVE
Jaxx
Calli is blown backward like a flaming pinwheel until she crashes into a cluster of trees. She hits hard and I let off a roar. The four of us launch to get to her, my cat wild with panic and fury. Calli is down and she’s taking fire. She’s no longer flamed up and bulletproof—and she’s taking fire.
There’s no thought or emotion in me. My entire being is driven by primal instinct. These motherfuckers are trying to take what is mine. My mate. My love. My baby.
They dare to stalk her. To fire on her.
Brant is the first to get there and is shredding people left and right. Still, no matter how fast I run, on two feet or four, there’s no way I’ll get to her in time to intercept the men moving in. My heart shatters.
How can we lose her now?
Kotah and Keyla launch through the air, tearing at men and taking them down. There are just too many of them.
If they’re here to stop us from opening the portal they’re too late. Calli did it. It’s a waste of life to keep fighting now. Hawk takes flight and closes the distance. He’ll get to her, but we all sense the trauma of what’s happened.
Calli’s pain vibrated across our mating bond before she lost consciousness. She’s hurt… really hurt.
I make it into the scrum as another surge of magic bursts beside us and the Forest Lord appears. Brant goes berserker but before he gets close enough to attack, the giant tree man leans down, touches Calli, and the two of them disappear.
“No!” Hawk screams. “Bring her back!”
I stare at the empty space and horror throbs in my veins. I let my cat take full ascension and a deadly calm falls over me.
They will die for this.
Hawk
The floor of my stomach drops the moment Calli disappears and the forest goes out of focus. He took her. I defended him. I thought he might’ve been coerced… and he took her.
My mind flushes hot and I’m stunned.
“Never let the world see what matters to you, son. It only empowers people to hurt you.” The words trigger a memory of the worst kind and cold dread grips my bowels.
Frozen in place, I look for the man who spoke them.
The moment my father exits the trees, my insides recoil.
He’s here. After all the years I fought to forget him and leave his cruelty behind, the moment I see him, I’m a ten-year-old boy watching him strangle my pet rabbit.
“Hawks eat rabbits, son. We don’t make friends with them,” he said. “So let’s cook him up and have supper.”
He ignored my pleas, grabbed my wrist, and pulled me along behind him toward the house. “Never let the world see what matters to you, son. It only empowers people to hurt you. Today you’ll learn a lesson and fill your stomach at the same time.”
“Hello, Sabastian,” he says raking me with an icy smile. “Why the long face. Misplaced someone, have you?”
“If you harm one hair on her head, I’ll kill you where you stand, old man.”
My father laughs. “Oh, you always did have delusions of grandeur. You can’t touch me. Never could.”
I try to swallow, but my throat is locked. He’s here. After everything he’s done to me, to my company, to my mates… he’s here and he’s smiling and he walked out of the fucking trees like he’s the fucking king of the world.
And he’s laughing that he has Calli.
The world stops.
Bang. Bang. Bang. Bang.
Shots ring out and I watch scarlet circles appear where a moment ago there were none. While my gaze remains locked on my father as he crumples to the forest floor, the firefight continues around me.
What does it matter? Calli’s gone. My father’s dead. Why are his fucking minions still fighting?
I don’t know how long it takes until the sounds of battle cease. Maybe it’s a minute or maybe it’s ten. In the end, all eyes turn on me.
“Give Lukas the gun, hotness,” Jaxx says, turning my head to look at him.
I’m lost in a daze and then I look down and see Lukas disarming me, my arm still up and poised to fire. “Did I kill my father?”
“No one blames you,” Brant says, sliding in against my side. “He had that coming and more.”
I shake myself inwardly and straighten. “No argument, but personal closure aside, I shouldn’t have done that. How will we find Calli?”
“We’ll find her,” Kotah says, squeezing my arm and releasing the anguish I feel over costing us information on Calli’s whereabouts. “It’s done. And we’ll find her”
“Or not,” my father says, rising from the ground. He brushes off the sleeves of his jacket and chuckles. “Points for coming at me head-on, son. I didn’t think you had it in you.”
“He didn’t stay dead,” I say, despite it being obvious.
“Did you think it would be that easy, Sabastian? I’m disappointed.”
“Not living up to you is high praise. Glad to disappoint.”
He casts me a crooked smile, but I see that my lack of respect irks him. “Honestly, your problem was always one of vision, son. You never did see past the next three moves of your opponent.”
I scrub a hand over the spot where my aneurism is about to blow out of my skull. “Honestly, I bet if I behead you right now, you’d finally shut the fuck up. Now, where is my wife?”
Calli
I wake in what I can only describe as a thatched cavern. If it was made from rock, I’d call it a massive cave, but it’s not. It’s woven sticks with leaves and plants growing in a vast, living arboretum. And it’s someone’s home.
I’m lying naked and bloody on a massive bed, cushioned by a blanket of moss beneath me. My raw and brutalized state is a direct contrast to the serenity of the little home. There are books on bookshelves and lanterns lit to give us light and a bench and table seating area over by the far wall.
“Don’t be afraid,” a kid says from the shadows of the dark corner. “He won’t hurt you—we won’t hurt you.”
I blink and try to sit up. It’s too soon after being shot and I flop back to the pillow. My shoulder seems to have healed well enough, but my knee is still a mess.
“Where are we? How’d I get here?” I’m fighting the fog blanketing my mind and remember the battle. “You have to take me back.”
“You’re hurt and naked.”
“I’ll heal and naked is nothing new.”
“I don’t think we have anything you can put on to cover yourself. Sorry. My t-shirts won’t fit and he doesn’t wear any. A blanket maybe?”
I wave that away. “Fabric burns until my skin cools. I don’t suppose you have a fire blanket or anything flame resistant?”
“Sorry,” the kid says. “Fresh out.”
“I figured. Okay, what happened? Why bring me here when there’s a battle being fought?”
The kid steps into the light and can’t be more than thirteen. “Because people shot holes in you? Yeah, wow, you really are naked.”
“Yep, sorry. Nothing to be done about it right now.” I sit up and test my knee. It’s a bit achy, but my healing has fully taken hold. And while that’s good news, the tilt-a-whirl going on in my head isn’t. “I need to eat. It’s been a draining day and if I don’t eat, I’ll collapse.”
The boy looks across the grassy floor. “I’ve got cold pizza leftover from last night. You want a couple of slices?”
“Perfect, thanks. So, if we’re close enough to get pizza, do you think we can get out of here and find our way back to where I was in Pennsylvania?”
He shakes his head and comes back with the cardboard box. “No. Rowan and I are both travelers. The pizza place isn’t close. I just pop to anyplace and get what we want. I do know we’re in Alaska, though, and that’s way beyond my range. Your best chance of getting back to Pennsylvania anytime soon is to wait until Rowan returns.”
I’m chewing my first slice of cold, meat-lover’s when I recognize the boy. “Yarko?”
He frowns and backs away. “Yeah. Who are you? How do you know me?”
My heart picks up and I scootch to the edge of the bed. “I don’t know you personally, but Brant Robbins is one of my mates. I recognize you from the pictures he had while we were searching for you last month. He’s an FCO Enforcer, big guy, brown wavy hair, always cracking wise.”
He seems appeased by that answer and nods. “Yeah. I know him. Brant’s cool.”
“He is. He worked tirelessly to find you kids and get you rescued and returned to life. It tore him up inside when you ran away.”
Yarko shrugs. “Leaving wasn’t about him. While I was being held by Sabastian and his men, my parents died in a car crash. There was no one for me to go home to, so I found my own home with Rowan. People are scared of him but he’s nice. He watched out for us when Sabastian made us do things we didn’t want to do. He kept us safe.”
It sounds like Hawk was right about him… or at least, partially. “I appreciate the save, I do, but I need to get back. My mates were in the middle of a fight to the death and will be losing their shit right now not knowing where I am.”
The hair on my nape prickles and I tense as magic snaps in the air. Rowan the Forest Lord is back. He appears across the room and I sense immediately that the distance is for my benefit.
“Wow. You are much bigger and scarier up close.”
He holds out his hands in a gesture I assume is supposed to feel less threatening. It doesn’t work, but I appreciate it. “I am pleased you are well, Phoenix. It’s time to end this. Come. I must take you back before Sabastian gets away with his evils and I lose my chance. Hurry.”
I open my mouth to argue, but a moment ago I was asking
to be taken back. Leap of faith time. He did, after all, give me a time out while I healed instead of allowing Sabastian’s men to swiss cheese me.
I offer him my hand and the moment we touch, I’m back in the forest, standing next to the pulsing rift between realms that I created.
The carnage strewn across the forest floor is mind-boggling. I stare, trying to make sense of it. Corpses litter the forest floor, throats torn out, chest cavities cracked wide, and blood saturating the earth beneath.
I’ve never been squeamish, but gross.
Yarko doesn’t seem all that bothered. That’s disturbing in itself. What exactly did Sabastian have him doing?
As my blood-covered mates turn to look at me, I point to the devastation. “I am not helping you clean that up.”
“Spitfire.” Hawk turns away from—
“Oh my, you caught your father.”
He ignores my surprise and tromps through the death pile to get to me. “Thank fuck you’re alright. We thought you…” He looks up at Rowan and his gaze hardens. “Why did you take her?”
“Men were shooting her, and she was defenseless. I gave her time to heal and brought her back—”
The violent rumble of Brant’s bear precedes him baring down on Rowan in a four-legged grizzly fury. He’s either going to kill Rowan or die trying. “Brant, stop! He helped me.”
My words fall on deaf ears.
Brant, stop! I shout at him through the link of our unspoken conversation. He saved me. He kept me safe so I could heal. He protected Yarko too. Look your missing kid is here.
Something in that gets through and his rampage of rage slows. Damn, he’s a macabre mess. His fur is caked and matted with blood. Did he battle to survive or put Sabastian’s men through a woodchipper?
“Hey, big guy,” I say, forcing a smile. “Don’t kill the ancient tree man, okay. Hawk’s right, there’s more to this than we know.”
My bear shakes his broad, boxy head and lifts his black nose into the air. He lets off a baleful cry and I feel the weight of his anguish across the mating bond. “You thought he hurt me like he hurt you and your friends. He didn’t. Stand down and let’s find out what’s going on.”
