by Quinn Loftis
Elle nodded. As the eldest female there, she seemed to take over for the healers. “Girls, say your goodbyes and do it quickly. You’ve got phones you can chat with the face-space, or whatever it is you call it, later.”
Peri didn’t move, though each of the girls came and hugged her. “You will be fine. Just be the amazing people you are, and your packs will love you.”
Tears were shed as the healers hugged one another. Peri was impressed that they didn’t dawdle. The males, too, said their goodbyes, and then Adam and Elle each held out arms as the mated pairs grasped on. They were gone in a blink.
Peri was so distracted by what Cyn had told her that she’d completely forgotten that Thadrick and Jezebel were still staying here as well. They’d been spending quite a bit of time wandering through the woods, no doubt trying to mend the deep wounds that had been caused in their pasts. As they walked in the front door. Jezebel immediately looked around and then frowned. “Where is everyone? Where is Anna?” She saw Cyn and her eyes widened. “And why is there a fae covered in blood standing in your living room?”
“I sent them to their respective packs,” Lucian said curtly. “There is a dangerous battle being waged upon the Romania pack, and they need us.”
“I didn’t get to speak with her before she left,” the woman said, her voice raising a bit, making it clear that she was more than a little irritated by this fact.
“Forgive my impertinence, but we have people dying in a battle. Peri and I must make some quick decisions. You have a phone. Goodbyes can be said just as easily on the device as in person.”
“Careful, wolf,” Thadrick said in a deep voice. “Disrespecting a female is not like you, and disrespecting my female will not be tolerated.”
Sorin growled and Crina took a step closer, but Peri held up a hand to them. Thadrick was not the enemy.
“As we speak, there is a male lying on the battlefield with a blade in his abdomen,” Cyn said, her voice cold as steel, “and he has a mate pregnant with his pup. My mate is trying to keep them safe while a healer attempts to help him, and Vasile tries to hold him to this world. A high fae is trying to find a way to save his life by going to the sprites. I do not give a flying wolf’s ass who feels disrespected at this moment. I care only that we get to where we are needed before those I care for die.”
Thadrick opened his mouth to speak but then froze. His eyes took on a faraway look, not unlike the one some of the newly mated pairs get when speaking through their bonds. A second later, his attention was back on them. “It appears the wolves aren’t the only ones losing lives,” he said grimly. “We must return to my realm. Peri, Lucian, I apologize, but one of our elders has been murdered and a prisoner has escaped. And it happened a week ago. Why I am hearing of it only now, I have no idea. But I have to go to them.”
“We understand,” Peri said. Frankly she wouldn’t have cared if he’d said he wanted to go frolic in a field while riding a damn unicorn. She just wanted to get to the Keep, like, yesterday.
Thad took Jezebel’s hand as he looked down at her.
“Myanin?” she asked.
The djinn nodded. His mate’s eyes softened. “I’m sorry.”
Thadrick shook his head. “Her choices are her own. They’ve nothing to do with you.” He then looked at Lucian and Peri. “I will be in touch as soon as I deal with this. I have a feeling the djinn will soon be stepping into the human realm in more than single digits.” With that, he and Jezebel headed out the front door.
A second later, Adam and Elle flashed back into the room. Their mates were at their sides in an instant.
“We need to go. Now,” Cyn said.
Peri took Lucian’s hand and flashed, knowing the others were on her heels. In a blink, they were out of Farie and standing in a forest with death and destruction raging all around them.
Nissa breathed hard as she answered the sprite queen. “We’ve got a downed wolf with an elf blade in his abdomen. He has a pregnant mate.”
Andora turned to one of the male sprite guards standing at the doorway. “Please, go get Deidre and Lanora. Make haste.” The guards ran down the hall and out the double doors.
“I am sending Deidre, the luminous leader, with you as well. Her light will amplify the healing ability of Lanora,” Andora explained.
Less than two minutes passed before two sprite women came rushing in. Both of them wore leather pants, vest-like tunics that hugged their bodies and would be easy to move in, and thick boots. Battle gear.
“You need to accompany Nissa,” Andora told the two women. “There is a wolf who is in grave danger and needs your abilities.”
The women nodded without a word and hurried to Nissa. She held out an arm. Deidre and Lanora both placed their hands on her, but before she could flash, Cindy Morgan came barreling through the double doors. She hit them so hard they flew open and crashed against the walls.
Her eyes were wide with fear and full of panic. “I’m coming with you,” she practically shouted. She didn’t bother to address the queen or give a reason for her demand. She lost no time getting to Nissa’s other side and placing her hand on the fae’s shoulder.
“Cindy.” The sprite queen’s voice was loud as she called out to the panicked woman.
“No!” Cindy said as her eyes met Andora’s. “I have to try.”
Nissa didn’t have the luxury of time to ask what Cindy was doing or for the sprite queen to question the woman further. She’d have to find out once Drake, Bethany, and their unborn child were not on death's door. She flashed, and the quiet of the sprite great hall gave way to the cacophony of a battle raging around them.
Nissa had flashed them right to where Drake lay, but before she could tell the sprite women to help him, she heard Cindy’s voice. She turned to find her running full speed across the war zone without care for the fact that she held no weapon. The woman’s thundering shouts were making her a massive target. At the same moment, Perizada suddenly appeared beside her. She looked at Nissa and then in the direction of Nissa’s gaze.
“By all that is holy,” Peri snapped as she took off after Cindy.
Peri had known they were flashing into a damn war zone, but Cindy Morgan running through it like the hounds of hell were on her heels had not been anywhere in the realm of possibility. Something caught her attention, and she momentarily glanced up and saw the suspended arrows. Now that just pissed her off even more. Alston had been willing to kill his own, blindly shooting arrows into a battlefield in hopes of taking them out. She swung her arm up, and a huge burst of power shot out of her hand. A second later, the arrows turned to dust. As soon as her eyes dropped back down to Cindy running, she saw a vampire headed right for Cindy, and Peri shot out her hand, hitting the bloodsucker with a powerful bolt of magic. On the other side of Cindy, an elf who obviously didn’t belong on team Vasile, because he was looking at Cindy like a predator looking at prey, was heading in her direction. Peri saw Elle was just to the right of the elf who had set his sights on Cindy. “Elle!” Peri yelled.
The fae’s head snapped around, and Peri pointed at the dark elf. Elle threw a dagger and it hit its mark, straight into the heart. The dark elf dropped, and Cindy Morgan’s life was once again saved without her even realizing it had been at risk. Or perhaps she did know but just didn’t give a damn. Maybe she was just like Jen, Jacque, and Sally and had absolutely no sense when it came to not doing stupid things that would lead to them getting killed.
As Peri made it past Elle, the other fae ran beside her. “Why is she here, and where is she running to? And how the hell is she so fast?”
Peri answered all three with the only answer she could, “I have no freaking idea.”
Cindy disappeared around a huge tree, and she’d only been there a second before Peri and Elle reached her, but it was a second too late. Peri felt as if the world was suddenly tilting, slipping off of its axis. But instead of feeling like they were going to whirl off into oblivion, everything was happening in slow motion. Al
l the sound around her was muffled except for Cindy’s voice. She’d ground to a halt, her voice growing louder with the shrill screams of a woman possessed, and then her knees buckled, and down she went until her legs slammed into the ground with jarring force.
Peri’s head snapped up to where Cindy was staring with one hand covering her mouth and her other hand pointing. The high fae’s eyes saw something that she knew she would see for the rest of her life every time she closed them. Alina, her friend, brave and strong, stood with her chin raised. The strands of hair that had escaped her braid were stuck to her blood-and-sweat stained face and neck. Her clothes were covered in blood and torn in places, yet she stood as regal as a queen dressed in the finest silk. Alina was held by a huge warlock, her arms pinned behind her. In front of her, a vampire stood with a hideous grin, blood dripping from his mouth and his hand embedded in the alpha female's chest.
Alina’s head turned, her grey eyes meeting Peri’s. A single tear fell down the alpha female’s cheek, and then she yelled with all the strength that must have been left in her, “FOR THE PACK.” Her voice died a second later, replaced by the sound of wet suction as the vampire pulled his hand from Alina, her heart in his clawed grasp. He held it up in the air and released a victory cry. Abruptly, everything stopped, and their enemies suddenly disappeared as the fae loyal to Ludcarab and Alston flashed the vampires, warlocks, and elves from the forest. There was a loud roar and then an ear-piercing scream.
Peri’s head whipped around. Though she didn’t want to take her eyes off of Alina, the scream had been so horrific that she couldn’t help but look. She wished she hadn’t. Lilly was running, her hair wild behind her and her face filled with pain and rage. Peri’s eyes followed the direction of the female’s progress and saw why she looked as if she was going to kill anyone in her path.
Cypher, king of the warlocks, was standing, but his head was not where it was supposed to be. Behind him stood a fae warrior, every bit as tall as the warlock king, and in his hand was the sword that had just completed the arc that had come from behind, severing Cypher’s head from his body. The king had never even seen it coming. A second later, his body fell to the ground, his knees collapsing under the weight of his huge form. Lilly was there a moment later. Her hand flew out, and what looked like a bolt of lightning shot from her palm, straight at the fae’s neck. It cut through the flesh like a laser, and his head rolled off his body, landing a few feet from where the warlock king’s head rested in a sick form of justice.
Peri’s head whirled back around at the sound of laughter. The warlock holding Alina’s body cackled like a deranged lunatic. He suddenly released Alina, and Peri flashed. She was on her knees a second later, catching Alina before she hit the ground. Peri’s arms shook as she held the lifeless body of the woman who she’d known for over two centuries, who had become a trusted friend and a respected leader. She couldn’t get her mind to grasp what had just happened. Alina was gone, which meant Vasile was gone. Cypher was gone. From one breath to the next, their lives had been ripped away. There was no sound coming out of Peri, but in her mind, she was screaming.
She heard a ferocious roar, and when she looked up, a massive white wolf soared over her and crashed into the vampire who’d just murdered Alina.
“Lucian,” Peri whispered. It was the only thing she could get her mouth to say. She was afraid if she said anything more, the screaming that was going on inside of her head would come out of her mouth and never stop. She could feel her power growing inside of her. Her skin was glowing and getting brighter by the second. She had to keep it locked down. If she didn’t, she would level the forest around her and everyone in it.
A moment later, her mate knelt down across from her in his human form. In his hands, he held Alina’s heart. As carefully as if he were handling the most precious thing in the world, he gently placed it back in the gaping hole in Alina’s chest, where it belonged. “A female with a kinder heart I have never known, and she should not go into the afterlife without hers,” Lucian said quietly.
At this point, Peri lost control. It was too much. Too much anguish, too much loss, too much emotion coursing through one as mighty as her. An explosion of power coursed out of her. She felt the pulse and saw her mate brace himself as her magic burst out. She could feel him pulling it into himself, attempting to mute the damage it might do. Peri didn’t care what it was doing. She didn’t care if she burned the whole damn forest to the ground. Peri leaned over her friend's body, wrapped her tightly in her arms, and pressed her face against Alina’s forehead and wept. She let go of the constant hold she kept on herself and gave it free reign. There was no suppressing the screaming. “NO!” Peri bellowed over and over. All of the loss, destruction, evil, depravity, torment, and grief she had experienced over the thousands of years was one thing, but for the past two-plus years, she’d grown to love the family that she’d somehow become a part of. It made the rest of her existence seem easy. This was the culmination of every ounce of that desolation, and it was more than her heart could bear.
Somehow, she knew that there would be no miraculous return for Alina, her mate, or Cypher. Not like there had been with Jen or Sally. There was no sacrifice to be offered, as Cynthia had given for Thia. There would be no bargain with the Fates. This was just death. In all its ugliness, bleakness, and finality.
Peri rocked back and forth as she grieved with every cell in her body. The pain radiated from her head to her heart to the very marrow of her bones. It was something she’d never experienced before. She felt as if her soul was going to implode in on itself, leaving her nothing but a shriveled husk. This wasn’t the way it was supposed to happen. She knew that no one could choose the time of their death or the way they would die, but Alina should not have had her heart, the very symbol of her love and kindness that was a part of her being, ripped from her body. As Lucian had said, a kinder heart had never been known. And now she was gone from a world that so desperately needed her kindness.
Cindy felt the air being sucked from her lungs as she watched Alina’s lifeless body fall. She’d seen it while she’d been with the seer sprites, wanting to keep up-to-date on all that was happening. She’d nearly lost it a week ago when she’d seen Titus taken and then Sally walk right into the enemy’s arms. Not that Cindy wouldn’t have done the same thing. Regardless, sprites weren’t allowed to interfere in destiny, despite what they saw. They weren’t allowed to alter the future. But when Cindy had seen what was going to happen to the Romania alpha female, she couldn’t just stand there and let it happen. The ripple effect was just too great. She had to try to do something. She’d seen Nissa showing up in the sprite great hall, and Cindy had run as fast as she could to get to the high fae and return to the battlefield with her. But she’d been too late. Her foresight had been worthless.
She’d heard the battle raging around her, but it had been background noise. Then the enemy started flashing away, as if this were what they’d been waiting for. As Alina’s body fell, Peri was there in an instant and caught the alpha female, lowering her gently to the ground. A moment later, a huge white wolf leaped over Peri. He landed on the vampire still holding the precious heart. She watched as the wolf ripped the vampire to shreds and then turned on the warlock who had held Alina. He ripped out the man’s throat. His already blood-covered muzzle became even more saturated. Then he phased back into his human form. Lucian knelt down and picked up the heart, holding it so carefully, and carried it over to his mate and Alina. Other than sobbing from behind her, which she assumed must be for the fallen alpha pair, there was complete silence around them, and Lucian’s words carried as he spoke. The incredible respect he showed Alina was breathtaking and gut-wrenching at the same time.
The moment the words left his mouth, Cindy was knocked by a flash of bright light and a massive gust of wind. With an incredible amount of effort, she rolled to her stomach, grunting as she went, and pushed herself back up again, though the wind pounded on her as if to beat her back into submi
ssion. Her hair tangled around her face, and she had to push it back to see what the hell was going on. Were they being attacked again?
Cindy surveyed the scene and saw that every supernatural being was on the ground, prone on their stomachs. The trees for at least half a mile had been leveled to the ground as if they were nothing more than rows of dominoes easily knocked over. Huge roots that had once grown deep into the earth's soil were now pulled up out of the ground from the force of the power that had pushed them over. And the strangest thing of all, if those two weren’t enough, was that the ground and surrounding foliage were blackened as if they’d been scorched.
Movement from the corner of her eye made her turn her head. It took effort because the gusting wind was still very powerful. Chris, her husband, was kneeling on the ground, though he was holding himself upright by his arms. The unbelievable show of the force of nature must have something to do with Peri’s power because she was glowing so bright it hurt to look at her. The edge of the light surrounding her was rimmed in darkness like a shadow left across the moon by the sun. Chris's eyes met hers, and Cindy could tell they were asking her if she was okay. She nodded and pushed her hair from her face again. He looked safe as well, though he was covered in blood and his shirt had a tear across the chest, but she couldn’t see any damage to his skin.
Cindy continued to look around and flinched when a huge boom of thunder filled the sky, as if attempting to prepare her for the next shock—one she hadn’t seen with the seer sprites because she’d already been running to meet Nissa. She saw the king of the warlocks, lifeless, with his mate flung over his body. Lilly was weeping. Her daughter and grandson were in the hands of the enemy, and now the man she loved was gone.
Cindy couldn’t let her eyes stay on Lilly and her mate. The pain so obvious in the woman’s shaking shoulders was too much to bear, especially with the added anguish of what she’d seen happen to Alina. Cindy looked up into the night sky and saw dark, angry clouds moving in as lightning flashed down from the heavens. The ground shook with the force of the bolts. A moment later, the rain began. First, heavy drops fell sporadically, but in a matter of seconds, she was caught in a downpour. Then the rain morphed into small circles of sleet, which continued to grow larger. Cindy held her arms over her head, trying to protect herself from the painful ice.
