Branches whipped my face as we tore through the trees, moonlight slashing between the limbs like ghost knives. Every breath burned. My ribs screamed. But the sound of the pursuit behind us? That was louder.
A high pitched whistle cut the air.
Then...
BOOM.
A blast of lightning slammed into the earth ahead, throwing up dirt and smoke. I skidded to a halt, coughing, just as a figure stepped through the haze, tall, deadly, and glowing like a neon fucking stormcloud.
Commander Vexia.
Her white braid was pulled tight and coiled like a snake on her head, and her eyes sparked with raw, manic power. Lightning danced between her fingers, casting jagged shadows on the trees.
"Well, well, well," she purred. "The runaway prince, the disappointing daughter, and the mystery meat goddess."
I rolled my eyes. "Fuck me, you talk like a rejected comic book villain."
Arwen bared his teeth. Gailia's fingers already dripped with water, swirling into whips at her sides.
"I'm giving you one chance," Vexia said, smile icy. "Surrender. Or I fry your asses into fae bacon."
"Oh, honey," I spat blood onto the dirt. "I've been electrocuted by worse bitches than you, and I made them cry."
Vexia's smile vanished.
Then it exploded.
Lightning roared from her palms, and everything turned to hell.
Arwen dropped into his panther form mid sprint, his obsidian fur rippling with power as he launched toward the first wave of guards. Claws tore through armor like paper. Fangs snapped bones. I shivered at his brutality. He was mine. Mine to protect.
Gailia unleashed her magic like a tidal wave. The forest answered her call, roots surged up, vines lashed out, and her water whipped into spirals of death, slicing through the air and knocking two guards straight into trees.
I ducked under a bolt of lightning and rolled through the mud, my hands flaring with divine power I didn't even understand. But my rage knew what to do. My wrath remembered.
I leapt toward Vexia.
"You wanna dance, bitch?" I screamed, throwing up a shield just as she blasted me again. "Let's fuckin' dance!"
Her bolt struck, slamming into my shield, burning my arms, but it held. She snarled, lunging in with an arc of white hot electricity.
I met her mid air.
We crashed together like meteors, tumbling, grappling, snarling. I smashed my fist into her jaw, once, twice, until she shrieked and kneed me in the ribs.
I screamed, then laughed in her face. "That all you got, Barbie Sparklefist?"
She roared and grabbed my throat.
And that's when it hit me.
Deep inside, something cracked open.
A blinding pulse of light exploded from my chest, and she flew back like she'd been shot from a cannon. She slammed into a tree with enough force to shake the damn roots.
I stumbled forward, panting, eyes glowing gold and hands burning with power I hadn't summoned, hadn't needed to summon.
Behind me, Gailia wrapped a wall of water around us and Arwen shifted back, panting, bleeding, and grabbing my hand.
"Now," he growled.
We ran.
We didn't look back.
Didn't need to.
Vexia lay twitching in the mud, charred and silent. I hoped she died. She probably did.
And for the first time in hours, I felt hope. Twisted, jagged, fire soaked hope.
Because if I could do that?
Then maybe they hadn't won shit.
The forest had gone still.
Too still.
Vexia's body lay twisted and smoldering, the scent of burned flesh thick in the air. The other soldiers, gone. Vanished like fucking ghosts.
I spun, heart pounding, scanning the trees. "Gailia?" I shouted. "GAILIA!"
But no voice answered.
Just silence.
Arwen stumbled through the smoke, blood running down his temple, his shirt torn and one arm hanging limp. His golden eye scanned the wreckage, and then landed on the shattered chain on the ground.
His face collapsed.
"No," he breathed.
He fell to his knees in the dirt, fists digging into the earth as a raw sound tore from his throat. "They took her… they took my sister."
I dropped to my knees beside him, wrapping my arms around his trembling frame. "We'll get her back," I whispered, even as my voice broke. "I swear it."
The two of us clung to each other in the clearing, moonlight dripping down like silver paint over our broken bodies. I pressed my forehead to his, our tears mingling with sweat and blood.
"I failed her," he rasped. "I failed her again."
"No," I growled, cupping his face. "You survived. You fought. You didn't fail. They fucking cheated. But we're not done."
We stayed like that, breathing each other in, grieving and promising, shaking with fury and pain.
And then… a sound split the silence.
A howl.
Long, deep and terrifying. I choked on my tears, eyes scanning the surroundings for danger.
It echoed across the trees like the call of a god.
Then another.
And another.
Dozens of howls answered, closing in from all directions.
We both stood slowly, muscles tense, magic thrumming to life under our skin.
From the treeline, glowing eyes emerged.
Wolves. At least twenty.
Large, lean, and silent as death.
They didn't attack.
They circled.
Forming a perimeter around us, their breath misting into the moonlight.
Then the biggest wolf I'd ever seen stepped into view, a massive white beast, blue eyes blazing with sentience.
It shifted mid stride, fur melting into skin, bones cracking, limbs reshaping...
And then he stood before me.
Tall. Muscular. Golden tan skin. Blonde hair damp with sweat. Ice blue eyes that pierced straight into my soul like they'd always known me. Like they'd been waiting. I couldn't breathe. This man was sex incarnate.
Naked as the day he was born, completely unfazed.
His gaze locked on mine. My heart was beating nine thousand miles an hour.
"I felt you," he said, voice low and rough like smoke and sex. "I smelled your blood in the wind. It called to me."
Arwen growled softly beside me, stepping forward protectively.
But the man ignored him.
Those eyes never left mine. Curious. Hungry. Awed.
"You're the goddess," he said softly. "Aren't you?"
The wind rustled. The wolves watched. Arwen tensed.
And me?
I just stood there, frozen in place, every instinct I had screaming the same thing.
Mate.