Elle had to stop with Nova to get her to breathe five times on that walk. Nova was clearly not okay. Finally, Elle tried to mindlink Cael, but their mindlink seemed to be not working. A moment later, as they reached the ridge, they both froze.
Below them, in the clearing, at least fifty children huddled together, wrists bound by rope, fear choking the air. Warriors in black tactical gear encircled them, every one masked. In the center, a single figure radiated a darker power. A dark mage. His magic leaked like poison from his fingers. The same one who sucked Nova's blood.
A crumpled note lay near their boots, delivered to the castle minutes earlier:
Turn in the white wolf, and the children live.
Elle's throat tightened. "They think you will surrender."
Nova's pulse hammered with her realization. Mindlink was dead and no one knew this was happening.
She gripped Elle's shoulders. "Run. Find Cael and Fin. Mindlink Aeron and Jax. Tell Aeron to open a portal inside the cave with the red runes. He will know the one. I have already failed against this mage once. Jax can counter dark magic. I cannot. Not well enough."
Elle hesitated only a breath. Then she sprinted into the trees.
Nova dropped into a crouch, pulling the hood of her cloak over her blonde silver hair and her eyes in case they glowed. A young boy looked up and recognized her. She pressed a finger to her lips. He nodded. She pointed to the cave; he mouthed okay.
Nova's eyes flashed silver as she unleashed a silent, clustered blast a thousand feet opposite the cave. A brilliant light erupted and most of the masked warriors rushed to investigate.
She moved fast.
The ropes binding the children's hands vanished beneath razor-thin blades of conjured power. The eldest children shielded the smaller ones. They slipped into the forest toward the cave mouth. Within minutes, forty-plus children were hidden inside, protected by her.
Elle shifted running as fast as she could. Just as Fin and Cael were about to shift. Mindlink was down and she couldn't hear them.
She ran across the grounds of the castle into her and Cael's room and shifted, throwing clothes on, with boots.
She ran out just in time for Cael to catch her. She couldn't breathe now.
"Slow down… breathe what happened?" Cael asked.
But as he said this, an explosion flashed in the forest, the sound a second delayed from the flash.
"Aeron, portal. Red ruin cave." Elle said wheezing.
Fin mindlinked Aeron immediately.
Elle took a breath."There's wolf pups from our pack being held hostage. Nova is getting them to that cave. There's about 30 attackers and a dark mage. She said she failed against him before. Will Jax be willing to help?"
Fin mindlinked Jax, while moving at Alpha speed to Aeron's study.
______________________
Nova was improvising. Causing other explosions. She wondered if Jax would even want to help. She wasn't his problem anymore.
She tried to push that aside, not wanting to spiral again. She had wolf cubs to protect, heart broken or not.
Magic crackled around Nova's hands. Illusion. Misdirection. Fear. She would weaponize all of it for her pack.
Inside the cavern, Aeron's portal snapped open, humming with power. Fin, Cael, Aeron, and Jax emerged, smoke and wind rushing past them.
To their shock, it was full of wolf pups from their pack.
"Gods...." Aeron said.
"All of you follow Uncle Cael this way." Cael said, guiding the kids through the portal.
A tiny pup tugged on Fin's sleeve and whispered, "Is she an angel?" He pointed to Nova.
Outside, Nova detonated another blast to draw attackers away from the final child. Cael continued to guide frightened children through the shimmering doorway.
They had almost all through. All but one.
A masked soldier fired a bolt of dark energy at the last pup about 5 years old.
Nova moved on instinct.
The dark mage caught on.
"A little wolf sacrifice," he crooned through his mask. "A perfect weapon. The white wolf can watch."
She threw herself in front of the blast. A radiant dome burst outward, absorbing the force with a thunderous shockwave. "Run," she whispered, nodding towards the cave.
The little boy didn't move.
"It's alright," she said, and gave him a warm smile. "Go, I'll be right there."
The boy looked towards the cave and Aeron made a hand motion for him to come. He ran towards the cave.
Nova looked up and found Fin. His expression carved with terror and helpless awe. Relief flickered in her chest. He felt it, feeling warmth in his own chest.
Thirty masked soldiers immediately started towards her. Weapons aimed. Her eyes flashed silver and they launched back, weapons flung to the ground. All their bodies went limp hitting the forest floor.
The dark mage stepped fully into view, sigils burning black across his mask. "I told you we would meet again."
The mage waved his hand impatiently, and the masked soldiers caught fire.
"Let's see how long you last this time." He said, sounding bored.
Knives of shadow launched toward Nova. She expanded her shield, catching them. They flung back towards him. The mage paused.
He laughed. "Improvement I see."
Black discs the size of barrels rose behind the dark mage, gleaming like forged steel. They shot toward Nova in relentless waves, slicing through the air.
Her shield held firm, unwavering.
Behind her, silver orbs of fire rose and streaked forward, intercepting each disc mid-flight. Every collision burst into a shockwave that rippled through the forest, the explosions echoing like thunder between the trees.
He clapped his gloved hands, grinning. Showing his snake eyes.
"Very good. Your mage must be so proud of you." He called.
Black smoke spread from him, crawling on the floor towards her. It stopped at her shield.
He lifted his arms as two giant serpents came out coming towards her.
She was ready.
Twin crescents of fire curved outward from her hands, arcing through the air like twin moons. They sliced through the serpents in one graceful motion, leaving only embers where the creatures had been.
The crescents spun faster, brightening as their arcs crossed midair. The fire twisted inward, coiling and forging itself into chains of molten light.
Then it shot toward the mage, white glowing chains wrapping around him with a hiss.
Immediately, the black smoke recoiled from Nova's shield like it had been burned.
For the first time, his composure faltered. Just for a breath.
But then he laughed.
"That one was not from your mage—no, you stole that from me, didn't you? Careful, our magic's only a breath apart, and it bites."
He broke the chains still laughing.
"Ah, see? It only works if you enjoy watching them gasp for air. That's why it worked so well on you."
His next strike doubled in strength. Nova put up another orb shield. And braced.
It hit and she felt it. It hurt.
But, alone or not, she was going to finish this.
Aeron's voice carried from behind Fin. "I am channeling into her. Jax can you channel? She won't be able to hold it much longer."
Jax, who a heartbeat ago had stood frozen at the sight of her, finally moved.
Every instinct in him screamed to protect Nova. The mate bond might have been severed—his mark long gone from her neck—but nothing had changed in him. He still loved her, completely, relentlessly.
Her mark still burned faintly on his shoulder, and he had no intention of removing it or accepting her rejection.
He wasn't going anywhere. He'd felt her all day, every flicker of pain, her anxiety, all of it like a blade twisting in his chest.
Talon: Real Mate.
Jax: I know buddy.
Nova staggered back and a comforting voice knifed through the roar. "Need a hand?"
Jax sprinted forward just as another blast hurtled toward her, her shield fracturing under the strain. Sapphire light burst from his left hand and gold from his right, spiraling together into a crackling beam that caught the incoming darkness midair.
Sparks rained as light and shadow collided, grinding against each other with a shriek of power.
A gold shield formed around them on top of Nova's.
"You can let go." He said.
Her shield vanished instantly.
"Thanks," she said, panting.
She felt a burning sensation like she'd done this a million times before. Through the matebond Jax felt it and so did Fin.
Gold shot from her hand weaving itself into a bow with a vibration, followed by a single gold arrow laced with blinding white light. It hummed in her hand with ancient power.
"Advanced Aether Fabrication. Well done." Aeron said under his breath.
At alpha speed, she set the arrow to the string and drew — the golden light stretching, thrumming, ready to strike.
The dark mage turned too late.
Her arrow shot like a comet, detonating through his mask and eye. Holy fire burst out, shredding his protections. He shrieked, staggering as Jax pressed harder, forcing his dark energy back. Sapphire meeting the dark mage's black magic in mid air, a clash of titans.
Then the corpses around him began to rise.
The dead convulsed, twisting with black residue. Inhuman screams ripped through the clearing as they lunged at impossible speed. Faster than Alpha speed.
Nova froze for a split second, but her wolf's voice kept her steady.
Seraphine: Keep going. Doing great.
Nova: What are those?
Seraphine: They can't be helped. Tell Aeron to channel Jax!
"Channel Jax!" Nova yelled. Aeron knew she was talking to him.
He switched to Jax. Instantly, Nova's energy flared—gold flooding through her hair and eyes. She conjured another arrow.
A golden shield bloomed above her and Jax, flashing once before expanding to cover the cave near them too.
"You can let go," she said.
He knew what she meant. Dropping his own golden barrier, Jax focused entirely on offense. His sapphire aura brightened, pulsing in rhythm with the surge of the mage's returning power.
Jax's eyes glowed as a sapphire orb formed beside Nova, hovering like a second sun.
The corpses were a blur around them, but Nova moved with instinctive precision. When she released her first shot, the sapphire orb pulsed—its light shooting forward to fuse with the arrow mid-flight.
The arrow struck a corpse, and the black magic within it disintegrated on impact, devoured by the sapphire flame.
Another gold arrow appeared instantly on the string. She drew and fired—again, sapphire light joining midair. Then another. And another.
They became a flawless rhythm of aim, release, reform. Twenty undead fell before either of them took a breath.
Inside Fin, his wolf stirred.
Xeon: Anything gold from her is your power, not hers. The spirits are channeling it to her because you can't—yet.
Fin: That would've been helpful the last time we fought this bastard.
Xeon: It only works if the mate bond's active. The Moon Goddess has a sense of humor—apparently, all you had to do was tell her you were mates for it to trigger. Hilarious, really.
Fin: You're joking.
Xeon: Power like this comes with a price. When it's over, she'll lose consciousness.
Fin: That's another terrible joke.
Xeon: Not a joke.
Nova's final arrow was pure golden light. She drew back, every muscle trembling.
She released.
The sapphire orb didn't fuse with the arrow this time—it followed, like a guardian.
The arrow struck the mage square in the chest. A heartbeat later, he erupted into a storm of black magic that tore through the air.
Then, like a moth to a flame, it hurdled towards the sapphire orb. It dissolved into harmless smoke the moment it touched.
The gold dome flickered away and the sapphire orb dissolved.
Silence dropped like a stone.
She still managed to lower the bow, made of pure gold magic, with grace, chest heaving. The bow flickered away a moment later.
Nova collapsed to her knees, blood staining her lips. Fin ran to her as adrenaline drained from her limbs.
Jax grinned. "Nice shot."
Nova was so winded she couldn't respond. She felt light headed.
That had taken it out of her.
Fin scooped her up like she weighed nothing as her eyes fluttered shut.