There were no words. Only fire behind them, smoke in the wind. From above, they circled once, just long enough to confirm the camp hadn't fallen. Redmoon and Bloodmoon banners still flew. Shadowclaw warriors held the command hill. The center had held.
Fin:Nova… baby… please—can you hear me?
He'd been trying for over half an hour, calling into the void, desperate for any sign she was still alive. Each second of silence had twisted tighter around his chest. And then—
Her voice came through.
Nova: Fin! You're awake... I've missed you so much.
Relief cracked through him like sunlight through storm clouds. Her voice—gods, her voice—sent warmth flooding back into him. But it wasn't just relief. It was something deeper. Something raw and real. She had missed him. Badly. And he could feel it—feel her holding back everything she didn't have time to fall apart over.
She wanted to be in his arms. He felt it through the bond like fire under his skin. And he wanted nothing more than to be there. Rex couldn't give her that.
Only Fin could because she belonged to him.
Fin:I've missed you so much, Nova. Where are you?
His voice trembled slightly, but he swallowed it back. Gods, he loved her.
Nova:Fin, I need your help—
The mindlink snapped. Gone.
"Fuck!" Fin roared, slamming a fist into the nearest wall of scorched stone. His voice echoed, raw and furious. This was not how this was supposed to go.
He and Jax were sprinting through the wreckage now, boots crunching through debris and soot. Reinforcements from Shadowclaw had just broken through the ward lines behind them. The camp was holding—but just barely.
Black smoke spiraled like serpents from the charred ruins of wagons and tents. Broken weapons lay scattered across the earth like bones. Still, there was movement ahead.
From the hilltop, Fin spotted Cael. A blood-soaked strip of cloth was tied hastily around his forearm, and his sword was sheathed now, hanging low at his side.
But he wasn't looking at the battlefield anymore. He was looking up.
Fin's gaze followed—and froze.
There she was.
Nova hovered above it all, wind dragging her hair tucked into her cloak. She looked breathtaking. Beautiful. Fin's breath hitched.
Cael, his blade sheathed now, a strip of blood-soaked cloth tied around one forearm, stood atop a splintered supply cart like a watchtower.
He raised one hand as Onyx dipped lower. He mindlinked her, unsure if everyone could hear.
Cael: Thank you, my queen. I do believe you just saved our asses.
A pause. Then Nova's voice, amused and a little breathless, slipped through like wind over steel.
Nova: Add that to the list of bad ideas that somehow worked.
He huffed a short laugh.
Nova:The field. I lost Fin in the mindlink. I'm seeing something—formation patterns along the eastern tree line. Possibly more coming from the south slope. Can you relay to reinforcements?
Before Cael could respond—
Fin:Nova? Nova, what are you seeing?
But silence followed.
No reply.
Cael's jaw tightened.
Above, Rex motioned to her from the back of Velkaris who was circling parallel to Onyx. Nova turned her head sharply and nodded, guiding Onyx toward him.
"Mindlinks still flickering for you too?" Rex called out over the wind.
Nova shouted back, "Off and on. I'm getting bits."
Cael's gaze shifted toward the eastern ridgeline—and froze. A black ripple—barely visible, like heat over stone—distorted the air just beyond the trees. His stomach dropped.
He pointed. "There. You see it?"
Jax and Fin skidded to a halt beside him, panting, eyes following Cael's gesture.
They saw it too.
Fin's breath caught when he saw Nova and her dragon banking lower again.
"Those shifters at the bridge—if they'd gotten through—" Cael said, voice lower now, to himself. "We would've been surrounded. We owe her the whole damn ridge."
Jax exhaled a dry breath of disbelief, somewhere between a laugh and a curse.
But Fin couldn't smile. Couldn't even fake it.
A sour twist knotted in his gut. How much had he missed? A few days down, and now they were just letting her ride dragons into battle like she was invincible? Letting her dive off bridges like it was strategy and not suicide?
He looked up—and froze.
The sky tore open again.
From the valley below, a rift yawned wide—a swirling wound of violet and black cracking through the blood-red sunset. It pulsed once. Then again. The fabric of their world was splitting, and something monstrous clawed its way through.
From the shadows spilled dark mages. Beasts. Shifters. But these weren't the ragged, chaotic waves they'd fought earlier. This formation was clean. Disciplined. Armored. Sharp. They marched like a real army.
Nova hovered above it all, her golden dragon circling. She saw what Fin saw—but faster. She swept the terrain in one glance, her mind already calculating. The slope to the east—burned and unstable. Treacherous underfoot. The ridgelines beyond masked another portal forming.
She spotted it instantly.
Their reinforcements were vulnerable.
Below, Shadowclaw elites crouched by the trench. Half-shifted. Ready. But they wouldn't see the attack coming from behind—not until it was too late.
Nova's voice rang through the mindlink, sharp as steel:
Nova: Fin… Jax… can anyone hear me?
Fin: Yes. I hear you. What do you see?
Nova: Seraphine is going to show you.
Fin blinked—then staggered slightly as something flared in his mind.
A vision hit him like a spear. An aerial view burned into his skull: the second portal near the eastern cliffs, the enemy pushing toward their blindside. Nova's aerial view seared into his brain.
Fin:Gods I love you, Nova.
Nova:I love you too, Fin.
Then her presence was gone.
But the image remained.
"Second portal! East side, just beyond the cliffs!" Fin yelled to Jax and Cael. "They're flanking the reinforcements—our boys can't see them!"
Fin snapped to the mindlink again.
Fin:Sterling. Do you copy? Colonel Sterling, come in.
Silence.
His jaw ticked and he tried again.
Fin:Nova… can you hear me?
Nothing.
"Shit." Fin said through gritted teeth.
"I just tried the other leads." Cael's voice was tight. "Mindlink's not working. They're cutting us off."
Jax nodded. "She bought us time. We use it."
Fin drew his blade, fury and fear crackling under his skin.
At Alpha speed, Fin and Jax sprinted across the war-torn field toward Colonel Sterling, Cael only a few steps behind. Dirt and ash kicked up with every step, the sounds of war thickening behind them.
Above, Nova flew low on Onyx, wind whipping her silver-blonde hair behind her in streaks. Her eyes locked onto Rex as they soared parallel for a heartbeat.
"Rex—south ridge," she called, voice cutting clean through the chaos. "Your army's breaking formation."
Rex gave her a wolfish grin. "Try not to miss me too much while I'm gone!"
And then, without hesitation, he leapt from his dragon mid-flight.
He hit the scorched ground in a fluid roll and sprinted off across the field toward the Redmoon flank. Nova watched him go, briefly—but her focus snapped back as she turned and spotted Fin and Jax still running.
The second wave was fast—too fast. Colonel Sterling was in their path, unaware. He wouldn't see them in time. Fin wouldn't get there in time.
"Take me low," she said to Onyx. But she didn't need to say it—Onyx had already begun his descent. Before Nova realized what she was doing, she found herself standing.
The golden dragon folded his massive wings and dove in a blistering arc. Wind howled around them. Nova stood tall on his back, perfectly balanced, cloak billowing, eyes sharp as a blade.
They thundered over the field, and Sterling's eyes widened when he saw her. The Shadowclaw flank looked up—stunned. Their Luna was riding a dragon. Standing on it.
Nova didn't slow.
"Mindlink is down!" Sterling shouted up at her. "Luna—what are our orders?"
Nova didn't hesitate.
"A second wave is moving. They'll spread if we don't contain them. First and third divisions—split now! Take the ridges on both sides of the gate. The terrain will trap their advance. Second division—fall back to the forest edge. Set silver traps in a wide arc. Force them inward."
Her voice was crystal and commanding. Even over the wind and war, it cut clean.
Fin and Jax were just arriving—close enough to hear her final order.
"Collapse on Alpha Shadowclaw's mark." She paused. "Let's herd them."
Fin exhaled hard, breath catching in his chest.
"Brilliant," he muttered. That was exactly what he would've done. But she already knew. Another reason why she was his.
Jax gave a breathless laugh, shaking his head. "That damn book again…"
The entire flank moved as one. There was no hesitation. No questions.
Just precision.
First and third divisions vanished into the ridges like smoke. The second melted into the treeline, silver traps flashing faintly in their hands, glinting with lethal promise.
Nova's dragon roared above them.
And far below, Fin's pulse thundered.