And she needed to know it now.
Tears slipped down her cheeks, but I cupped her face and swiped them away with my thumbs. “You listen to me, Haley Barnes, and listen good, ‘cause I don’t know if I’ll be able to make sense for too much longer here, but… Goddamn. Falling for you has changed me in all the best ways. You’re my girl. My fucking soul mate. Weakness?Weakness? Fuck that bullshit right now. I ain’tneverbeen as strong, as powerful, or as brave as I am when I’m with you, and that’s the truth of it.”
She gazed at me, her eyes wide and shining, her breath as shallow as mine. She didn’t say anything at first, but that was just fine by me—I wasn’t going anywhere. Not unless she sent me packing, and if that happened? Hell, I was pretty sure I’d fucking die.
But when she finally opened her mouth to speak, the hope and happiness flooding her eyes told me she wasn’t sending meanywhere. She was keeping me. Right fucking by her side, right where I belonged.
“You… you’re falling for me?” she breathed.
I took her hands. Pressed them to my chest so she could feel that wild, warrior heartbeat.
“Yeah, babygirl,” I said softly, a nervous laugh making my words shake. “I’m in love with you. Not sure what you think about that, but there it is.”
“I think… I think I’m… No, wait.” She shook her head, her exasperation only making her more adorable. “This isn’t thinking, Hudson. It’s knowing. IknowI’m in love with you, too. So I’m going to do us a both a favor and just… Yeah. Justthis.” She pressed her lips together and grinned, and for the first time in the history of the whirlwind that was Haley Barnes, she stopped talking. And then, she stretched up on her toes and planted those luscious pink lips right on mine, sealing the promises we’d just made on the side of a damn mountain under the triple moons.
I was so caught up in the moment, I didn’t even realize what new dangers had dropped into our laps until the first icy flakes hit my face.
“Is it… snowing?” Haley asked, pulling back and holding out her hand. Her palm immediately filled up with dark, heavy snow. Red snow. “Holy shit! It’s like… blood snow. This is insane!”
“Hudson!” came the call, and I whipped my head back toward the path just in time to see Evander sprinting down it. “Weather witches!”
My gut twisted, but one glance at the sky confirmed it. Five raven gryphons soared overhead, mounted by figures I couldn’t quite make out, but didn’t need to. The unique, bright-yellow glow of their weather magick arced through the air.
No idea how the fuck they’d managed to tame those gryphons, but that was a question for another night.
I grabbed Haley and shoved her toward Evander.
“Get her someplace safe,” I ordered—first words I’d ever spoken to the fucker. Didn’t love the idea of sending her off with him, but right now, I just needed her out of range before that snowfall turned deadly. “The boys and I will take care of the witches.”
I expected an argument, but the dark fae didn’t utter a word. Just nodded and grabbed her arm, already dragging her back up the path. “We need to move, Haley. Now.”
“Hudson?” she turned and looked at me one last time over her shoulder, her eyes wide with fright and confusion, red snowflakes catching in her hair.
“Go,” I said. Then, forcing a smile just to ease her worry, “I’ll see you soon, babygirl.”
One more second to look at her, to memorize the shape of her face, and then I was off, charging down the path toward Jax and Elian, shifting into my warrior form.
They’d already spotted the enemy, their weapons drawn as I leaped off the cliff and shot up toward our attackers.
Weather witches were a Darkwinter breed—magickal fae who could command and control all kinds of storms. And in a matter of minutes, they’d whipped their blood snow into a full-on blizzard, cutting off all visibility as I tried to navigate through the sky and reach the raven gryphons. My muscles were already seizing up on account of the plunging temperature, but if I could just take down a few of those fucking birds, the witches would have to fight us on the ground—a much more level playing field.
A dark shape swooped past up ahead, and I finally had one of them fuckers in range. I tucked my wings in and pushed myself harder, faster, my talons drawn, body bracing for impact—
A bright yellow blast of magick exploded beside me, cutting a path through the snow like a missile as it soared down toward the mountain.
But this was no missile.
This was fog.
The kind that could slice-and-dice you to shreds the moment it grazed your skin.
Fuck.
I banked hard and changed course, arrowing back down toward the boys, a race against the witch-spelled Fog of a Thousand Knives as I desperately tried to reach them. The snow was so impossibly thick, there was no way they’d see the danger coming their way.
Not until it was too late.
With a roar that echoed across the bleak night, I zoomed down, down, down, pushing myself harder than I’ve ever pushed, hoping like hell I could snatch my boys out of the Fog’s destructive path…
