He breathes and takes a careful step toward me, gathers my uninjured hand in both of his, and presses his forehead to mine. "Ivy, please," he begs softly. "There's no way we can fight off this many. They sense the barrier is about to be restored by the magic and the blood, and they're trying to stop it. There's only one way to do that, and it's to stop you. To stop your heart." To kill me. I understand what he's saying. I just can't accept what he's asking me to do about it.
"I'm not leaving you," I whisper.
It's his turn to shake his head. "No, you hate me, remember. I'm so annoying, mean, and stubborn. Don't stay for me. Please, Freckles. Please." His voice is a harsh sawing breath pushed through the agony in his chest. I can feel the pain in every word because it's my pain too.
"You hate me, remember?" I ask. "I'm stubborn and infuriating, and my aunt's protection bond is holding you back. You deserve a life. You've been waiting. Leave me here. Go get it."
I see the exact spark I was looking for. His eyes go dark and dangerous. His claw-tipped fingers find my chin and hold tight, tilting my face up so I have no choice but to look at him.
"I would rather die than leave you, mate,” he says. “I never hated you. But fuck if I didn't hate how much I loved you from the start."
I can't help the small sound that climbs up my throat or the way my hands pull him closer. His mouth finds mine, and it's rough and desperate, and there's nothing gentle about it. It’s just pure truth.
When we pull apart, I've made my decision. "Then we don't leave each other. Ever."
My eyes search his, making sure he sees all the truth in my words. He nods, still worried but knowing he needs me and I need him. Conall turns, placing his body firmly in front of mine as we watch the largest monsters this island has ever seen descend.
Conall
As the large forms come closer I brace and transform into my hound. Ivy's hands curl into the fur at my back. My hound and I are nearly feral right now, ready to fight and kill and die to keep our mate safe.
But as the figures in the distance come into focus and step into the light of the full moon I relax, my claws retract. I look back over my shoulder. Ivy's big frightened eyes find my face.
"It's okay. They're on our team." Her shoulders drop and she cocks her head.
A dragon, large and winged with molten red eyes and night-black scales, surges over the hill and latches onto whole clusters of the mutant bats Ada's been fighting. A man covered in tattoos follows on foot, his skin pale and wet-looking in the moonlight. Colt, the ferryman. The bottom half of his body is a writhing mass of thick coiled tentacles that lash out, grabbing and suctioning redcaps and pixies.
A snarl behind us has me spinning Ivy so she stays at my back. Puppy snaps out in front of Dolly. Five vampires stare back at us. A well-fed, socially adjusted vampire is like anyone else, just pale and living off blood and allergic to the sun. Reasonable people. And then you have vampires like these five. Feral, blood-starved monsters. Their skin is mottled and torn in places where they've resorted to drinkingtheir own coagulated blood. Their mouths hang open, teeth ragged but still sharp.
A war cry tears through the air as a group of centaurs led by Killian charges the feral things.
"Conall." Ivy's strained voice has me turning. The glowing lines are now red. As red as her blood.
Ivy
Everything is ready. The magical light is blood red. Conall grabs the spellbook and opens it to the marked pages. On the left page is the spell to completely destroy Shipton's spell and revert back to the wards as they've been for the last twenty years. I look up at Amy, still swiping away with a branch, her purple eyes gleaming in the moonlight. On the right page is the spell to complete my aunt's changes to the wards, possibly allowing new life to thrive on the island. Or perhaps blow up the island in the process. Who knows.
Monster fights echo around me. Laz summons incantations that crush some of the oncoming beasts. The air smells of smoke and earth, courtesy of the dragon who has now shot fire from its mouth in an attempt to keep horrible-looking harpies from clawing my eyes out. Either spell would lock them off the island.
I take a deep breath and find Conall's eyes.
He knows. He groans. "Ivy, are you sure?"
I shake my head. "Nope. But I think it's right. I think I'm right."
He holds my gaze for a moment before leaning forward and capturing my lips with his. Dolly holds onto the back of Puppy's fur while his enormous claws slice through anything that gets near her. Layla flies up behind a bird with lightning crackling between the feathers of its wings.
God, I hope I'm not wrong.
I start reciting.
The two spells are nothing alike, so the moment the words leave my mouth, Laz's face shoots around toward me. "What are you doing?" he calls, looking panic-stricken.
I ignore him and continue the incantation, praying to anyone who will listen that I'm pronouncing these words correctly. Otherwise, who knows what I'd end up with? As the spell continues, the magical light from my blood begins to sparkle.
"Ivy." There's an edge of concern in Conall’s voice.
I want to say I'm okay. I want to say everything's under control, but neither is true. I can't take a breath or stop saying the spell. It seems to be taking everything in me just to get the words out. Laz has marched over, and his hands grab the book, trying to wrench it free from Conall. Conall holds tight and pushes back. But it doesn't matter, the words keep coming, and I'm not even trying to say them anymore. As they pour out, I feel the island spin under my feet, faster and faster and faster, until the last word comes out and I collapse into the grass and lose consciousness.
