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She held onto Zane’s neck, trembling. She remained silent, however, her attention focused on Margetta as well.
In her wraith form, the Ancient Fae looked sinister with her dark lips and yellow fangs. He wanted to tell her to go fuck herself, but he wouldn’t have given away his position for all the Nine Realms.
Margetta shifted direction suddenly, flying in quick erratic movements back to the street. As she neared the Elf Lords Hideaway, she let out a shrill whistle.
Zane began moving slowly toward the street as well. He could feel Olivia’s cloaking vibration and knew they were safe, that the Ancient Fae couldn’t see them.
Margetta rose high in the air and flew in a westerly direction. Zane watched as those troops that she’d kept away from the battle joined her, all heading no doubt back to Angler’s Cliff and the Dead Zone.
He took deep steadying breaths and held Olivia close. She leaned her head against his shoulder, her feet perched on one of his boots, both arms now fixed around his neck.
Well, that was close, she pathed at last.
He patted her back. You did great.
So did you.
He’d have to keep Olivia with him, at least until he’d forced the Ancient Fae out of Swanicott. He wanted Olivia safe, of course. But she’d also proved her worth in battle twice and he’d be a fool not to make use of her. And now that Margetta knew Olivia was a shifter of great power, some if not all her attention would turn toward Olivia, either with the intent to destroy her or to capture her.
He kept his gaze fixed on the horizon as he watched Margetta and her wraith-pairs getting smaller and smaller, until they finally disappeared.
Both he and Olivia had come within a hair’s breadth of meeting the Goddess in the afterlife. If Margetta’s hand-blast had hit either of them, the power of her battle-frequency would have thrown them straight into the ground and they’d both be dead.
“It’s okay,” he whispered. “She’s gone. You’re safe.”
He felt her sigh deeply, but she still clung to him. “We almost bought it.”
He wouldn’t deny the truth. “Yes. You’re right. By a gremlin’s tit, I think.” He shuddered. The strange thought went through his head that though he’d only met Olivia this very night, she’d already become someone he feared losing.
Slowly, he levitated in the direction of the main street, flying up and over the last building in the row. A troll clean-up crew had arrived to haul away the corpses. Several of his Guardsmen were binding up the surviving wraith-pairs, getting them ready for transport to Bergisson Realm. Once there, Mastyr Ethan and his bonded blood rose, Samantha, would work to sever the bonds.
When he released Olivia, she left him saying she wanted to check in at the bar to make sure everyone was okay.
He held onto her for a moment, just long enough that she turned to him and met his gaze. “Everything okay?” she asked, a crease between her brows.
He nodded slowly, stunned by just how much he felt driven to keep her pinned to his side.
Finally, he released her.
&nb
sp; With his gaze moving constantly, always on the lookout for the enemy, he contacted Chase. Zane asked for a quick update and Chase told him all was quiet in the north.
He felt a measure of relief, since dawn was coming. He needed the night to end.
Sawyer offered the same report, which set his mind at ease.
One of the Invictus wraiths shrieked in pain and his gaze turned toward him. He’d bound a pretty female troll to him who kept snarling at any who got close to her. Once Realm-folk entered the wraith-bond, they became vicious killers, something no doubt this woman had never been in the course of her life.
He had little pity for the wraiths because most had chosen to follow in Margetta’s army. The Invictus had killed thousands of Realm-folk in Swanicott alone over the decades. And he didn’t want to think about just how many this wraith had bitten and drained all by himself.
He hated wraiths, despite all the good-natured wraiths he’d known in the well-protected Wraith Colony. Over the centuries, there had been so many Invictus depredations -- entire families murdered, communities destroyed -- that he was long past sympathy. Maybe one day that would change for him.
For now, however, he kept his Guardsmen from doing injury to the captured wraiths, but he offered no succor beyond that.
A new rumble of motorcycles sounded down the street, heading his direction from the north.
Zane turned and recognized the lead vampire, Ely, a lesser mastyr who he knew well. He was a detective working the drugged out areas of Helms Watch in the south. Zane’s realm was like all the others, battling poverty in places and the drug trade that preyed on the poor.
