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Kheir frowned—and then startled, grabbing her close when he spotted the wolf beside her. Kheir’s fierce snarl made her wince at its volume; she patted his shoulder and extricated herself with effort.Immenseeffort; her prince was clingy and protective.
To prove she was safe, she stroked each of her wolf's heads and three tongues lolled out. "I've decided to name him Lethe."
Kheir groaned, dragging a hand down his face. "Maia, we can't keep the wolf."
Maia was ready to argue that yes, in fact, they could keep the wolf, but the ground opposite them blasted apart with aboom.
Dirt and grass were thrown ten feet into the air, and Maia screamed, jumping into Kheir, when a figure shot out of the earth.
"Holy…" Kheir exclaimed, but didn't finish the thought.
Roots and vines glowed a bright emerald, floating in the air around the figure hovering ten feet high. Those plants writhed like creatures with their own minds, and fist-sized orbs of emerald light hung among them, so powerful that Maia's hairs rose even from metres away. A pulse went through the air—pure, unfiltered magic—and the orbs erupted, spilling green magic to the ground like liquid spilled from cups.
Maia sucked in a terrified breath when trees tore up around the clearing, but roots were ripped away from bodies to reveal her mates scrambling out of the ground. First Ark, shaking leaves from his blond hair, and then Jaro, naked in human form, his purple-streaked red hair wild around his face.
From a pit on the edge of the clearing, Bryon hauled himself out, covered in dirt and spitting mad.
Maia threw a frantic stare around the clearing, searching for Azrail, and felt like an idiot when she realised the person floating in mid air, surrounded by raw magic and vines, was her Sapphire Knight.
She climbed to her feet, keeping an eye on the wolves—laid on their bellies with their ears flat to their three heads—as she helped Kheir unsteadily stand. Her heart in her throat, she crossed the hole-riddled ground to Jaro and Ark.
"What happened?" she demanded. "How did you all end up underground?"
Jaro grabbed her before Ark could, a low snarl in his throat even though he was back in human form. His hug was squeezing and tight, and a knot of worry unwound in Maia's chest at the contact. She barely even noticed his cock swinging around down there. Barely.
"Az tried to use the trees to push the wolves back, but they overwhelmed him. They wouldn't stop until they got to you. Az got knocked over by a pack of them, and his magic misfired."
Ark ran a hand down her arm while Jaro talked, healing magic travelling through her. She frowned, realising the blinding agony had faded from her wing minutes ago. Right around the time Lethe licked her injury.
She shot the wolf a suspicious look, to which he gave her puppy eyes.
"Back!" Ark commanded in a stern voice, fumbling for his sword in the dirt and wrenching it free.
Lethe's middle head growled, at least until Maia said, "Easy, Arkie. This is Lethe. I'm keeping him."
"You arenot," Kheir argued.
Maia squeezed Jaro and let go, and then hugged Ark tightly, ignoring Kheir’s comment. "Let's see what our fearsome leader thinks about that."
"Hey, Knight," she shouted, turning to face him and not quite able to hide her pulse of alarm at him floating there, hands out at his sides, and face expressionless despite all the dripping blackness everywhere. "Stop floating around and get back down here. I want your opinion on a pet."
Maia's heart sped when he didn't reply, and she shook off her mates and her pet wolf, and carefully crossed the clearing until she stood beneath Azrail. Blackness oozed from the grass, but she didn’t let that stop her.
Azrail’s clothes floated around him, sleek black hair drifting in a wind Maia couldn't feel from the ground. His vines and roots writhed, eerily reminiscent of snakes.
She wasn't looking at Azrail, not even Kallen Plunaron. This was the Wolven Lord, the nameless saint.
"I get that you're scary and deadly," she said, swallowing down her fear, "but I'd like my mate back, please."
She got the distinct sense that he was looking at her, even if his face didn't shift and his eyes were pools of black shadow. Surrounded by his earth magic, it was like he was caught between his two powers—earth and death. He was like Maia in reverse; her snaresong could shatter minds and kill, but her soul magic showed life in its purest form.
Maia took a tight breath and reached for that soul magic now, silver light erupting above her as the image of Azrail's soul overlapped with his body. Her mind thumped with a sudden ache, reminding her she had no idea how to actuallyusethis power beyond the single trick Sephanae had taught her. She didn't think being able to walk through walls would be useful right now.
"Fine," Maia said, crossing her arms and ignoring the chill moving through her soul—a warning, primal and deep. "You have until the count of three, Azrail, and you don't want to know what I'll do when I hit three.One."
She covered her dread with a glare, refusing to let herself waver. The vines writhed faster, like tentacles in the air, the spheres leaking more emerald magic, enough to tingle the back of Maia's tongue and burn her nose as she inhaled.
"Two," she warned, swallowing her nerves and reaching for a song—quiet and understated but powerful if she sang the notes right. For Az, she'd make sure every run was perfect.
