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I caught myself, regret twisting around my fury. Containing it, justbarely.
No. This was what the rogues wanted. Why else would he be saying things that horrible? I had to keep a clear head. I had to keep my human reason, like Aaron alwayssaid.
It was our animal sides, the sides that wanted to lash out and bite back the second we were hurt, that had gotten us into so much trouble, wasn’t it? That had split us apart from our alliance with the fae all those yearsago.
I’d chosen differently. I could choose differentlyagain.
A ragged breath released from my already constricting throat. I collapsed back into my human form. West was there waiting. His arms went around me as I stumbled. I accepted his support for just a second as I got my bearings. Then I straightenedup.
“We have to deal with them,” I said. “But we make a plan first. What do they want? What aretheyplanning?”
West’s eyes were still worried, but he followed my cue. “They want to lure you out there, so they must think they’ll have an advantage when they do. Four guns isn’t enough to take you down before you frythem.”
I nodded. “And the vampires are going along with whatever the rogues are doing. It might even be a plantheycame up with. They want to get rid of me before they come at the rest of you.” I ran my tongue over the edges of my teeth. “There must be a bunch of the vamps waiting with a good line of sight to where the rogues are. They’d shoot me while I’m occupied with therogues.”
“That would make the most sense, strategically,” Bertrandsaid.
“So we turn the tables on them.” I’d learned other things during that skirmish at the gas station. I glanced between West and his lieutenant. “The kin can take on the vampires while they’re in the denser forest, right? The vamps won’t be able to take long shots, and we have the advantage hand-to-hand. I can pretend I’m going after the rogues, and while they’re focused on me, a bunch of your people can come at the vampires from the otherside.”
“Pretend?” West repeated. “I’m thinking that’s going to look an awful lot like actually doingit.”
I glowered at him. “I won’t get too close. I’ll swing around. Their range of fire can’t be very wide through the trees. And if a few bullets clip me, well, I’ve survived that before. We get in there, take out as many as we can in the first minute of confusion, and then withdraw. Maybe that’ll be enough to get them to stop lurking and come at us so I can really take them on with our faefriends.”
West’s jaw tightened at the mention of the fae, but he nodded. “Don’t cut it too close,” he told megruffly.
“I know,” I said, suddenly chokedup.
He turned to Bertrand. “You heard her. Get a bunch of our people, the fastest fighters, ready to dash for the forest the second she goes over thewall.”
His lieutenant gave a jerky bob of his head and rushed off. Within moments, he’d rounded up a pack near the gate. I marched the last few steps to the wall and pitched my voice to carry overit.
“Rogues!” I shouted. “And your vampire allies. This is your last chance to back down before I destroy all of you. Leave here and call off your forces around all our communities, and we can discuss a new treaty. Stay, and you’re going toburn.”
“Big words from a little girl hiding behind a wall, dragon shifter!” the rogue hollered. “I’d like to see you try. In the meantime, should I describe what we did to your fathers after you fled? We pissed on them, you know, and thenwe—”
I shut my eyes, shutting him out, clamping down hard on the rush of fury that surged through my chest again. “No movement from the vampires,” one of the guardsreported.
Fine. I hadn’t really expected anythingelse.
“I’m going,” I said to West. “I’ll be back. Ipromise.”
Then I launched myself off theground.
The wind whipped over my expanding body. I flung myself high with a vast sweep of mywings.
My sharp eyes caught the cluster of four shifters just a step from the edge of the trees, twenty feet from our wall. A whiff of their scents reached mynostrils.
Jackal. The grizzled man with white streaked hair who was hollering more insults at me even now was a jackal shifter. A scavenger, happy to desecrate the dead for his own gain. How fuckingfitting.
I let out a furious shriek and dove. At the edge of my vision, I saw my kin slipping over the wall and darting across the cleared ring into the trees farther down the estate. The rogues raised their guns.Theydidn’t need any special angle to get a shot at me. Bullets pinged off my wings and chest, the distance offsetting the damage they might have done. I careened faster,closer—
And whipped myself to the side before I came into full range. The rogues let out a shout ofsurprise.
Then a different sort of shouting echoed from within the forest. Shots crackled and bullets thudded into tree trunks. Bodies thumped to the ground. Snarls and the slicing of claws through undead flesh carried frombelow.
The rogues spun around, and so did I. My heart thumped hard in my chest. While the vampires were otherwise occupied, I could finish what I’d come out here wanting todo.
The jackal shifter looked up at the last second. He bared his teeth in a sneer and yanked up his gun. But I was already pouring flames from mythroat.
