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“The pirates have joined forces with the guards,” the middle-aged shifter said, twisting a ring with keys in his fingers.
Pirates. Damn it.A wedge formed in my throat. We’d forgotten about them. If the wagons were still here, then they mustn’t have left the slave camp yet.Sea God.Why had we agreed to this idiotic mission in the first place when the odds were so greatly stacked against us?
Keys jangled as the man stepped aside to unlatch the lock on the wagon. I swung the door open, releasing the kidnapped prisoners, and one by one, they crawled out.
So many thank yous swarmed me that it was hard to keep up. People touched my face in appreciation, grabbed my hand, even kissed me, and I found myself flinching at first then soaking up the gratitude.
Shadow pulled me aside, his face strained with urgency. “We don’t have much time. I have to find my family.”
“Shadow, no,” I said. “That’s not wise.”
“I’ll be back shortly,” he said, squeezing my hands then disappearing in the thick black smog.
What a fool he was to run deeper into the camp by himself without backup. Against who knew how many more soldiers and pirates joining the fray. My chest was on the brink of bursting. I couldn’t lose him. I had to go with him.
But all the people swarming me made it hard to leave for my selfish pursuit of Shadow. These people needed me. To show them the way to escape. And I needed to somehow warn Phantom and his father to get out of the camp before they were apprehended. So many responsibilities tugged at me, all just as important, some more selfish than others. But I had to remind myself of why I’d come here in the first place. I had to fulfill my promise to free the imprisoned shifters. Yes, I’d also vowed to free Shadow’s family. But I couldn’t do that if I was dead or walking into a trap. If Shadow came out of this alive, I’d slap him and give him some choice words for leaving.
Behind me, shifters yanked at the fence, shaking it, trying to bring it down. Its hinges groaned against the force.
Grimm, bloodied and battered, surfaced from out of the smoke. “We need to get the captives out of here,” he ordered.
My gaze swung back to the three remaining wagons, still unopened. “What about the rest of them?”
“There’s no time,” Grimm said, his face beaten by defeat. “The pirates and guards are killing too many of us.”
Flare appeared behind Grimm, along with the rest of the resistance, though some faces were missing.
“No!” I said with more force. “Shadow’s gone to get his father. We can’t leave him behind. What about Phantom and his papa?”
I pushed past them into the burning courtyard, covering my mouth at the horror littering the ground. Bodies, so many of them, contorted at unusual angles, bleeding, gasping for their last breaths. A circle of pirates and guards surrounded some freed shifters, tightening around them, trapping them.
No.Shadow was in there somewhere. Fire boiled in my blood. I let the traitors have it with a nasty blast from my rotating rings of glass fragments, taking out half the circle in one blow.
“Time to go, sweetheart,” Flare said. “Yanik, carry her.”
Yanik the tiger shifter picked me up and carried me away.
“No!” I screamed.
Over his shoulder, I cried out, swinging my magic back the other way, destroying our enemies’ weapons, tossing soldiers and pirates against the buildings, the burning fence, and hard against the ground. Anything to give Shadow and his family the best chance of escaping alive.
Shifters scattered, running every which way in a panic. Part of the gates clattered down behind us. Everyone coughed from the thick smoke suffocating us. I could barely see a thing. Panic, chaos, and confusion reigned.
Grimm and the rest of the resistance called out to the shifters, gathering most of them, ushering them to retreat through the gates.
Shifters rushed for their freedom, pursued by guards.
I tried to hold them off, arcing my magic at their pursuers, destroying the first line of them. A dagger struck me in the shoulder. Blinding pain stretched down my arm. I yanked it out and collapsed over Yanik’s back, moaning and bleeding.
“Sweetheart.” Flare said from his position some feet away. “Hold on. We’re nearly in the tunnel. Stay with me. What does the goddess tell you?”
My mind swayed with so many conflicting thoughts, the searing pain claiming most of my attention. Shadow and Phantom both missing and us leaving them behind. All the stray shifters, helpless and trapped. Our escape and how we were going to make it out of here alive.
Hundreds of shifters trailed behind us, crying, wailing, tripping over each other, every one of their faces taxed with pure terror.
“Shadow,” I mumbled through my stinging tears. “Phantom.”
Soon, Flare hauled me into the depths of the tunnel, followed by the rescued shifters.
