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“Let hergo.”
“Or what? You’ll give me your weak Elderling friend?” He spat at my feet. “Useless to have only one. But three?” He glanced at Galanthia who was keeping the other three wolves she hadn’t yet defeated at bay. “We could have ourselves a real big party.”
I couldn’t see beyond the pain I felt in my soul. Macy was bleeding out in front of me. Her aura was fading fast, and I could sense two others in the house who were in desperate need of medical attention. If I didn’t act quickly, someone would die.
My vision sharpened as a long ringing sound echoed around me.
Not again, I swore as I bent into an attack position.That’s never happening again!
The sounds of war muted as the ringing took over my ears. I heard someone screaming, and then I heard the horrifying sound of flesh tearing. Hot liquid pooled around my fingertips. Light flashed in my eyes. Voices grew loud, rose to divine heights, and then crashed, producing an explosion unlike the one I’d heard before I barged in here.
Macy was on her side in a crimson tide. Percy was staring at me with bulging eyes, clawing at my wrists to get me to release his throat. Somewhere, pain registered along my arms, tiny scratches produced by his partially shifted fingers. His tongue lashed out of his mouth as he croaked and struggled to breathe.
“You’ll never have us,” I stated in a voice made of a thousand sounds. “Our deaths will never be in your hands. For the rest of your life, you’ll be torn, wondering why I bothered to spare you.”
When I dropped him, he scampered into a corner, staring at me with a terrified look. Galanthia joined my side. She held Rick by the scruff, a wound in his throat pouring life force out into the room. Infectious energy tugged at my heartstrings, making it nearly impossible to focus as I realized just how much life force was available for me to take.
Galanthia dropped Rick at Percy’s feet. “Your wolf is dying. But I won’t be the one to show him mercy. Will you?”
A groan from my right caught my attention, dragging me back to earth, back to my usual size—and back to Macy. I dropped to my knees beside her and cradled her head, trying to discern exactly how much blood she had lost. So much of her life force filled this room. Her eyelids fluttered. Her lips parted.
I shushed her. “Don’t talk. I’m going to help.” I ran my fingers over her wrist. Within seconds, the skin patched together as beautifully as it had appeared hours ago. “You need water. You need rest. Let me take care of you.”
Though her lips barely moved, I felt her energy swirl around me. Her heart beat so faintly that it made me sick to think she might lose the beat entirely. Behind me, Galanthia was telling Raven where the others were located.
Raven paused near me. I waved her off. “She’s fine. Go get the others!”
Groans came from the staircase. Raven raced up the steps with a couple of her soldiers in tow, skittering on the wood floor upstairs and hopping over the hole I’d made in the ceiling with my head. Injured wolves whimpered from outside. As far as I could tell, they were all Percy’s men.
My eyes floated to the corner where Percy held Rick’s head. Angry tears streamed down his face as he took a deep breath. The injured wolf blinked with a dazed expression, his tongue hanging lazily out of his maw. Dark patches stained his fur.
Macy’s hand flew up. I grabbed her wrist and held her hand steady, trying to shush her again.
“You tell Macy,” Percy said, his voice scratchy and bruised from my claws. “You tell her how you made me kill her lover.”
Snap.
A new life force trickled into my system. Galanthia inhaled sharply, feeling it too. Rick had left us—and Percy would probably blame us for his death. But the stark truth was that Percy had started this war by putting Macy on parade. He had invited death to his doorstep. He had practically begged for it.
Despite that, we weren’t going to kill any of his people. What Raven’s wolves ended up choosing to do was on them, but Galanthia and I—and Izdor, though he wasn’t currently conscious—had agreed just after we arrived in this realm that we wouldn’t kill again unless it was absolutely necessary.
Even then, we would do everything in our power to avoid killing.
Never again.
I lowered my gaze to my love, watching her snooze peacefully in a pile of rubbish and blood. When I heard Raven come down the stairs, I looked up, noticing Etta on her back and Izdor on another wolf’s back. Galanthia ran to him. He was incredibly weak, kept alive by magic given freely by the weakened witch.
My heart soared with triumph. I scooped Macy into my arms and guided my pack to the door. Percy coughed from his corner, the surroundings so distinctly quiet that it sounded like he was hacking into a megaphone.
“You’ll pay for this,” he rasped. “You and your family. You’ll pay…”
I glanced at Raven who merely marched forward. She didn’t want to give him a second glance, so I followed her lead and ignored his gruff cries. We wouldn’t kill him. But we wouldn’t save him either.
Sensational light glowed from Macy. Gold, yes, that was the color I recalled from earlier, but there was another unearthly color in there that reminded me of home. Brilliance like that existed with supernatural life forces, usually with Elderlings right after they absorbed such energy.
Healing her had transferred some of that life force. It was probably highlighting the new pieces of her aura and enhancing them. Nothing more. Once she got enough rest, her colors would settle, and then I could probe her energy to see what precisely had changed between us. Was it that our bond had gotten stronger?
I called my wings forth as I stood in the yard. The groans of the injured met my ears, tossing me back into the dark cavern of my past where my crimes had gone unpunished. I studied the woman in my arms as my heart bled with guilt, shame, and regret.
