AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Go find them,” Nia said to Oliver, sliding in seamlessly and adding her blasts. I hadn’t seen her during the battle, but she’d clearly been fighting, her armor stained with blood. I’d never been more grateful in that moment that she slept with her armor on, and annoyed at myself for not doing the same thing. She said something softly to him that I couldn’t hear over the sounds of battle, and his wide eyes fixed on her before he nodded, disengaging and running off toward the north end of the forest.
Roxy, seeing his escape, tried to blast a spell at his retreating back, but Nia slid into its path, easily parrying it as she threw a water-whip at Roxy, following up with a slash from the katana she wielded. Roxy’s eyes widened, not expecting Nia to try to close the distance between them so aggressively, her movements becoming increasingly more frantic as we pressed in on them, a tall shimmering shield blossoming before her. Nia danced around her, taking shots at every opening she could find. I jumped in with bursts of lightning, relentless as we both wore her down until we were all panting and sweaty and Roxy’s shield started to waver with her exertion. Roxy threw out a desperate hand, her shield blasting forward and knocking us off our feet as she clapped her hands, and then she was gone.
“What a coward,” Nia scoffed as we took a moment to catch our breath, keeping a watchful eye on the battle around us. “It should be an honor to die on the battlefield, like a true warrior.”
“If you die, I think Lily might bring you back just to kill you again,” I told her. A smirk was her only answer as she spotted a younger raven shifter in trouble. She was doing her best to scratch out the eyes of the Fae she was fighting, but it was a losing battle as the air Fae kept blasting her off course with gusts of wind. Lily pulled up alongside us, her eyes alight as if she was having the most fun she’d ever had. Her free spirit thrived in chaos, and Nia gave her an appraising glance as they made an unspoken agreement, breaking into a run toward the raven shifter in trouble.
A sharp yelp of pain turned my head, my heart wrenching in my chest as I saw Callan thrown back, his fall broken only by the giant oak he slammed into, slumping into a heap with a whimper as he landed. Cas advanced toward him, lightning writhing around his hands, pure deadly energy.
No!
I threw a blast toward Cas, catching him off guard as he made his way toward my panther shifter. The blast hit him in the side, and he sidestepped with a grunt of pain but otherwise stayed standing. The more energy I expended, the weaker I got, and my attacks were dwindling with every blast. There had to be another way to overpower Cas and hope that Oliver made it back in time to help me kill the bastard.
I repositioned as Cas recovered, my body standing directly between him and Callan, the fury on Cas’s face making him look even uglier than his personality already did. He narrowed his eyes at me, his eyes zeroing in on a spot on my neck before throwing his head back and laughing. “Oh, dear sister, shacking up with the savages? I’m not even the least bit surprised. You are one of them after all.”
My fingers trembled as I threw another attack at him, which he easily deflected as he built up one of his own. I barely managed to dodge out of the way, and I risked a glance over my shoulder, relieved when I saw Callan pushing himself up from the ground, eyes blazing with fury. Cas shot another blast at me, which I barely dodged and responded with one of my own. Callan brushed up against me, his midnight power flooding into me, and I felt part of my strength return before he ran forward. If he was injured from his earlier fight with Cas, he didn’t let it show, his lean feline muscles rippling with power as he ran at Cas. I joined him, using the renewed energy he’d given me to take my own shots at Cas.
Cas’s eyes widened as we worked in tandem. If I wasn’t shooting golden sparks at him, then Callan was right there, slashing and biting at Cas as he tried to circle around him, tried to get him to turn his back against one of us. But he was smarter than that. He kept us at bay on two sides, but I could see the strain his power was causing him, the way his eyes crinkled at the corners, the slight tremor in his hands as he continued to weave blast after blast. I managed to get particularly close to him, my dagger making a deep cut in his thigh. He threw a hand to the sky, and just like that, he was gone in a burst of lightning.
“Goddammit,” I ground out, looking around the battlefield for where he could have gone and not seeing him anywhere.
Interrupting my confusion, a screech sounded overhead, and we all looked up to see our new arrivals.
‘Hello, little one,’Aura said in my mind as she dove into the fray, easily spearing a naga with her ferocious talons, her muscles tensing as she literally ripped him in half, his blood and guts spilling everywhere.
I was grateful to see Aura again, but it was her companion that shocked me even more. Varus said nothing as he descended, his muscles bulging as he speared a naga of his own, making quick work of the snake-like creature and moving on to the next like a killing machine. I thought I may never see him again, after he’d abandoned us with the shadow beasts. Where was Lithia?
My attention was pulled away from the much-needed reinforcements as Oliver came running back toward us, blood splattered across his face, dying his silver hair a dark maroon. “Where did he go?” He meant Cas, who I had let get away like an idiot. The battle around us was dying out, thankfully in our favor, and Callan moved to wrap around my legs, his body pressed flush against mine as he stayed alert. I reached down, threading my fingers through the soft patch of fur on his back, taking comfort from his presence as I scanned the battlefield for Cas, who was nowhere to be seen.Coward.
“He disappeared in a bolt of fucking lightning,” I grumbled. I’d made a lot of progress with my powers, but I had no idea how Cas was able to just teleport himself out of danger.
‘We can’t let him get away,’Callan said into my mind from where we touched.
“We need to find him,” I said out loud as I scanned the mayhem, the battle starting to shift in our favor. The elemental Fae were harder to fight, but Nia jumped on Aura’s back, casting her water magic while Aura attacked with her feet, a deadly duo as they took on a fire-wielding Fae. “I’m the one he wants. I didn’t cut him deep enough to cause serious damage. He’s not done with this fight yet.” Roxy also hadn’t made a reappearance, and that made me nervous, knowing she could reappear at a moment’s notice.
Almost as if she’d heard me, Roxy materialized near Nia, throwing a magical blast at Aura that knocked them off course, sending them into disarray. Nia recovered quickly, a water whip blasting out from her as she fought. I started toward them, wanting to make sure no one else got hurt, when a cry of pain rang out over the noise, piercing straight through my heart.Lily.
My stomach dropped as I turned to look, my heart leaping into my throat as I saw Lexi, her red fur stained dark with blood. Lily’s smaller form struggled beneath Lexi as she bared her teeth, trying her best to rip Lily’s throat out. Without even thinking, I bolted toward them, lightning already springing to my palms as I went. I lashed out, power flowing from my hands, but I was too late, her teeth already sinking deep into Lily’s neck as the blast connected with her, causing her to drop Lily in a heap on the floor.
In my weakened state the strike didn’t do nearly what I wanted, and Lexi was quick to recover, her menacing gaze on me, Lily’s blood staining her mouth. I looked at my prone friend, a slight tremor the only sign she was still alive. A deafening rage erupted in my soul with a hatred so intense I’d never felt before. With a primal growl, I lunged toward Lexi, my mind set on revenge and protecting Lily.
I was feet away from Lexi when lightning struck the ground in front of me, and I barely had enough time to react and dodge out of the way, rolling into a tumble on the ground before standing back up. I risked a glance to my left, Cas’s smug face staring back at me from where he stood. I’d let myself get too distracted, and I froze.
“Keep going, Rowan!” Oliver yelled behind me, as he threw a burst of fire at Cas, who had no choice but to block, turning his attention to the halfling witch as he threw lightning back. Callan’s sleek form darted past Oliver as he went after Cas.
A growl yanked my attention back to Lexi as she readied to go back for a strike to Lily’s throat, who struggled to move, trying to pull herself up but falling back weakly on the ground with a whine. Lexi made eye contact with me, a wolfy grin splitting her face as she moved to strike.
“NO!” I shouted, sending a blast of lightning faster than I ever had before, pouring as much strength as I could into it, blasting Lexi away from Lily into a crumpled heap on the floor. She didn’t move. I continued to run forward, muscles burning, as I stopped by Lily, leaning down to check on my friend. My heightened hearing picked up a heartbeat, weak but still there.
“Nia!” I shouted. An alarming amount of blood pooled under Lily, her eyelids fluttering weakly as she tried to lift her head up. “Stay down. Nia is going to heal you, and then you’re going to be just fine. I promise.” My voice cracked as I looked at her, all her usual sass and personality hidden under her injuries. I didn’t know how severe her injuries would have to be for her healing not to save her, but judging by the amount of blood she’d lost, she was toeing that line. I couldn’t lose another one. Not Lily. I turned my head desperately to look behind me, relief filling me as I saw Nia and Wolfe bounding toward us, Aura not far behind.
“Watch out!” Wolfe shouted as they continued running, and I whipped my head forward. Lexi’s wolf stood on all fours, her eyes narrowed with pure hatred as she shook her head out, throwing off the remnants of my blast. She eyed Lily on the ground, before lolling her tongue out of her mouth, taunting me.Look what I did, her expression seemed to say.
I stood unsteadily, bringing my dagger forward as I stepped in front of Lily protectively. I called to my magic but managed nothing more than a few sparks in my spent state. Looks like I was going to have to do this the old-fashioned way. Her eyes zeroed in on my sparking fingertips and she ran toward me, wanting to take advantage of my weakness. Not wanting her to get near Lily, I followed her lead, running straight for her. Thoughts of Callan raced through my mind as we collided.
I leaned into my shifter powers as much as possible, spurring my reflexes but holding my human shape. Lexi slashed at me with tooth and claw as I did the same with my dagger, each of us leaving marks on the other. The wounds she’d left on my arm earlier protested in pain as new ones joined them, but I fought viciously, using my agility to my advantage as her larger figure struggled to twist and turn to keep up with me.
My knife sliced into her hind leg, and she cried out in pain but didn’t back down, instead twisting her body to the side, barreling into me and knocking us both to the ground, the knife slipping from my grasp. She recovered faster, wasting no time in getting on top of me, her claws piercing through my shirt. My arms were pinned against her chest as I tried to push her off. I craned my neck away from her teeth as she tried to bite my face off, my muscles straining with the effort. I looked for help, but my friends were too far away to make it in time. I was on my own.
