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“Did you know what my father did at the bar?” I asked.
He looked up at me, then around at the others as he sniffed. “What are you talking about?”
I didn’t answer him instead; I stood and looked around at my friends with a new determination.
“Spread the word of what Dad did to you all at the bar. Tell anyone who will listen that if they surrender, they will be given a chance to swear their allegiance to the Rigel family or leave to berogues once more. Try and get as many people to agree to peace as you can.”
“What about you?” Cheri asked.
I looked around at the fighting, my eyes searching for raven hair among the fighting surrounding the packhouse.
“I have to find Liberty.”
“Watch out for your dad,” Cheri said. “I heard him tell the witch that he would be looking for your mate. He said he wants to be the one to purge you of your sickness.”
I rushed into the battle at her words, diving between clashing bodies and helping both pack and rogue members alike as I went. My heart raced with fear that my father would harm my mate. He called her a sickness and made it seem like he had to save me from her. It was as close to fatherly affection as he had ever shown me since Mom died. Maybe, just maybe, there was hope of me changing him. Maybe I could still convince him to give up peacefully and accept my bond.
I had to try.
Chapter Twenty
Liberty
The warriors called out over the pack mindlink for help. Rogues poured in from the forest in waves. We hadn’t sensed them coming. Not with the witch keeping their scent and her magic hidden.
“The witch is an ancient!”I linked to my family.“Be careful when approaching her!”
I kicked myself for not having warned them sooner. I had been so wrapped in the drama of my own mate that I hadn’t reported my finding about the witch. Now they were attacking, and I was the only one remotely prepared for her power.
“Your mom has it covered. Your brother and you help the warriors,”Dad linked back.
I turned my head in the direction I sensed my family was, just in time to see my parents charging at the witch. Dad had shifted to his large black wolf with Mom on his back. The ground was shaking beneath the witch’s feet as Mom called on her magic, and dark clouds whipped around into a funnel.
The dark witch let out a burst of flames at my parents as they came close. I felt my heart race until the moment they leaped from the other side with a burst of rain to douse the surrounding fire. Mom flew from Dad’s back with a burst of wind to land behind the witch and as she turned to fight my mom, Dad leaped forward with his teeth and claws, ready to rip the witch apart.
“Come on! Mom and Dad have her covered!”Brady called out in the family mindlink to me.“There are several rogues arriving and fighting the other rogues. We must guide the warriors to not fight with them.”
I turned to look around at my brother’s claim and discovered that he was right. I recognized Rory from the bar as she leaped over two warriors coming for her and landed on top of a fellow rogue. She seemed to do her best not to kill but to restrain him and drag him off into the forest. As I watched, I noticed many other rogues doing the same as her.
“Everyone!”I quickly mindlinked the pack.“Avoid the rogues dragging the others away. Help them! Do not kill if you do not need to do so. Help restrain the rogues! Remember! These are our friends and family we are fighting!”
The warriors all shifted their tactics at my command. They began to help Rory and the others in restraining the other rogues. Brady and I joined them, aiding those who were overwhelmed by their battles.
Brady and I began to do the same. We worked together with the warriors and rogues to subdue the attacking rogues. Their numbers were dwindling, but there were still many fighting with an aim of killing. As I watched and helped my pack mates fight them off, I noticed those with the greatest fighting spirit did not seem fully cognitive. Their eyes were fading to an animalistic light. They were going feral.
“Brady! Be careful! Many of the remaining rogues are losing their minds! They’re more animal than human now!”I linked to my brother.
“Tell the others!”he quickly linked back.“The witches are almost here to help!”My brother’s echoing scream cut our link off.
Ice washed over me at the sound, and I spun in circles to try and find him. Near the fence line, I spotted his bright red hair. Hehad fallen into battle with the blond wolf I had seen sitting with Xander’s father in the bar.
The rogue wolf had a look of enjoyment on his face, and his body was covered in blood from his head to his clawed toes. He looked like a monster in a half-shifted form, only his head remaining that of a man with sharpened teeth. The rest of him stood on the hind legs of a wolf, and golden fur sprouted along his bare body.
“Brady!” I yelled. I felt as if my feet couldn’t gain traction on the ground. I wasn’t moving fast enough. Panic wracked through my body as I jumped over any who were running to meet me in battle. My body moved like a quarterback with his eyes on the end zone. I had to get to my brother and save him from the vicious monster attacking him.
Brady let out a fierce cry, and a beacon of burning light shot from his hands into the rogue’s face. The partially-shifted wolf let out a scream as his clawed hands covered his face, where my brother’s light had touched him. He stumbled back and my brother kept his fighting stance, waiting for the next attack.
I was almost there, a row of rouges and warriors still blocking my path to my brother. As the blonde wolf moved his hands from his face, I could make out the burn marks on his skin. As the skin shriveled and peeled away, I could make out the marks on a face that was once beautiful, almost angelic.
