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They crane their heads, eliciting threatening growls as they all pin their gazes to the one who was leading them.
My eyes follow suit, taking in his body and how massive it is in size with his wingspan on full display, with a leathery black hide that looks impenetrable.
Emma shifts in my arms, noticing who everyone is looking at, and gasps. “He’s the one who carried my soul back to you,” she whispers. Her words make my heart thump painfully against her, and it’s shocking enough to steal the air straight from my lungs. I’m thankful for the wyvern before us, but the image of her soul lost to her body has my insides trembling.
At the sound of her voice, the wyvern’s head snaps towards us. Those slitted silver eyes like mine pin on Emma, roaring loud enough to send ripples over the top of the Sea of Souls beneath us. The beast in me seems to know what he’s asking, knowing he means no harm, and that I can trust him.
I nod, giving a single thrust of my wings to make my way to him. Emma’s hands give a reassuring squeeze and the other wyvern shifters part to let us through.
When we near, he dips his head low, and waits until she reaches for him.
“It’s okay,” Emma whispers.
“I know.” I give a reassuring kiss on her temple before stretching my arms out for her to climb onto his back. She situates herself between the spikes at the base of his neck.
I wait for the part of me to drag her back into my arms, to show my claim on her. But my inner beast seems to not feel threatened by one of my own, and all I can feel is relief when my mind remains sane. My vision stays clear.
The wyvern dips his head to me, and a tingle of familiarity brushes over my skin. His eyes cut to Whiro—still swarming in shadows—and I know that look well. It’s one that says, It’s time to finish this.
The wyvern’s chest pulls up tightly, and with one drawn-in breath, unleashes a torrent of dark power. A roar rumbles deep from his belly, the mountain around us quakes, and the other wyverns release thunderous war cries. The wyvern’s own shadows strike into Whiro’s power that still rages, signaling for the rest to follow suit. Emma and I share one final look before adding our own, hurling currents of energy into the same spot.
With my arms free from holding Emma, I can grasp better control of my aim, making sure to hit my mark. All of our powers blend together, becoming one as they slam against Whiro’s. Even the petals on the jasmine flowers hugging the splintered pillars wilt, cowering away from the intensity.
The wyvern’s collective attack sounds like the rush of a waterfall, slowly drowning Whiro’s energy underneath ours.
But then a loud clicking echoes, cutting through the whirling stream of our power. My gaze snaps down, finding ghouls beginning to trickle out from the opening on the ground below, and some even work their way up the winding steps that wrap around the Sea of Souls, hugging the side of the cave. Their pointed teeth are bared, and their skeletal bodies crouch and sway with hisses as they spit towards us. They’ve come for their master, to protect him, but I have no doubt that Whiro would throw them in front of him like a shield if it meant he’d save himself.
A splintering crack ricochets in the air, and I snap my head back to Whiro, whose shield starts to rupture. Suddenly, he disappears, only to slam power into us from below. I manage to duck and dive out of his path, snapping my wings out to catch myself and halt my movements. My eyes hurry to find Emma, and I breathe out a sigh of relief when I spy her, and that the wyvern also dodged the sudden attack. But I can’t say the same for others as they are thrown into the stone of the mountain, imprinting their bodies into it as it fractures around them.
I launch myself to Emma’s side, and she is already twisted on the back of the wyvern. Grunting, she blocks Whiro’s next attack, almost as if she can sense his next move. She has a mix of her light and dark power, both weaving together in perfect harmony as she dispels his shadows from reaching us.
She holds that flow of her power, letting it flood the surrounding air around Whiro that allows us time to dive down, landing on the other side of the stone floor. Emma shifts, righting her body to straddle the wyvern to face forward again, and pulls her power back to find Whiro standing among his vile creatures that have begun to crowd behind him. Before she can fully seat herself, she throws her darkness out in a steady stream when Whiro tries to lash out again at her.
His fingers are straining from the force, his veins are bulging in his neck, and spit is flying from between his bared teeth, practically foaming at the mouth. The rushing of power hums throughout the cave as Emma puts more force into it, her nostrils flaring from the exertion as their shadows clash against one another.
The rest of the wyvern form behind us, many staying airborne. And in the span of half a breath, the rest of us join in to combine our power to blend with Emma’s, forcing Whiro to stumble back a few steps and growl in frustration.
I grit my teeth, feeling my body start to shake with the rush of energy flooding out of me. Beads of sweat form on my forehead, immediately cooling with the temperature of the realm.
“Don’t stop. I can sense him weakening,” Emma links into my mind, though even her voice in my head sounds rough and breathy. The toll of using so much of her energy is becoming a burden on her body.
“Never. I won’t ever stop, little demon,” I say back, earning a smirk from her when she briefly cuts her eyes to me, and I swear my cock pulses from that one look. Fuck. I’m so gone for her if she can get me hard in the middle of a fucking battle.
I force the raging need for her into my power, letting it course through my veins wildly. Growling through clenched teeth, my tendril of shadows grows and strengthens. The flow of it pours from my fingers unforgivingly and my vision starts to blur around the edges.
It feels like hours pass, but it's only been minutes when Whiro’s band of power explodes. Leaving him open for our wrath, and revealing a God who, for the first time, is understanding what losing feels like. To know he can’t escape this fate as all of us constrict our shadows around his body before he can retaliate. And for him to finally come face to face with death.
CHAPTER FORTY-SIX
Emma
With a twist of my hand, I alter my shadows to coil around Whiro like a rope, feeling his body tense the moment I trickle in a small thread of light. He tries to break free from the restraint, but it's no use when all the shifters do the same, binding him in darkness. The black veins that web around his eyes swell and pulse. His grunts and snarls echo in the cave as he continues to protest against our hold.
The ghouls creep closer, shrieking and scraping their claws on the weathered stone floor. One tries to help Whiro, but the force of our power consuming its master throws it backward, fast and hard. It smacks into the spiraling stairs, falling limply to the ground.
I shift my weight on the back of the wyvern, clenching my thighs tighter against his hide to keep from sliding. The drumming in my ears intensifies when those black orbs lock on mine. “You can’t kill me,” Whiro seethes, and I feel a growl vibrate from the wyvern beneath me. “I will make the world fall apart and take every soul with me.”
Clicking my tongue, I cock my head slowly to the side as I study him for a moment. Much like how I would to those Fae I was seconds away from killing when I lived here.
