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Axle nodded, turning to Natalie, knowing what it meant. “We’re going to need a way to lure him out, so you might need to learn a few things, right?” he asked Bingwen.
“Yeah, I’ll teach you how to do a few things, just make sure the power you use to do what I teach you comes from the bracelet, so that way he can sense you. But I’m certain it won’t take too much. Come with me. Axle, you have an hour.”
Axle stared at Bingwen, then he grabbed his phone to call Levi again. But with what Bingwen had proposed, they would be able to finish Kanai off without help from the pack. The longer they left Kanai, the more used to the new power he would become, and that would make him too much of a target to deal with. They had to act soon and take him down before he had full mastery of the power.
“Wait, where are we going to…?” Axle began.
“The caves, where it all started. What better place for it to end?” Bingwen replied as he grabbed Natalie’s hands, trying to teach her basic protection spells.
Once she learned to do those, the magic from the other bracelet would be picked up by Kanai, and he would come for them. Then they would go on ahead with the plan. Axle went into his room and changed into his least preferred clothes, knowing they would be ripped to shreds by the end of the day. He took three minutes and hurried back down, seeing Natalie already effortlessly putting out a shield with a magical purple aura.
“Axle, look!” she said with a smile. She was a natural.
“You can make a shield, yay, now come on. We have to go.”
Taking Bingwen’s banged-up truck was a bad idea, but it was the only vehicle they had that could sit three, so they drove for a little over half an hour before they got to the caves.
Axle carried Nat on his back, running up the slope until they were at the very top. He dropped into the hole and landed on his feet, and Bingwen floated in, looking around.
“Alright, there on the altar. Just do your thing, and we’ll be here, okay?” Bingwen said to Nat before walking off to a corner and sitting on a boulder.
Axle pulled out his phone and tried calling Levi one more time, but it didn’t go through, so he left a voicemail. If things were going to go bad, he wanted his pack with him, no matter what. He put the phone away and walked up to Nat as she stood by the altar where the bracelets had been pulled from.
“Hey, we just need to do the thing, and a few hours from now it’ll be over. Just like the plan, alright?”
He could see Natalie shaking with fear, even though she did her best to try to hide it. But he could hear her heart beating frantically in her chest. “Yeah, I got it.”
Axle turned to see Bingwen pull out the bottle of scotch and put it to his lips, drinking. He turned back to Natalie and grabbed her shoulders, “Look, I know this is a lot. A few weeks ago you were living your normal life, and now you want to help us kill a demon. There’s no way to make that seem normal.”
“Yeah, no shit,” Natalie said with a chuckle.
“But, if we can get through this, maybe things can be different,” Axle continued. “I know you have your life, and all of the things you care about. But I was hoping, maybe, if you don’t mind, maybe you’d want to hang around for a bit.”
“Hang around?” Natalie asked, raising an eyebrow.
“Yeah, I…I like having you around, and…if I’m being honest, I want you around for much longer. So, if you don’t mind, yeah, I want that. So please stay?”
Natalie blushed for a bit before pushing her hair out of the way, smiling at Axle in a way that genuinely warmed his heart, making him smile too. “You know, I still think of you as a genuine asshole, but I kinda like you, so…yeah, I’ll hang around for a bit. Especially considering that my office building was trashed by demons.”
They both laughed, and Axle took her hand, squeezing it gently. “I’ll be watching, and I won’t let anything happen to you, okay?”
“You better,” Natalie replied, pulling him in for a hug. “Let’s get this over with.”
“Lovebirds, come on. I don’t have all day! You think this is the only demon I have to kill today? Let’s end this! Haul ass,” Bingwen yelled, clapping loudly.
Axle nodded at Natalie, turning to walk away. He paused, knowing there was a chance that they could be at the end, and he turned around, wrapping his hands around Natalie and kissing her on the lips, holding her firm. She wasn’t just his mate, she was a woman he had come to fall deeply in love with.
“I love you,” he whispered to her as he pulled away, looking deep into her eyes.
“I…love you, Axle,” Nat whispered back. “I love you.”
“We’re a happy family, couldn’t you have done this at home?” Bingwen argued.
Axle chuckled and walked off to a secluded corner in the cave, hiding from view. Bingwen waved a hand over himself and blended into the background, appearing as a rock to everyone who looked in his direction.
Axle watched as Natalie took a deep breath, the small sound echoing in his ears. She stretched out her hands, ready to do what Bingwen had showed her. Axle heard the tiny reverberations from the bracelet, and a moment later the shield flickered to life in front of her.
“Okay, got it,” Natalie said to herself.
