Chapter 21 - Wyn
The extraction team brings Raegan back unconscious and bleeding from her nose.
“Get the medic,” I bark to Theodore as they carry her into the command center. Her skin looks gray, drained of color, and her breathing comes in shallow gasps.
“What happened out there?” I ask Jay, who led the backup team.
“We’re not sure. We found her collapsed at the rendezvous point with one of our intelligence specialists,” he reports. “Both of them were barely conscious. Raegan kept muttering about weapons and timelines.”
The medic arrives and starts checking Raegan’s vitals. “Psychic exhaustion,” she diagnoses after a quick examination. “Severe overuse of abilities. Her brain needs rest.”
“How long until she wakes up?”
“Could be minutes or hours. Depends on how far she pushed herself.”
I pace the small medical area while the medic works. Every minute Raegan stays unconscious is another minute we don’t have critical intelligence about Thornridge’s plans, but more importantly, it’s one more minute I don’t know if she’s going to be okay.
“Sir,” Theodore calls from across the room, “the intelligence specialist is awake.”
I hurry over to where our rescued operative sits propped against the wall. She’s beaten and exhausted but alert.
“Report,” I tell her.
“They have weapons powered by stolen Amanzite,” she begins as her debriefing training kicks in. “Magical constructs, unlike anything I’ve seen before. Cannons that can level buildings. Devices that drain life force from a distance.”
My blood runs cold. “How many?”
“Dozens in various stages of completion. They’re mass-producing them.”
“For what purpose?”
“I don’t know. They wouldn’t discuss strategy in front of prisoners. But the scale suggests they’re planning something far beyond taking our territory.”
Theodore frowns. “Could they be planning to attack multiple regions at once?”
“Maybe,” the specialist responds. “The weapons are designed for portability. Easy to transport and deploy quickly.”
“But why would they need so many?” I wonder aloud. “Even conquering our entire territory wouldn’t require that level of firepower.”
Raegan stirs on the medical cot, and I rush back to her side. Her eyes flutter open, and when she opens them, they seem unfocused and confused.
“Wyn?” she whispers.
“I’m here. How do you feel?”
“Like my brain’s been turned inside out.” She tries to sit up, but the medic pushes her back down.
“Stay still,” the medic orders. “You need rest.”
“We don’t have time for rest,” Raegan protests. “They’re attacking at dawn.”
“Dawn?” I check the clock. “That’s less than ten hours from now.”
“Mordaunt is coordinating the assault. From what I heard, they’re using a three-pronged attack designed to overwhelm our defenses and seize the Amanzite reserves.”
Theodore approaches, waving around a communication device. “Sir, we’re intercepting Thornridge radio chatter. You need to hear this.”
He activates the speaker, and Mordaunt’s voice comes out loud and clear.
“Primary objective remains the Amanzite stockpile. The secondary objective is the omega psychic. I want her alive and unharmed. Her abilities are too valuable to waste.”
My hands clench into fists. They’re still after her.
“What about resistance forces?” another voice asks.
“Eliminate all opposition except the omega. That includes the wolf who thinks he’s her bodyguard and any family members. Make examples of the leadership.”
The mention of killing me doesn’t bother me as much as the threat to Raegan’s family. They’re talking about taking out an alpha. These people have no limits.
“Sir,” someone addresses Mordaunt, “should we prioritize the omega capture over securing the Amanzite?”
“Negative. Secure the reserves first. The omega will come to us once we have what we want.”
The transmission ends, and we all gawk at one another.
“They think you’ll surrender to save innocent lives,” I tell Raegan.
“They’re not wrong.” She finally manages to sit up despite the medic’s protests. “But not in the way they expect.”
“What do you mean?”
“I have an idea. A way to use their expectations against them.”
The determined look in her eyes makes me nervous. There’s always something crazy coming when she gets that look on her face. “What kind of idea?”
“You won’t like it,” she warns. “It requires both of us to walk into maximum danger.”
Every instinct I possess screams against whatever she’s planning. But something has changed between us since our last argument. I can’t keep trying to shield her from her own choices.
“I’m listening,” I tell her.
She blinks at me a few times, like she thinks she might be hallucinating. “They want me alive because of my psychic abilities. They also want the Amanzite reserves. If we can make them think they can get both at the same time…”
“You want to use yourself as bait.”
The medic finishes her examination and steps back. “She needs at least twelve hours of rest to recover fully.”
“I’ll rest when this is over,” Raegan declares before swinging her legs off the cot.
“Raegan—”
“They’re coming whether I’m at full strength or not. Better to meet them on our terms than wait for them to choose the battlefield.”
Theodore approaches with more intelligence reports. “Our scouts confirm enemy movement. Three separate forces converging on our position from different directions.”
“What about allies?” Raegan asks. “Can my brother send reinforcements?”
“Already requested. Oren’s bringing fifty fighters, but they won’t arrive until midday.”
“After the assault begins.”
“Yes.”
Raegan stands and walks to the tactical map spread across our planning table. “Then we need to change their timeline.”
“How?”
“By giving them a target they can’t resist.”
She points to a location on the map—an exposed position between our current defensive lines and the Amanzite storage facility.
“If they think they can capture me and secure the reserves simultaneously, they’ll concentrate their forces for a single decisive strike instead of the three-pronged attack.”
“That puts you in the most dangerous possible position.”
“It also puts their entire force in one location where we can hit them with everything we have.”
Her plan has merit, but the risk to her personally is enormous.
“They’ll send their best fighters to capture you,” I point out.
“Then we’ll need to be better.”
“We?”
“You don’t think I’m doing this alone, do you?”
The way she includes me in the most dangerous part of the plan should terrify me. Instead, it feels right. Natural. Like we’re finally becoming the partnership we should have been from the beginning.
“What exactly are you proposing?” Theodore asks.
Raegan traces routes on the map. “We position ourselves here, apparently vulnerable, but actually with clear escape routes. When they commit their forces to capture me, our fighters hit them from concealed positions.”
“A trap.”
“Exactly. But it only works if they believe they can take me alive.”
“Which means you’ll have to let them get close enough to try.”
“Very close.”
The room falls silent, probably waiting for me to refuse. Raegan would be acting as bait for forces specifically hunting her, with success depending on perfect timing and coordination. Her brother isn’t going to like it any more than I do.
“It’s suicide,” Jay declares.
“It’s our best chance,” Raegan counters. “Maybe our only chance.”
I want to argue, to find another solution that doesn’t put her at such risk. But looking at the tactical situation, I can’t see alternatives that don’t result in defeat.
“How close would they need to get?” I ask.
“Close enough for their capture teams to think they have me. Probably within fifty yards.”
“That’s too close. If something goes wrong—”
“Then we adapt and keep fighting.”
Her calm acceptance of mortal danger still unsettles me, but I’m learning to trust her judgment even when it conflicts with my protective instincts.
“What kind of support would you need?” Theodore asks.
“Hidden sniper positions covering the approach routes. Mobile teams ready to strike when the signal comes. And someone watching my back during the actual confrontation.”
She looks directly at me as she says the last part.
“I’ll be with you,” I tell her without hesitation.
“Are you sure? They specifically mentioned killing my bodyguard.”
“Let them try.”
For the first time since her return, Raegan smiles. “Then we have a plan.”
“Well, I have to get approval from the alpha,” I remind her. “But you have my support.”
The intelligence specialist speaks up from her position against the wall. “There’s something else you should know about their weapons.”
“What?” Raegan asks.
“I saw focusing arrays that could hit individual targets from miles away.”
“That changes things,” Theodore comments. “If they can pick off our leaders from a distance—”
“Then we don’t give them clear targets,” Raegan interrupts. “We keep Ash and Oren out of sight. If the alpha and luna go down, we’re screwed.”
I snort and reply, “You think your brother is going to go for that?”
“No, but I’m counting on you to convince him it’s necessary.”
“He wouldn’t have to stay hidden for long,” the specialist continues. “The weapons also seem to be powered by individual Amanzite cores. Take out the core, disable the weapon.”
A new possibility occurs to me. “Could we turn their weapons against them?”
“Theoretically, yes. But you’d need to understand the magical interface systems.”
Raegan and I look at each other. Neither of us has expertise in magical weapons.
“I might know someone who could help,” she says thoughtfully. “I’m willing to bet the matriarch could do it, and she wouldn’t even need to get that close.”
The next few hours pass in a flurry of preparation and waiting. Theodore coordinates the positioning of our fighters while Raegan reviews the maps one more time. I can see the exhaustion in her face, but she refuses to rest.
“Contact on the perimeter,” Jay reports over the radio. “Friendly forces approaching from the east.”