Chapter 11
CHAPTER ELEVEN
Damien
I shouldn’t have been surprised that Holden had taken action while my parents and I were gone.
The two of us stood next to one another, facing the barrier that was falling between us and the capital, and for the first time ever—I felt equal.
I no longer felt as though I couldn’t compare to him.
Instead, I felt proud to stand next to him and fight for the Kingdom of Pura alongside the other princes and our militia.
The two of us had been competitive most of our lives, like most brothers are, but where he had found it fun and more of a sport...
I’d found it taxing. My parents had never made me feel like I was less than him, but there had always been a part of me that had wondered if he wasn’t a better fit for the position of our house’s future ruler.
Now, though, with him not only standing equal to me but following my command, I felt every inch the role I was supposed to fill. I truly felt like a leader.
I felt like the king of the House of Hellfire with my parents trapped in the Capital, but I would happily hand the reins back over to them as soon as we freed them.
I was missing my queen, and that was a hard and bitter pill to swallow.
As a Hellhound, I was beyond protective over my mate, and I couldn’t help but feel as though I’d failed her epically.
I had let our soul mate, our other half, be taken.
She had been just lifted from our lives, and I had no idea when or how I would see her again.
I swear, tracking her scent and finding that it led to a dead-end would be a moment of horror that would stick with me for the rest of my damned life.
I think my stomach had dropped so fast I’d nearly stumbled when I’d realized that Ama hadn’t run…
she’d been taken. And then, for Drayven to tell us about that dream and to insist that we continue on to the Kingdom of Pura instead of searching for her?
My Hellhound had nearly ripped out his throat for that.
It had taken Finias using his runes to constrain me long enough to see through the haze of anger.
We couldn’t deny our mate’s wants though, even if they didn’t seem to fit what we thought best. If she wanted us to fight this war before coming for her, then we would fucking fight. I would prove to her that I was worthy of being her mate.
Plus, the minute I had Ama back, I was going to mark up her tight, sexy body with even more marks so she always remembered whose mate she was.
So every time she looked at her skin, she could remember just how deeply I wanted to imbed myself in her, physically, emotionally, and mentally.
That thought gave me far more motivation than before to fight this war and find our girl. Only then could I find some peace.
Although, I had a feeling that realizing she was missing was going to haunt me for a long fucking time to come. That ingrained sense of fear and realization of the fact that I’d lost her wasn’t something I could easily ignore.
“You ready for this, brother?” Holden asked, looking excited at the prospect of fighting. I nodded sharply, knowing that he was already embracing his Hellhound.
It was one of the things that had always set us apart, but as I closed my eyes and surrendered to it, I knew without a doubt that things were different this time.
I didn’t fear the change as much. I didn’t fear what I would become—not only because I was more connected to my Hellhound, but because my mate accepted us. Fully.
Where is our mate?
Those were the first words out of my Hellhound's thoughts as I opened up the connection while shifting. He had been growling and pacing around our subconscious now for the past two days. I’d tried to ignore him, knowing I couldn’t afford to have him let loose, but the time for that was over.
I didn’t take pleasure in the idea of killing, but I also wouldn’t hesitate to if they attacked.
I let out a low growl as I realized that behind the barrier ahead of us were a large number of Dark Elves who had managed to gather. I could see the surprise on their faces at our numbers though, making me feel already half victorious.
Where is our mate?!
The demand pulled me from my thoughts of bloodlust to try to answer my Hellhound.
Gone. She was taken.
My Hellhound was uncharacteristically quiet for a second before I felt him shove me forcefully back so he could completely take over.
I felt metaphysical pain sear through me, and it was enough of a distraction that, when I heard the clattering of armor and roar of battle, I realized we were surging forward to meet the Dark Elves. Shit.
Instead of fighting my Hellhound, I completely gave in to the darkness as we met them head-on, their magic filling the space in the form of elemental power.
I would give the fuckers that—it felt like we were going against far more than the numbers they physically had.
They were able to break the ground open easily, toppling people to the side, then sweeping them off their feet with hurricane-force winds.
I felt a fireball hit the ground near me, the chaos around me echoing in a bloodlust-filled haze.
When I felt the first direct attack towards me, my Hellhound absolutely lost it.
These elves weren’t playing to surrender, they were playing to win or die.
One of them, covered in a vast number of runes, came right for me, blasting me with fire.
I immediately tried to dodge it, the inferno singeing my fur as I let out a vicious growl.
I darted forward after dodging another fireball and closed my teeth around the attacker’s leg, causing a blood-curdling scream to erupt from their throat.
I wish I could tell you I felt bad about the chunk of leg I spit out, but I absolutely did not.
“Damien!” Colt shouted. “To your left.”
I moved just in time for some idiot to barrel past me, and my gaze darted to Colt, who was dodging and weaving in the sky and darting down into the sea of people to attack.
I went after the elf who had come after me and jumped on them from behind, knocking them out cold on the ground and leaving their body there, not able to justify killing them while unconscious.
Although my Hellhound tried to fight me on it, our attention was suddenly being drawn to where I saw Jace surrounded by four Dark Elves.
Letting out a savage sound, I attacked the one who had managed to edge in behind Jace, his cry telling me I’d snapped something as the other elf tried to converge on Jace.
A minute later, all of them were injured and on the battlefield, bleeding out, the Hellhound-Wraith prince nudging me to draw my attention to where the other princes were being overwhelmed by numbers—something that spurred both of us into action.
I’d never fought or trained with these men, except for the singular challenge in Impurus, but the ease and fluidity with which we worked together would have anyone thinking differently.
It seemed for a long period of time that the group of us were working in sync with one another, and I could only feel a slight lapse in that as we started to lose energy.
My Hellhound kept pushing, though, because it felt like the Dark Elf army was only increasing in size, which left me with a defeated sensation when they just kept coming at us.
I had no idea how long we would be able to keep this up, and the person I was most concerned about? Finias.
I had wondered if breaking down those barriers would drain him, and I could see it had in the way he held himself while fighting.
The constant use of his magic was making him look almost ashen, and there was no way for me to tell him in this form to take a step back.
He needed to retreat—I could see him getting sloppy.
For that to happen, I knew he had to be suffering a massive power drain.
I watched as he slit someone’s throat, their body going limp and then falling out of his arms just as a Dark Elf threw their body weight into him.
I darted across the way and grabbed the assailant by the back of the neck, feeling a tear on the muscle there before a crack that was most likely their spine.
I tossed them off of Finias and leaned down to urge him to wrap his arms around me, the dazed and ashen expression on his face making me think he was one spell away from passing the fuck out.
I turned once his arms were around me and managed to angle my body so he could lean into me for support. When Nico shouted something to us, I snapped my head up, my eyes widening. Fuck.
There was an arrow barreling straight towards us.
I tried to turn us, but Finias let out a grunt and shifted us so fast I stumbled, taking the direct brunt of the hit and letting out a savage growl.
The arrow buried itself right in his chest, near his heart, and he somehow let out a pained sound without crying out.
I knew that must have hurt like a motherfucker, and I had absolutely no idea how he was keeping it together.
The smile from the archer in the distance was victorious, and it caused my Hellhound to absolutely snap. No one fucked with our family.
I was sprinting across the field faster than I knew possible as my Hellhound sought vengeance for our pack member being harmed.
Finias had become part of our family, and this archer bastard had hurt him.
I was on the fucker before he had a chance to move, and I took pleasure in feeling my Hellhound rip out his throat, the taste of blood saturating my tongue as I gazed down at the lifeless body with disgust.
I thought I would feel some level of regret in killing, but I didn’t.
Instead, I turned back to find Finias leaning into Jace and looking worse than before—this was bad. This was really bad. We needed help.