Chapter 65
Elodie
By the time I handed Bence back off to Leigh for the evening so I could get my weapons on for the nightly attack, I was worried sick about the lack of a response from Valens.
“You okay?” Leigh asked. I bit my bottom lip, and she turned, passing Bence a juice and turning on a kids’ show on the big TV in the middle of the bunker. “Give me a minute with Auntie Elodie, please?”
“Yes, ma’am,” he murmured, already wandering toward the couch, sucked into the show about puppies who drove colorful trucks as he sipped his juice box. As soon as he sat, a juvenile cat jumped onto the couch and curled up in his lap, purring contentedly as the little boy stroked his ears.
“Isn’t juice bad for his teeth?” I’d been reading up on parenting every spare second—of which I had few—and last night I’d found an article about the many dangers waiting to rot kids’ teeth. It was terrifying, and I felt wholly unqualified.
“He’s a wolf. Apple juice isn’t going to take him out. Don’t change the subject. What’s bothering you?”
“I haven’t heard from Valens since this morning. I’ve texted him three times, and I know he gets locked in on a project sometimes, but it’s not like him not to answer.”
Leigh shifted nervously from foot to foot. “He didn’t tell you? I thought you knew, or I would have told you earlier.”
“Knew what?” My heart was pounding all of a sudden, the center of my chest where our bond lay resonating with panic. Was that me or Valens? I couldn’t tell yet.
“He got the collar-removal device to work. Freed a cheetah shifter, and got some intel on an encampment right outside our border. Kane sent Gael with him, Samuel, and Julius to go check it out. He probably left his phone behind so it couldn’t make noise while they were stalking through the woods or some shit. ”
I bit my lower lip, focusing on my breathing. He was fine. Gael was with him, and, yeah, as much as I wish he’d told me all that, it probably had happened fast. A breakthrough was great news, nothing to worry about.
So why did I feel like I was going numb from the inside out?
“How do you tell if what you’re feeling is yours or his once you’ve got a bond?” I blurted, rubbing the achingly cold spot in my chest.
Leigh frowned with concern. “If you only feel it right there where your fingers are, it’s probably the bond. Why?”
“I just feel cold and numb.”
Leigh whipped out her phone and dialed a number. Three tense rings later, she hung up. “Gael’s not answering, but I don’t feel anything wrong in the bond. I’m sure they’re okay.”
I nodded, biting my lower lip as my gaze strayed to Bence, giggling on the couch with Nugget.
Valens had to be okay. For both of us.
I moved on autopilot as I armed myself for the battle, trailing out of the castle behind Galyna and Dakota, unable to follow their chatter as we passed a line of goblin catapults at the back of the field.
The natural amphitheater where we were gathering was just a grassy cup when there were no seats or a dais set up in it.
It almost reminded me of a natural caldera, like the top of a volcano.
But everyone called it the amphitheater.
The cold had faded, leaving only a sick, numb feeling in its wake. I couldn’t pick up anything from Valens, and I was starting to worry he’d shut the bond again.
We lined up in the empty amphitheater space, and Galyna shot me a worried look.
“You okay? You’ve got to have your head on straight before they get here, or you might make a mistake.
Maybe you should go to the back so you can see as soon as he shows up.
Put a few more friends between you and danger. ”
I snorted as the last of the sunlight disappeared behind the mountains, sparing a glance for the much-larger crowd of defenders we had today.
I could see the goblins’ ramshackle catapults standing tall at the back of the crowd and spotted the lumbering Kodiak trio ambling through the crowd.
The greater fae had arrived, as well, bolts of white power dancing here and there as they showed off for their wolf neighbors.
No matter how many allies joined us, though, my place hadn’t changed.
“Since when is it our job to get behind the crowd?”
She shook her head sadly, and that was when it hit me all over again. It wasn’t my job anymore. I wasn’t wearing my uniform, my butterfly sword wasn’t in my sling, and absolutely nothing said I had to be at the front of the pack fighting for my life besides my own decision to do so.
For the first time since my mate marks had appeared, that realization didn’t hurt. It felt good to know that I was still me, even without my uniform. I was still standing between my pack and what came, job or no. I was a protector deep down inside, and that hadn’t changed just because my title did.
I stood a little straighter, focusing on my steadying routines. Weapons check. Clothing check. Roll back my shoulders, ready stance. Deep breath in and long, slow exhale out.
“There she is,” Galyna said, her approval sending a frisson of warmth through me. We weren’t partners anymore, but she was still my best friend.
I shot her a cocky grin. “Try and stop me.” The moon shone down on us, and we were almost out of time to chat.
She winked, then went through her own ready routine. Seconds after she opened her eyes again, I caught movement at the tree line. “They’re here.”
Galyna whistled, the sound low and drawn out. “More of them today.”
I caught sight of what appeared to be a giant brown bug. No… a giant scorpion. “Where the fuck did they find those?” I asked, pointing.
Dakota squeaked in surprise when she followed my finger to the buggy attackers heading our way. “That shit is terrifying.”
Galyna whacked her on the stomach, knocking the breath out of her. “Chin up, recruit. Warriors don’t shriek. Calm, cool, and deadly.”
“Isn’t the saying calm, cool, and collected?” Dakota asked as she drew her sword.
“Not for the maidens, it’s not. It’s calm, cool, and kick ass!” I hollered, lifting my staff and charging toward the oncoming attack.
I only made it a few strides down the hill before I faltered, stopping so abruptly that Galyna nearly ran into my back. “What is it?”
But I couldn’t answer her, though, because speaking it aloud would make it real. And making it real would mean that the numbness in my chest had more meaning than just Valens closing the bond. Something much, much worse.
Galyna followed my gaze over the field, then loosed a string of swear words that would make a dockworker blush. “It can’t be.”
But it was. It was Valens and another wolf, between the pixie king and the man wearing the ODL general’s uniform. I’d recognize his wolf anywhere, and even from this distance, I could feel the pull of our bond. But he is on the wrong side of the battle lines.
He lifted his head to howl, and horror ripped me to shreds with vicious, unfeeling claws.
Because there, on my mate’s neck, was a silver collar. My thoughts ran faster than a bullet train as reality coalesced into sickening clarity.
My mate had been captured, collared, and turned against me. And if I ran toward those battle lines, it would be to fight my own mate, possibly to the death.
My muscles turned to lead as dread formed a nauseating lump in the pit of my stomach. He wouldn’t just be coming for me. He’d be coming for our friends and pack mates. If I didn’t stop him, he might kill some of them.
But how? People rushed past me, racing toward the battle, but I backpedaled.
There had to be a way to get through to him, and I had a feeling I knew what it was.
The guardian’s sword. He’d said he bonded with his sword as if it were somehow sentient. Surely the second sword would help me? If it knew Valens’s life was on the line, it had to help me.
I turned away from the front and ran with every ounce of speed I possessed, then called on my wolf to push myself even harder. People’s faces blurred as I wove through the crowd, the breath burning in my lungs as I made my way back to the castle.
“Elodie, wait!” A feminine voice stopped me, perhaps the only one that could have in the moment.
I paused, turning in a circle until I spotted Savannah. “I can’t talk right now. I have to save your brother.” I turned to keep running, but she caught up to me.
“I saw him. How can I help?”
I broke back into a run, leaving her to follow or not. We didn’t have time to sit around and talk. I heard her snarl, then footsteps following behind.
It didn’t take long to cut through the now-empty castle, arrowing toward our room. I slammed through the door so hard that one of the hinges broke free from the wall, leaving it dangling at an odd angle as I skidded to a stop in front of the guardian’s chest.
Savannah was only a few seconds behind, and any other time, I would have been impressed that she could almost keep up. “What… Do you think… You’re going to find… In there?” Her question came between broken pants.
“The second sword.”
She groaned as I slammed open the lid, reeled back as her own repulsion hit her. “I thought you already tried that?”
“This time’s different. There’s no other choice.” I was resolute as I dug down through the piles of journals, noticing there weren’t as many left in the chest. Valens had been reading them in the evenings all week, searching for a way to help our situation.
Next up was the false bottom, and I put all my weight into the ring, yanking the bottom open in seconds.
There it was, stubbornly unmoved since the last time I’d tried.
I took one moment to center myself, bracing my hands on the edges of the chest. I let myself feel every ounce of rage and hatred for what had been done to Valens, how he’d been turned against us as a weapon to be used and discarded, not the honorable man and mate that he was.
I poured all that feeling into the sword when I grabbed the grip.
And then it zapped me, and my eyes rolled back in my head.
I woke up in my bed, staring with confusion at the ceiling. My whole body ached, but the sword was clenched in my grip, which meant I’d successfully removed it from the chest.
Fuck yes.
I had to get to Valens. He was the only person who mattered right now. An echo of affirmation seemed to come from the sword, but I didn’t stop to question it, just sat up and swung my legs over the side of the bed.
Every fucking thing spun around me like a kaleidoscope.
“Whoa, Nelly. You took a hell of a fall, and then you jerked like it was electrocuting you. I only just got you on the bed. Maybe you should stay in it for a few.” Savannah solidified in front of me, both hands up as if she was scared she’d have to catch me.
“Can’t. Have to get to your brother. He’s fighting against us, and he’s going to hate that so bad when he wakes up.”
I couldn’t consider any alternative other than me getting to him in time and making him wake up. He has to wake up.
“Yeah, that’s noble and all, but right now, it looks like you’re going to go out there and get yourself killed, fancy new guardian’s mark or no.
Here, drink this.” She shoved a glass of water into my hand, and I chugged it down gratefully.
I was weirdly parched. But we didn’t have time for this.
I did take a second to look down and see she was right.
There was a guardian’s mark on my chest that perfectly matched Valens’s. Right where the omega stone zapped me.
I shoved to my feet, swaying dramatically. “Oh my Goddess, you’re stubborn as hell, just like him. No wonder you two are mates. You’re practically the same damn person!” she growled, grabbing my shoulders to help me stay upright.
“I won’t stop, and I’m not going to lie back down. You can either help me or get the fuck out of my way.”
Savvy snarled, baring her teeth at me and showing off elongated canines. “I’m obviously trying to help you by keeping you from killing yourself before he has the chance!”
“I’m okay, you can let go now. I feel… great. Stronger. We have to go. Can you fight?”
“Hell yes, I can.” She drew a pair of throwing daggers from thigh holsters and twirled them around before sheathing them again.
“Well, then, let’s go get my man back.”
“Eww, but okay. Let’s go get V.”
We raced back out of the castle, and as I ran, I noticed small changes.
I moved faster even than my usual blistering speed and had to hold back to let Savvy stay with me.
My eyesight was sharper, and my reflexes felt faster than usual.
The sword in my grip was an extension of my arm, as if I’d been practicing with it my whole life.
As if it existed solely to be in my hand, in this moment, for this purpose. Maybe it did.
We reached the edge of the castle grounds, and I saw Kane and Brielle waiting. I slowed my pace, stopping when he flagged me down.
“What’s happening?” Kane asked. “I feel something off in the pack bonds.”
“They collared Valens and at least one other wolf that went with him.”
Brielle closed her eyes, swaying backward as she whispered a hasty prayer to the Goddess. When her eyes sprang back open, they glowed frosty brown as they fixed on Kane. “We have to get them back.”
“Yes, we do. Are you two ready?”
Savvy surprised me by stepping up and answering. “We are.”
“He’s with the pixie king and, I believe, the ODL general.” Kane pointed to a spot far beyond the battling horde.
Kane growled, the sound making me want to stagger backward before he reined his dominance back in. “Bastian. I guess that means their mission failed. You only saw two wolves with them?”
“Just two, but I didn’t stick around to wait for more. I had to get something to help me get through to him.”
He spared a glance for the sword in my hand, then nodded. “Follow us. I’ll try to give you an opening to do that. Brace yourself, and you’ll have to be fast.”
Fast? Not a problem.
They joined us in running back to the front lines, where we once again spotted Valens, still waiting between the pixie king and the general, who both fell back as their soldiers ran ahead, dying in their stead.
Cowards.
Kane had no such compunction, and when we passed the last of our allies, he let out a beastly roar and leapt into the air, changing to his wolf and unleashing a thunderous wave of dominance.
Everyone but Brielle—who chose to shift at a standstill instead of mid-leap like Kane—hit the deck, including me.
Shit.
I struggled to stand, then felt the weight of dominance lift all at once, letting me spring back to my feet. Everyone else was still pinned down, though Pack Blackwater started regaining their feet in clusters all over the field.
It was my opening.
I’m coming for you. I sent the words through our numbed bond and raced over downed enemies, focused on Valens.