Chapter 43
Kaden
Picking up Max, I toss her into Fee’s shoulder, pushing them further away as the arrows drop onto us, igniting the area.
I refuse to acknowledge Max’s hurt eyes.
If I do, I’ll crack.
Crack from the guilt, the pain there and the elation in my heart as the bond forms.
Right now, I need to focus on the ensuring battle and getting us out of here alive.
Hunkering behind one cabin, I have a viewpoint of the front gates. The army is coming in through the hollow which bottlenecks them. The gates surround us, built into the woods and stones as a natural fence. I don’t have to worry about attacks from the back but that doesn’t make this easy.
Unless we scale trees and climb ragged rocks—which we can, but Max isn’t Fae so she’ll slow us down—we’re trapped.
Fee leans next to me, Reid further back, behind Max.
“I count dozens coming in from the hollow. More are further back with bows.”
“Which means they’ve already taken the camp at the mouth of it,” I add, hand tight to the sword in my grasp. I refuse to check on Max. “Long range arrows by the looks of it.”
I don’t care if I can physically feel her recoil from me. Don’t care that the chain she can feel forming in her body is like a noose around my throat. I’m stuck with her now—there’s no escape.
I’ve laid claim to someone after swearing for decades I would never do it.
It was impulsive and stupid, but I can’t find the regret in doing it. It made her mine.
“Are we going to talk about what you just did?”
“Not now, Fee,” I mutter, nails clawing into the wooden wall.
I can’t talk about it. I don’t regret chaining her to me for eternity, but I can’t handle the guilt and grief at her reaction. How she fell apart at knowing she was completely mine.
How afraid she was of me.
When I tried to take her blood, tried to drain her on the cliffs, she wasn’t afraid. She fought for me, healed me, gave herself willingly to me. Now, knowing that I would be hers forever, is when she’s frightened of me.
Did she not want me?
My beast growls, feeding off my pain and confusion.
“Really? Can’t think of better time. Considering we’re three,” she glances back to Max, “maybe four against an army. Certain to die.” I give in and look too.
Looking back, it feels as if I’ve been stabbed by a sword.
Big blue eyes so dark, wet with unshed tears, burn with a cold fire. Agony. Fear. Hatred. The emotions all simmer in those depths and they’re all directed at me.
“We’re not dying today, Fee. We don’t need to fight, we just need to escape.” Glancing around again, my mind goes over all the possible escape routes.
Nothing quite hits me. Not when all I want to do is hold the blood summoner and explain why I had to do it. Why I couldn’t let her go.
The need to rage against her also rises. She made me do this. She made me claim her. So now we’re stuck together, no longer an option to let her flee and live a peaceful life.
She has to come with me to the Black Palace. She won’t survive without me.
A loud howl sounds from the front, and instantly I know, it’s Wulf calling for reinforcements.
Shifters descend, all in the midst of changing. Unlike the legends of old, shifters don’t need the moon to change into their true forms. They just need the command of their leader and the ability to do so.
“We’re going to have to fight our way through,” I say, avoiding Max. “Just long enough to escape to the hollow. I don’t see the Hadeon.”
“That’s how they got in,” Max finally speaks, voice soft. “Without the Hadeon protecting the village, they came right through.”
“They’ve been watching us,” I agree. Her ruby lips twist into a scowl at my attention. Swallowing my fury and guilt, I look back at the melee. “Following us. They were waiting for a moment to strike.”
“And we led them right to Wulf’s village.” Fee rolls her eyes. “Good luck getting trade deals when this is all finished.”
Around us, raiders are torn to shreds, but a few shifters fall too. Blood runs the length of the village, soaking the dirt as bodies liter the ground. Shouts of victory and defeat ring above us, and the scent of violence hangs heavy over our heads.
In the far distance, I hear the howl of the Hadeon, fighting with the Phoka.
The Crimson Army is vicious with their attacks. The Shadowlands are used to this, but these beings aren’t.
Behind me, a trail of children heads to a vacant cabin, a few matrons hushing them so as to avoid attention.
As much as I hate Wulf, hate what he forced me into, I can’t hold that grudge against innocent children. I won’t.
“We need to draw them away from the villagers.” I nod my head and my party looks to the cabin as more children flee. Max stiffens and I notice her fingers dipping darker, almost black.
Her magic is surging within her, carried on by my betrayal, her grief and the anger at these soldiers. It wants to protect her.
“Were these the soldiers who hurt you as a child?” I ask softly.
She lifts her head, avoiding my gaze. “I don’t remember. But I assumed as much,” she responds darkly. “I won’t let a child feel that fear.”
My eyes flicker to the scar on her throat and I know, she means every word.
Gesturing to my siblings, I give orders. “We won’t be able to use horses to get through this mess, so we’ll stay small, stick together. We get through the army, we get to the hollow and back to camp. If the guards are still alive, we’ll take them and head back to the Palace.”
I don’t want to risk it—don’t want to retreat. But I must.
Max is my weakness now. If she dies, I do too.
Fee and Reid nod, weapons at the ready as they stalk to the other side. If we can part the army, they’ll focus on us and not the cabin swarming with littles.
We’ll get away and they’ll be safe.
It’s a lot, but it’s all we have.
I scan Max once more, to make sure she’s whole. “Get your dagger.”
“You may own me, heir, but you do not command me,” she snarls, tucking the dagger tighter in her belt to spite me. Her fingers are now black-red, going to her second knuckle.
Her words cut me deeper than I want to admit. They slice into my heart, pull on the bond that’s rapidly forming between us. My lungs feel as if they’ve lost all function.
“Can you hear their blood?”
Swallowing, she fights answering me. She absolutely hates me. And I can’t blame her. But I’m just as angry at her—at myself, for this situation.
I’m a weak fucking male.
“My magic hears their blood, yes.”
Nodding, I gesture to the army. Shifters are naturally more powerful, but the army is vast. They’re overwhelming the animals, cutting them down with such ferociousness that it’s astounding.
This isn’t an army coming to pillage. They’ll erase the Phoka from the map.
I don’t care about the clan, but I won’t watch children die.
“Then use it.” I nod toward the soldiers.
“Let’s say they tried to kill you as a child.
They tried to destroy your village.” As I say it, my gut twists, protectiveness rising to kill whoever would dare harm my mate.
“They burned the Blackwoods Coven to the ground. Villagers are dead. Let that fuel you. Unleash your magic on them and let them taste that fury you hold.”
Eye widening, she looks to her hands. Unlike all those others in her life, I’m telling her to give into the magic. Let it take her under. Use her black rage and unleash Hell on all of them.
It’s the only chance we have at surviving this. She hates me right now, but we’re in this fight together, her only ally in a sea of raiders.
If I thought she’d be afraid, I’d be disappointed. Whatever the seer said to her, strikes something deep within her heart and she stands, eyes hard.
Those gloriously long fingers bend and crack, turning into odd angles as her head snaps left. A solider runs at us and she tugs, her invisible magic stopping him, as it ripples over me, caressing me like a snake. Her magic doesn’t feel threatening, no, it almost feels like love.
The raider convulses, as her red fingers command his heart to listen to her demands.
Blood magic is a powerful tool even in the best of us.
I’m glad my blood summoner is not the best of us. She’s a vengeful spirit meant to bring these raiders to their fucking knees.
Once this is done, I’ll gladly drop to mine and show her my devotion. If she’ll have me.
Moving gracefully, her arms swing into an arc as her fingers curve and the body falls to the ground. A trickle of blood drips from his mouth and I know, she’s crushed his heart without blinking.
No one notices his apparent fall. But I do. So do Fee and Reid, both pleased looks on their faces. They see the same thing as me.
She’s a powerful woman and we have a chance at getting out of here intact.
“When this is over,” she breathes, hands falling to her side. “You’re going to explain what you did to me. And how we undo it.”
Gently, I place a stray lock of ebony hair behind her ear, tracing the delicate curve of her jaw. No matter how furious I am with her, I can’t stop touching her.
It’s this blasted bond. It’s going to be the death of me.
Swallowing thickly, I nod once. “I’ll answer one of those things right now. It can’t be undone.”
Blue eyes narrow on me, a drop of red flowing from her tear duct. The magic is rising so forcefully inside of her, that it’s pulling at her own life force. It’s seeking any blood it can get, even turning against its master.
“We’ll see about that,” she promises, stepping into the battle.
Neither meek nor scared, she walks directly into the fight, hands high as if beseeching them to her. She’s covered in the scent of a blood summoner, no longer hiding, and everyone notices.
In the very front of the gates, through the confides of raider, I see a large white wolf, as big as a Skrull, grinning at her. Wulf can finally see her at the height of her power.
She is death and life incarnate.
Raiders rush her and I react, chasing after her into the battle. But none touch her.