I didn’t cry, but my bear roared inside, and I clenched my fists as I held my triplet close.
“Why?” I asked, my voice a rasp.
“It was worth it,” Alden said, blood on his lips.
I frowned and then looked to where Alden’s gaze went, but I was too late. I couldn’t say anything.
Borrowed power that was not of the witch I had seen before filled the circle, and then Faith stood there, a dark dagger in her hand. She gripped Trace by the shoulder, and he slashed, trying to get her with his claws as he pushed Sage down to protect her.
But it was too late.
Faith took the dagger and stabbed Trace in the heart, twisting her wrist. The trees shuddered, and the pack howled and growled and yipped, and every other shifter around us made a noise that would forever echo in my dreams and haunt me.
Trace fell to his knees, blood pouring out of the wound and his mouth as others came through the woods, their stumbling grace not human. Revenants.
Trace stared at me, his mouth open, but the light in his eyes dimmed.
Alden lay dead at my feet as I screamed, and Trace lay dead at Sage’s as she did the same.
Faith smiled.
I threw back my head and roared, and the town answered my call.
Chapter Twenty-Three
Sage
Rome was on the other side of the circle from me, and I screamed, blood pooling at my feet and splattered across my face. I had fallen to my hands and knees after Trace pushed me out of the way. I called out, the bond within me nearly breaking but still holding firm. Trace was dead. Alden was dead.
Rome was still in the circle, howling. He might be in his human form, but he was still roaring. Faith had done all of this. Somehow, she orchestrated all of it.
I yelled and scrambled to my feet as Ash pulled me away from Faith. He muttered a spell under his breath and shot out his hands. A wall of rock slid between the necromancer and us, and then I was beside Rowen, trying to catch my breath.
Rome moved forward, pulling on sweatpants that Ariel had tossed to him before moving to my side, tugging at my arm.
“Protect the young.”
“No, we need her here,” Rowen said. “We need the strength of the coven.”
“I don’t want her hurt. The cubs will follow her,” Rome growled. I pulled on his arm, and I knew he was breaking inside. There were bonds between triplets, and now they were all broken, torn apart through pain and terror. Through revenge and betrayal.
There would be time to go over it all soon and grieve, but first, I needed him to understand. “The coven needs me, and so do you. Your people are protecting the young. They aren’t here at the circle.” We only had a few moments, and I needed to make sure I made the right decisions.
He narrowed his eyes. “No. They’re safe somewhere else.”
“Good. Now, protect those here. The coven needs me. And your pack needs you.”
“Our pack.” His voice was all bear, no longer human.
I nodded, my hands shaking. “Okay. Let me do what I can. And that’s with the coven. You do what you can. With your bears.” I wanted to say that I was sorry. I wanted to hold him and say something, but there wasn’t time for that. We only had moments. Ash could only hold off Faith and the others for so long. And the necromancer wasn’t alone. She had brought her revenants. There were more than I had ever dreamed there could be. She must have pulled the dead from around the country, perhaps even the world over time. Maybe she kept them stabled. There were so many, and we needed to protect our people.
I swallowed hard, and my feet dug into the earth beneath me as I tried to find my strength.
“Protect yourself. If you get hurt, I’ll never forgive you.”
I looked at him then and waved my hands over his wound in his side that was still seeping blood. “Same to you. Now, fight.”
Then, there was no more time for words. Faith was using borrowed power. I didn’t know exactly how I could tell, but it felt different. Not like hers. It didn’t feel as it had when she fought us before. Was this Oriel’s work? Or some other dark magic I didn’t yet know or understand?
I wasn’t sure, but no matter what, I had to fight Faith.
Jaxton and Laurel were there in the next instant. Laurel was shaking, her eyes dark, and I swore I saw flames in them for a moment. She blinked, and suddenly, her sword appeared in her hands. “Let’s do this.”
“I’ll be better in my hawk form,” Jaxton said before shrugging out of his clothes. With his talons and that beak of his, I agreed. He shifted and soared into the air before he began dive-bombing the revenants that came at us.
Ash and Rowen moved as one, as if they had been doing it all their lives. And perhaps they had in a way and had only forgotten that fact in the past few months. The two of them used air and earth to push at Faith, shaking her foundation. Faith was strong, far too powerful, and she kept shoving at us all.
Rome used his claws in his human form, lashing out at the revenants, ending their pain and protecting us. Ariel was there, too, fighting, using her claws, as did the rest of Rome’s trackers. The fae and other town members I knew could fight, came forward through the trees as if they had heard Rome’s roar. They jumped into the fray, as well. It was claw against magic, sword against sword, but we were all fighting. I was at Laurel’s side, and she used her blade against them as I dug into myself and pulled out my magic. I pulled water from the pond beside us and dug in. I threw the revenants into the pond, ending their sorrow and their screams. And then I did my best to create water daggers and lob them towards Faith. She knocked them away, one by one, but I was distracting her—which was the point. Because Rowen and Ash were getting closer, their hands clasped together as their magic whirled.
“I need to take care of something,” Rome growled and moved towards the four bears who had stood with Alden. I looked over at him, and Laurel nodded. “I’m right beside you. That way, he’s not alone.”
I nodded and followed Rome, using my water magic to make more daggers, arrowing them at the four bears who had hurt Rome and betrayed their pack.
“You’ll never be our alpha,” one snarled.
“That’s fine. Because if you don’t give up now, I’ll kill you.”
“Then kill us. We don’t care. You’re never going to have everything you want.”
“So be it.”
“Alden was always better than you.”
“That’s enough of that,” I said and shot an ice dagger towards the one who had spoken last. He clutched at his neck where the blade met flesh, his eyes wide. He fell to his knees, and the other three turned towards me. Rome gave me a look, one filled with heart and pride, and then he lashed out. Laurel used her sword on the final one, and then the four traitors were gone. We were shaking, but this still wasn’t over. Dozens upon dozens of revenants still came, and we kept fighting, but we had to get back to Ash and Rowen. They needed us. We needed to take down Faith.
As soon as we got to them, though, my heart stuttered, and I cried out. I hadn’t meant to, hadn’t meant to get Rome’s attention, but he saw them anyway.
Faith stood at the other end of the clearing, having moved back to get out of the way of a blow. Behind her, two dark shapes formed, their bodies solid. Two revenants with familiar faces stared toward the center of the circle. My heart shattered. Trace looked at us, his eyes vacant, blood still covering his chest. Alden stared, his neck covered in dripping blood, his eyes dark, also vacant.