I just hoped to hell I’d be in time.
Hadriel
Leala cracked her whip as we ran behind Hannon. She had practiced when we were in the dragon village and was now very good at it. It made me incredibly nervous.
But not as nervous as all the demons that randomly popped out from behind trees as we made our way to Hannon’s village. Wolves flanked us, growling and snarling. The alpha’s call for aid beat throughout my chest, yanking constantly at my wolf. Each time my wolf felt it, he struggled to break free and join the pack, to find our place and belong for once.
But I couldn’t. If I did, I knew I wouldn’t want to go back to Finley. I wouldn’t want to stay. I’d leave with Weston and maybe never see her again. Wolves like Weston didn’t settle with dragons, they just didn’t, and I couldn’t bear to leave Finley behind. Or Leala or Hannon or any of those crazy fuckers I’d been through hell with in the castle. I’d stay a misfit forever if it meant I could remain with my newfound family.
A light-skinned demon—gray in the moonlight—darted toward Hannon from the side as we neared a clearing of sorts. He met the attack with a very lazy duck, followed by a very fierce uppercut with his knife into his enemy’s sternum. He shoved the demon off nonchalantly, glanced back at me to make sure I was okay, and continued on. The guy always checked on Leala and me after he slayed a demon. He was like some sort of lethal babysitter. Why was that so hot?
A whip cracked and a girl screamed, almost at the same time. I looked at Leala in confusion as she snapped her whip again, wrapping the end around the neck of a demon and yanking. The demon tried to grab the whip, choking, and was tackled in the back by a lunging wolf.
Leala released the whip as the cry sounded again.
So not Leala, then.
“What’s…” I glanced left, into the field, and saw a demon haul out a little girl. Three other demons fell in around her, like they were taking her hostage.
Hannon looked at the same time, then froze for a moment. A shock of color burst out around him, like a glimmering aura, before he exploded into action. He ran in the girl’s direction, axe in one hand and knife in the other.
A demon launched at him, out of nowhere. It latched on to his back and slashed with claws, tearing across flesh.
Leala cracked her whip, slicing the demon in the side and making it convulse. It was all the time Hannon needed to throw the thing off and chop down with his axe.
Bye-bye, demon head. Or near enough.
Another burst of light and color shone around Hannon, like no magic I’d ever seen. No animal I’d ever heard of. He tore his fragment of a shirt away, exposing a tableau of rippled and bruised and slashed muscle, having taken a lot of damage and not shown one ounce of pain.
He jogged now, moving through what I recognized as everlass plants, Leala and I trailing behind him. The demons dragged the kicking and flailing girl farther into the field before stopping and raising a knife to her throat. In a moment, I saw who it was.
Sable. Hannon’s sister.
Why the fuck was she all the way out here?
One of the demons said something, but I didn’t catch it as Leala murmured, “Closer, Hannon. I’m out of range.”
Hannon held out his hands, one weapon in each, bending a little like he might put them down. He slowed to walking—almost creeping—his movements slow and thoughtful, underplaying the threat he posed.
“Closer,” Leala whispered as we walked.
“Hannon!” Sable shouted before the knife tip was pushed against the front of her throat. She winced but didn’t stop. “I’d heard the roars and wanted to go check on Dash and Daddy. I didn’t want to sit here if they were in danger—”
The demon shook her, and light leaked from around Hannon, curling and misting. The moonlight filtered through his wild hair like it was glowing, sparkling through that strangely pulsing aura.
“Let her go.” Hannon kept creeping forward, slow and methodical, as though he were just looking for a place to sit and take a rest. “Let her go, and I’ll put these down. I can’t shift. I’ll have no defense against you.”
He bent as if to do just that, then—
“Okay.” Leala’s voice was a soft hum. Her whip made a sharp crack.
It hit before they’d registered she was moving. Dead on target, slashing against the demon’s hand that held Sable. The demon hissed and pulled back, turning his body a little to pull his wrist to his chest.
Hannon exploded into action, that bend he’d been doing turning into a lunge, his big body aimed right for Sable. Her eyes didn’t widen. Instead, her brow pinched in concentration. She ducked at the last second, then rolled out of the way.
Hannon crashed into the demon, his knife already working.
Leala pulled back her whip for another strike, but the jumble of bodies didn’t give her a clear shot.
I jumped to the rescue, shit with a knife but really good at breaking up fights and sex-capades gone wrong. I slapped at hands and peeled a demon away from Hannon as he shot out his axe and got that demon in the upper chest. He turned in a smooth movement, stabbed another through the belly, and then turned and sliced his knife across the third demon. Leala hit the first with her whip, but he was long dead, and soon they all were.
“I’m pretty sure I helped,” I said, out of breath. “Pretty sure.”
Sable scrabbled up and grabbed Hannon, hugging him hard.
“Come on, let’s go check on Dash and Dad, okay?” Hannon said comfortingly, as though he hadn’t just gruesomely killed three demons.
“You missed your calling, bud,” I told him as he turned and stuck out his hands, offering to carry his sister piggyback. “You should’ve been a librarian. No, no, let me carry her. I’m not doing anything else anyway—”
Three dragons flew directly overhead, heading in the same direction we were about to go, off to help the villages while Finley stormed the castle. My mouth dropped open, and my heart froze.
I knew that dragon. The whole kingdom knew that dragon. She would be azure in the day, nearly matching the color of the sky, but her glimmering scales would give her away. She was so graceful and silky smooth in flight. I’d watched her in fascination throughout my youth.
“That’s—”
It was at that moment, when I was awestruck and confused and not paying attention, that Weston’s wolf song rose in the distance. The wolves near us took up the call. The music rolled over my flesh and down my spine before reaching in and grabbing my wolf in a hard grip.
Before I knew it—before I could stop it—my wolf surged forward and overcame me. He forced the shift, in control. He tilted his head back, easily falling into the pack, and I knew I was lost.
THIRTY-FOUR
NYFAIN
The deal hung heavy between the demon king and me as I put out my hand to seal it. It wouldn’t ensure the kingdom was completely safe—Dolion was nothing if not cunning and great at bargaining—but it would give my people time. They would be able to get out, at least, and find somewhere else to go. Finley could lead them and help them find a future away from this accursed place. As soon as they scattered, Dolion would lose interest.