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I glanced at Arelia, nodding to her for a moment as her hand wrapped tight around Kiralee’s. They’d take her and all the women back to Sanctuary, and my child would have what I missed out on—a loving mother, peace and quiet, the ability to just be a child and choose her own path. Her strength and abilities would be lauded there, though the reddish cast to her eyes may be an issue until they realised the Black Wolf was no longer under the influence of Lonan.
Because I was taking him out.
Lian frowned when he saw me approach, but when his mouth opened to shout an order, when he moved to stop me, Max nodded and then wrapped his chain around the neck of the Volken lord. He pulled it so fast, so tight, that by the time Lian realised what had happened, Max’d dragged his rapist mate to the ground. I watched the lord’s hands scrabble as they fought for purchase on the metal links, blood pricking the tips and flooding into his face as he went the same sullen red of the Great Wolf’s eyes.
I looked up into them, those of my god, and saw that ravenous mouth open, seemingly disproportionately huge, even with his massive body. He hunkered down, and Lonan seemed to assume the rumbling was just more metaphysical bullshit. He just stared out at his captive prey, presuming as the Volken had that the institutionalised privileges he’d gained from being the long-term conduit to the god were still in place, imagining the awful pleasures he’d gain as the Black Wolf swallowed each and every Volken, consuming all of the sins they had joyfully wallowed in, growing stronger both from their depravity and the ultimate betrayal of the brotherhood they’d lived in. I glanced over to see Lian moved no more, his body having that final complete limpness that only came from death. The Black Wolf jolted forward at that little boost in power, readying himself for the next strike.
So many of my visions ended like this, just endless, uniform blackness. There was no hot, no cold, no wind, no gravity, no horizon, no space, no nothing. Just nothing, until all I was blinked out.
Stay strong, my love, Branwen said, and I liked to think there was a tremor there, some show of emotion at the sacrifice I was about to make. Lonan saw me, but it was too late. While he manipulated the power of the crystals, I could draw a little on it myself. It gave me a last burst of speed that I used as I slammed into him, his arms going around me as if to stop me somehow, but that worked well for my purposes. The Great Wolf’s jaws snapped out, grabbing the two of us and swallowing us down.
We went down into the beast’s belly, Lonan fighting for the moment, scratching and raking at my face, trying to do anything to deny what was inevitable. We were here, and then we were gone.
32
“Sylvan!” I screamed.
“Jules, we can’t go rushing in there!” Brandon said, grabbing my arm and jerking me back.
“SYLVAN!”
I saw the moment the Volken seer—no. I saw the moment Kiralee’s father and Arelia’s lover took fucking Lonan into the Great Wolf’s jaws, the god snapping his teeth shut and then throwing back his head, the massive muscles in his throat working for a second before his muzzle lowered again. He surveyed the crowd of pinned Volken, the crystal mesh not powered by Lian or Lonan anymore. Instead, he kept them bound as he padded a few steps forward. His mouth hung open in a hungry smile, his fangs gleaming in the low light. His eyes burned like fire now, no longer banked or muted by Lonan’s grip. This was a god that was off the leash.
“Jules, we’ve got to get out of here,” Aaron said, his eyes shooting to the roof of the cavern as the entire place shook. Loose stones came plummeting down, smashing into immobilised Volken and crushing them whole. “The Black Wolf is off the chain.”
“And the women aren’t,” I snapped back. I shook their hands off and strode forward, feeling an unwarranted strength in my body as I took the same path as Sylvan. I felt like my heart nearly stopped in my chest when a rock almost flattened me, but I waved it away, just as I had in my dreams, and it went flying off to smash into the walls.
Force field, I thought. I need, we need a force field.
Imagine a green light around you, and around the women and children, my Tirian said.
And now you come out to play, I said as I ran, faster than I’d ever been able to. Did you know this would happen?
From death—
Seriously, if anyone utters those words again, I’ll punch them full in the face with my now Wonder Woman powered arms, including my own. Shut. The Fuck. Up.
So, you do not wish to know how to rescue the captives?
Wave my hand, make the chains go away?
Why, yes, though sooner rather than later would be good. Allow the mothers to protect their young.
Fuck, of course. I waved my hand, and the chains around the women all disappeared, the mothers instantly covering the children with their bodies. They seemed to get it, that the barrier of green light was keeping them safe, and cowered beneath it.
“Any chance of giving us a magic force field as well?”
My head snapped sideways to see Jack and Hawk running beside me, the other guys catching up fast. Even Rhydian and Grey followed hot on their heels, hands welded together. Grey seemed to give Rhydian physical strength, and Rhydian gave Grey mental. They powered through the chaos, arrowing straight for Max.
“It’s our power,” I said. “You should be able to do it yourself.”
“Cool,” Hawk said, and wove his hand, grinning when he encased himself in a ball of green light.
“Man, you look like the sexiest hamster ball I’ve ever seen,” Jack enthused.
“How about less flirting, more saving the day?” Slade said, smacking Jack on the back of his head as he passed.
“Keep an eye on that fucker,” Aaron said, pistol in hand as he watched the Black Wolf shift.
