Some of the Others focused their swirls around a group of people who stood in the center of a protective circle. One stood apart in the pandemonium, kicking and punching, moving with a fluid grace that seemed at odds with the killing going on around her.
“Shields!” Isabelle yelled. Something tugged at my chest. I put a hand over it, but felt nothing. The tug came again, harder. All my fear left me, weakening me to the point that my knees gave out. I fell to the snow and closed myself off.
No one touched me. The fighting continued around me as if I really wasn’t part of that world. I stood on shaky legs and moved forward.
“You can’t hurt them,” I yelled. “The Judgement is too close.”
Something knocked into me, and I fell onto the snow.
“Stay down!” a voice snarled at me.
Ignoring the warning, I pushed myself to my hands and knees.
Do not fear. There is Hope,the Lady whispered.
GABBY…
Olivia fell beside the SUV, one of the Urbat having pushed her over. Isabelle pulled hard again, knocking the dick to his knees, and stealing some of the fear I’d tried to keep bottled. It wasn’t easy when there were so many of them. Just like that night we’d lost Ethan.
I closed myself off from the guilt and concentrated on the sparks flooding my mind. I knew what would happen with too many of Isabelle’s pulls and couldn’t afford to pass out now. Everyone needed me.
Within the confines of the protective circle, I watched Bethi gut another dog in front of me. She yelled angrily and turned toward the next attacker, Luke protecting her right and Clay protecting her left. Grey, Emmitt, and Thomas stood on the other side of the circle with Sam beside Clay. Winifred moved around us, keeping away the majority. Further away, Isabelle and Carlos fought in the sea of Urbat, for our protection.
“More coming from Grey’s side,” I called out. Winifred moved to that section, leaving Bethi and Luke more exposed. The Urbat pressed in, trying to take advantage. Bethi moved quickly, ending that attempt.
The sparks continued to reposition in a flurry of movement. And, not just the Urbat numbers gathered in force on the other side of the mountain range. The fighting at the outskirts of Logan had called the attention of humans, too. Traffic no longer passed us. Cars had stopped miles away, up the pass. The soft yellow-green of their sparks pooled around us much like our immediate protective circle.
The Urbat on the other side of the mountain range began to move.
Seeing the movement of the fight around me and tracking the movement of the sparks converging on us created a dull ache between my eyes. I blinked slowly. Exhaustion pulled at me. The naps I’d been living on since leaving the Compound before Thanksgiving had begun taking their toll long ago.
“More coming over the mountains!” I yelled. In less than fifteen minutes, we’d be hopelessly outnumbered.
Without meaning to, my fear slipped. Blake knew we had either Claimed or Mated with werewolves, and he had proven that he would remove that obstacle without hesitation. I glanced at Clay then returned my focus to the sparks in my mind. So many yellow-green sparks. Enough to outnumber the blue-grey of the Urbat now surrounding us. What would they do if they knew the future that faced them if we couldn’t complete this Judgement. Their fear of the werewolves would dim in the light of their fear for the things that hurt Olivia.
“Shields!” Isabelle called again.
I wished she could pull the fear from the humans. With their help, we could survive this.
Isabelle’s pull touched the center of my chest, and I quickly tossed my fear to the side, focusing on the sparks.
They moved. Not all of them, but at least half of the humans within the Logan mountain range started toward us.
“Humans,” I yelled. “They’re coming!”
I didn’t know whether to panic or cheer. The way they moved seemed like they were controlled by something. I turned to look at Charlene.
“Are you controlling them?” I asked.
“No,” she said, focusing on the Urbat trying to get to Thomas. Some of them flew backward as if hit by an invisible force. Without a doubt, that was her. I didn’t care what she did as long as it helped keep us all safe.
Clay twisted in front of me, dodging a swipe of a clawed hand and coming back around with a swing of his own.
The first of the humans reached us. I couldn’t see them, but did witness the light of their sparks abruptly extinguish. More came. And more. A few of the Urbat focused on them. Not enough to give the werewolves a break, though.
Not a single human spark lasted more than a moment once it met with an Urbat…until the first loud bang. One of the partially shifted Urbat yipped.
“The police are here and have guns,” Michelle called out.
