Jareth, the djinn, stepped up and joined them. “I can offer some of my power to aid yours.”
Other fae warriors noticed what they were doing and began to chant. The wolves, warlocks, and elves followed Cypher, Thalion, and Vasile’s lead as they formed a circle to protect them while they were focused on building the ward. Riven could also hear the voices of the sprites, who seemed to be focusing on the pixies.
As he saw the power crackle in the air, he noticed the weaving of their combined magic. It began along the ground throughout the battlefield and rose quickly, forming a capsule around them. Maybe they had a chance, Riven thought to himself as he took a deep breath, feeling more confident as the ward formed over their head and nearly closed completely.His lips were turning up in a smile as the strands inched closer together, but before the smile could fully form, a huge burst of light flashed, and the ward crumbled.
A massive gust of wind threw them back, and Riven stumbled. His arms swung, windmilling backward as he forced himself to stay upright. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see that others weren’t so lucky and had ended up on the ground, though most were scampering to their feet.
The clouds that had seemed dark before began to grow in their blackness. The lightning cracked across the sky and somehow felt sinister. The magic filling the air was no longer that of the sprites but was evil. It slid over Riven’s skin like thick oil. He threw up a shield around himself and then glanced around to see how the magic was affecting the others. Jareth was doing something that was making his skin glow. His jaw was tense and his back ramrod straight. Riven decided the djinn must be trying to control his power so that he didn’t destroy the city. Movement beyond Jareth caught Riven’s eye. Thalion had his bow drawn and double arrows ready to fly at the draheim, as did the other elves.
“Aim for under the neck,” Thalion yelled. The arrows released, soaring through the air. But before they could hit their mark, the projectiles froze and then fell. Jareth whipped out his hand, using his power to push the arrows away so they didn’t accidentally impale anyone not on team Ludcarab. Riven continued to watch the elf king, trying to figure out how he’d stopped the arrows. That wasn’t elf magic. He didn’t have to wonder long. He got his answer a moment later when Alston appeared, and he wasn’t alone.
Chapter 2
“I feel like I must be prepared for anything and everything at all times. At some point along the way, you’d have thought I would have realized that I am not an all-powerful being and, therefore, cannot be all things in all situations for all people. I am but a dormant femaleCanis lupus. It doesn’t matter how many times I try to remind myself of this, it still pisses me off when I’m caught off guard.” ~Jen
“They’re gone!” Cyn bellowed as she suddenly appeared in the war room directly beside the table where Jacque and Jen were currently sitting, having just realized that their pack had been betrayed to the Order.
Both girls were on their feet in an instant, their chairs falling to the floor from the force of their rising.
“Who’s gone?” Jen asked, her hands already shaking because sheknewwhat Cyn would say. Call it a mother’s intuition or just the understanding that she’d learned to always expect the worst when someone was running around screaming out thing’s like ‘they’re gone’.
“The pups,” the fae warrior, who was usually so calm and stoic, breathed out around a sob.
Nissa, the high fae Peri had left to help protect the stronghold, appeared a second later. “Alston,” she said through clenched teeth.
Cyn nodded. “Alston and Skender. They blew the door off the nursery, and Alston bound us before we could wield our own weapons or magic. Then they grabbed the pups and left.”
“I felt him,” Nissa said. “But I couldn’t get to him. I tried to flash to his location, but it was as if he had nullified my powers. The sensation evaporated, and I was able to move again. I checked on the children first and then followed Cyn’s magic here.”
Jen felt Jacque’s hand on her shoulder and realized that her friend’s hands had phased to full-on claws and fur. Jen closed her eyes and took several deep breaths to calm herself.
“They’re just … gone,” Cyn mumbled again, as though she were trying to convince herself there was some kind of mistake.
“Did they say anything?” Jacque asked.
Another fae warrior, Talia, suddenly appeared next to Cyn. “You flashed before I could show this to you.” Talia held her hand out to Cyn. A folded piece of paper sat clenched within it.
Jen snatched it before Cyn could move and quickly unfolded it. She read it three times, her mind frantically trying to grasp the words through the haze of rage and fear. “He says we are to come to Arizona and bring Sally if we want to see our children alive and unharmed,” she read, looking at Jacque, who appeared about as calm as Jen felt.
Before anyone could respond, Sally and Costin came running through the entryway to the war room. Sally’s eyes were the size of saucers, and Costin looked ready to skin someone alive.
“Where are our children?” Sally asked, her words coming out in between gasps of air. She must have run the entire way from the playroom. Gypsy healers, for all their inner strength, simply didn’t have the physical stamina of wolves. “They’re gone, and I thought Cyn agreed to tell us if they were leaving…” She realized Cyn was standing right beside Jen. “Why are you here? Why aren’t you with Titus, Slate, and Thia?” She growled as she glared at the fae warrior. “And why in the bloody pixie babies are you crying!” Jen understood Sally’s confusion over Cyn’s show of emotion. The fae female rarely, if ever, showed any emotion.
Costin wrapped his arms around his distraught mate and pulled her back from where Sally had stepped into Cyn’s personal space. “Answer her,” Costin said, his voice deadly.
Jen was the one who spoke. “Alston and Skender have taken them.”
Sally breathed out in a desperate plea. She looked at Cyn and Nissa. “Why didn’t either of you stop him?” Her eyes focused on the female high fae. “Aren’t you supposed to be powerful like him? What freaking good are you if you can’t protect the most important people in this damn mountain?” Jen began to speak, but Sally whipped her head around and drilled Jen with an angry glare. “Why are you just standing there doing nothing, Jennifer?”
The growl that Jen’s wolf emitted was beyond her human control. The beast didn’t appreciate Sally’s implication—that Jen wasn’t concerned for their little ones. She was worried out of her freaking mind. But she needed a moment to process the situation. Her mate was far away on a battlefield facing an enemy that was forewarned of their plans and prepared for the fight. Now, her daughter was in the hands of that same enemy.
“Give me a bloody damn minute to think!” Jen yelled. Jacque placed a hand, which had phased completely back to her human form, on her arm as if to say, “Sally’s not the enemy.” Jen knew that, of course, but she also knew her friend needed to take a step back and think before she started accusing her of doing nothing.
“He said to bring Sally to Arizona,” Jacque said. “Decebel and Fane just showed us the field where they are about to go to battle.”
“Nissa and I can trace Alston’s magic,” Cyn added. “But we need to get back to the room and follow it before it fades.” Cyn looked at Talia. Her tears were now dry, and she seemed to have pulled herself together. “You need to let Alpha Alina know what’s going on. We don’t have time to tell her.”
Talia nodded.
