Callie’s snakes reared, hissing at the Lucie trying to sneak up behind Owen. He froze as gray leached into his skin.
On a backhanded swing, Owen beheaded the Fae, never looking away from his sister.
“You know him. Always with his own plans,” Callie said, continuing the conversation as if nothing had happened.
“What about her?” Owen jerked his head at me. “Is she ready to re-open the way? If we linger much longer, we’ll be overrun.”
I found myself the recipient of two expectant gazes.
“What do you say, niece? Will you open the door again?” Callie asked.
“I’d love to. Small problem—I’m not quite sure how I opened it in the first place.”
Until right this moment, I hadn’t realized the portal I’d made was a one-way trip, closing behind them afterward.
Nor did I have enough energy or magic to replicate what I’d done. Even with Ahrun’s power boost.
“That’s going to be a problem,” Owen said grimly.
The numbers on Muiredach’s side had multiplied in the short time since the battle had begun. More Summer Fae and vampires pouring into the meadow while our numbers remained stagnant.
We were holding our own for now, but that would change as our side grew fatigued.
Something tickled the periphery of my senses. “I don’t think it’s as bad as you assume.”
A chorus of howls lifted in a song of battle.
From the trees, I caught the movement of fur. A second later, the pack, Caroline at the forefront, surged into the meadow.
They swarmed the Fae, tearing them apart with teeth and claws.
There was the boom of a rifle. Several more shots followed the first as Jenna picked Fae off from her position in the tree line. Drake, his father and grandfather beside him, did the same nearby. Their faces intent and focused.
Before I could focus on my sister’s presence, or the fact she’d invited a trio of hunters to the party, I felt someone else approach. The someone I’d been waiting for all this time.
“Liam,” I breathed.
As if my thoughts had summoned him, he blurred into the clearing.
He tore through the Fae, working his way toward me as Thomas, Connor and the rest of the enforcers entered the fray behind him.
“This ends tonight!” Thomas roared, rushing at Vitus as the enforcers spread out around him, slaughtering the vampires on Vitus’s side.
Vitus discarded the wolf he’d been in the process of draining, his chin and mouth bloody as he grinned at my sire. “Something we’re in agreement on.”
Thomas reached him in the next second, both of them launching into vampire speed.
In my mind’s eye, power swelled around Thomas, leaving me in no doubt as to who would emerge victorious.
The meadow in which Vitus had planned to bury me would soon be his final resting place.
There was a certain poetry to that.
At some point during the battle, Navya had slipped away, leaving the other two councilors to take the brunt of Thomas’s rage.
Saul streamed across the meadow as a cloud of smoke, his focus not on Thomas and Brax’s forces but rather a half-buried cage in the middle of the clearing.
Suddenly, his betrayal made a lot more sense. Someone he cared about had been a victim of Muiredach. Everything he’d done, from allowing the Summer King’s agents to take over his city to allowing them to set a trap for me in the Playground and casino, was likely to save that person.
