Nice try,bitch,but not on my watch. My wolf shifted direction, and when Dannie floated over the land, I launched myself at her. If I could give them a few seconds of time, it might be the chance they needed to take her down.
Come on,wolf. Let’s do this.
45
Ninety percent of me had expected Dannie to move out of my reach, so I was somewhat shocked when I made contact, claws digging into her soft feathers. On a regular being, my claws would have torn through in an instant, but there was nothing regular about Dannie.
Her body felt soft, but beneath the façade of softness, the rest was stronger than any substance I’d ever come in contact with. Nothing would tear through her in this state, and I had a split-second freakout wondering how we could possibly steal the stone from her, until I remembered the fortress was designed to weaken her.
That had been theentirepoint of this dangerous spell in the first place. We could not get the stone from her without her energy being weakened, hence why I was acting as a distraction.
“Mera, my sweet Mera,” she trilled, her hands coming up to wrap around my wolf neck. “Why do you so recklessly throw your life away?”
I shifted back in an instant, surprising her when I chose to return to my physically weakest form. Her second surprise came when I shot a blast of power at her, and she loosened her hold enough for me to get away. I would have landed hard if Inky hadn’t caught me, the mist then raging up into a sparking barrier between us and the goddess, giving the others the last few seconds they needed to finish their cage.
On Shadow’s command, they gathered the cage in their hands, ready to attach it to the goddess. Dannie let out a loud chuckle; it was the oddest bird-human sound as she watched the golden coils swirl around them.
“You need to listen to us,” Shadow said, and for the first time, someone had all of her attention—the son she might still love deep down. “You can fix this. You can reject the stone from your energy and allow the true balance to be restored. The fae magic you use has no place in the Shadow Realm.”
She paused, tilting her head, a look of consideration creasing the corners of her eyes, obvious even on the bird face. “The power it holds is from the realm,” she chirped in her power-laden voice. “Power that was stolen from my creatures. Stolen from the mists. Power that I will be able to return when I am the only one who controls it. You must see that this is the best solution for the realm… and all of the worlds. What if another Ixana happens?”
She’d retained her logic, which hurt, because my Dannie was still in there. And the thought of trying to destroy the Dannie I’d known in Torma was breaking me.
Shadow didn’t seem to be burdened with the same worry, his previous statements nothing more than another distraction, giving Reece a chance to weave a tiny sliver of the fortress net around Dannie’s tail.
The long, stunning plume of her feathers was bright and ostentatious… and possibly her downfall. With a substance to grip on to, the fortress spell settled into place, and a burst of gold released the seven powerful beings who’d worked tirelessly to constrain her.
Dannie’s amused expression faded as she felt the power of their cage wrapping around her body. It was so fast that before she could lift her feathery red eyebrows, it was up to her neck. The strands tightened, cutting off her air, and when her head disappeared, I let out a breath, pulling myself to stand. My healing had already kicked in, and by the time I got dressed, any aches from my tiny battle with the goddess were gone.
“Did it work?” I asked, hurrying toward the others, surprised to see that Shadow still held one of golden strands.
“We just need to get the last link secured,” Reece grunted out. “She’s fighting harder than ever.”
Together, they pressed in with the final strands, and as it settled against Dannie, I had a brief moment of thinking we’d won. But the moment was over before we even had a chance to celebrate.
A sliver of red light escaped from the golden strands close to Dannie’s face, and before any of us could even react, she channeled her power so effectively that the fortress shattered, sending all of us flying. As I braced myself for impact, I ended up caged in strong arms that took the impact of the blow.
“You okay?” Shadow asked, his face close to mine.
I nodded. “Yeah, but fuck.It didn’t work!What do we do now? She’s too strong to take the stone from without weakening her first.”
He was on his feet in a heartbeat, holding me against him. “We try again,” he said quickly. “We learn where we went wrong and ensure it doesn’t happen twice.”
Angel huffed in closer, her wings springing free in an attempt to block us from Dannie’s view. “We’re bleeding energy, Shadow. I estimate we have one more shot in all of us.”
“That’s all we need,” Shadow said fiercely. “We’re fast learners.”
“One last time,” Lucien said.
“We’ve got this,” Len added, pulling more of his crystals free.
Galleli was on board as well.Let us begin.
With no time to waste, they formed a circle, preparing to weave another fortress. A stronger one.
Dannie, who was still floating nearby, seemingly none the worse for wear after exploding from her cage, tilted her head back and laughed. “My Darkor, you never used to be so stupid. You cannot best me.”
Her power rose up above her, and I knew she was going to destroy them before they had a chance to build a cage to fight her again. There was no way I could distract her for long enough to stop that.
