“I’ve been the weaker one before,” I added louder. The guardians were close enough now that the clacking boom of the pincers had my ears aching. “To survive, I had to play the game. I had to give the alpha what he wanted. Submit and survive long enough to fight another day.”
“I vote we give battle a go first?” Shadow rumbled. “I’m sure we can take them.”
Mera let out a laugh as she transformed back into her human self. “Mate,” she said, placing a hand on her beast’s arm. “I know you want to test yourself against the best, but you have nothing to prove. Don’t forget we have a baby girl to return to.”
A huff of smoke and flames escaped the beast, but he didn’t argue with her. The vast expanse of his energy faded as he also returned to hisslightly less terrifyinghumanoid version. Not that any of them could ever be mistaken for human.
One by one the others followed suit, until there was barely a whisper of our power to be felt in the area. Knowing what had to happen now, I led by example, lowering myself to my knees.
A spark of energy from the closest guardian ran over my skin, but it was more uncomfortable than painful. Grinning and bearing it, I forced my power to stay calm.
The others did the same, until only Shadow was left standing. It wasn’t a stretch to assume he’d knelt to no one before this day, but as the pincers picked up the pace near him, I hoped he could find the strength to give these guardians what they needed.
After leveling all four crabs with a fire-filled glare, the beast lowered to his knees. He never dropped his head though, eyeballing the fuck out of all of them, but his power didn’t follow suit. It remained low and calm.
The guardians slowed, and despite the dim light, somehow, we were cast farther into shadows. As the darkness grew more pronounced, Len reached out and grasped my hand.
At least if this was our last moments, I wasn’t alone.
Together as a pack we stood, and together we would fall.
End of story.
38
SAMANTHA
There was a moment where I thought I’d killed my friends.
More than friends: my pack and true mate.
A moment where I had to wonder if maybe, once again, I’d rolled over and showed my belly when we should have fought and taken our chances. Shadow had made a decent point before; it was better to die fighting on our feet than live weak on our knees.
The crabs started to move again, this time to circle around us. The blue sand lifted with their movement, smashing across my face to the point I had to close my eyes. My skin burned from the rough texture, while the clacking filled the space like raging thunder.
Please let me be right. Please let me be right.
All of us needed to live and see our children again.
My hand still clutched Len’s, even as the sand blasted our skin away. They’d have to cut my damn arm off if they wanted me to release my mate.
The march of the guardians went on for so long. An eternity where we didn’t know what way it was going to go, and then… the clacking faded, and the sand slowed its assault on us.
As I opened my eyes, I checked on my internal barrier first, relieved that it was still pulsing away brightly inside, even if it did feel like the darkness was pulsing stronger too. My wolf energy wrapped around me, helping to heal the torn and broken skin, and by the time I was on my feet, all pain was gone.
We perused the area thoroughly, but there were no guardians in sight. They’d faded into the sands from whence they came, and we were once again alone.
“Holy shit!” Mera cried, shaking her ass as she danced around the place. “We’re alive. We’re fucking alive.”
Shadow’s arms were around her in the next beat as he hauled her up and into his body, his kiss aggressive as he captured her attention. Mera’s excited words morphed into a moan as she wrapped her legs around his waist. They stumbled away, the odd darkness of this land shadowing them in seconds, before they completely disappeared.
After almost dying, no one questioned why they would need a second of alone time.
The rest of us focused on dusting ourselves off and looking around for more dangers. Galleli approached me, his wings tucked in against his back once more.You did good.I didn’t jump this time, which was a huge step.Your hybrid nature and the lessons you’ve learned in your relatively short life saved us today. We wouldn’t have thought the way you did, and for that, we would have perished.His hand landed on my right shoulder and he gave a gentle squeeze, before releasing me quickly, no doubt thanks to the silver fae beside me.Thank you.
“No thanks needed,” I replied breathlessly. “I’m just so fucking happy it worked. For a second there I thought I’d gotten you all killed, and then Shadow was going to drag himself from the underworld to tear my soul to pieces.” I shook my head. “It would have gotten messy.”
Galleli smirked, and strangely it made him look younger and less like an ancient warrior god carved from stone.
