On Riggs.
To protect us.
The smoke wasn’t as bad as I’d feared it would be and was nowhere near enough for me to risk leaving the safety of the Lodge. Here, we had protection. Out there, we’d be far more vulnerable.
Riggs and many others were fighting as humans, both in front of the Lodge and inside the living room. The door was thrown wide open, and through it I could see shifters fighting in their bear forms or other shifted counterparts. Through a side window, I saw the plant fae using underground roots to wrap around Barrett’s mercenaries and incapacitate them.
A siren in the distance was luring men with her singing, then directing someone working with her, clearly wearing earplugs, to take them out.
Roarke soared over the treetops, dumping water on the fires, then swooped down to grab their attackers and drop them intoa clear, portable jail cell in the middle of the lawn someone had magicked up.
Finn was yelling up at him with a bullhorn, directing him from the ground.
Elven swords flashed, visible by the gleam of their pure, magically enhanced metal. Two elves fought nearly back to back. One of them was Rhys, but the other I didn’t recognize.
They were all fighting. And I knew, Iknew, that their home had been invaded, that their town was under attack, and they were fighting for that reason. But I also knew they were fighting for us, for Alanna and me, because they’d taken us in.
We’d found a family here.
A home.
And there was no way I was letting Barrett take it from us.
The smoke had cleared enough for me to pull the towel away from Alanna’s face. She was quiet, but instead of watching the chaos around us like any other baby would have, her gaze was fixed intently on Riggs.
Matteo limped toward us and stood a bit back from the railing. We were close enough to see over, but far enough that we wouldn’t make an easy target.
“You guys okay?” he asked.
“Yes. You?”
He nodded.
With my heart in my throat, I watched the fight between Riggs, several of Barrett’s men, and Barrett himself spill out the front door and onto the lawn.
Matteo and I crept down the stairs and watched from a side window, again positioning ourselves so we wouldn’t offer an easy target for a sharpshooter. Alanna stayed focused on Riggs.
I wanted to hand Alanna to Matteo, but I couldn’t. He wasn’t well enough yet to protect her fully, and there might still be mercenaries in another part of the Lodge.
“I’m keeping an eye out,” he said, catching my cautious glances behind us. “It would be the perfect opportunity right now to kidnap you two.”
I nodded gratefully. I was glad he was here. Matteo had become a friend over these last months, and he was still in rough condition. I was afraid he wouldn’t make it if he had to join the fight.
I turned my attention back to the window and watched in horror as a massive man, at least ten feet tall, emerged from a dense copse of trees and stepped onto the lawn. Even with all the bear shifters and other paranormals fighting Barrett and his soldiers, there were still too many pressing in around Riggs, Mathan, and Alistair. They were being penned in, and the giant was heading straight for my mate.
Riggs looked up, sensing the danger bearing down on him and his men, and immediately shifted. Within seconds, a massive polar bear stood in his place.
The giant charged, and Riggs reared up on his hind legs. They collided in a brutal clash.
“Why is no one using a gun?” I growled to Matteo.
“The fighting is too close. They don’t want to hit one of our own.”
As soon as the last word left his mouth, a gunshot cracked across the lawn. My head jerked in that direction, and I saw Dice had joined the fight. She hovered about fifteen feet above the ground, picking people off from above.
“Except, of course, for Dice,” Matteo said dryly.
Even with everything happening, I laughed.
