I grumbled, “He clearly wants to be obnoxious, because… you can accidentally kill someone by stabbing them… there are so many arteries… and sepsis is a thing. I understand it’s a low probability given Haley’s healing powers… but I doubt that guy knows that.” Freya conceded, “That is likely true.” I heard Aiden and several Hackura yelling. That was good, they could help us.
I felt Xander’s need to come to his mom. Heck, I felt him trying. Uh oh. My husband was not going to like this. At all….but my only option was to jump in front of Haley. At least he couldn’t see it this time. Or my family. So that was good. Since the last time they saw me get shot in the vest. This was going to be getting stabbed with no vest. This is why vests were best.
I punched the guy going for Haley and tried to disarm him. He missed where he was aiming but stabbed me in the stomach. I felt the knife sink in, feeling the burn. Tears filled my eyes, but I willed them away as I sank to my knees when the pain hit. I heard my friends wolves roar in anger.
I blew out a breath, “Bad news for you… this is not my first stabbing… and I’ve felt worst pain, so.. it’s basically Tuesday to me.” The guy asked, “What the hell is wrong with you?” I admitted, “I don’t think we have time to get into that…. since… you’re doing this whole suicidal mission thing. Excuse me for just a second.” He gaped at me.
Freya snorted, “I cannot believe you said that.” I reasoned, “I’m distracting him… and it’s working.” I gathered my breath and took the guys legs out. I yelled, “Olivia! Guard Haley!” Olivia popped right to me. She was doing private lessons with Maverick and Haley on Fairy powers.
Obviously, she was doing well. I complimented, “That was really good on the distance… I’m so proud.” Olivia stared at me in horror. Oh, right. The knife in my stomach was probably disconcerting. Olivia agreed, “It is.” Ugh. Talking out loud, when you don’t really mean to…. was the worst.
I ripped the fake Dylan’s shoe off revealing his true face to everyone else. Olivia said, “Ok, that makes a lot more sense. It’s not Dylan. This is all my fault.” I disagreed, “Nope... not even kind of.” Olivia insisted, “No, Haley was inside with me. I wasn't ready to come outside with all these people yet.”
I snorted, “Did you use magic to knock her out? Or give someone the appearance of Dylan?” Olivia sighed, “No.” I surmised, “Then it’s not your fault. It’s dumb people… with dumb plans… that just can’t let us have a minute. It’s their fault. I blame them… and the universe… so… that seems fair and both our mates care about being fair.” Olivia smirked at me.
I told Paige, “The coven has to be to the south. Val, take her there. Curse the crap out of them, Paige.” Paige agreed, “With pleasure.” Abigail and Sierra’s wolves made it to me. I smiled saying, “You look mad.” Both gave me unamused looks. Freya confirmed, “They are mad.” There was just no pleasing everyone in a crisis situation. Freya snorted.
Egres yelled, “Duchess Melanie get over here and let us in.” I yelled, “In a minute!” I muttered, “Do the dishes Cinderelly, make the fire Cinderelly, do the mopping and the sweeping and the dusting Cinderelly.” Olivia laughed and my Gamma and Beta Female’s wolves look amused.
Sometimes my life felt a little like that though. The fake Dylan asked, “Why aren’t you dead?” I snorted, “Seriously? The knife to the gut was… definitely not a killing blow.” Sierra linked, “Avery and Ads have the sniper. I CANNOT BELIVE YOU LET YOURSELF GET STABBLED!”
I asked, “Really though? It’s kind of a total me move… so I think you can. You’re just annoyed.” Sierra’s wolf shot me an annoyed look. Abigail chimed in, “Si linked me what you said, and I’m NOT used to seeing you take A KNIFE in the field.” I replied, “Normally… I have on a vest.” Her wolf snorted at me.
I told the fake Dylan, “By the way… we found your sniper. So, you have no back up now.” I pulled the knife out of my stomach and winced. Olivia said, “Umm aren’t you not supposed to not do that? I’m pretty sure you’re not. You keep the knife in. That’s like basic being stabbed by something rules.”
I replied, “I mean… without a wolf… yes… that’s definitely the rule.” Oliva tensed when we both smelled rogues. I groaned, “Can I not just have a freaking break? For like five seconds?” I was going to mess with the fake Dylan since he didn’t look like Dylan anymore, but now… now I just had to kill him.
I quickly slit his throat. He dropped to his knees holding his neck, gasping for air for a few seconds before he gurgled his last breath. I put an unconscious Haley over my shoulder. I instructed Olivia, “Pop to the edge by Aiden and the horde of Hackura.”
Olivia did as I asked. I greeted, “Hi, guys… you seem mad… so… let’s just… keep going to the ‘on the fly’ plan… which means… no one can yell at me…it’s a field rule.” Several people snorted. I grabbed Olivia and stepped out.
I turned to Egres, “Portal please. Wait….. Where is Blade?” Olivia cleared her throat and pointed to a blood soaked Blade on the inside of the dome, standing at the edge by us. I reached back for him and pulled him through.
Blade muttered, “Popped away. Princess always pops. All heart. Blade kill many smelly wolves.” I said, “Ok, can you open a portal for Olivia and Haley? Umm… and like you… too… that felt obvious… but umm please?”
Olivia said, “I’m staying. They attacked our family so I’m fighting with you.” I just nodded because I understood why she felt that way. I’d made sure Olivia could fight and had personally worked with her to get her up to where she should be.
Blade took Haley from me and opened a portal. Aiden touched my mother in law’s shoulder, and kissed her forehead,before Blade stepped through it. I said, “Ok… kind of thought eyes would blaze slightly less… since I got her out of here…. and obviously getting you guys in.” No one seemed amused except Olivia.
I muttered, “Tough crowd… Ok, everyone grab hands.” Hastein asked, “So, the plan is to get us in there, correct?” I turned, “Hi Hastein… I didn’t see you there. Oh gosh… there are more blazing eyes related to Haley. Umm my plan was to walk everyone in. I mean technically we could just have Aiden set everyone on fire.”
Hastein’s face told me exactly what he thought of that plan. I continued, “Or not. You could kill them too. That’s the face you’re making… that you want to kill people.” Prince Logan said, “Since my nephew is not here to cut off the rambling, someone tell me how else we can do that.”
Olivia answered, “Uhh you can’t. We just let her talk.” Prince Logan said, “Fine. Talk and walk us through the dome deal, Melanie.” I said, “Oh, yeah… sure.. does everyone have someone’s hand? I mean no one is holding mine and I’m kind of key.”
Gabe lifted up my shirt. I shouted, “Hey!” Gabe chuckled, “Your wound is healed. We were going to have someone treat it if it wasn’t. My cousin is unhappy.” I stared at him then said, “Oh well, that’s nice of you… that’s not usually what happens in these situations… I get yelled at later to get treated.”
Gabe grabbed my hand and pulled me forward. The second they were all through they took off running. Literally thirty seconds later the dome came down. I smiled, because that meant Xander was coming.
I fought several rogues as confusion filled me. Where was Xander? Where were any of the Conners? I looked at my watch and saw it was blinking. I growled, “COME ON!” Freya said, “Based on your memory if you didn’t care about people knowingabout ILYX, we’d have already known that because it would’ve been announced.”
Well, we didn’t need such valid points right now. Freya snickered in my head. Sierra said, “We’ve got you covered. Check whatever the hell that is! Based on the bond with my mate, Phil is fighting.” I frowned. Abigail growled, “Gage said he can’t talk, so they definitely are.”
I asked Freya, “What is Xander doing?” Freya answered, “He’s blocking us.” Ohhhhhhh that just… irked me. Freya snickered, “So we can do it, but he can’t?” I answered, “Yes. There’s a whole do as I say, not as I do…. saying that applies here.” My wolf laughed at me.
I checked my watch. Egres asked, “What’s going on?” I answered, “Black Mountain and Blue Moon are being attacked.” I took out my phone and called Lux. Freya commented, “Using ILYX would be faster.” I muttered, “Yeah, yeah, yeah. I do know that.” Egres asked, “Know what?” I squeaked, “Nothing!” Egres gave me a look.
Lux answered, “Well hello Melanie, formerly Ashley. Who are we lying to? Do you want me to lie for you?” I said, “I mean… why would we be lying? You know what? Let’s put a pin in that… because it’s not a bad idea, another time. Right now, you need to get your Beta to give you a Fairy ride to Black Mountain with Warriors. They are under attack along with Blue Moon.”
