“I’m going to help him bring her back,” I assured Natasha, who was still in André’s arms. “He’s mine.”
Shock, disbelief, and fear shone in her eyes, but she forcefully nodded, trying to steel herself to what was happening.
“Dad, bring the knights!”Heart pounding in my chest I whirled around, eyes focused, ready to pounce the moment that demon reappeared.
My dad and the knights ran toward me immediately, ready to help me end him.
TheDark Onewas going to regret this. The war was over now, and we could fight him together.
“There!” Natasha shouted, pointing right across from us.
My dad, the knights, and I flashed toward them, but the bastard went invisible while he held Isis by the throat. He escaped just as Bjørnblinkedto the spot and we staggered to a stop.
“Isis!” Bjørn shouted, desperate, andblinkedafter them once more.
TheDark Onevanished andreappeared, over and over, making us chase him around the dunes. He was terrifying Isis, who looked more distraught with our every failed attempt to save her—knowing he’d never let us get to her.
He was playing with Bjørn, with us, making us all suffer because he’d realized we all cared for her… and that fueled his sadistic heart.
Hearing him reemerge somewhere behind us, my dad, the knights, and I lunged into a run against time, running faster than we ever had.
The bastard was in the air.
His hand still squeezed Isis’s throat as they hovered somehow—no, theDark Onewasn’t hovering, he was rising higher. He had jumped, and horror gripped my heart because I knew why.
He was going to drop her.
Leaping with Beast power, I lunged myself through the air too, moving my legs and arms to extend my flight and reach them… seeing his other hand turn into a giant talon.
Catching Bjørn’s gaze, theDark Onegrinned before plunging the sharp talon into Isis’s back with all his strength, pushing it through her until it came out through her front.
He let her go when they began to fall.
“Nooo!”
Bjørn’s heart-wrenching cry cut through my being as I roared, crashing against them the next second.
TheDark Onewas sent spiraling sideways with our collision, but I gripped Isis in time. I landed with her in my arms while Bjørn’s pain became palpable in the very air we breathed.
Bjørnblinkedin front of theDark Oneas he landed, smashing into him before he could become invisible. A roar of rage and agony tore through our friend’s chest, and a viciousness I’d never seen in the sweet Viking Fae burst from his red eyes.
It was as though Bjørn wasn’t himself anymore… but theotheronehe got lost in when he was first turned.
Shaking theDark Onearound like he were a rag doll, he slammed him into the rocks that littered the ground, dragging him far away from us, from his Isis. The ragged edges of the rocks ripped through theDark Oneas hestruggled to fight back, suddenly overpowered.
My arms trembled as I lay Isis down gently on the sand, her blood soaking my white fur. Dad, Zelin, Luane, and Garion ran past us to where Bjørn was, but I couldn’t see anything other than Isis’s torn body in front of me.
Short, quick breaths attempted to reach her lungs but failed while her still-shocked eyes looked straight into the sky. Her tattered torso was too much to bear, blood still sipping from her even as my hands attempted to close her somehow.
I almost shut my eyes—if only to stop the horror from imprinting the image of my friend like this into my mind.
Instead, I looked at her, forcing myself to smile while my insides ripped open too. “It’s okay, Isis,” I whispered, turning back into a man. “I got you… I got you.”
She blinked, looking at me while tears gathered in her eyes.
“Don’t move,” I murmured softly. My trembling hands stirred toward a different part of her, but I had no idea what to do.
Shaking myself, I remembered my original Moon Prince power. One I’d never needed to use. I could heal other Wolf Shifters. Taking a calming breath, I connected with our Goddess’s essence inside of me and sent the soothing power to Isis—slow and steady, just as my mother had taught me.
