She shook her head sadly, and that was when it hit me all over again. Itwasn’tmy job anymore. I wasn’t wearing my uniform, my butterfly sword wasn’t in my sling, and absolutely nothing said I had to be at the front of the pack fighting for my life besides my own decision to do so.
For the first time since my mate marks had appeared, that realization didn’t hurt. It felt good to know that I was stillme, even without my uniform. I was still standing between my pack and what came, job or no. I was a protector deep down inside, and that hadn’t changed just because my title did.
I stood a little straighter, focusing on my steadying routines. Weapons check. Clothing check. Roll back my shoulders, ready stance. Deep breath in and long, slow exhale out.
“There she is,” Galyna said, her approval sending a frisson of warmth through me. We weren’t partners anymore, but she was still my best friend.
I shot her a cocky grin. “Try and stop me.” The moon shone down on us, and we were almost out of time to chat.
She winked, then went through her own ready routine. Seconds after she opened her eyes again, I caught movement at the tree line. “They’re here.”
Galyna whistled, the sound low and drawn out. “More of them today.”
I caught sight of what appeared to be a giant brown bug. No… a giantscorpion.“Where the fuck did they find those?” I asked, pointing.
Dakota squeaked in surprise when she followed my finger to the buggy attackers heading our way. “That shit is terrifying.”
Galyna whacked her on the stomach, knocking the breath out of her. “Chin up, recruit. Warriors don’t shriek. Calm, cool, and deadly.”
“Isn’t the saying calm, cool, and collected?” Dakota asked as she drew her sword.
“Not for the maidens, it’s not. It’s calm, cool, and kick ass!” I hollered, lifting my staff and charging toward the oncoming attack.
I only made it a few strides down the hill before I faltered, stopping so abruptly that Galyna nearly ran into my back. “What is it?”
But I couldn’t answer her, though, because speaking it aloud would make it real. And making it real would mean that the numbness in my chest had more meaning than just Valens closing the bond. Something much, much worse.
Galyna followed my gaze over the field, then loosed a string of swear words that would make a dockworker blush. “It can’t be.”
But it was. It was Valens and another wolf, between the pixie king and the man wearing the ODL general’s uniform. I’d recognize his wolf anywhere, and even from this distance, I could feel the pull of our bond.But he is on the wrong side of the battle lines.
He lifted his head to howl, and horror ripped me to shreds with vicious, unfeeling claws.
Because there, on my mate’s neck, was a silver collar. My thoughts ran faster than a bullet train as reality coalesced into sickening clarity.
My mate had been captured, collared, and turned against me. And if I ran toward those battle lines, it would be to fight my own mate, possibly to the death.
My muscles turned to lead as dread formed a nauseating lump in the pit of my stomach. He wouldn’t just be coming for me. He’d be coming for our friends and pack mates. If I didn’t stop him, he might kill some of them.
But how? People rushed past me, racing toward the battle, but I backpedaled.
There had to be a way to get through to him, and I had a feeling I knew what it was.
The guardian’s sword. He’d said he bonded with his sword as if it were somehow sentient. Surely the second sword would help me? If it knew Valens’s life was on the line, it had to help me.
I turned away from the front and ran with every ounce of speed I possessed, then called on my wolf to push myself even harder. People’s faces blurred as I wove through the crowd, the breath burning in my lungs as I made my way back to the castle.
“Elodie, wait!” A feminine voice stopped me, perhaps the only one that could have in the moment.
I paused, turning in a circle until I spotted Savannah. “I can’t talk right now. I have to save your brother.” I turned to keep running, but she caught up to me.
“I saw him. How can I help?”
I broke back into a run, leaving her to follow or not. We didn’t have time to sit around and talk. I heard her snarl, then footsteps following behind.
It didn’t take long to cut through the now-empty castle, arrowing toward our room. I slammed through the door so hard that one of the hinges broke free from the wall, leaving it dangling at an odd angle as I skidded to a stop in front of the guardian’s chest.
Savannah was only a few seconds behind, and any other time, I would have been impressed that she could almost keep up. “What… Do you think… You’re going to find… In there?” Her question came between broken pants.
