The device was tiny, made for pixie fingers, but I could still see the magical sigils that powered it glowing brightly. I read it quickly while Kane and Elodie fought off anyone who tried to get too close.
In the end, the answer was shockingly simple. I stood and crushed the controller under my boot. The sound of metal collars, anklets, and cuffs clicking open echoed across the battlefield, and for the first time, everyone fell completely still.
Chapter 68
Elodie
Icouldn’t believe it. We’d done it. The sobs of relief and sorrow coming from the crowd who’d laid down their weapons really made it hit home.
The war was over.
The war was fucking over.
I turned to Valens, leaping into his arms and wrapping my legs around his waist so I could bury my face in his neck.
He squeezed me tight, and I couldn’t believe we’d made it through to the other side in one piece.
No, better than that—we’d made it to the other side stronger than ever. He was mine, and I was his, and there was something we needed to take care of.
I pulled back far enough that I could see his reaction. “Will you bond with me at the next full moon?”
His grin spread slowly from ear to ear, almost as if he couldn’t believe what he’d just heard. “Hell yes, I’ll bond with you. I’d bond with you tonight if we could have the ceremony.” He wound a hand into my hair and pulled me forward into a kiss I would never forget, even when I was old and gray.
I would be old and gray at his side.
A horn blared over the crowd, and I pulled back, frowning. “What is that?”
“I don’t know.” We both looked around, confused, and the sentiment was shared, because I heard murmurs from everyone else around us.
The horn sounded again, and this time, I was able to pinpoint the direction, off to the west.
A lone wolf stood there with an old-fashioned, curling ram’s horn in one hand. But the other hand? The other hand held a flaming red standard with a black slash through it.
“Pack Mordan.” I breathed the words in hushed horror.
“What?” Valens asked, setting me back on my feet.
“It was in the book about Narcissa from the maidens. Her pack flew that exact flag in the omega wars.”
“Are you saying that Bran and Narcissa just found us?”
A vicious battle cry went up from behind the standard bearer, and the whole ground shook as an army ran out of the western forest, answering the question for me.
Valens swore viciously in Hungarian as we both drew our weapons. There was chaos on our side, as the newly freed ODL enforcers and the no-longer-enslaved pixie horde all panicked.
But the wolves and our allies? We turned and faced the onslaught head-on. Before Valens and I could join the charge, Kane shifted, standing naked on the field and striding across to stand eye to eye with the ODL general.
“Call the council. Tell them the worst has happened, and we need backup. Narcissa won’t just come for us. She wants domination, and she won’t stop until every creature on this planet lives in fear under her command. If we fall, the rest of you fall with us.”
The general blanched at the mention of Narcissa, but to his credit, he whipped out a phone and immediately dialed, his stump no longer bleeding, but the hand still missing. Ilingered long enough to hear him accurately relay what had just happened and put in the request for all hands on deck support at the Pack Caelestis castle. And then I turned, locking eyes with Valens.
“We’re not done yet,” I said, rolling back my shoulders and working on clearing my head for the next wave of battle.
“Unfortunately not,” he agreed, checking the edge on his sword.
“Are you ready?”
He trailed a fingertip over my cheek reverently. “As long as I’m by your side, I’m ready for whatever comes.”
