Bile burned my throat and my wolf flattened his ears in defeat as we ran, bringing up the rear and trying to help stragglers.
In the end, most of us made it to the castle. Some carried the dead and wounded, and when Kane shifted back to human form to shut and bar the doors behind us all, it felt like the end.
Reed grabbed Fiona, so exhausted she could barely stand, and carried her out of the main hall. The skies cleared moments later, and the triumphant howls of our enemies sounded just outside the gates.
The gates that wouldn’t hold them forever.
I searched the crowd for Elodie, finding her a few minutes later in the chaos.
She hugged me hard, the depths of her eyes brimming with worry as she gazed into mine. “What now? We didn’t have a siege plan, did we?”
I shook my head, words failing me. I didn’tknowwhat came next, and I couldn’t lie to her. So, I said nothing, I just hugged her back. Whatever we did, we had to hold the castle. Our families who couldn’t defend themselves were in the bunker below. Letting them get hurt? Not an option.
After we’d hugged ourselves out, I looked around, relieved to find Savannah in the corner, holding a crying friend. She was alive and well, and that was all I could ask for at this point. Then I remembered: I hadn’t told Elodie about Dakota.
“Hey, Firecracker? I have some bad news.”
She was staring wordlessly across the crowd in the other direction. I followed the direction of her gaze, then realized she’d spotted Galyna, red-eyed and alone.Shit.
“Is it Dakota?”
I cleared my throat, feeling less than useless. I never wanted to hurt her, but delivering bad news was a guaranteed blow. Better she hear it from me, though. “Yes. She didn’t make it.”
A low, distressed sound in her throat was the only response, then she darted across the room to hug Galyna.
It was as good a time as any to make a plan. We couldn’t hide in the castle forever, that was for sure.
I found Kane, Dirge, Gael, and Lucien gathered in the knights’ hall, every one of them wearing foreboding expressions.
Lucien slapped me wearily on the shoulder. “Glad to see you made it back. It was a close one.”
“Not everyone made it back.”
“I know,” he said. The air was heavy with the collective sorrow of the pack. But we didn’t need sorrow, that wasn’t going to get us out of this.
“What now?” I asked, not interested in rehashing what a resolute failure our attack plan had been. That was done. Now we had to try again, and do better this time.
“On the positive side, Narcissa’s magic didn’t actually steal any of our wolf allies. We were worried she’d be able to sway people away from us to her own cause,” Gael said. “I vote we get more artillery out of the armory. See if her people are warded, or we can take more of them out with RPGs.”
It wasn’t a bad plan. It might be the only plan.
Dirge crossed his arms over his chest. “The goblins already had catapults. It didn’t slow them down. The ones who got hit, yes, of course. But the rest of them just keep coming, like cockroaches. Plus, we all agreed to keep the guns and long-range weapons on the castle walls as a last line of defense.”
The castle shook around us, and the sound of glass shattering and women screaming made me spin around to find Elodie. Thank the Goddess, she was fine. A harpie was in the castle, though, having busted through a window.
“Fuck. We don’t have time to stand around talking. We need to split up and get everyone who’s able back out there?—”
Another window shattered, glass raining down on our heads like confetti. We all ducked, but not before we saw a burning brand arc in through the destroyed window. The fire was magical, spreading with intent in every direction. Screams rose as people ran to dodge it. Gael and Lucien bolted away, heading down to the armory to get bigger weapons.
I couldn’t join them, cut off by the path of the rapidly spreading fire. A witch stood in the fire’s path, magic crackling over her deep brown skin as she lifted one hand, then clutched her fist as she said an incantation. The fire went out in one greatwhoosh, the witch shaking her head. “You’re running out of time, Alpha,” she snapped at Kane. “Where is my niece and her fae friend?”
Elodie returned to my side, whispering, “That’s Karissma, Brielle’s… aunt.”
“A very powerful witch as an aunt to a wolf omega. That’s an odd combination.”
Elodie chuckled. “Of all the things weird about this pack, how can you even tell anymore?”
“Fair point.”
