Whoa. She was hardcore.Womancrush.
Keegan nodded and then took center stage. “My pack will be the ground team. Our single job is to protect the skyborn! Casey, Geoff, Lynn, and Tony will be hiding in the hut with Lily. Dylan, Isabella, Marco, and Sloane will be fighting alongside us, but if Ardan comes we create a circle around them and don’t let himthrough.”
Casey groaned, looking completely devastated that she wasn’t going to be able to go head to head withArdan.
Oh, to be fourteenagain.
It was valiant of Keegan to tell his pack to protect me and the other skyborn first, but in reality Isaac and I were the only ones strong enough to take him on. It was going to take a combination of our druid powers to endhim.
I turned to Eva. “How long do wehave?”
She pivoted, peering over her shoulder to look at the hut that Lily was sleeping in, seeing something my non-magical eyes were not privyto.
“Maybe by nightfall, probably before,” she said,resigned.
Jesus. How had this happened so fast? Any minute they could show up and wreak havoc on this beautiful place, hurt these wonderful people. It frightened me and pissed me off all atonce.
“Sloane!” Keegan called from where he was standing with Logan andIsaac.
I gave Eva a small nod before leaving her to join the boys. I walked slowly, as if the act alone could slow down time, and make this inevitable moment nevercome.
“We need a plan,” Keegan said. “I know you didn’t want it to happen this soon, but Ardan will come and we need some kind ofplan.”
I’d never seen him so frazzled. Ardan was powerful yes, but as Isaac had told me moments ago, I could do this. We would never be “ready,” because that would be waiting on perfection, which didn’texist.
“I’ve got this,” I told Keegan with complete confidence. “You and the others keep any of his druids and hunters out of my way, Isaac and I will finish him off. We’re ending this war. Tonight.” It was totally forced confidence, but I had to suck it up and believe in myself sometime, and it was better now thannever.
Isaac beamed at me with pride, leaning on his staffs and assessing me with his orangeeyes.
Logan, however, lookedill.
‘I want to club you over the head, and cage you in a basement far, far away from all of this,’ he said through ourbond.
I tried not to snort.‘That was creepy and romantic at the sametime.’
‘I’m serious. Everything about this feels wrong to me. I want to protectyou.’
I stepped closer to him.‘You can’t protect me fromthis.’
His eyes widened as complete and utter desolation crossed his features. This man loved me more than anything. I was so lucky to have that kind of loyalty anddevotion.
“Sloane,” Isaac called to me. “We shouldtrain.”
The air charged with Logan and my love, with everything unsaid that was flowing between us in that moment. But I had to get in warrior mode. I had to disconnect from him for a moment and focus on this task withIsaac.
“I’ll see you in a bit,” I said out loud, and reached out to squeeze hishand.
When my fingers grasped his, he clamped down and yanked me forward, so that I flew into hisarms.
I grinned despite the dire circumstances, and leaned forward to meet his lips. He kissed me frantically and then pulled away. “Nice try, but I’m glued to your side for the next twenty-fourhours.”
Isaac chuckled. “Well, then, lover boy, let’s go. I need to work on some moves withher.”
Lover boy. That had a nice ring toit.
As we walked hand in hand over to where Isaac wanted to train me, I felt good about the future. I had my staff, my necklace, and I’d been training for a while with Isaac and Sophie. But the best part was Logan by my side. I truly believed that together we could get throughanything.
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