Isaac stood behind Ardan, staked his two staffs down, arm’s length apart, and the arc of lightning from my crystal joined with his, effectively trapping Ardan inside of a triangle of live electricity. Ardan’s eyes widened. I could tell from the look on his face he was trapped, unable to disappear like he usually did. Whether it was because he was too hurt, or the electricity messed with his powers, I didn’tcare.
Isaac screamed over the sound of the wind. “Your time of torturing the skyborn isover!”
The wind picked up harder and I felt myself being lifted upright, almost taken up into the air with the strength of it. Isaac’s feet were firmly planted six inches into the earth. He was basically a tree. I felt for my connection to Isaac’s power and did the same, pulling the earth power into me. I felt my feet drop into the soil, anchored so that the wind would not blow meaway.
Ardan pointed at me. “The skyborn took everything from me! The queen, your mother! Our entire land was wiped away because of their love for a stupid frailrace!”
In that moment, with spittle and blood coming from his mouth, even the anger in his voice, he looked like an honest-to-goddemon.
Isaac shook his head. “No! You could not let a queen love a deserving people. You are the one that took Faery from us. You waged war until it was nothing butashes!”
The entire time Isaac and Ardan had been talking, I’d been using my deep connection with the Earth to send my magic forward, through the channel of the ground, seeking out Ardan’s feet. His lies had enraged me, and so I did what Isaac had counseled me to do. I used that anger and rage and I called up my fire magic. I pulled more than I ever had before. As soon as I felt that Earth connection with Ardan’s feet, I pushed it, through the earth and up into the space he was occupying. Flames, glorious and all consuming shot out. In a second, six feet of fire erupted from the soles of his feet and engulfed his entire body. His scream was horrifying. The wind and lightning storm immediately cut out as his power began to fail. He tried to use his wind power to snuff the flames, but that only fed them, made them waver left and right. Isaac and I pulled our staffs out at the same time, cutting off the triangle of electricity, and took a step back so that he wouldn’t burn us, or ourweapons.
Ardan dropped to his knees and started flickering in and out, blinking out of existence, trying to do anything to save his life. The wind was blowing again, trying to regainpower.
A presence came up behind me and I instinctively knew it was Logan. He carried a Glock in his hands. He pointed it at Ardan’s head and looked atme.
I nodded. I wasn’t a monster. I didn’t want him to suffer… too much. I just wanted him gone. I turned my head as Logan unloaded the weapon into the evil druid. The thud as his body hit the ground would probably haunt my dreams forever. I called back the fire, willing it to cease, and looked back to see that the flames had indeed stopped burning. Curled in the fetal position, sunk halfway into the earth, was the monster of all monsters.Dead.
A resounding crack echoed throughout the valley and the birds flew from theirtrees.
I looked up to Isaac for an explanation. He was staring at Ardan. “His power over this land, over his druids, isbroken.”
Well, thank God forthat.
I turned to walk away. I wanted to leave this awful place. Then Logan’s hand came out and gripped my upperarm.
Whirling back to Ardan’s body, I saw a thick tendril of green magic rising up from the chest of the druid and making its way tome.
Logan’s eyes met mine. “Take it back, Sloane. Take back all of the power he stole fromus.”
Tears filled my eyes and I had to force down a sob, I realized that the green magic coming towards me was all of the skyborn he’d killed. Casey’s mom, my dad, all of their magic he’d greedily taken in an effort to kill off what he deemed a weakrace.
I stepped into the river of green, breathing it in through my nostrils, feeling the rush as it hit my system. I didn’t even realize I was shifting until my dragon had fully transformed. I stood there on all fours, wings spanned out behind me, breathing in the green magic of my fallen kin, and the power that washed over me was indescribable. My dragon was much stronger and at less of a threat of being overwhelmed by my druid magic. I’d somehow found a peaceful place between my necklace, my staff, and anchoring my energy to the Earth, where I could be both dragon shifter and druid—earthbound andskyborn.
Nothing would ever take my mate bond fromLogan.
Once I’d absorbed all of the magic I could, my dragon shifted back to my human form. My clothes were ripped to shit, so Logan took off his shirt and gave it to me, and I pulled it over myhead.
“You did it,” Logan said, sounding almost dumbfounded. He just stared at the corpse that the Earth wasabsorbing.
“We all did it,” I corrected him, and then looked in the direction of the castle. “Did we lose anyone? How are Isabella andMarcos?”
Logan frowned. “We lost a few of the newer pack members, Jon, Tori and Kevin. Isabella and Marcos arefine.”
I guess it wasn’t possible to have no deaths in a battle like this, but it still killed me to hear we’d lost people even if I hadn’t been very close tothem.
I spun around and my eyes fell on Nadine. “I’m so glad you’re okay!” I ran to her and took her into ahug.
“Alright, thanks for flashing me,” Danny moaned behind me. “Now I really need avacation.”
I laughed, turning around with a smile. At the same time Keegan threw me a pair of sweatpants from his backpack. A good shifter alpha always carried extra clothes. As I slipped into them, I was about to retort something funny to Danny when I noticed Isaac just beyond him. He hadn’t moved from his spot near Ardan’s body. He was swaying, leaning on his staff, a pool of blood at hisfeet.
“Isaac!” The cry ripped from my throat as I made quick strides to meethim.
He fell into my arms the moment I got there and I lowered him to the ground, rolling him over to assess where the blood was coming from. When I peeked over his shoulder, I saw the back of his shirt was soaked with blood around his lowerback.
“He was hurt at the castle. Looked like he got stabbed but said he was fine,” Keegan said, standing over us with afrown.
