‘Noble?’ Rage asked, huffing as we ran over the uneven ground and into view.
Where the heck had the water come from?
‘Not me.’ Noble was breathless as we continued to race across the snow-covered field.
Then who? He was the only water mage here except for…
‘Do you think they brought the high mages with them?’ I asked, my gaze cutting to Rage and then bouncing back to his deranged uncle.
We picked up our pace, full-on sprinting toward the precarious standoff between our packs. Declan’s numbers were far greater than ours, so what were they waiting for? Why not attack?
The steam cleared, revealing a red-faced and blistered Declan, cursing. With another flick of his hands, he shot a blaze of fire at my father. “Your magic hasneverbeen stronger than mine, Nathan. And it never will be.” He followed with several more shots, each one bigger than the last. “You arenothing.”
I waited for my father to catch the flames, to tell Declan he was wrong—but the stream of fire magic drew closer … the individual swaths merged until an inferno lit the night sky, bearing down on my father.
‘Noble!’ I screamed.
Noble waved his hand, nearly too late.
My dad dove to the side with a snarl as the flames pelted the ground, the force reverberating through my legs. I gasped, fear clenching my throat before snow poured over the fire, covering it with a mound, which promptly dissolved into a puddle.
Climbing back to his feet, my dad growled at the king, building a giant fireball between his hands. “So, this is how you want to play it? I’ll burn you alive like you did my brother and Valor.”
Crap, I needed to find Elaine before he could do that.
The king just grinned, and it made a stone sink in my stomach. Why did he look—?
Aunt Lilith exited the tree line, and I sucked in a fierce breath of bitter betrayal as Lilith strode straight to Declan’s side.
‘Do what you can to slow Midnight Pack from hurting Crescent—but Declan is mine,’Rage snarled, seemingly to his brothers and me in unison. ‘Honor, stay with Nai—no matter what.’
‘You got it,’ Honor said while the other brothers nodded.
Justice and Noble peeled away, both in human form, striding over to join my father while Declan growled about betrayal.
I moved to follow them, but Rage grabbed my arm.
‘I’m going to help my pack,’ I growled at my mate, assuming he was trying to protect me. ‘Don’t try and pull rank. I’m not staying behind.’
Rage shook his head, ‘I need you to figure out how to destroy that protection spell on my mom,’ he said, referring to the one binding his mother’s life to his uncle’s. ‘No oneelse here can do that.’
Crappity crap. He was right.
“Fine. But don’t let my dad get hurt.”
He nodded, and leaning in, Rage pressed a quick kiss to my lips. “I love you, Nai.”
Then, he turned and ran in the direction of the king.
My fingers went to my lips, and I wondered why he’d randomly said he loved me … like a goodbye in case—
No. I wouldn’t … Icouldn’tthink like that.
I spun on my heels, searching for my grandfather. How long would it take him to get to the mage lands and back? Would he step through a portal if it opened into that raging inferno?
Whatever, I could figure this out, right?
Operation Save Future Mother-in-Law was in full effect.
