Then a gust of wind ripped through the window, shattering the glass and encompassing my entire body, slowing my descent. I flipped and tumbled in the air until I fell hard on my butt, my teeth clacking together.
Looking up, I saw Artemis give me a wink.
That was close.
“You okay?” Leah appeared and reached out a hand to help me up.
Brayden and Lora had gone ballistic, throwing shockwave after shockwave into each other. It sent pressure into my ears and there wasn’t a window left unbroken in the room.
His power was incredible, but there was no time to gawk as the other two Fae Lords, Dryden and Ellaria, had finally arrived and were stalking towards us.
“Ready?” Leah called beside me.
I looked at my longtime bestie, my sister, and nodded. I had to assume that Brayden had trained her over the year that I was gone and that he wouldn’t have given her a task that would kill her.
I peered down at my little ghost wolf pack, who had run back to my side.‘Two of you help Leah, two of you help Brayden, and one stick with me, okay?’
If I took them all and then lost someone I loved today, I’d never be able to live with it.
One by one, their heads nodded and then they took off, lining up behind their respective persons.
I sidestepped a group of Brayden’s wolves who were taking down a fae warrior, and aimed my sights on Dryden.
The Fae Lord looked madder than hell. Small balls of fire danced in his palms, which made me super nervous. I was sure I had some water magic inside of me somewhere, but as I hadn’t trained with that, we were going to have to rely on what I did have access to. Air and sunlight were the only fae magic I felt even remotely safe using.
Brayden screamed in pain suddenly, and I had to fight every urge I had not to turn away from the advancing Fae Lord and look at my lover.
No, he was fine. He had two of my ghost wolves and Artemis helping him. I had to focus.
Remembering how I took down Marcus, I threw time-stopping magic at Dryden when he was a mere ten feet from me, but he tossed a fireball at it and kept advancing.
Nothing happened.
Crap.
Plan B:wind and shockwave the crap out of this mother-effer.
Letting the magic build in my chest, I planted my feet right as he threw two fireballs at me.
Now or never. With a battle cry, I threw my hands out and my wind-shockwave collided with the fireballs, extinguishing them and then continuing on, knocking Dryden off his feet and tossing him twenty feet backward.
Yes!
I didn’t let up.
I threw another, pinning him to the ground with it. Although it was an unseen force, it still picked up his clothing and hair, swirling it around.
I pulled my pistol from my hip and cocked it. Aiming right between his eyes, I rested my finger on the trigger.
A shockwave of epic proportions knocked into my stomach and I keeled forward, dropping the gun.
My hold on the Fae Lord diminished, and he used that and our close proximity to kick me in the jaw. Pain exploded along the lower half of my face and I staggered backward. The wind had been knocked from me and I gasped for air, trying to pull on my shield power.
You will lose focus at some point, and that’s when they will strike.Artemis’ sage advice from our all night training came back to me then.At the very least, a well-fortified shield can buy you seconds to recover.
Packing the air in the room around me like a magical shield, I braced myself for Dryden’s onslaught.
I grunted as invisible shockwaves smashed against my shield like bullets. I was still trying to regain my breath and get a game plan.
