Page 285 of Commanding Blood And Bonds

“If you die out here, Freya, I’ll bring you back just to kill you myself.”

“Counterproductive, but noted.”

The air…rippled. Not twisted—shuddered. And then they appeared. Soul after soul. All muscle. All radiating power strong enough to make lesser men shit themselves.

Grayshell.

She’d summoned her coven. No other explanation. They assessed the battlefield with collective sighs, as if this thirty-foot snake was just another Tuesday.

One looked unhinged, grinning as he summoned a bow. The woman beside him looked like Aphrodite’s statue—soft features, wide-eyed awe. I spotted Ajax beside two men who had to be his brothers. But the last pair—hand in hand—strode forward without hesitation.

“Oh, what fresh hell is this?” the woman demanded, cracking her neck with indignation.

The male lunged for Freya, enveloping her in a hug that almost earned a growl from me. Until he pulled back and scanned her, head to toe, in that overprotective sibling kind of way.

“What the fuck, kid?”

“That’s the general consensus. Catch up after?”

“Yeah,” he agreed, their eyes going distant together. Then they moved—jumping across the field without another word.

Freya looked at me. “Be my eyes in the air?”

There’d be time for questions later. I nodded, pushing off and soaring above the monster’s head.

Right as the sky darkened.

Rattle the cage, motherfuckers.

August

Oh, Aren’s gonna be so pissed he missed this, Alec said down the line as he took position on the far side of the field.

You can take him back a fang, I replied, drawing on the power of the sky, darkness swirling as my irritation deepened. Seriously? Man-eating, earth-decaying serpents, now?

The thing reared up, its head swinging from side to side as it assessed the circle tightening around it. Alec lit his fire, dipped his first arrow, and took aim just as the beast zeroed in on him. The Greeks mirrored him from the opposite end of the field.

Flames erupted along Ally’s arms. Without a word, she glanced at Freya—who, of course, grinned like the batshit lunatic she was. I felt it then, the subtle sensation of a leak—no more than the pull of blood drawn, but just as vital—as she tapped into our bond, inhaling so deeply her eyes fluttered shut.

Ready? Ally asked, her gaze flicking between the beast and my sister.

Bring it on.

The field exploded into motion. Everyone shifted at once. Alec loosed arrow after blazing arrow, dodging a set of mucus-coated fangs that nearly clipped him. Freya’s winged prince dove, spears of ice flying from his hands. Ally raised her arms, sweeping them outward to ignite a perimeter of twenty feet in searing flame.

The sky cracked open, thunder bellowing as I called lightning again and again, bolts tearing downward, each one closer to impact. The ravens made me nervous—the Paladin even more so, knowing how tight his bond to Freya ran.

I couldn’t risk driving through the earth with so many of us spread across the field. And try as I might, I’d never been able to force them to fly again.

Irritated, I grabbed my bow—but a scream snapped my head to the side just in time to see the serpent’s tail lash out, sending a woman flying. I threw out a hand to slow her fall, but dropped to my knees when she disintegrated into ash. Her terrified face burned itself into my memory.

A moment later, the snake dove, fangs first, straight into Fae’s shield. It struck the wall of energy with a shuddering thud, water weeping up from the earth around her. Its tail lashed again, this time narrowly missing Brody, who crept forward, sword in hand.

Oh, absolutely not.

Rocketing to my feet, anger clouding my vision, I shouted, “Retreat!”

The Grayshellians obeyed instantly, Bellaton on their heels. Cyrus twisted into a dive, wings snapping shut as he shot straight for Freya.