Louis reached out, his hands almost touching the shimmering barrier that surrounded Stratford. I felt the rise of magic, ancient like Faerie magic – elemental, from the earth and sky, the wind, and the living entities which dotted around us. The shimmer started to fade away, and the outside, which had been just visible through the veil, came into clear focus. The noise hit me first. It was loud, and the scents were strong and varied. I was going to go out on a limb and say that dragon dick had not given his marked any downtime for bathing and clean clothes.
I fought the urge to cover my nose; shifter senses were way too strong for this stench. “No need to direct us toward the sweaty ass-crack crew. Larky is clearly not going for stealth with his marked.”
There were a few chuckles around. “It’s pretty intense,” Tyson said, “but maybe your senses are heightened for another reason, Jessa babe?” And thankfully his voice was a whisper.
I hadn’t told my father yet about my possible pregnancy. I would rather wait until after Louis could test me. No point announcing my magical baby until we were sure. Then, if I was pregnant, my plan was to drop Mischa’s news first. After that no one would worry about mine. See, having a sister could come in useful at times.
We surged forward as a group, the power of the eight quads ricocheting around us, making it really uncomfortable for me to be in the center. I ended up moving to the edge of them for a reprieve. Louis then dropped in to cover my vulnerability, but at least his power was contained within his body and not arcing around like a friggin’ lightshow.
Our line of defense was spread out to no leave gaps, but with just enough space so that each supe was able to utilize their power and abilities. We were trained for this type of situation – not that I’d ever had to use my training in actual mass battle before. The magic users were rocking their distinctive golden eyes, connected to their gods and earth power. The fey were wrapped in the four elements, the demi-fey in their most lethal skin. Torag was looking very tree-like at the moment; he would be much harder to kill like that. Each of us was as prepared as we could be to finish this today. There was no way everyone here would survive, because the odds were way stacked against us, but now was not the time to worry about that or let doubts cloud our minds.
Now was the time to fight.
As we closed the gap between the lines, the noise increased, but only briefly before silence descended across the line of the dragon marked. Our pace picked up as we headed straight for where they were flying their dragon spirit flags. Specters were high above, mingling between each other, and it was scary and intimidating.
Larky moved out to stand front and center, his height and golden sheen distinct from the rest of the marked.
“Remember, they have extra speed and strength when they are connected to their mark,” I said. “They can mentally communicate with Larky and each other.”
The males around me nodded. Cardia just looked bored. Even as we ran, she appeared to be examining her nails. The vamp needed to get her head in the game or she was going to be in trouble. And if she got Maximus hurt or killed because she was a stupid, selfish bitch, I would rip her head off and not even lose a moment of sleep over her death.
We moved swiftly, still some distance between us and the stinky-assed marked minions. I could feel the king’s eyes on me. The intensity of his gaze was hot, like someone had directed the sun to focus on me. I was ultra pissed when my mark began to tingle along my side, responding to his energy.
Thankfully my heart and bond remained firmly with the male at my side. Even my dragon, who’d basically been stolen solely to be the mate to Larky, had chosen Braxton. Would it have been harder for me to resist the dragon king if I hadn’t already had my own true dragon mate? Thankfully I’d never know. So even though a huge part of me still wanted to kick the fates in the face, another part wanted to kiss them for making sure I had choices, great choices, so I’d never be tempted to the dark side.
My attention zeroed in past the dickhead to the slight form at his side. Rose. Why the heck had he brought her along? She looked unhappy, arms crossed over her chest, and I wondered if she’d be a help to our side. I still wasn’t sure what her endgame was. She had sent me into the labyrinth, which led to this necklace, but if I hadn’t been able to shift to dragon I’d probably have been killed by the creatures in there. So was she helping me or trying to get me out of the way?
The dragon king lifted both of his arms, holding them shoulder-height, palms facing up. His voice boomed across the field to us: “All I want today is Jessa. I’ll leave your community alone. You can keep your Book of Guidance and seats on the council. You don’t have the numbers to best us, so why forfeit your lives so easily? Give me Jessa and I’ll forget this rebellion against me, but if you do not … I will wipe every one of you from existence.”
Truth. There was a lot of truth in those words, but also deception. Our strides remained strong as we moved toward his massive army. We would not be stopping or making any deals. We didn’t negotiate with tyrants.
He must have seen that in our determined faces. I saw his shoulders lift in a shrug. Just like in Rose’s memory projection he would kill every supernatural here today, for no reason other than we refused to bow down and allow him to control us and all the power of our races. He would destroy our communities. Criminals would be back in the population. And the human population would face a massacre.
Larky waved his arms in a signal of sorts and my mark started to burn and tingle in a way it had never done before. I had the brief thought that he was issuing some sort of command. My dragon’s presence shifted closer to my mind as if she was adding her strength to keep me protected.