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“Thank me?” Her voice trembled with wariness, but Agrel could hear the edge of anger rising within that became stronger with every word she spat. “You left us believing that they wouldkill us! Why would you be thankful to me now?”

The huntsman shrugged. “I realized afterward that I may have been a little shortsighted about Lily, though I wasn’t in position to care for a small child. I was reprimanded severely for leaving potentially worthy breeding stock behind. Thanks to you keeping her alive all these years, it gives me the opportunity to correct that minor oversight without any of the inconveniences. So, now you will die like you were supposed to, and I will be taking Lily back. She is of my stock after all, and the Order may find her useful for pairing with a huntsman when she comes of age.”

“You’re a monster!” Delilah snarled as she backed defensively against the wagon, bodily protecting their nestling.

“I’m a monster?” The male chuckled. “Have been confused by their dicks between your legs.Theyare the monsters. I merely dispose of them.”

“I have had enough,” Gehj spat, and before Agrel could react, the male, who was usually the calmer between them, snapped his wings, and rose quickly into the air.

With a curse hissed between his teeth, Agrel beat his wings in furious snaps as he, too, joined the attack. Flames burst from their feathers, and he saw the moment the huntsman noted them because the male wheeled back, his eyes widening with surprise as he lifted his blade higher to meet their attack. Agrel laughed grimly as he wheeled through the air, flames unfurling from every beat of his wings. Fire fell, fizzling in the air before it hit the ground, but it was enough to make the huntsman wary as he crouched defensively. And there it was… a hint of fear in his eyes!

Arcing through the air, Gehj dropped and folded his wings, dropping like a flaming bolt toward the huntsman. The human dived out of range of the attack, his body hitting the ground hard, though the momentum carried him around in a roll. Snarling, the huntsman sheathed his blade to remove a small, broad, handheld weapon from his belt as Agrel spun, lining himself up as Gehj rose back into the air again. His wings spread wide, he scrutinized the weapon. Part of it looked like a bow that many juveniles used while hunting from the air, but it was usually small—smaller that even nestlings played with—and set at a weird angle where it was attached to another piece. Agrel’s wings slowly curled inward so that he began his descent just as the male snatched a small bolt from a slot on his belt and notched it into place.

Agrel stretched his talons out in front of him and his wings folded tighter against him, his flaming roaring higher around him as his descent sped up in attack. The huntsman brought the weapon up and the bow’s string snapped with a press of his finger, launching the bolt directly at him. Flames engulfing him,Agrel swiped at the bolt and smiled grimly as the wood charred and broke into ash as he struck it with his claws.

The huntsman staggered back, fishing for another bolt from his belt but upon not finding one, withdrew his blade and brought it up swinging. The blade cut through the air, countering Agrel’s attack with a blow that, though he managed to block it with his talons, sent him reeling to the ground, his flames smothered by the dirt and sand. Agrel pushed himself up from the ground, stunned and off-balance from his unanticipated collision with the ground so that he stumbled shakily. The huntsman’s eyes narrowed on him and a smirk rose to his lips as he turned away, dismissing Agrel as an immediate threat. His head spun, but he hissed as his tail feathers spread out in a demonstrative threat. A small sound startled him, however, and his eyes snapped toward the wagon just as the covering over the back shifted and was pushed out of the way by a small, delicate hand.

“Daddy?” Lily queried groggily. Her eyes sought out Agrel and Gehj as she peered out from the back of the wagon.

“Lily, go back inside!” Gehj shouted from where he wheeled in the air above.

Delilah turned her head toward their nestling and nodded at the wagon. “Lily, quick now.”

Their nestling nodded, her hands fumbling with the covering, but she froze, her face going pale as she spotted Zemb’s collapsed body in front of the wagon. Finally, her eyes finally landed on the huntsman.

The male swiped dirt from his face and grinned as he took several steps forward only to jump back when a powerful clap of Gehj’s wings sent a firebolt the ground, blistering the earth and scorching it. The human’s head tipped back to glare at him as he circled above. They preferred not to fight directly with fire close to the ground because of the damage it could do, but insuch a case, Agrel approved. They would do whatever it took to keep that male from their family. Agrel’s talons flexed, his wings spreading wide around him, his tail feathers fanning wider as he stalked forward. It would be so easy to send a fire blast from his wings directly to the male’s unprotected back, but he dared not risk missing and setting anything else on fire.

“Lily, there you are,” the huntsman called to her, his voice shifting. “Look at how you’ve grown. Come, say hello to Daddy.”

Lily shook her head and shrank back, defensively drawing the fabric lower. “You aren’t my daddy,” she shouted. “Agrel and Gehj are my daddies.” Her eyes dropped once more to Zemb’s crumpled body, and her lower lip trembled. “You hurt Zemb. You… you’re a bad man.”

The huntsman’s face darkened furiously. “Ungrateful brat. You’re coming with me whether you like it or not—and you’ll be thankful, too,” he spat as he started forward at an angry clip.

Agrel leaped forward, his wings flapping so that he skimmed at high speed over the ground as Gehj fell from the sky above. Their fires burned brighter around them as one thought and one purpose solidified within Agrel: guard and protect their family!

CHAPTER 22

Delilah climbed quickly into the wagon and gathered Lily into her arms as she spun away and crouched down protectively, putting her back between the man she once loved and her child in a desperate attempt to shield her. She looked over her shoulder as the sky brightened and air almost seemed to turn gold from the flames of the Atlavans in their attack. Never had she felt more helpless than she did at that moment. She had no fighting skills or even the crudest makeshift weapon at her disposal. She had nothing with which to help her mates as shewatched Zack just barely evade their strikes to counterstrike viciously, but not without receiving injury as their talons tore through him and flames singed his hair and skin.

They glided around each other, lunging with every strike like a flaming, choreographed dance. The Atlavans countered every blow with blocks from their fiery wings, sending fire racing through the weapon. Delilah could see where the metal of Zack’s sword was blackening from the repeated blows but still, he swung, slicing the air with it only to have it knocked away again as the frighteningly long talons lashed out, tearing flesh when Zack attempted to evade the fiery wings striking at him.

With a wild, desperate swing of his sword that sent Agrel and Gehj parting out of its way, Zack threw his weight forward, rushing the wagon like a battering ram. Gehj sprung back into the air with a shriek, his leap clearly calculated as it brought him down onto Zack’s exposed shoulders and back, dropping him heavily to the ground. The sound of impact was brutal, but she knew that it wouldn’t keep him down. Delilah slowly straightened as she watched Zack rise to knees with a roar, cutting the air with both sword and dagger, fighting desperately just to maintain that position without managing to climb to his feet as her mates circled around him, their wings and tails fanned wide with hostility and trading strikes over and over.

They were toying with him. She recognized it. They were slowly bleeding him out with every cut they delivered and smiled with every shout of Zack’s pain, only to move lithely out of the way with a flap of their wings when he doubled down on his attack. He fought viciously, his teeth bared in a snarl and hatred burning in his eyes that turned slowly to madness as his every attempt to destroy the Atlavans was frustrated, and he was delivered with even more blows from their talons and wings. Wings that could have set him on fire instead of just painfullysinging him. They were intentionally making him suffer, killing him slowly.

“Mommy?” Lily whispered in a frightened voice. “Are they going to get rid of the bad man?”

“Yes, now don’t look, baby,” Delilah whispered as she drew her tighter against her chest and wrapped an arm around her daughter’s head in an attempt to smother out any sound as a shout of agony rose from him.

It wasn’t easy to listen to, and the last thing she wanted was for Lily to be subjected to hearing him die, but it was a relief to know that her mates were delivering justice on her behalf. Not only for every terrible thing that he had done that she hadn’t known about, but also for the fact that if they’d arrived even a handful of minutes later, they would have arrived to find her dead and Lily gone. And Zack clearly would have had no remorse over killing her in front of her daughter. It was for that reason alone that she continued to watch every spray of blood and the way the fire ate his flesh, blackening his skin and burning away his hair bit by bit until finally they ended his wretched life. Their talons drove into his abdomen simultaneously, ripping through his internal organs before dragging them from his body in a sloshing mess. She swallowed thickly as she stared at the mess, willing herself not to be sick while at the same time feeling an enormous sense of relief that Zack couldn’t harm her or their daughter.

She watched as Gehj straightened and headed toward her. She glanced at him, but her gaze followed Agrel as he bent and grabbed a handful of the huntsman cloak that Zack had always been so proud of. His face set in fierce scowl, he dragged Zack’s body to the edge of the mountain’s side and threw him over. She exhaled shakily and turned toward Gehj as she slowly loosened her death hold on Lily. It was finally over.

Gehj looked down at Lily anxiously for a moment before his eyes lifted to meet her gaze apprehensively. “Are you both well?”

Delilah nodded. “Yes,” she whispered and collapsed toward him, dragging Lily with her as she wrapped her free arm around her mate, holding onto him desperately. “Thank you.”

“No need to thank us. We will always protect you,” he rasped, as he enfolded the both of them in his arms and wings.