Page 57

Neith

M y eyes widen and my mouth drops open in shock, as my gaze snaps over to Coen, who looks even more shocked than I do.

“Pardon?” he whispers, hope sparking in his eyes.

Ed smiles gently, “You are now on Evander’s team. It seems that the Choosing thought that you were a better fit there.”

“I,” Coen starts, and then just stops, overcome with emotion.

“You may move over to your new team, Neith, please stay there for a moment longer, I promise there is a reason, although rather ridiculous, it’s all about following tradition,” Ed explains.

I nod, my smile absolutely enormous, “That’s okay, I’m happy to respect tradition.”

Coen grins at me as he walks past, and I return it, wishing that I could hug him, but respecting Ed and the place that we’re in by staying put.

“You can’t do that!” Kylen bellows.

“Quiet!” Ed rumbles again, as only Kylen is forced to his knees.

Ed frowns as the scroll glows once, and he unravels it further.

“Oh my. This has never happened before. I’m not to read this next part out loud, and you are to take the scroll with you for the first time in memory. It usually stays here.”

“Oh?” I ask curiously.

Ed nods and then gestures for all of us to come up to the plinth. As soon as the guys are close enough, I’m pulled under Reed’s arm for a quick squeeze before he lets go again.

We all gather around Ed, and he shows us the scroll.

I read down the list of names, and my eyebrows hit my hairline as I can’t help but gasp out loud in shock.

There underneath Coen’s name is Kyrous. As in Kyrous, the only person who ever went through the Choosing and wasn’t put on a team.

The leader of Trieneliea’s armies, the trainer of the bonded Warrior Teams, that fucking Kyrous.

What the fuck.

“What’s that?” Raiden says, pointing to something that I hadn’t noticed.

Just below Kyrous’s name is a smudge.

“Just a smudge, nothing of any importance,” Ed replies with a reassuring smile. He rolls the scroll up and then hands it to Evander. “Congratulations, I’m sure that . . .”

My ears start ringing as pain blooms in my back, and the guys all stare at me in horror.

Looking down at the blood rapidly spreading on my stomach, I cover it with my hands and mutter, “For fuck sake, I’ve been shot.”

The guys all rush to me, and someone catches me as my legs give way. My gaze locks on a triumphant looking Kylen.

“Cunt,” I mouth, and grin through the pain knowing that it will piss him off.

Suddenly, there is an almighty boom of power, one that I recognize, and my smile widens, as the necklace around Kylen’s neck shatters into dust.

Now he’s fucked.

Coen’s dragon roars with terrifying anger, and Kylen’s eyes widen in panic as he tries to turn to the rest of his team for aid. They all back up, moving far away, and Coen’s dragon stomps on Kylen, pinning him to the floor and stopping his transformation.

I watch in pain-filled fascination as Coen slices Kylen’s hand off, and then with the other paw crushes the hand into a mushy mess.

Wasting no time at all Coen roars again, and then picks up Kylen in the paw that is pinning him and squeezes so hard that Kylen’s fucking head pops off, which is so incredibly macabre, but also funny as fuck.

My laughter turns into a groan of pain, and I’m vaguely aware of the guys gathered around me and Doc trying to do something and sounding more panicked, but I’m laser-focused on Coen as he torches what is left of Kylen with his dragon fire, turning him into dust.

He spins around, lumbering over to me and turning back into his human form as he does. His gaze fills with relief as he sees me watching him. But quickly turns into panic as darkness pulls on me, and I lose my fight with consciousness.

Ransom

N eith’s eyes roll back in her head, and her body slumps.

“What’s happening?” Evander panics.

“I can’t fucking heal her,” Doc growls, “my magic isn’t working.”

“What?” Coen asks, now back in human form and looking as panicked as the rest of us are.

She’s in so much pain, and when I think it can’t get any worse, she starts to fit. Her body jerking painfully.

“The bullet that she was shot with has poison on it, she shouldn’t be alive. I don’t know how the fuck she’s alive. She has to be in so much fucking pain, it burns you from the inside,” Doc’s voice is full of desperation and helplessness as he looks up at us.

Before any of us can react though, Raiden drops to the floor, and starts to writhe in pain.

“What the fuck!” Griff exclaims.

Doc moves over to him, and does a scan, frowning, he says, “His magic is being drained.”

“Fuck the tether!” Van exclaims. “That’s what’s wrong with both of them. Neith can’t do her dying and coming back to life thing and . . .”

“Her what?” Coen exclaims.

There’s no time to explain that though as Evander continues, “She’s pulling magic from Raiden, and it’s killing him.”

Neith and Raiden both start convulsing violently, and everyone pushes forward, trying to figure out how to save them both and break the tether so that Neith can do her thing, and Raiden doesn’t die in the process.

I fall to my knees next to her, my hands pressing against the wound on Neith’s stomach in a futile bid to stop the bleeding. Around me is utter chaos, and I’m not the only one with wet cheeks as we watch the horror unfold.

Calm washes over me, my mind clears, and a spell appears in my mind, ancient and so incredibly powerful that no warlock today would be able to perform it, but I know that it will save them both.

“Guys!” I yell, gaining all of their attention. “There’s a spell, it has just come to me. It will save them, but it needs all of us to do it, and I don’t know what the consequences will be.”

“Do it,” they all shout at the same time, their eyes locked on me.

“Put them next to each other and lay their hands together like they’re holding them,” I order, following pure instinct at this point.

The guys quickly do as I’ve asked, and their trust in me boosts my confidence even more.

Once Neith and Raiden are next to each other, the guys don’t need to join their hands, they somehow manage to find each other and link their own hands, even though they are both still convulsing.

“Everyone needs to lay a hand on their skin, on either of them, it doesn’t matter who, they’re joined.” Everyone immediately does it and then looks at me, waiting for further instructions.

I place my hand over Neith and Raiden’s joined hands and begin to chant.

I feel the magic build, steadily growing to something that I have never felt before.

The room fills with a buzz that has the guys looking around nervously as the floor beneath us cracks.

I feel a thread of my magic snap out and knock the Draconian team out.

Clearly, they aren’t supposed to see this.

Finally, my chanting reaches a crescendo, and the power of the spell snaps into place. Different colored threads appear in my mind's eye, eleven of them.

All thoughts of colored strands disappear from my mind as I realize that Neith and Raiden are still and no longer convulsing.

“She’s not bleeding anymore,” Reed mutters.

Doc’s magic flares, and his eyes widen in surprise, “She’s healed, the poison has gone, and everything.”

Raiden’s eyes flutter.

“I think Raiden’s waking up,” Coen says, his eyes glued to them both.

Raiden groans. He sits up suddenly and glances around him, “Neith!”

“She’s here,” Griff says, as Raiden’s eyes land on her.

“I broke the tether, but it didn’t matter, it didn’t make a difference,” he mutters. “Is she?”

He starts to ask, unable to finish the sentence.

“I feel like I’ve been hit by a semi-truck, actually seven semi-trucks and then reversed back over,” Neith’s voice is weak, but full of indignation.

I grin, “Thank fuck.”

“You scared the fucking shit out of us,” Coen chastises and then pulls her into his arms.

She grins, “I do that.” Looking at me she says, “Thank you for saving our asses.”

“How did you?” I ask.

“I heard it,” she replies, and then reaches her hands up to Reed, “help me up.”

“Are you sure?” Reed asks, hesitating briefly.

She nods, “Definitely, I feel good. Really good.”

Reed frowns, but slowly picks her up.

Neith smiles up at him, and opens her mouth, no doubt to say something sassy, but before she can, an unfamiliar power builds. It’s incredible in its strength.

“What the fuck now?” River asks.

My eyes widen, “It’s Neith.”

Just as the words leave my mouth, power bursts from her, throwing us all back, and I only just manage to throw up a shield around us all.

We stare in shock as the power builds higher and higher.

The building around us rumbles, as cracks begin to appear, unable to cope with the amount of sheer fucking power that Neith is throwing out.

A glowing copper and purple light encapsulates Neith, as a wind whips around her in a frenzy.

“It looks like Neith’s supernatural has decided to make an appearance,” River yells in absolute awe over the sound of the building crumbling around us.

If it doesn’t let up in a moment, then the whole thing is going to come down on top of us.

“Fucking hell,” Coen shouts.

I fling a ward at the Draconian team that are still knocked out cold, and then out of the corner of my eye I see Ed struggling and fling a ball of ward at him too, he looks surprised as it wraps around him, but I don’t have time to figure out why as my gaze is brought back to Neith.

Not that I can see anything through the swirling wind and light, suddenly there’s a ginormous power boom that’s so strong it knocks through my ward and sends us all sprawling across the floor.

My shoulder hits a piece of fallen debris, and I feel the sting of a cut, but ignore it as I jump up, searching the now still, debris-filled room for Neith.

“Oh my gods,” Reed exclaims.

“Why are you staring at me like that?” Neith asks.

None of us answers. I don’t think we’re capable of doing so. I know I’m not, as I stare at her.

Neith has wings.

Huge, feathered wings. They don’t look like any that I have seen before though, but that’s not a surprise since she’s an angel and everyone believes them to be extinct.

The colors of them are amazing, they start off a deep burgundy color and then turn red, orange, yellow before blending into a bright gold on the tips, and each wing is edged in fiery copper.

“Wow,” River mutters.

“Guys, you’re really starting to freak me out now,” Neith starts, her eyes widen, “I’ve got dick on my forehead haven’t I? Only I would turn into a supernatural and get a fucking dick on my forehead.”

Coen chuckles, “You don’t have a dick on your forehead, Love.”

Neith

I frown, “Well thank fuck for that. I would be awful with dick, I’d be hard all the time, and fucking windmills, I want to try that shit.”

“I, what the fuck are you going on about Nene?” Van asks.

I shrug, and level him with a look, “I’m freaking out. Why are you staring at me?”

“You have wings, gorgeous,” Doc tells me gently.

My eyes widen. “Erm, what?”

“You’ve got big, beautiful wings,” Raiden adds excitedly as he starts to pick his way toward me.

His movement seems to trigger the others, and soon they’re all heading toward me with giant smiles on their faces.

“No freaking way!” I exclaim.

I mean I knew it was a possibility, my mother’s an angel and therefore had wings, but I hadn’t really fucking considered it. I was waiting until after the Choosing to come to terms with all of this shit.

I try to look over my shoulder at them, but only catch a glimpse. So I start turning trying to see them better.

“Whoa, careful Neith,” Griff says. “Those wings look damn sharp. I’d wager that you could use them as a weapon.”

“I can’t even freaking see them,” I huff as I continue to go around in a circle trying to see them.

I am aware that I look like a dog chasing its tail right now, but I have freaking wings.

Wings!

I want to see them!

“Careful, Neith, you’re going to get dizzy,” Ransom warns a moment too late because I’m suddenly staring up at the ceiling.

“Ow, wings hurt if you fall on them,” I groan, as I stare up at all of my men smiling down at me and looking far too amused. “Having wings is going to take some getting used to.”

“Don’t worry, we’ll help,” Raiden says, Reed and Griff nodding in agreement.

“Come on, let’s get you back on your feet,” Doc says as he holds his hands out to me, and I take them gratefully.

He pulls me up and then has to hold onto me for a moment longer as I try to get used to my new center of gravity.

“Thank you,” I tell him.

“You’re welcome,” he says softly as his gaze travels over my face, checking that I’m really okay.

It must have been terrifying witnessing me go down like that.

There’s a flash of light behind Doc, and I wince. “What the fuck now.”

Doc moves out of the way, as the guys surround me, being careful of my wings and making sure that I’m stood with them and not behind them as we face whatever the fuck this is.

Standing where the flash of light was, is a dark-haired man, he smiles, showing his teeth, and instantly telling me that he’s a vampire. My eyebrows raise. Well, that’s curious.

He looks at me, “Come with me.”

“No,” I reply shortly, making someone laugh in surprise.

The vampire raises his eyebrow, and looks slightly confused, he’s clearly not used to being told no, “Excuse me?”

“I said no,” I reply, and then when he still looks confused, I add, “if you have any hope of US,” I make sure to emphasize the us, “then you’re going to have to have explain why you want us to come with you, and it better be a damn good explanation, because after what we’ve been through in the last what, hour?

I have reached the end of my give a fuck. ”

The vampire's surprised expression clears and is replaced with an amused look before it becomes serious again, “That seems like a reasonable request. The elders wish to speak to you.”

“Goody.”