Page 50 of Ignited Spirits (Haunted Magic #3)

LEGION

“ Y ou want me to do what?” the jaguar shifter asks my mate incredulously.

After discussing plans with her grandmother, we returned to Infernus to explain our plan to the king of that plane. He was not thrilled about the prospect, but my mate was able to persuade him.

Now we are making stops to get more support on our side because numbers will matter when it comes to defeating the cura .

She gives him a sheepish grin. “Oh, you know, nothing too big. Just bring all your shifters who can fight to Infernus to battle Lua.”

He blinks at her in disbelief for a long moment. “Who all is going to be battling Lua Mater with us? Or will you just be sacrificing my shifters to her?”

A growl rumbles in my chest as a look of hurt crosses my mate’s face before she shutters it. I have to resist the urge to yank control away from the pup and put the jaguar in his place.

However, I do not believe my mate would appreciate that.

Whenever I receive a new host, I have access to all the knowledge he has accumulated throughout his life.

It makes it easier to assimilate to a new place and new time and new language.

I had never heard of a jaguar or a shifter before.

Due to the pup’s memories, I know exactly what a jaguar looks like and what shifters do.

“I wouldn’t do that, Mateo,” she tells him with her shoulders slumped.

“I don’t think shifter lives matter any less than any other lives.

There will be most of Hades’s army there fighting as well.

Our current plan hinges on having enough people to tire her out, so we can use all the help we can get. ”

The jaguar at least has the grace to look chagrined. “I’m sorry, Izzy. It’s just scary thinking about sending my people to battle someone as unstoppable as Lua. I don’t think you’re the type of mage to sacrifice my people like that.”

She laughs. The sound is filled with anxiety instead of mirth. “How do you think I feel? I have to put everyone I care about on a battlefield with the same person who already killed one of my mates before. Then I have to hope we can last long enough to exhaust her. It’s terrifying.”

His eyes soften in sympathy and understanding. “We’ll help you. When do you need me to have everyone ready?”

“How’s tomorrow sound?” She gives him a big smile to distract him from her ask.

His eyes widen and he makes a choking sound. One of his fellow jaguars pats him on the back until he stops coughing. “I’m sorry, I must’ve misheard because there’s no way you said tomorrow.”

“Nope, your hearing is good. I absolutely said tomorrow.” She shrugs and gives him a what can you do expression.

“How do you expect me to get hundreds of shifters ready in less than a day?” he asks incredulously.

Izzy throws up her hands. “I don’t know, Mateo. You’re the governor or president or mayor or whatever of La Esperanza. Can’t you just tell them that they’re all going on a field trip tomorrow? I’m sure they’d love to see Infernus , so think about it more like a vacation rather than a battle.”

Another one of the jaguars behind Mateo cracks a grin at her calling their alpha a mayor, president, or governor.

I would be lying if I said I never thought about what my mate would be like. But even in my wildest imagination, my idea of a mate pales in comparison to the reality of Isabel.

She is witty and sarcastic and funny. She has a wall constructed around her heart from a lifetime of being treated horribly.

But when she cares about someone, she is soft and loving and warm.

Her backbone of steel is impressive for one so young, and her continued compassion after all she has been through never ceases to amaze me.

While I have not known her very long, I feel like I have, thanks to the pup’s memories. I know she’s still unsure about me, but, hopefully, we will have a long time to get to know each other once the cura is taken care of.

“Alpha,” Mateo corrects. He rubs his temples like my mate is giving him a headache. “I’m the alpha, Isabel.”

“Sure,” she agrees, not understanding why the shifter is insulted by her not recognizing his rank. Anguia have a looser rank structure than shifters, but respecting rank is still a crucial part of our society. Disrespect is not tolerated. “So, can you help out tomorrow or not?”

“What’s the rush? Why does it need to be tomorrow?” he presses.

Stuffing down the exasperation that was beginning to show on her face, Izzy blows out a breath to calm herself.

“Because Lua Mater has pretty much everything she needs to drain the Earth of its magic. We don’t know if she’s days or weeks or months away from completing the spell, and we can’t afford to let her do that. ”

He laces his hands together and places them behind his head. The jaguar stares at the ceiling as he works through something in his mind. Blowing out a breath, he nods to himself before looking at my mate again. “We can do it. Will you be back to pick us up tomorrow morning?”

“Yep, that’s the plan.” She pauses as she thinks something through. “Or, if not me, it will be Hades, Seph, Zeus, or Poseidon.”

Mateo’s eyes bug out of his head. “Hades, as in the Hades?”

She rolls her eyes. “Yeah, the Hades. Try not to gawk at him too much when you meet him. The guy really doesn’t need you boosting his ego.”

The jaguar manages to shake himself out of his shock after a moment. “Do you need anything else? If not, I need to start on preparations for tomorrow.”

My mate shakes her head. “Nah, I’m good.” The jaguar gives her a curt nod and turns on his heel to leave. Izzy’s voice stops him. “And, Mateo? Thank you. For everything.”

He freezes before turning around and dipping his chin. “Thank you. I know this fight isn’t how you imagined your future. You could be like most mages and decide it’s not your problem. But instead, you’re putting your life on the line for all of us. I respect the courage that takes.”

She ducks her head, looking uncomfortable at the praise. “I don’t really have much of a choice, so I wouldn’t call that courage. But thanks.”

“We always have a choice, Izzy. You could walk away, but you won’t, because that’s just not who you are.

The fact that you’re fated to stop Lua Mater is just one option of many.

It’s your choices that determine whether that path is the one you walk.

” With one last smile in her direction, Mateo and his fellow jaguars stalk farther out of the squat building the meeting was held in.

Izzy stares after him before shaking her head. “No pressure or anything,” she mutters to herself. “I just have to make all the right choices, or I won’t defeat Lua. No biggie.”

Forking a hand through her hair, she tilts her head back to stare sightlessly at the ceiling. I hate how uncertain and defeated my mate looks.

Seizing control from the pup, I slowly approach her, not wanting to startle her. While I feel slightly bad about taking control of his body, the need to reassure my mate outweighs it.

When I am close enough to touch her, she snaps out of her daze. Izzy looks at me with a smile that freezes when she notices the color of my eyes. While she makes an effort to keep that smile on her face, I can see the uncertainty shining in her gray eyes.

I give her a soft smile as she stares up at me. “You do not have to smile at me if you don’t feel it, mate. I know we do not yet know each other. I hope you will come to care for me at least as a friend over the years, but there is never any pressure to feel anything toward me you do not.”

She bites her lip nervously before deflating. “I’m sorry, Legion,” she whispers.

I gently tilt her chin up with my thumb and forefinger, making her look at me.

“None of that, mate. You never need to apologize for how you feel around me, understood?” She nods, and I give her as gentle a smile as a being like me can.

“The most influential moments in history do not happen because those involved make all the right choices.”

“Then what are they determined by?” she asks.

I hesitate as I try to figure out how to word what I want to convey.

“They are determined by how much each individual cares and how much they are willing to put in and sacrifice. To defeat Lua, each choice does not have to be the right one. It simply has to be the best one you can make under the circumstances.”

“But I don’t want to sacrifice anyone.” She looks so afraid and vulnerable in that moment that it shatters the heart I never really thought I had. I wish I could make it all better for her, but I do not know how to do that right now.

I sigh, hurting for my little mate. “Entering a battle means to accept the fact that there will be sacrifice,” I tell her as gently as I can. “People will die, Isabel. There is no avoiding that. But how much would you sacrifice if you chose not to go against her?”

Every path has its consequences. Not fighting can sometimes cost many more lives than a battle.

“Have you ever had to sacrifice anyone?” she growls, directing her fear disguised as anger at me. “It’s fucking easy for you to say that battle means losing people when you’re as old as the universe and unkillable.”

“I have lost those I care about, mate. To be an anguis is to lose. I have not seen my brothers or sisters in too many lifetimes to count. I have not seen my friends in longer than this planet or galaxy has existed. I have had to watch them die over and over and over, unsure if our lives will ever line up again, so, yes, I know what loss is.”

After so very, very many lifetimes, the loss becomes easier to bear in some ways and harder in others.

There is an ever-present aching sadness as I miss those who mean so much to me, but it has been here for so long that I am used to it.

The weight of it has not gotten any easier to carry, but I do not notice it as much after so long.

Her eyes fill with sorrow and empathy as she hangs her head. “I’m sorry.”