31. Chapter 31

Chapter 31

The air was saturated with the smell of death, blood and fire. Greg stood next to me, naked. ‘I'm sorry about Tristan,' he said softly.

Me too, Esme whined sadly in my head.

I nodded and tears filled my eyes again. ‘He saved my life. That brute was coming for me to rip me to shreds, and I was focused on Isaacs. Tristan and Arden saved me and they died for it.'

Greg wrapped an arm around me and kissed my forehead. I closed my eyes and tried to breathe. ‘Anyone else dead from our side?' I asked eventually.

‘Not yet,' Greg said.

In my head, Esme let out an exultant howl. Our pack was strong!

Greg continued, ‘We've a few with pretty bad injuries, though. Max and Toby from the Devon pack might not make it. I've called Leyla and she' s on her way here. Daniella is trying to keep them alive until then. Jacob's been pretty badly injured, too. He got pulled down and one of his wings was chewed off at the base.'

‘Can a witch regrow it?'

‘I don't know,' he said honestly. ‘Maybe.'

‘Is anyone left alive from their side?'

Greg shook his head. ‘With the fire elementals and Bastion, it was pretty much mass destruction once we learned how to work with the wind and air. Besides, I got the impression they didn't want to walk away. At no point did they try to withdraw.'

‘It was do or die. Suicide by wolf.'

‘Indeed,' he agreed grimly.

One of the better ways to die, Esme sniffed.

I'd rather die in my sleep.

Or in bed with Greg, she suggested archly.

That would be pretty traumatising for Greg.

Not if he dies at the same time.

Simultaneous petit mort which resulted in la morte ?

Perfect .

Bastion approached us; he was in his human form and tiredness shadowed his eyes. ‘Thanks for coming,' I said warmly, stepping up to hug him.

‘Oh, you know me, I'm always up for death and destruction. Is that the orb?' he nodded at the glowing sphere in my hands. ‘I expected it to be bigger. Have you checked your phone?'

I blinked at the non-sequitur. ‘Um, no. I don't exactly have it on me at the moment.' I gestured at my naked body.

Bastion dug out his own phone, pulled up a message and held it out for me to read. It simply said: Jess and I are getting married tonight at midnight. She'd like you there.

I blew out a breath and looked around me. I couldn't leave my pack now, not even for Jess. I sighed. ‘I'll attend via video call,' I said. ‘Can you set that up for me? Don't mention any of this to Jess, I don't want her to worry on her wedding day.'

‘You got it.' He looked at me for a moment. ‘I haven't been able to find Ghost.'

‘What do you mean?' Bastion was a world-renowned deadly assassin and part of that terrifying reputation was the fact that he could find anyone, anywhere.

‘I can't find her,' he admitted. ‘I think something has happened to her. After the wedding, she'll be getting my full focus so I'll be incommunicado for a while. I just wanted you to know.'

‘Bastion.' I reached up and touched the bags under his eyes. ‘You need to break the curse. You need to see Amber.'

His eyes softened and he sighed. ‘Soon,' he agreed. ‘After the wedding.'

Tension eased from me; finally he was going to seek the help that he needed. God save me from stubborn griffins. ‘Good.'

He gave me a swift one-armed hug, shifted into griffin form, leapt into the air and flew away to go and watch Jess get married.

‘You could go,' Greg suggested.

‘No,' I said firmly. ‘I can't.' There was no way I could leave my pack now, not after all we'd been through. They deserved the comfort of their alpha.

I looked around the battlefield – what remained of it – and there was a lot of kissing going on: Marissa and Seren, Ben and Noah, and Wakado and Nova were next to Nina. He was leaning with his back against the wall, arms held carefully by his side as Nova initiated a passionate kiss, which he returned with enthusiasm.

Greg followed my gaze. ‘Did you know about that?'

I smiled. ‘Yeah, I knew the interest was there. He's moving slow. I'm pretty sure she was raped by Larsden.'

Greg's jaw worked. ‘He was such an asshole. I wish I could kill him all over again.'

‘Amen,' I murmured. ‘Look!' Against the mansion wall, Thea and Archie were kissing passionately, too. ‘What is it about battles that makes people so damn horny?'

‘The rush of still being alive.' He leaned down and kissed my neck, sending a shiver through me.

‘Table that,' I said, looking reluctantly over his shoulder ‘We have too much to do. Later though…'

‘Later,' he agreed, straightening. He followed my gaze. A car was making its way up our drive. ‘Leyla,' he said. ‘I'll show her to the most seriously wounded.'

I nodded. ‘And I'll ring Tristan's wife.'

‘I can notify her, if you want?'

‘No. I need to do this myself.' I'd let Greg shoulder the burden with Xander, but afterwards I'd felt like I'd fumbled the whole thing. I made mistakes but I tried my damnedest to learn from them.

We split up, him to go to Leyla and me to find my phone and a bag in which to put the glowing orb; the last thing I wanted was to misplace it. As I waded across the battle ground, I smiled to myself as I saw Ivy and Ares eating their fill of our less crispy enemies.

‘No nibbling Tristan,' I instructed firmly.

Ares gave me an affronted look as if he would never think of munching on friends. I patted him. ‘Just to be clear,' I murmured. ‘I know you wouldn't, but Ivy is young and she might not realise it's not okay.' Ares harrumphed and nudged me with his huge head: he wouldn' t let her eat Tristan.

I continued to the mansion and to my office. There was nothing I wanted to do less than notify Tristan's wife of his death, but she deserved to hear the truth promptly – and from me.

I rummaged in a drawer, found a spare bag, popped the orb inside it and put the strap around my neck. I dialled the number I had on file for Candice but the call instantly disconnected – she'd hung up on me. Nonplussed, I stared at my phone.

A moment later a text message arrived from the same number: I'm on my way. I closed my eyes. Of course she already knew; she was a freaking seer.