Chapter 31

CHAPTER 31

brIAR

T he world moves in disorienting flashes of armed men storming down the stairs, me being shoved away from my mates, and the whole crypt spinning like a demented carnival ride. My already ringing ears are bombarded by shouted orders and protests as I try to make sense of what's going on.

It takes me several long, disorienting moments to get my vision to stop seeing three of everything. My ears still have a high-pitched ringing drowning out most sounds, but I can at least see what's happening. And when I do, I wish I couldn't.

Twenty armed Knights of Aeneas soldiers dressed in the same strange tactical spartan armor are crammed into the underground space with us. I'm in the center of their circle. Each of my mates are held by a Knight with a matte black pistol shoved against their heart. I have to do a full spin to see all of my mates because they're being held at the four opposite points of the circle.

My heart feels like it's going to beat out of my chest with how scared I am. The only thing that even comes close to the sheer level of terror I'm feeling right now is when I watched Xander get shot. I'm not worried about myself, but I'm paralyzed with fear for my mates. With all five of us separated, Saint can't cast a shield to protect us.

No. No, this can't be real. Please, don't let this be real.

I briefly close my eyes, hoping that I can will the Knights away. The only thing that changes when I open them again is that one of the Knights and a man not in the tactical skirt and breastplate get-up have stepped toward me.

The Knight is older than the rest of his men by quite a bit, his black hair peppered with white and gray streaks. He looks to be in his fifties or sixties, while the rank-and-file Knights look in their twenties or thirties. Although he is visibly older than the rest of them, he's also the most menacing. A ragged scar slices through his forehead, down his right cheek, and through his lips, permanently twisting his mouth in a grimace. The man is also almost as tall as Malachi and packs on nearly as much muscle.

"You fucking traitor!" Saint screams while staring at the man not in tactical clothing.

The other man standing next to the Knight is wearing an expensive-looking, perfectly tailored black suit, crisp white shirt, and bloodred tie. His shiny black oxfords don't have a speck of dust on them, and his gray hair is slicked back without a strand out of place. His hawkish blue eyes narrow on Saint. "McAlister. A shame to see you mixed up in this unpleasantness. Now you see why we don't support interspecies relationships. It only leads to trouble."

"My relationship with Briar isn't the problem!" Saint yells, his face twisted in disgust. I've never seen Saint absolutely lose it like this, and I wish I could comfort him. "You betraying the entire mage species is! Does the rest of the council know that you're a dirty fucking sellout?"

Oh, fuck .

That guy's a mage councilman? Well, this just went from bad to fucking apocalyptic. We're in even deeper shit than I thought.

Fantastic.

The mage council is the governing body for mages. Instead of an alpha, betas, and pack structure that shifters have, the mage council has hereditary representatives who make up the government council. They're responsible for making laws, law enforcement, trials, sentencing, and execution.

Hawthorne Grove is home to North America's mage council, so I interacted with lots of councilmembers' children and grandchildren. They all sucked for the most part. The Gallaghers and the St. Jameses were the only decent ones. Since I was so young when we left, I don't know any of the current councilmen, but I guess Saint does.

I can't exactly say I'm surprised mages are selling out the rest of us to increase their own power. They've always had a superiority complex.

The councilmen's face turns thunderous at Saint's outburst. He mutters something before an arc of sickly brown magic shoots toward Saint. When it connects with him, the magic whips Saint's head to the side. Blood sprays out of his mouth and a red mark blooms on his cheek.

"Saint!" I shout as I lunge for him.

I pull up short when the Knight next to the councilman blandly comments, "I wouldn't if I were you. It would be a shame if I had to have one of your mates killed. We hate to use the barbaric violence of you shifters, but we will if we have to."

If he hadn't just threatened to kill my mates, I'd laugh at his blatantly false statement. The Knights of Aeneas have perpetuated senseless violence in their quest for power for thousands of years. Shifters aren't the barbarians; the Knights are.

Closing my eyes briefly, I try to get myself together. Being emotional will at best make our situation worse and at worst get my mates killed. I need to have a level head if I'm going to think of a way out of this.

Shoving all my emotions into a box in my mind, I let the fear and panic and rage and hopelessness drain out of me. All that remains is a hyperfocus on getting everyone I care about out of this in one piece.

With a blank face, I turn away from my bleeding mate and stare at the Knight. "What do you want?" My voice comes out cold and devoid of emotion, but my emotions are simmering just under the surface.

The Knight raises his eyebrows and looks at the mage. "Patrick sure did a number on her, didn't he?" Both the Knight and the mage laugh at that, but it's not nearly enough to break through my cold determination. The Knight's eyes narrow when I don't have any reaction to his taunting. "We want you, of course."

"Why?" I tilt my head robotically as I regard them.

"We can't have you undoing all our hard work. You shifters really do need to get better at keeping secrets. We know about the prophecy. A child of earth/Through the strength of thorns/And compassion worn/Like a necklace of gold/Will she break the mold/To free those/Who have in suffering froze/Dying without ever a roar," he recites. When he sees the confused look on my face, he grins smugly. "Surprised to hear that we know the whole thing? That's what you curs don't understand. We will always be smarter than you."

That's… not how the prophecy goes. Whatever version they think they know is only a piece of it, and they have the first line wrong.

Hope, cautious and easily extinguished, lights like a small candle flame in my chest. If they don't know the whole prophecy, then they don't know I'm a mage-wolf hybrid. I don't really know how that will get us out of this situation, but it's more than I had a minute ago, so that's something.

"Close the portal, McAlister. Your show of strength won't intimidate us," the councilman barks, irritation coloring his words.

I had forgotten about the open portal in all the confusion and chaos. Since portals are extremely draining, most mages can only keep them open for a minute, max. Only the strongest of mages can sustain portals for as long as I have, which would be cool to find out in any other situation.

Saint's forehead wrinkles in confusion as he glances behind him at my portal. If the one mage here other than Saint doesn't know I have magic, it's a safe bet none of the Knights do either. It is definitely best if they don't figure it out.

Before Saint can say anything, I chime in, "He'll close it when I'm done negotiating."

The Knight scoffs. "This isn't a negotiation."

It's my turn to regard him like he's an idiot—which he is, by the way. "Do you want me alive?"

"Yes. We need to study you to figure out how to strengthen our ritual that keeps female wolves from shifting and how to extend it to all shifters, regardless of species or gender." His eyes light with a feverish glow as he talks about his plans.

You'd think he would at least try to pretty it up a little, instead of leading with the whole "we want to kill all of your people" thing. No one ever said the Knights were the sharpest crayons in the box.

"I can't save my mates, but I can guarantee I can kill myself before you can stop me." Panicked shouts sound from the Wyldharts and Saint, but I ignore them to focus on the main Knight. "So, if you really want to study me, you will negotiate with me. Otherwise, you'll need to find another firstborn of Dido's line to experiment on."

Not that there is one. By his rattled features, the Knight knows this too.

The mage chants something and brown magic shoots out toward me. A shimmering ice-blue dome intercepts the magic, causing it to bounce back at the councilman. When it hits him, he slumps to the ground, unconscious but, unfortunately, not dead.

When the Knight turns wide eyes from his downed mage friend to me, I cross my arms and flash a triumphant smirk at him. He ignores me to glare at Saint instead. That's right, he must think Saint protected me from the magical attack.

While I'm basking in my small victory, I hear a struggle behind me. Turning, I see Malachi and Xander trying to break free of their Knights to reach me. The surrounding Knights turn their rifles on my mates, and my heart jumps into my throat. "Stop resisting," I alpha order them.

Malachi and Xander still at my command, but their eyes stare accusingly at me. I swallow past the lump in my throat at the hostility burning in their gazes. I don't want them to be angry with me, but I will do anything and everything to keep them safe.

"We don't need to make any rash decisions, girl." The black-haired man puts his hands up in a "calm down" gesture. "I'm sure we can work something out that's beneficial for both of us."

I somehow contain my snort. There's nothing about this that will end well for me, but I'm okay with that if it keeps my mates safe. I've known for the past seven years my life had an expiration date. Meeting my mates started to convince me that I had a future, but I guess it just wasn't meant to be.

"I do hope we can." I match his haughty tone, much to his displeasure if the disgruntled look on his face is any indicator. "First, how did you find us?"

The lead Knight rolls his eyes like I just asked the most moronic question he's ever heard. "We followed Patrick. When his sources said you were spotted at the premier mage hotel in Paris, we portaled him there immediately. I had my men follow him. When he met his gruesome end in the alley, we followed you to your hotel and to the train to Bayeux. We've been watching you, waiting for the perfect moment to capture you."

Have I ever mentioned I fucking hate Patrick? Because I do. So much.

Of course this mess is his doing. If I could go back in time, I would kill him slower. Much, much slower.

Scrubbing my hand over my face, I process that information and turn to the problem at hand. "My condition for going with you is that you let my mates go."

The Knight laughs. "No."

"Then we don't have a deal." I shrug and shift my hand into a wolf paw, complete with daggerlike nails. I dig my razor-sharp claws into my chest, right over my heart, drawing blood. I really hope I don't have to rip out my own heart. That would be a super uncomfortable way to die, but at least it's a pretty badass way to go out.

Even though I really don't want to do this, I will if I have to. I stare the Knight down as pain sears across my pectoral muscles and blood runs down my front, turning my off-white sweater a dark red. Before I get too far, the Knight shouts, "Stop!" I don't remove my claws from my chest, but I do stop pushing forward. "I will let your mates go as long as you haven't completed the mate bonds with any of them."

"I haven't," I lie smoothly.

"Prove it."

I retract my claws from my chest and shove down my right shirt collar to bare my unmarked neck. When the Knight gets a good look, I do the same for the other side. "Happy?"

"What about the mage?" He juts his chin in Saint's direction.

"I'm surprised the councilman didn't tell you. Interspecies groups can't mate."

The Knight looks at me intently for a moment, trying to tell if I'm lying. While I suck at lying to my mates, I have learned to bend the truth extremely well, thanks to Patrick. That's the one good thing he ever did for me.

Without the mage councilman awake to contest my half-truth, the Knight eventually believes me. After a minute of tense silence, the Knight sighs. "Fine, your mates can go one at a time through the portal. We'll start with the black-haired wolf."

Before the Knights have a chance to release him, I issue an alpha command to Malachi. "Walk through the portal and don't come back through." When the order slams into him, his navy eyes shine with betrayal, devastation, and heartache so intense it's physically painful to witness.

"Don't do this," he rasps. "Please."

I close my eyes at his broken plea. Someone as strong as Malachi shouldn't ever sound like that or beg for anything. "I have to," I choke out.

Fuck, do I wish there were another way, but I can't think of anything else to keep them all safe. I know I'll probably never see them again. I know we'll never build the life together we should've had. I know they'll blame themselves.

But I hope one day they'll be able to be happy again. I hope they'll find something like what Vale and Abbie have. I hope they'll live their lives to the fullest, because all I want is for them to be happy and safe and whole.

Because I love them.

Somewhere along the way, I've fallen in love with the four of them.

I've fallen for Malachi's bossy brand of overprotectiveness that comes from how deeply he cares about his family. I've fallen for Xander's calm steadiness and the grief and pain he keeps locked inside, only ever showing it to me. I've fallen for Bastian's sweet, thoughtful, and slightly damaged inner self under his jokester persona. I've fallen for my best friend who my heart never truly forgot even when my mind did.

When I don't lift the order, Malachi takes jerky steps toward the portal, fighting my command the whole way. He keeps his eyes on me as long as he can, silently begging me not to make him do this. A lone tear trails down my cheek as I watch him slowly break under the soul-crushing helplessness I've forced on him.

Once he steps through the portal, he instantly turns around to try to get back through, but the alpha order won't let him move toward it. He tips his head back and lets out a roar that's probably deafening in the Wyldhart mansion but is muffled thanks to the portal here.

Swiping away my tear, I turn to Bastian and give him the same command.

"Pretty girl, there has to be another way!" he shouts desperately. "Even if there isn't, none of us want to go on without you." The tendons in his neck stand out starkly with how hard he's resisting the command, but his struggle is no use. Bastian starts marching toward the portal, his steps halting as he fights to stay here with me.

"You have to," I croak, more of the damn tears running down my face. "You have to go on and live for me."

"No! Briar, please!" Bastian tries one last time before he too walks unwillingly through the portal. When he turns to face me, I can see tears dripping down his face too.

"I'm so sorry," I whisper to Bastian, my heart shattering piece by piece at how much I'm hurting them.

Swallowing roughly, I turn to my last wolf mate. While we've had our ups and downs, Xander is just as destroyed by what's happening as his brothers. I give him the order, but my voice shakes this time. It's taking all my willpower to do this to them, but I know it's the only way.

He frantically shakes his head back and forth in denial. "Sweetheart, I'm not worth it. Trade me for you," he tries, willing to do whatever it takes to save me.

But he should know me better than that. It doesn't matter how rocky things have been between us. I see the man he is buried underneath his years of self-loathing and self-sabotage. He's worth so much more than he'll ever know.

"You are, Xander. You're an amazing man who deserves the world. I'd do anything for you." I give him a bittersweet smile, not bothering to try to stop the flow of tears now. Because goodbyes should hurt. When saying farewell hurts, it means the other person changed you and left a little bit of themselves behind. That small part of their soul cries out for the rest of them when they have to leave.

I can say with certainty that my mates have changed me for the better and added so much to my life. I only wish we had more time together.

"No! I can't lose you too!" he bellows, his voice scratchy and hoarse from his anguish.

A sob rips out of my chest at his shout, my heart breaking at his pain.

Goddammit . Why does it hurt so much to do the right thing?

I press my hand to my chest, trying to make it hurt less, forgetting I have five new holes there. The jolt of physical pain helps me pull myself together as I turn to Saint. Later, I can break down, but right now, I have a job to finish.

"Unlike your wolves, you can't make me go through." Saint juts out his chin in defiance, but his gray eyes swim with worry.

I give him a small, sad smile. "Yes, I can." My magic pours out of me to surround Saint in a thin ice-blue glow that robs him of control over his body. His eyes widen in panic when his limbs start moving without his say-so. I give him the alpha command, pretending like it works on mages so they won't suspect that I have magic.

"Little shadow, we're stronger together. We have a better chance if I stay," he tries, voice frantic as he inches closer and closer to the portal.

"But you have the best chance if you go, so I have to, Saint." My voice is thready as I watch the horror, disbelief, and desperation flit across his handsome face. I want to close my eyes because it hurts too much to see what I'm doing to my mates, but I owe it to them to witness it all.

"I just got you back. I can't survive losing you again! I can't, Briar," he pleads, his voice breaking off abruptly. He presses his trembling lips together to stifle his sob.

"You have to," I plead right back, knowing all of this is for nothing if my mates don't find a way to live without me.

Once the four of them are through the portal, I look each of them in the eye before mouthing I love you . I close my eyes as my magic shuts the portal and releases Saint from my control at the same time. I'm not sure I'm strong enough to look at them while saying goodbye.

I have zero clue how I was able to open a portal or control Saint magically when I can't get my magic to do even a simple spell. But I'll be thankful to my magic for helping me keep my mates safe for the rest of my probably short life.

I'm mid turn to face the leader of the Knights when I feel a hard blow to the back of my head. Everything goes black as I lose consciousness.