Chapter 21

Dean

I was still flying high from our bonding when an alarm went off on my phone.

A growl escaped me.

"What is it?" Bailey asked.

Before answering, I pulled up the video to see two fully masked men at our front door. They were lighting a fire or something in the yard.

"What the hell?"

"What is it?" she asked again.

"I'm not sure. Someone's outside the house. I can't tell what they are doing. It looks like they are starting a fire or something."

"A fire?"

I could clearly feel her fear. It was such surreal moment tainted by a possible threat.

"Get dressed," I said.

As soon as Bailey was off my lap, I jumped up and found my clothes.

She didn't argue with me or seem put out by this drastic change of events. She just quietly dressed and calmly waited for my lead.

The phone rang. I glanced down to see it was Patrick and answered it quickly.

"Patrick? I think I found two of them."

"Help," I heard him say. "Something in the fire. A paralytic. Feels like a fecking tranquilizer. Team's down. I'm fighting consciousness. Reports all over town."

"Shit!"

The line went dead.

"Patrick! Patrick!"

"What's wrong?"

Bailey's anxiety spiked.

I showed her the screen of the men out front.

"They're setting these fires all over town with some sort of airborne paralytic. Patrick says it's like a tranquilizer."

Bailey took a deep breath.

"Okay. We've both been training for this."

I looked at her like she was crazy. An unexpected calm washed over her.

"First, get ahold of the Counsel and sound the bell. Your ravens, the most intelligent species of birds on this planet, and one of the most vocal. What is your distress call? Sound it now."

"It doesn't look like they are at the back of the house."

She grabbed the phone from me to check for herself.

"They're struggling to light the fire. Go to the back and sound the alarm."

I didn't hesitate and ran all the way. I had to manually open the window and then call my raven forward as I screeched the caw of warning as loud as I could. Three times, and then I stopped and listened. No response. So I did it again, and again. Over and over until at last I heard a cry of response.

Tears pricked my eyes.

"They've almost got it lit. Close the window," Bailey yelled.

"Think, Dean. Think." I told myself. "I got it! Let's go."

I grabbed her hand, and we ran down the steps and all the way to the basement.

Someone screamed as we skidded into the room.

"Are there any Grimes or Pierces here? I need water and air ASAP."

"Dean, you're going to contaminate us all."

"Mother, I'm fine. You come, too. I know we can stop this if we work together."

"What's going on?" she demanded.

"Ravenden is under attack."

The room went quiet and then they all started talking at once.

"We have to act fast. Please, just do as you're asked. If you wield the powers of water or air, follow me," Bailey said.

I squeezed her hand and nodded.

"Whatever you have in mind beyond putting out that fire, do it," she told me.

I pulled her to me and kissed her for all to see, claiming in her in a whole new way.

"Go," I said.

"Start talking to me. What powers am I working with? Because right now, we're counting on you to save Ravenden," Bailey said as they ran back upstairs.

There was no way for her to know just how much her words would mean to them. My chest puffed out with pride before I turned back to the rest of the room.

"Here's the situation." I gave a quick rundown of what I knew and the immediate threat outside.

"They're here?" Mom asked.

"Yes."

"Oh, hell no."

"Language mother," I teased.

"Bailey's working with the Grimes and Pierce witches to try to keep them from starting this fire. The rest of us need to capture and detain. They are masked and probably armed. Their best chance was the element of surprise. They've lost that. I have no idea how many areas they've already managed to attack, but it's time for us to rise up and take our town back."

"We've got this," Mom said.

She walked over to our hidden safe room and started pulling out masks and oxygen tanks to distribute.

"Why the hell do you have all this?" I asked her.

"Now you watch your language," she warned.

I chuckled.

"And to answer your question, your father thinks I'm paranoid, but humors me anyway."

Suited up, and devising a quick plan of action, some left through an escape tunnel my ancestors had built that led to the back of the house. The rest of us headed upstairs for an aerial view.

I had to pry open the shutters covering my balcony doors. The men below didn't seem to notice anything. They were too busy deflecting water bombs and holding on for dear life to trees as the Grimes and Pierce witches attacked them, doing whatever they could to keep that fire from being lit.

"Too easy," Mom said.

She called upon her powers and grew thick vines that wrapped around one of them, securing him to the tree he was holding on to.

The other took off running. He didn't get far when a puddle of water Bailey's team had created suddenly turned to ice and he went skidding headfirst into a stone wall.

"Yes!" I heard one of our cooks yell as she high-fived another.

"Don't fry him. I need him alive," I muttered to myself, warning my raven to behave as sparks flew from my hands and hit the guy while he was still unconscious.

The Caldwell witches on the ground froze him in restraint.

"He's got a knife," Mom pointed out as the one she was holding managed to free his hands and began cutting the vines as fast as she made them.

"Alive. Leave him alive," I muttered again.

I still had a bit of trouble controlling my powers. Sometimes it was just sparks that did nothing more than stun a person and other times it was full-blown lightning bolts erupting from me.

Somehow I managed to control it, or at least I was pretty sure I had. The man slumped over and the knife clambered to the ground as everyone started to cheer.

"We need to secure them and the pit. I need to know what exactly is in there later."

Mom used her raven caws to guide the others and within minutes, the men were tied up and locked away in our family safe room. The pit was now locked in a shed in the backyard.

When I finally saw Bailey again, I hugged her and kissed her, trying to assure myself that she was okay.

"I'm fine," she said, pushing me away.

Her cheeks were a rosy red, but her eyes were alive and determined.

"We have to get moving. We know we have at least three sets of people roaming our territory. We need to continue sounding the alarm and find them."

"We'll take to the sky," one of the maids offered.

"Okay, but be careful. If you see smoke, avoid that area and find a way to report it back," she instructed.

"Where should we set up headquarters?" Mom asked Bailey.

My mate looked to me for help with that one.

"See if you can get in touch with your father and find out where the Council is. We need to secure them."

Mom pointed to her head. My parents were fully bonded and could communicate telepathically.

"He's fine. They heard your caw. He had everyone put into lockdown at the Congress House. There are several dozen people there. I just relayed to him what's going on."

"Good," Bailey said. "We need to round up as many as possible and get them there."

"Bailey's right. Take to the skies and warn everyone you can." I gave them a specific alert to sound should they find where the other teams were.

My mate watched in awe as nearly seven ravens shifted.

"Ready?"

"For what?"

"You have to go with them. I'll stay on the ground, obviously. I'm fast enough to keep up with you."

"What happens if you run into them? We're safer in the sky. You'll be vulnerable on the ground."

"I have an idea," Mom said.