Chapter 7

Seven

"Before meeting Fane, I never imagined fighting battles to save lives. But even before that, I believed my life had significance. Purpose doesn't always require grandiose battles or risking your own life. Small acts of kindness and support can make a difference in someone's life. Our meaning is found in the lives we touch and impact."

~Jacque

Jacque stood staring at the quiet neighborhood with the rest of the group. Her hands rested on her waist as she frowned. "I thought there was an infestation or something." She glanced at her mate.

"I don't see anything." Heather began laughing.

"That's not funny anymore," Zara told her.

"Actually, it's hilarious." Lizzy began laughing, too.

"That's because you've only just met her," Jacque assured the hybrid female. "After a few weeks, you'll be leading her to the edges of sidewalks just to see her take that awkward step off."

"Bitches." There was no heat in Heather's words. She had a wicked sense of humor, which was one of the reasons Jacque loved her.

"Just to humor you, Helen"—Jacque used Jen's nickname—"there's nothing to se—" Her words cut off as she saw a shadow move down the street.

"What was that?" Costin asked.

Jacque watched as each of the wolves' eyes began to glow, their beasts coming to the forefront, though none of them fully phased.

Fane lifted his nose into the air and took a deep breath, and Jacque followed his lead. "They stink," she whispered.

"Do I stink?" Lizzy asked softly.

"You smell great, babe." Finn's voice was barely audible.

"Flirt later." Myanin slid two blades quietly from the sheaths on her thighs. "Let's get bloody."

"I thought you said to flirt later." Gerick chuckled.

"Okay, you people are disturbed." Lizzy breathed out. "Pushing blind chicks off curbs and using knives as foreplay toys."

"Tell us something we don't know." Wadim's white teeth were stark in the dark night, made even more eerie by the glowing eyes.

"Wadim." Zara sighed. "Behave."

"Let's move." Fane started in the direction where they'd seen the shadows. "Keep your senses alert, and watch each other's backs. Disir, can you keep us quiet?"

"Of course." The high fae nodded. His hands crackled with magic as he walked with them. He raised his hands and began chanting under his breath.

Jacque agreed with his tactic. There was going to be noise; might as well get ahead of the game.

They started jogging, their feet silent on the pavement. Fane made a motion with his hands and picked up his pace. Everyone moved with him, spreading out until they spanned the full width of the street. Suddenly, chaos erupted around them. The air, once carrying a faint smell, was now thick with the stench of ravenous hybrids, as their savage snarls and screams filled the once silent streets.

Fane moved like a blur, his lethal speed matched only by Jacque's own magic and fangs as they cut through their foes.

"Where are they coming from?" Jacque yelled, whipping around to see that they were now surrounded by the beasts. The monsters were rabid, power-hardened by evil and frenzied bloodlust. It would take everything they had to bring them down.

"There." Fane pointed to a black spot in the air through which the hybrids jumped, as if from some sort of portal.

"What the actual hell?" Lizzy hissed, echoing Jacque's thoughts.

On her left flank, Dillon tore into hybrid flesh with ruthless precision. They seemed to underestimate him because he wasn't as large as some of the other males, but he was an alpha for a reason. His hand shot out at one opponent, wrapping around his neck and crushing the male's windpipe.

Jacque turned, trying to keep track of all their people, as if her eyes staying on them would somehow keep them from getting injured. But she had her own fight to pay attention to, lest she wanted to lose an arm or her life.

Costin fought just as fiercely beside her, supported by Wadim and Zara. They all worked together seamlessly, using their skills to hamstring hybrids for the others to finish off. Blood slickened the asphalt beneath their feet.

Kale and Heather strove side by side, their ferocity matched only by their devotion to protecting each other. The gypsy healer wielded her magic perfectly, dropping hybrids from a distance, while her mate dispatched any who drew too close.

Lizzy's unique hybrid nature seemed to give her even more strength than a regular wolf. She slashed and spun through their ranks. Finn stayed close as he fought, his eyes constantly finding Lizzy, ready to defend his mate at a moment's notice.

Drake and Nick battled with cold precision, their expressions unreadable as they ripped through the sadistic hybrids. Myanin and Gerick attacked ruthlessly. It was insane to Jacque that Myanin had no magic; she moved with the speed of a wolf and the agility of an elf or fae.

But no matter how many they took down, there were always more. Jacque could feel the strain on her body, and she saw tension appear on her packmates' faces. They needed to finish this battle quickly before exhaustion allowed the hybrids to turn the tide.

"Babe," Jacque shouted to Fane, "we need to end this."

"I think I can help." Thad, along with Jezebel and Dain, suddenly appeared beside them.

The djinn held out his arms, and light flowed from his hands.

"Everyone down," Fane roared.

Jacque hit the ground fast, as did everyone else in their group. The light grew so bright that she had to close her eyes. The screams filling her ears gave Jacque chills, and then it was silent. Jacque opened her eyes slowly and lifted her head. All that was left were scattered corpses and swirling ashes.

Panting, Jacque turned to survey her weary but intact pack. They looked a little worse for wear, but they were all alive and relatively unharmed.

"Thank you," Jacque told Thad.

"I take it you got things worked out?" Fane asked the djinn.

Thad's eyes seemed a little lost as he looked at the surrounding carnage. "Something like that. We can talk about it when we're not fighting these abominations." His voice sounded resigned, but not defeated. Jacque took that as a good sign, although she noticed he didn't say he'd actually gotten his power issues solved.

Her attention was grabbed by another bright light, though not as bright as Thad's. Disir and Dain, the two high fae, were incinerating the bodies, and then a swirl of wind blew, transporting the ashes into the night sky.

"Where'd the portal go?" Zara pointed to where the swirling darkness had been seconds before.

"How was a portal even opened?" Myanin wiped her bloody blades on her pants, which fit like a second skin. Clad in all black, she looked like a badass. And she was.

Disir spoke up. "I can think of only one way a portal like that could have been opened: the dark magic contained in the Nushtonia."

"Why is dark magic so much more powerful than light magic?" Heather leaned up against Kale, looking exhausted.

"Because we live in a world where evil has a foothold," Fane said. "When you draw its attention, it will not only pay you heed, but it will beckon to you like a lover, and you won't even realize you've gotten into bed with it until its tendrils are wrapped around your throat, suffocating you."

There was complete silence at her mate's words.

Heather whistled. "Damn, Alpha, that's, umm, well, dark."

"They suck at pep talks," Myanin said. "I think at this point they should just do one of those things where everyone stacks their hands on each other's and we all yell, ‘1, 2, 3, Don't die!'"

"I like that." Lizzy pointed at Myanin. "Short and sweet and to the point."

"I'm still confused as to how the portal was opened." Zara's brow furrowed.

"As I mentioned, the book of the dead could have done it." Disir looked around. "That means Celise was nearby. Or Cain still has fae on his payroll. As you know, it's not unheard of for a fae to use dark magic, even blood magic."

Heather rolled her eyes. "Yeah, we're a little familiar with that."

"Well, they're certainly making things interesting," Myanin said. "If they can open up portals wherever they want to go, that means they can be anywhere."

"Why do you sound happy about that?" Jacque was a little worried about what the djinn's answer would be.

"Because it means more fighting," Myanin hopped from one foot to the other. "Fighting is life."

"I thought cotton candy was life," Lizzy said.

"What about Gerick?" Zara asked.

Myanin sighed. "I sort of thought that was understood. Gerick, cotton candy, and fighting are life. Not necessarily in that order. I need a shirt. Someone make me one."

Heather raised her hand. "I vote the next portal we come across, we push Myanin into, and she can figure out where it goes."

"I've already told you I'm an equal opportunity killer. Disabilities don't matter to me." Myanin glared at the blind healer, as if Heather knew she was being stared at.

"Prove it," Heather taunted. "Throw your blade."

"Umm, what?" Kale stepped in front of Heather immediately. "Do not throw any blades," he warned the djinn female.

"Kale, move your fine ass and let me deal with this." Heather pushed him aside, then took a big step to the left, away from her mate. "Throw it."

Myanin didn't have to be told a third time. The blade was pulled from its sheath and thrown so fast that Jacque felt like it happened in all one motion. Her head whipped around to look at Heather. The healer shifted to the left a second before the knife would have hit her in the head with the handle, not the blade. Had Myanin planned that? Did she know how to throw a knife so that it rotated the exact number of times to keep the blade from hitting the target?

"Holy crap dragon." Zara breathed out. "How did you do that?"

"Myanin!" Kale bellowed and took a step toward her.

"The blade wasn't going to hit her." Myanin sounded bored. "At best, she'd have been knocked unconscious for a bit. I'm impressed, Sightless."

"No, really," Zara repeated. "Heather, how'd you do that?"

Heather reached up and tugged an ear. "You sighted people rely too much on your ability to see. Your other senses are dull. But I've only seen the world with my other senses. I could hear her moving, the blade flying, and even felt the breeze as it reached me. I might have used a little of my gypsy magic, too." She grinned sheepishly.

"If we're done trying to impale one another on our own daggers"—Fane folded his arms across his broad chest—"can we move on to the next target?"

"Cain." There was a bite in Lizzy's tone.

"Yes." Fane nodded and held out his hand to Jacque. She immediately took it and let him lead her over to Disir. "Let's get about a mile away and put up a sound barrier."

Disir and Dain nodded. Once everyone had a hand on the fae, they flashed. The darkness surrounded them, and Jacque felt Fane's lips briefly against her neck. "Don't leave my side, Luna," he told her through their bond, his voice both stern and loving at the same time.

"Where you go, I go," she reminded him.

She felt another kiss. "Always."