33

IVY

MY ears rang with the sound of the explosionand my sisters’ screams. I flew out of bed, Adrian hot my heels, as an alarm sounded throughout the house. It echoed in my ears like a sharp scream, piercing through the hazy bliss I’d just been cocooned in.

Gone was the post-bond haze. Panic pulled my magic from its slumber and it rose beneath my skin. I threw on the clothes I’d worn yesterday, catching a glimpse of Adrian from the corner of my eyes as he effortlessly pulled on his gear.

When our eyes met, Adrian threaded our hands together. We escaped the bedroom as another explosion sounded somewhere outside, and stumbled to a halt.

I met Thea in the hallway, her eyes wide, a look of fear crossing her ordinarily calm face. My heart stuttered a beat as I took her in; her wet hair clung to the sides of her round face, and her lips wobbled as she sucked in a deep breath.

“What the fuck was that?” she asked, fingers trembling as she wrapped her sweater around herself.

Before I could answer, Adrian said, “We’ve been found. All my new wards were destroyed. Go get the kids. Now.” His eyes fell on me. “Call for Elias, okay?” I didn’t get to reply as he pressed a quick kiss to my temple and stalked off to another part of the house.

My heart skipped a beat as fear churned within me. I cast my gaze over Thea and found Rowan’s eye as he exited his bedroom. He simply nodded, his unkempt hair flopping over his eyes. “Do what Adrian said. It’ll be okay. I promise.”

Despite the bile rising in my throat, I nodded. I grabbed my best friend’s hand, and we rushed towards the bedroom. I sent out a quick thought to Elias, who didn’t respond immediately, but he let a wave of calm wash through the bond for me.

Thea and I entered the children’s bedroom. As the house shook again, we shared a look, trying to keep the panic from our faces. We didn’t say anything to one another; we worked seamlessly to keep the kids quiet, even if they were questioning everything we did, their sobs wracking their frames. Eloise remained silent, and she did as she was told without question.

When our door slammed open, I threw myself in front of the girls. I knew immediately it wasn’t the enemy; Elias’s power brushed against mine, and our bond hummed with his proximity.

But it wasn’t him I saw. It was the blonde-haired woman and her snarling face as she kicked her heavy boot into my stomach. It was the man with the dark eyes whose blood coated my skin when I’d plunged Maeve’s dagger into his throat.

Elias, eyes narrowed and body tense, stalked into the room. He came to me immediately and cupped my cheeks. “Angel? It’s me. It’s fine. I’m here,” he murmured, pressing his forehead against mine.

I sucked in a breath, his scent of pine and wet earth filling my lungs. The panic calmed with each breath, and I felt Adrian pull at our bond questioningly. “I’m okay,” I whispered, making sure Adrian knew I was fine, too.

Elias pulled back with a nod. “We’ve been found. Go straight to the basement. Now,” he barked, motioning towards the door.

I pressed my lips together and checked the girls. “Grab your bags. We have to go.” I ignored the shake in my voice as best I could, to be the strength these girls needed, but it was hard to do so when the last attack continued to run through my mind.

My wolf shifter pulled Maisie into his arms as he guided us out of the bedroom. Without a word, we rushed towards the ground floor, where glass and debris covered the ground, and cold rain crashed through the windows.

“Give me Maisie,” I said, opening my arms for her. “You take Ginny. Eloise, are you okay?”

Her face was white, terror filling her eyes, but she swallowed and nodded. But when another body appeared, doused in darkness, she screamed.

The house quaked with the terror in her voice. She stumbled, but a hand shot out and grabbed her by the forearm, another slapping over her open mouth. With her voice muffled, the house settled.

But my heart almost stopped in my chest as my magic rose and swirled beneath my skin. The power whispered in my mind to protect, to destroy, its influence affected greatly by the bonding and proximity of my mates.

“Ivy!” Elias wrapped a hand around my throat gently, the pad of his thumb rough as he rubbed the column of my throat steadily. The magic simmered but drew itself back inside of me.

“Not the enemy,” he whispered, eyes darkening as he searched mine. “She’s okay. Look.”

I sucked in a breath and looked over his shoulder at where Eloise stood. The dark figure removed his mask, and the shadows surrounding him dissipated to reveal Hawk.

Hard eyes landed on me, black as the shadows around him. A large cut sliced through the bronze skin of his forehead, spilling blood, though he didn’t seem all that affected by it.

“Everything good?” he asked, voice hoarse. “If I let her go, will she scream again?”

Bile rose in my throat, and I tried to calm my racing heart as I turned to Eloise. “Are you okay, El?”

Hawk still had his hand over her mouth, but she nodded. I blew out a heavy breath and cast him a quick look. “You can let her go. It’s not her fault you scared her.”

The second team leader rolled his eyes. “She’s a siren with a powerful Call. You need to be careful of that.”

A shiver raced down my spine. Eloise’s eyes widened, and a new fear entered the blue of her irises. I quietly shook my head, something Hawk must have caught because he pressed his lips into a firm line.

“Okay, kid, climb onto my back. There’s too much glass on the floor, and we don’t have time to be careful.” His dark eyes fell away from mine to land on Eloise, who wrapped her arms around herself.

The deep insecurities beat into her filled her eyes as she considered the floor. From where I stood, there were also dents in the floorboards and other debris that didn’t look safe. The once comfortable couches were now upturned, the cushions all over the floor, innards wet from rain cutting through the broken windows.

And Hawk was right, as much as I didn’t want to admit it. We didn’t have time to be careful.

Before Eloise could climb onto his back, lightning struck the stairs behind us. We scrambled back as debris rained down around us. My magic exploded out of me in the shape of a dome. Fear turned to anger as the debris hit the shield before bouncing off it.

“What the hell was that?” Thea asked. Her eyes flashed gold, but when I blinked, they returned to their normal colour. Maybe it was a sign of whatever creature she was, but it wasn’t important right now.

I turned to Elias, and his jaw ticked as his gaze landed on a lone figure in the kitchen. The person was dressed identically to the soldiers I’d met during the kidnapping. As I took in their uncovered face, time slowed.

I expected to feel pain over what I’d done when we’d been kidnapped, but instead, anger churned in my gut. Again, they’d gone after my family. Tried to hurt my sisters.

“El, do it,” I said quietly, keeping my eyes on the enemy, “now. We have to go.”

Her eyes shone with tears, but she nodded. It took only a moment for her to perch on Hawk’s back, her legs around his waist and arms locked around his neck. He still engulfed her, though. He was larger than I’d first perceived, but I took that as a hope that he would be able to protect my little sister.

My magic prickled across my skin like electricity before sharpening into something more powerful. If they wanted to use lightning against me, then so be it.

Let them deal with the storm coming for them.

Elias grunted as he shifted Ginny in his arms. “We don’t have the coverage to make this as safe as possible. So, we’re going to need to move fast and stay low. We’re surrounded by the enemy, whose aim right now is to destroy everything.”

My stomach twisted, but I nodded without a word. Thea pressed herself into my side, bracketing Maisie between us as Hawk raised his fist.

For a beat, we didn’t move. But when the fist dropped, we ran, and I let the lightning free.

As we covered the children, the power of Nyx formed itself into a strike of electricity that slammed into the enemy soldier. The smell of singed skin and hair tickled my nose, but I tried not to let my discomfort show as the body flew through the back window into the forest beyond, where more soldiers and our agents fought.

Another violent shock rocked the house as the basement door came into view. Magic swirled beneath my skin like a protective shield. I felt it spread out around us, a web of purple electricity forming a barrier around our group as we made the dangerous crossing through the open living room towards our salvation.

Hawk muttered something under his breath, but he quickened his pace. The door looked untouched, but the small box beside it was dented. Hawk swore, punched in the code, and we waited an agonising second for the green light to flash.

Glass scattered, and a moment later, a bellowing roar filled the room. I ducked as my magic strengthened, and something soared in our direction. It hit the shield and crashed to the destroyed floor in a heap.

“Fuck,” Thea whispered. “That was kind of cool.”

If panic weren’t rising in my throat, I might have agreed. But the bubbling sensation prickled against my skin, warning me of the upcoming exhaustion about to rip through me. I’d never had to use my power like this, and I wasn’t used to the exertion. But if it meant protecting the kids, I’d keep it up. I had to.

Elias’s warm hand clamped around my upper arm. I turned as he deposited Ginny to her feet, and she scampered between Thea and I, wedging herself with Maisie’s trembling body.

My eyes met his, and I knew from the troubled look in his gaze that what he was about to say wouldn’t be good. “Your magic isn’t completely stable, even anchored,” he said, lifting another hand to cup my cheek. “You need to drop the shield. It’s the only way. I’m going to shift and take out the bear. You follow Hawk down into the basement. Do not look back.”

Bile rose in my throat as I shook my head. “No. Absolutely not. I am not leaving you.” The idea splintered my heart into a thousand untouchable pieces. My magic bellowed within me at the notion.

He is ours, it seemed to yell.

I agreed, but by the look on my shifter mate’s face, it wasn’t up for discussion.

The door pinged and groaned as it opened. Elias pressed a chaste kiss on my lips. “Go. Now. I’ll see you soon.”

It was a promise, yet it left a bitter taste in my mouth. Elias shifted, the man replaced with his large wolf, who nudged me once towards the door before leaping out of my protective shield towards the towering beast ripping apart the safe house.

“Ivy, we need to go.” Thea tugged on my arm, but I couldn’t move, not as Elias’s giant wolf crashed into the seven-foot bear. The rabid beast flung Elias off him, and my mate flew out into the rain, his body out of sight in a moment.

Time slowed. I almost dropped Maisie, prepared to go after him, everything within me screaming at me to find him, to protect him. It wasn’t just his job to save me—as his mate, it was mine to defend him.

But arms wrapped around me and pulled me back towards the darkness of the basement. I felt a scream lodge in my throat as the bear went after my mate.

“Princess, please, we need to get you out of here,” a voice desperately whispered in my ear, sending shivers down my spine.

And then calm washed through me, a familiar feeling I’d tried to block out since learning the truth about my first mate.

My body slumped in Hawk’s grip, and he pulled me into the darkness of the stairwell before sealing us in.