Chapter 72

Wolfman:

Has it happened? Did she say yes???

Batty Betty:

You great gaggamuffin! Leave them to their night of gaieties and glee! We shall speak of it upon the morn and learn of our queen's dandy decision then.

Wolfman:

Sooooo………….she said YES or NO??

**Professor Shame turned their notifications off**

Wolfman:

HOW DARE YOU LANCE! Never mind, I'll just do this… @Phoen Dream

Bitchy Flame Eyes:

Give it a rest, asshole. They're having a moment.

Wolfman:

Can you SEE it? Are you watching from the bushes?

Dragzilla:

She can't see shit, she's in the middle of getting her pretty dress torn off.

Wolfman:

That's twisted! Are you watching them fuck?

Dragzilla:

I was talking about my wife, idiot.

**Dragzilla turned their notifications off**

**Bitchy Flame Eyes turned their notifications off**

Wolfman:

Rude.

So who's got the tea? I want the whole pot with a slice of cake. Fuck it, the entire cake with sprinkles on top. @Fish Fury what's happening? Do you have eyes on them??

Fish Fury:

Gerry said I'm not allowed to tell anyone. Not even her.

Wolfman:

SO YOU KNOW?????

Fish Fury:

I felt what happened. Duh.

Wolfman:

Okay so just tell me if it was endless woe and the catastrophic agony of a shamed professor's heart crushing OR if it was a happy sunshine feeling that burst through your chest like a balloon full of warm goo.

Fish Fury:

Nah, I quite like being the only one in the know.

Big Bird:

He's not the only one.

**Big Bird changed their name to Gabriel**

**Wolfman changed Gabriel's name to Big Bird**

Big Bird:

Well I was going to tell you, but now you can get fucked.

**Big Bird turned their notifications off**

Fish Fury:

Hahaha

Wolfman:

Fuck you guys. @Phoen Dream come onnnnnnn just tell us!

Phoen Dream:

Busy

Wolfman:

**glaring emoji**

Phoen Dream:

**bee emoji**

Wolfman:

If you have time to write busy and send a busy little bee emoji then you can tell us what went down!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Phoen Dream:

Do you mean with the proposal or with the weather?

Wolfman:

YOU KNOW WHAT I'M REFERRING TO

Phoen Dream:

Well it's cloudy with a chance of rain later tonight, but it should be clear by morning!

Wolfman:

That's IT, Phoen!

Ireadied my thumbs to go keyboard warrior on this girl, then I'd head right over to The Howling Meadow to find out for myself. But before I could get started, another text came in.

Phoen Dream:

I said yes.

I howled to the sky, jumping on Caleb beside me and thrusting my Atlas in his face. "She said yes! Awooooo!"

Caleb laughed. "Yeah I know, Lance texted me like ten minutes ago."

I shoved him with a snarl. "What?!"

His laughter only grew. "It was so much fun seeing you all wound up."

"Motherfucker." I lunged at him and he shot out of my way, leaning casually back against Aer Tower and smoothing a hand through his golden curls.

I cocked my head at him, eyes narrowed. "You're an asshole."

"Ditto," he said, then folded his arms, his gaze sliding over me with want. "Now, are we carrying on with this walk or what?"

I blew out a breath, letting it go and finding the amusement in his game. I loved that we still fucked with each other, that this new level of relationship between us wasn't changing our core friendship.

"Let's get going then," I encouraged, offering him my hand. "Geraldine put a curfew on tonight, saying everyone has to get their rest so we'll be as ‘spritely as spring ducks by the morn.' I was kinda planning on more of a ‘last night on earth' vibe, but maybe she has a point."

"Yeah." Caleb pushed off the wall and took my hand, his fingers threading between mine. "She does. Because I don't want this to be our last night on earth."

"Doesn't change the fact that it could be," I said quietly.

He squeezed my hand but said nothing as we set off down the path in the direction of Fire Territory. We'd planned to do an entire loop of the campus before we headed back to our room, visiting all our favourite places one last time. Or not one last time if we were lucky. Neither of us had actually said that was why we wanted to do the walk, but I knew in my heart that was the reason.

We'd had dinner with my family earlier tonight, and Caleb had been mobbed by my siblings just like always, and honestly, nothing had really been different about the encounter except for my mom trying to pretend she wasn't terrified about what me and Cal dating each other could mean for the whole Councillors situation, and my dad inviting Caleb to our annual moon run camping trip next summer. None of us had acknowledged the fact that we might not get a chance for such a thing, but tonight was a night for fantasy, pretending the world wasn't going to end. And I tried to remember that now as my thoughts fell on my fears.

I reminded myself of the gift I had in my pocket and what it stood for, the tightness in my chest easing as I focused on that.

After we'd visited the Ignis House common room, we swung by the Shimmering Springs where I'd reminded Caleb that he had most definitely kissed me there long before the two of us had ever been on the cards, and he casually denied it again like he had no memory of it. Though I swear there had been a glimmer in his eyes that said he was fucking with me.

Then we headed to King's Hollow and got very distracted by each other in Cal's bedroom, then my bedroom, then the kitchen counter, and on top of Darius's treasure chest, then we headed off through The Wailing Wood and took a path into Aqua Territory, making a stop at the lake.

The clouds had thinned a little and the moon was peeking through, shimmering down on the water. The mark behind my ear tingled and a smile lifted my lips, a sense of utter peace gifted to me by the moon. This was what I'd wanted more than anything. Cal and I together, Moon Mated. I was the moon's favourite Wolf, and I was sure she saw in Caleb what I saw in him.

Here on the lake's edge where we'd held countless parties, played in the water in the summer and been so carefree once upon a time, I knew it was the right location to give him my gift.

I slipped a hand into my pocket, turning to him and holding out the bronze pocket watch that I'd cast with my earth magic. The back was etched with the same image as the tattoo marked on my back, a crescent moon with a bat hanging from its tip and a wolf gazing up at it from below.

"Here." I held it out for him to see.

"A pocket watch?" Caleb's eyebrows arched. "It's…shit, that Elemental craftsmanship is perfect, Seth. But where are the clock hands?"

"It doesn't have any," I said.

"So it can't tell the time?"

"It tells our time," I said tightly, heat rising in my cheeks as I placed the watch in his palm and closed his fingers around it. "Our clock doesn't tick, Caleb Altair. There's no seconds, minutes or hours, it has no day or night. It just is. Forever." I stepped closer to him, cupping his cheek and staring into those navy blue eyes which saw right through to my soul. "Whatever happens tomorrow, our time is always."

I touched my lips to his and he pulled me closer with a surge of passion, our kiss deepening and my heart beating to the most powerful tune it had ever played. There was pain in that tune, the fear of what fate would befall us, but I tried to focus on the love I felt instead. Because there was really no greater thing I'd experienced in this world than him, and if my number was about to be called, then knowing I'd had his love and given him all of mine in return…that would be enough for me in this lifetime. In fact, it was more than I ever could have hoped for.

Standing on the grass outside Rump Castle, Caleb fixed the final plate of armour onto my flank then moved to stand in front of me in my Wolf form. He placed a kiss on my furry brow then stepped back, and I took in the shimmer of his own silver armour, the plates crafted by his own hand with expert earth magic. They were thin yet powerful, moulding to his body and allowing for a full range of movement. They were light as shit too so it wouldn't hinder his speed out on the battlefield. He'd made a twin of this armour for Orion, and though he hadn't voiced their secrets to me, I knew the two of them had something planned for this fight. Something to do with their coven bond, something I sensed wasn't entirely legal. But I'd take any advantage we could get in the battle, so hell if I was complaining.

The stars glittered above, dawn not yet upon us, and I swear they were whispering about our fates. Perhaps marking our souls for death in this very moment.

I turned my gaze from them and looked at the man I loved, my heart thrumming with strength as our eyes met once more. I nuzzled his face then we walked together, joining the mass of soldiers who were marching out to the edge of the island. There were farewells in the air, groups of children running to watch us go, throwing crystals at our feet and bidding us luck from the stars. Shit, I knew we needed it. We were seriously outnumbered, and the chances of us making it back here were so slim, I was kidding myself if I thought it was much more than zero.

I spotted Luca waving from Gabriel's arms, the Seer looking both determined and heartbroken as he kissed his son, and the little boy stared up at him with complete ignorance, not knowing that his father might not come home. A lump built in my throat as Gabriel passed the boy into the arms of a short, older woman with dark hair who was speaking in fast Faetalian, then turned reluctantly away and walked into the ranks of the army with his wife.

Dante and Leon closed in around them and I noticed Carson Alvion stepping up behind them, his long brown hair wound into a war braid. He wore just one plate of armour over his chest, his arms bare, his tattoos on show and a look of bloodthirsty hunger in his eyes.

I spotted Xavier further ahead, marching along in his Pegasus form, beautiful plates of armour cladding his lilac body that shimmered like an oil spill. Sofia and Tyler moved at his back and my siblings Athena and Grayson were just behind them in their Wolf forms along with Caleb's brother Hadley.

A protective part of me had wanted to command them to stay back, to not join this fight. They weren't half as well trained as I would have liked for this, though I knew they'd been working hard to make up for the education they'd lost out on. Still, the twins might only have been a couple of years younger than me, but I still saw them as my little brother and sister. Just two pups rolling in the dirt while I pinned them down and nipped at their throats. It wasn't right that life was demanding they march into battle now, that they risk everything before they'd barely had anything good to claim in their adult lives. But I couldn't have kept them from the fight even if I'd wanted to. They would have found a way to be there, to bleed for those they loved just as I would. I didn't have a right to deny them that.

The heavy pounding of footfalls created a thumping rhythm within the earth as our army amassed. There were so many tears from those staying behind, the elderly, the young, those needed to look after them. Geraldine had left them with enough air Elementals to cast Rump Island back out into the ocean if our army didn't return. They could run if Lionel won this war; there was still hope if we failed them. Though it relied heavily on the plan that the Voldrakian's would accept them as refugees. Gabriel had been fairly confident they would, so we'd placed our faith in his Sight.

Caleb raised a hand, knotting his fingers in my fur in a gap between my armour.

We made it to the sweeping fields that overlooked the eastern coast of the island, our army travelling towards it like one giant serpent then spreading out into rows upon rows.

Caleb and I took the longer path around the outskirts of the amassing army of Fae, heading for the front lines where a Phoenix bird made of flames perched on top of a watchtower at the edge of the beach. It moved like it was real, its wings flexing, its head tilting this way and that, the magic so perfectly crafted it was breath-taking.

As we made it closer to the beach, I spotted them. The twins were raised on a stage built from wood, their hands clasped and their eyes full of ire. Their Phoenix armour glittered under the firelight, appearing like molten metal, and their styled hair and savage makeup gave them a look of war that set my pulse racing.

Members of the army began throwing items at their feet, tokens of love and luck. Orion stood to the right of the stage and Darius stood on the left, their features hard and gazes set on their queens.

Geraldine stepped up onto the edge of the stage, amplifying her voice and calling out across the army. "Silence, warriors of the night! Take out the vial delivered to your door last night and sup upon its essence now so that you might be free of the Nymphs' terrible rattling power in the fray."

Caleb took out both of ours, un-stoppering one vial and lifting it to my lips. The potion tasted sweet and sizzled across my tongue as I swallowed before watching Caleb drink his. Everyone around us was drinking it too along with the twins up on their stage. It was just one of the advantages we had in this fight; the Nox flower that Darcy, Gabriel and Orion had secured making sure that the enemy Nymphs couldn't lock down our magic in the approaching battle.

"Our kingdom sits upon a knife's edge," Tory called when everyone was done, her voice echoing out across the crowd. "On the very cusp of dawn, we will have one last chance to fight, one last chance to claim our home from the hands of Lionel Acrux."

A bay of shouts went up, soldiers thrusting their swords in the air with calls for glory.

"Today, we ask you to fight for a new era," Darcy cried. "We don't fight for greed or power; we fight for love. We fight for the brothers, sisters, mothers, fathers, friends and lovers who stand at our sides. We fight for what is right, what is just!"

Another roar of assent sounded and I tipped my head back to howl, my pack answering along with the Oscuras' and my family throughout the army, filling my chest with the desire to hunt.

Tory laid a hand on the hilt of her sword. "The sun is coming to gaze upon a new day, and what she'll see when she rises is a war upon her earth. She'll find us bloody and she'll find us in the thick of chaos, but when she seeks the answer of who will come out victorious, we will answer her call!"

The roars were deafening, my own howls mixing with the cacophony, the pounding of fists on armour, the stamping of heavy boots, the roars, the neighs, the cries for triumph. Deep down, I knew this was all for show. Our queens were doing everything they could to build our warriors' confidence, but death was ahead of most of us, if not all. I tried to let myself buy into the lie that we could really win this, drinking in the Vegas' words and praying they meant something, that the stars might promise us life beyond this battle, but it was so damn hard to believe it.

"We are the howling wind!" Darcy cried and the army echoed those words. "We are the thundering earth!"

Caleb bellowed those words back at them along with the rest of the army.

"We are the riotous ocean!" she cried to another echo of those words, the sound of them rumbling right through my body. "And we are the baneful fire!"

The Phoenix bird swept down off of the watchtower with a wailing cry of war pitching from the depths of the flames, the noise cast by a skilful illusion. It sailed overhead, the heat of the fire flooding me with warmth, and the army hollered for war, raising their swords towards that bird and lifting their banners in the air which held an emblem of a pair of Phoenix birds taking flight through the centre of a golden crown with a star above and flames below.

"Take your formation!" Geraldine ordered, and Caleb squeezed my shoulder, our goodbye lingering even though we'd known this moment would come.

He leaned into me, whispering in my ear as I bowed my head and drew him closer with my paw. "Our time is always."

Caleb kissed my muzzle then he was gone, speeding away into the throng of bodies as everyone worked to assemble themselves.

I headed for the right flank where my Wolves were gathering, my mum there in her Wolf form, pressing her nose to mine in greeting. She moved behind me in the ranks to join my dad, and my heart solidified with the fact she was letting me take Alpha position in this fight. I took that role seriously and would do everything I could to lead our Wolves through this battle and out the other side of it. Mom had said that if I proved myself today, she'd step down from her Councillor spot and I would claim it from her once and for all.

I padded to the front of the line, Grayson and Athena on the heels of my mother, my own pack merging with hers and a host of other Wolf packs took up the line behind us.

As our soldiers worked to find their places, a thundering song of war began to brew within the crowd, led by Geraldine as her voice carried into the sky.

"We stand upon a shore of blood,

Thick as thieves and deep in mud,

The eye of the storm is closing in, but still we fight for glory!

The ocean's roaring for our bones,

She'll take us down to Davy Jones,

Our deaths roll in upon the tide, but still we fight for glory!"

The booming roll of the song took over my soul and I howled along with my pack, the whole island alive with energy. The powerful waves of a Siren's power spilled into me, and I lifted my head, spotting Max high up on a plinth of air with his father Tiberius beside him. The two of them charged our hearts with courage, dousing our fears, and our warriors cried out even louder, ready for battle.

A legion of Harpies moved into position at the forefront of the army, their wings flexing and their armoured skin shining. They each held buckets of stardust in their grip, containing nearly all of our remaining supply, enough to transport us all to the False King's door.

The Harpies looked to their queens for confirmation that it was time, but the twins were hesitating, speaking in low voices and looking beyond the army as if they were waiting on something.

Another minute passed then they shook their heads, giving up on whatever it was they were waiting for and nodding to the Harpies.

"Wait!" a male voice went up and I spotted Milton Hubert racing onto the stage and talking to Darcy and Tory in a low voice. I was frustrated I didn't have Caleb to pick out their voices, growling a little as I tried to figure out what was going on.

The twins suddenly took off into the sky, their wings burning bright as they tore away in the direction of the castle.

Geraldine stared after them in confusion then sang her song even louder, keeping spirits high.

"The ground beneath us trembles deep,

Our enemies turn to run and weep,

For the army of queens is closing in, and we only fight for glory!"

The song bellowed on, and even though the Sirens were still threading hope and strength into my soul, my gaze kept travelling in the direction the twins had taken, trepidation slipping through me. Why would they run off? What could possibly be happening that could take their attention from this moment?

My ears twitched at the sound of a faraway drumming noise, growing closer and closer. I spotted black banners with two curling horns upon them moving closer to our army and my heart raced. I raised up onto my hind legs to try and see better, my breathing all but stopping at the sight unfolding before me.

The twins flew above a sea of Nymphs, maybe three thousand, perhaps more in their shifted forms, all dressed for war, some gripping spears in their hands. Near the front, I spotted one wearing a beanie hat speared upon his horn and knew that had to be Diego's father Miguel. They were here. They'd come. They'd fucking joined us at the very last second.

"Welcome the Legion of Shadow," Darcy called, her voice echoing around us, and a murmur of uncertainty passed through our warriors.

"They wish to join us in our fight! To bolster our ranks and see Lionel brought to justice!" Tory bayed. "We have secured a treaty with them."

More mutters of fear broke out, people backing away from the approaching Nymph army, some letting out cries of alarm.

"There are no enemies in our ranks!" Darcy called, her voice tempered by a wave of trust flooding from Max and Tiberius. "You are all brothers and sisters in arms who fight for one true cause!"

The Sirens dulled anyone's continuing fears and as Geraldine's song broke through the crowd again, the Nymphs were moved into position among us. Our army allowed them in, even while some still passed comments and kept their distance, but they needed to get the hell over it. With them on our side, we'd secured more of a chance at winning this war. It was a gift none of us could deny, and another howl poured from my throat as I let myself fall into the intoxicating song of battle.

The twins returned to the stage, nodding to the Harpies while taking out a pouch of stardust of their own. Orion and Darius bowed to their queens before moving away to their places in the army, ferocity sparking in their eyes.

Then the Harpies were sweeping overhead and stardust was tumbling from the sky, the glittering dust showering my fur before I was snatched away into the grasp of the universe, hurling me towards a battle I wasn't sure I would ever return from.