Invisible!
My eyes widened.
‘Is that so crazy?’ my wolf asked.
Touché.
I mean … she could go invisible and walk through walls. Maybe that’s where it came from … this old magic.
I looked at Pearl in a new light. Were the dragon and my wolf similar in some way? At least magically?
“Sounds good to me.” Sage leapt across the space and Marmal helped her onto the beautiful white dragon.
“Thanks, girl.” I reached out to Pearl and stroked her white scales. They felt like a cross between a lizard and a dolphin. Shiny and firm, but soft in a way. It was hard to describe. Her eyes were slitted and the color of the ocean, blue and black and white all mixed into one shiny jewel. Reaching back with her face, she nuzzled my leg and inhaled, her nostrils flaring.
“She says you smell like home,” Marmal translated, sounding a bit confused.
I frowned, unsure what that meant. “Where’s home?”
Marmal pulled me up and I snuggled in behind Sage, grabbing Pearl’s body beneath my legs to steady myself.
Marmal’s eyes widened. “She said you would call it the Dark Woods?”
I felt Sage stiffen against me. Pearl was … from the Dark Woods? I thought of the magical cave inside of the mountain and the way the trees moved. If any place in all of Magic City were home to a dragon, it would be there.
Holy crap.
My mind reeled at that revelation, but before I could ponder on it more, Pearl snapped her wings outward.
“Ready?” Marmal asked.
Sage and I had barely said yes when Pearl kicked off the ground and then we were flying. Her giant wings pumped the air as we soared higher and higher. The wind rushed past me, tossing my hair around my face.
“Wooooo!” Sage cried out, but I shushed her with a light elbow to the ribs.
“Fey could be tracking us,” I murmured behind her.
“Buzzkill,” she grumbled at me.
I looked out at the giant expanse before me and gasped. Wow. It was so beautiful up here. You could see the little brick walls demarcating the territories like spokes on a wheel. It was sad, actually, that everyone was so segregated. Because I could see how all of Magic City, as a whole, was so incredibly beautiful. The lands ranged from rich, thick, green forests to the open plains of Troll Village, which were burnt orange and yellow.
Pearl flew over Light Fey City with its black asphalt roads and glass buildings topped with solar panels, and a powerful magic came over us. I could smell the scent of burnt wires as she pulled up some type of shield. It was like I was looking through a plastic bag. Clear, but hazy.
“Okay, she says we are invisible! She’s got the cloak up,” Marmal screamed behind her at Sage and I.
Okay, that was going to be super freaking useful in getting Sawyer out of prison. But I knew the key to having this really go off without a hitch was to be able to communicate with both Sage and Marmal mentally.
“Girls!” I shouted, and they both spun around to face me.
I swallowed hard, and tried to convey the seriousness I felt stirring inside of me. “I want to make you both pack. Paladin pack. My pack. I’ll claim you, and that way we can talk into each other’s minds…”
Both of their mouths popped open at the same time. “But I’m a troll.” Marmal sounded as if she was in complete disbelief.
I nodded. “And you would be accepted as family. Cherished. Loved. Protected.” I knew that if I approved it, Rab and the others would as well.
Her eyes grew misty and she nodded. Then I looked at Sage, prepared to put up a fight, prepared to tell her she wasn’t really leaving the city wolves behind, she was just joining a blended family.
“I’ve been pack with you for a while now, Demi. Let’s make it official.” Sage extended her wrist, knowing what was required, knowing what I’d done to claim Astra.
I inclined my head, tears filling my eyes as I thought of how much I’d been through with this girl.
Reaching out, I removed my left wrist cuff and felt my teeth lengthen, then I dipped my head down to her forearm and nipped her, until I tasted blood.
‘Mine. Pack.’ My wolf surged forward as my alpha power blanketed Sage. I felt our bond deepen as a surge of consciousness joined mine and I sensed Sage so strongly, her worry for me and Walsh and Sawyer, her protectiveness, loyalty. Then she faded into the background with the rest of the pack.
‘Testing, testing,’ I tried.
She grinned. ‘That’s cool. I’ve never done that without being in wolf form.’
A smile pulled at my lips. ‘Welcome to the pack.’
Marmal was next. She extended her arm timidly; she didn’t know me as well as Sage did, and she sure as hell didn’t know wolf ways, yet still she trusted me. After drawing blood, I claimed her and her consciousness surged with mine. There was a frantic panic in her energy and her eyes widened.
She clutched her chest. “I feel you.”
I nodded. ‘I feel you too. You’re family now. Pack,’ I finished with a smile, slipping the cuff back on my wrist.
Her mouth opened and closed a few times, like a fish out of water, and then a single tear slipped from her eye. I shouldn’t have pressed her but I did; I pushed into her emotions just a tiny bit to see what was wrong, and then tears were lining my eyes as well.
She wasn’t alone anymore. Her sister had died in the farm fires last year, and she hadn’t realized how lonely she was until this moment that she felt our bond.
I reached out and pulled her in for a hug, in which Sage had to lean over and clutch on to Pearl and out of our way.
‘You’re with us now,’ I told her.
‘Happy to be so,’ she responded.
We all flew in reflective silence for the next twenty minutes when the cluster of buildings signaling downtown Magic City, the capital of Light Fey City, rose up into view.
It was stunning. A giant river ran right down the center of the city, spanned by a huge bridge so that cars could go to each side. The river was almost like a lake it was so wide. As we flew closer, I noticed there in the very center of the wide rushing river was the tallest building in the entire city.
Magic City Prison.
There was probably a hundred feet of water on either side of the island, with boat docks and canoes moored on the shores. The city bustled around the island prison as if it didn’t exist, cars zipping in and out of traffic, fey walking and laughing as they dressed in their finest suits. It was like a magical Manhattan.
‘Have her set down over there. We need to go over the gameplan,’ I told Marmal, pointing to the thick trees that butted up against the river’s edge. It looked like some type of parking or hiking trail. It was like they’d cut a city right out of the forest but kept as much nature as possible. I’d never seen so many fey in one place. There were very few in my time at Delphi and they kept to themselves. The way they walked, so lithe and graceful, was almost hypnotic.
Pearl lowered us onto a grassy patch deep within the park, and I dismounted as I stepped out of her invisible shield. We were alone for now, but I pulled the hood up high over my head to cover myself just in case, and then checked that my cuffs were securely on my wrists. Sage and Marmal met me in the grassy area as I paced tracks into the lush blades of green.
I’d made it. I was here. And I had no fucking idea what part of the plan to start next. But looking up at the huge building and knowing my mate was so close gave me hope. I needed to get Sage inside, but getting her arrested now seemed like a big and timely fanfare. There would be sentencing and all of that if it was anything like the jails in Spokane and the human world. My wolf felt on edge as she slithered restlessly inside of me. Were there vampires inside the prison right now? Maybe they lay in wait in these very bushes.