Sawyer’s eyes narrowed just as mine widened. “You’re relieved of duty, Captain. Get the fuck out of my face and into a bunker.”
The man looked shocked. “Sir?”
“Go,” Sawyer growled, pelts of fur rolling down his neck.
“What the hell is he talking about, Sawyer?” I yanked on my new husband’s shirt and forced him to look at me.
I felt it then, between us, a deep dark secret he’d been keeping from me. It was thick and heavy and hidden deep within him.
“Sawyer, you tell me right now. I will not start our marriage off on lies,” I growled at my mate.
He nodded, swallowing hard. “The others have formed the Magical Creatures Coalition. They will stop the war if I give into their demand. Just one demand.”
Chills ran the length of my arms. “What’s their demand?”
His gaze looked at my feet then, unable to meet my eyes.
“Sawyer, what are they demanding?”
He shook his head like he couldn’t speak.
“You,” Sage said suddenly, and a wave of dizziness crashed into me.
“Me?”
Sawyer looked up from the ground and I came face to face with his wolf. Yellow glowing eyes stared back at me from behind his thick lashes. “This whole murder trial about Vicon was to get me out of the picture. They want your power, Demi. They want to bottle and sell what you have and become invincible, unkillable, the Fountain of Youth, whatever you want to call it. They want it.”
Me?
They wanted me…
I’d known that the vampire queen wanted my power. I guess the fey too, but … to start a war over it… “All of them? Why?”
Sawyer’s eyes flashed back to their searing blue. “Yes all of them, and because, Demi…” He inhaled through his nose. “…you’re like a drug. Do you remember that first time we kissed? The vibrating?”
I nodded, remembering when he’d backed me up against the wall in the hallway of the Fine Arts building.
Sawyer swallowed hard, chewing at his lip nervously. “I took a bit of your power then, unknowingly. I was so strong, so fast after that kiss, I felt … invincible. Every time we have been close after that, I’ve had to be very careful not to…”
Horror ripped through me at his words. He took my power? He had to be careful not to what? Drain me like a vampire!?
“Not to?” I needed to hear him say it.
“Not to consume your essence, not to take from you.”
My mind was spinning, this entire war … wasn’t over Sawyer killing Vicon … it was over me.
It was … sick and wrong and … I couldn’t let all of these people die because of me. I couldn’t let buildings burn and our people lose everything they had over one person.
“I’ll go,” I told him. “Give myself up, and later, when our army is stronger, you can get me back.”
“No!” Sawyer growled as fur rippled from his neck to his arms.
The Paladin people would have to wait. I couldn’t let thousands die because I refused to give myself up. “Sawyer, I will not be known for this. I will not be a coward. I will do what is right,” I said boldly, tipping my chin high.
He looked at someone behind me and nodded quickly, and then I felt two strong arms pin my wrists behind my back. “Sorry, love,” Eugene breathed in my ear.
Panic flooded my system as I realized Sawyer would never let me turn myself in.
“Sawyer! Be reasonable. This entire city will fall! I will not have blood on my hands,” I wept.
I jerked against Eugene as he started to drag me backward. It was not lost on me that this was probably my karma for having Sawyer held against his will while I left.
“It will be on my hands,” Sawyer growled, “and this entire city will fall before I let one hair on your head be harmed. Demi, you can’t let them have your power or we will be dealing with a whole new monster altogether.” He rushed forward and kissed me chastely before backing away. “I love you. Go back to the Paladin lands where you are safe. They won’t look for you there.”
The shock that rushed through my system then was too much and I felt my wolf come to the surface. “Sawyer, no! Just let me—”
Something pricked the side of my neck and I turned to follow the direction it came from.
Rab.
He was holding a fucking blow dart. But instead of looking malicious or greedy, he looked brokenhearted. “I will make sure she gets back to Paladin Village, and I will send every spare man I have to help you win the war,” Rab told Sawyer, and placed his fist over his chest.
Dizziness took hold of me, the trees started to blur behind him, and it felt like I had suddenly been thrown into a washing machine.
“No! I can’t!” I screamed, but it was warbled like I was talking underwater.
“Thank you. That would be much appreciated,” Sawyer told Rab. His voice was so deep it made me laugh. I giggled in a low whale-like tone, and then sagged in Eugene’s arms as I lost consciousness.
I came to with a foggy memory of what had transpired. Why was I being carried and why was the person carrying me running? Then it hit me.
Sawyer. The war. It was all my fault.
“No, take me back!” My voice croaked as I pounded on Eugene’s back. My ribcage slammed into his shoulder with each step he took. He had me in a fireman hold and was running so fast I felt dizzy. A loud bang ripped throughout the space and I jerked my head back to see Sage and Walsh running behind Eugene through the dense forest. Their arms were outstretched as they shot into the darkened trees with sleek black guns. Bursts of light fired from the muzzles as adrenaline rushed through my system and I felt more alert. Arrows rained down around us, sticking into the wet ground with thunks as Rab and his men created a tight circle around me.
“Astra!” I yelped, my eyes scanning for the young girl.
“I’m here, Alpha!” she said to my right, running balls-out, her short-cropped hair bouncing behind her. Rab put a horn of some type to his lips and blew, loudly.
The deep horn resonated inside my body. My entire head felt like it was going to explode.
Another horn responded off in the distance and Rab yelped out in relief.
‘War horn. The village will be ready to defend against the oncoming attack,’ Astra told me as they ran.
My head was still foggy, but it was clear that someone was chasing us. Vampires didn’t use bows and arrows, so it must be fey or Ithaki. I was just wondering which when an ultrasonic pitch slammed into my ears and Eugene stumbled.
That was a fey calling card, and if it was bows and arrows, my guess was dark fey or Ithaki. Or both.
“Put me down, I can run,” I told Eugene, and he obliged, letting me fall to my feet before he covered his ears.
Without a second thought, I let my wolf free. I wasn’t going to let this fey weaken our group and then take us out one by one. No way.
My wolf was semitransparent one second and then solid the next. ‘Find the screamer and rip their throat out,’ I told her.
“Rab! Cover my wolf!” I then barked to the Paladin leader, screaming so that my voice could be heard over the shrill noise.
We’d stopped, and everyone covered their ears as the trees rustled and my legs went weak with the effects of the fey noise weapon. My brain felt like it was being put into a blender.