LIAM (The Rylee Adamson Epilogues, Book 2) (18 page)

Three ogres came in from the right, weapons swinging. I leapt without thought, taking the center ogre down, tearing his throat out as we fell. We barely touched the ground when I’d spun and buried my teeth into the leg of the next ogre, pulling him off his feet. He went down with a thud, his head cracking on the pavement. The old werewolf was on him in a flash, tearing his throat out with a speed and viciousness that spoke of years of pent-up rage. I didn’t watch, but spun and took the next ogre from behind. I jumped up, my paws on either side of his neck and snapped my jaws over his spine. I pulled with all I had, removing his head with an ease that even surprised me.

Around us, the world was a medley of chaos that erupted with the shrieks of terrified yet still-watching humans, along with the cries of the ogres as they went down, and with them both the growing sirens of the police cars in the distance.

I didn’t want to shift into my human form. I’d missed being able to run on all fours more than I’d realized. But I had to shift in order to keep those who fought at my side safe.

I slid back easily, thanking the gods that I’d learned how to shift and keep my clothes intact so I didn’t end up baring my ass to the world. Of course, Faris would have had no compunction about going nude. I could hear his laugh on the wind with those thoughts rolling through me.

“Old man.” I glanced down at the werewolf, and he shifted with me. Like most werewolves, this meant he was completely naked. I slapped a hand on his shoulder. “We’ve got to stop the cops. Those weapons they have can’t become a part of this or we will be done in.”

He gave me a nod, gray head bobbing and eyes bright with eagerness. “You’ve got a plan?”

I nodded. “Take one of those cars and drive right into them. Think bumper cars.”

“That won’t stop all of them,” he pointed out.

“No, it won’t. But they love a good car chase, too.”

All I could do was hope it would take some of them out of the battle.

A roar went up from the ogres and I spun to see the wolves being scattered left and right by a club-swinging monster.

Pic.

“Go.” I shoved the old man, getting him moving, and he ran toward the abandoned cars in the middle of the street. I didn’t watch to see that he’d done what I asked. The animals were still taking the ogres down, but it seemed for every ogre killed, two more stepped up in his place. It
was
like an anthill, with a never-ending run of monstrous black ants that couldn’t be stemmed. Time to cut the head off the one who started the anthill. Kill the king, end the battle. No matter how it ended, I would end it now one way or another.

“Pic, you piece of shit, let’s finish this. You and me, one fight and we can spare the rest of their lives.”

He laughed at me. “You think you can challenge me? No, that is for ogres only. And you are not an ogre. I will fight you, though. But not before I do this.”

He held out a hand and an ogre shot forward, putting a tiny rolling globe into it. I froze, recognizing the potential, if not the exact spell. I’d seen enough of Pamela and Milly’s spell bombs to know we were in serious trouble. Flames licked out around the rolling ball. This was going to hurt.

I WAS WRONG ABOUT
Pic, though. I should have listened to Bly. Should have recognized that he would have a way out of this mess, a way to keep my attention away from him. He rolled the glowing orb from one hand to the other, miniature flames lighting it up.

“Your little friend is still in there, isn’t he? Did you know I put Mai and her boyfriend in the forest, too? That’s what we were doing. I knew you would come out, and we stuffed them in as you left the pool.” Pic swung and threw the spell at the trees at the edge of the park. The flames shot up instantly. The first row of trees burned so quickly and hot, they exploded, sap ripping from them in a spray of burning hot liquid.

Laughing, he turned away, snapping his fingers. “Kill those you can, the rest, we’ll gather them up later.”

Horror flowed through me. Without Pic’s head, Bly would not heal Mai.

Mai and Levi were in that inferno.

The triplets would die without Mai’s help.

I shifted and leapt . . . right at Pic. I knocked him down, teeth snapping at the back of his neck. He rolled, a short sword in one hand as he turned and tried to slide the weapon across my throat. He caught my shoulder and drove the blade to the bone. “You stupid wolf, you don’t know when to quit.”

My back feet scrabbled against his legs, digging in gouge marks as I fought to stay on top of him. My front claws dug into his leathery hide, but there was no real purchase for me. Which only left my teeth. I grabbed his right pec in my mouth and bit through the muscle, tearing and ripping. He kept his hands up, screaming at me as he drove his weapon into me over and over. The pain blinded me, but I followed my nose as I tore through his chest. Ribs suddenly appeared through the blood, white and no different than any other skeleton. He screamed for help, perhaps suddenly realizing that his death hovered close.

Around me, I felt the animals shift, creating a circle of protection. They gave their lives as I fought to take Pic’s. Their cries were defiant, a last howl or snarl to the world that they would not be caged, they would not be taken again. That they would rather die free than live caged.

I had my right paw digging at the ribs, the blond fur pure red with blood. Ribs gave way to a beating heart and I drove my muzzle through the tight space. The heart beat frantically, and I closed my mouth around it, squeezing it like an overripe tomato. It burst in my mouth, life blood flowing down my throat, burning a path to my belly like over-proofed whiskey.

Below me, Pic gave one final kick and then stilled, his arm falling to the side. His sword was still jammed in my side, but as my body healed, it pushed the blade out. I raised my head and howled, the sound guttural and wet with the life I’d taken. The ogres went silent, they stopped their fight. The animals left around me were tense, waiting. I stood, wobbling. I shifted into my human form and stared at the ogres in a slow turn. “Leave now and you might survive this day.”

They scattered like leaves on the wind, spineless without their leader. I took Pic’s sword, grabbed his hair, and sliced through his neck. His face was slack with only a glimmer of surprise etched in it. A wave of heat pressed against my back. Lion approached me and shook his mane as he shifted. He was coated in blood, his skin slick and shiny with it.

“The flames have eaten most of the park, and with that the magic is failing. If you go in, you’ll be as trapped as those you are trying to save.”

I shifted to my wolf form and grabbed Pic’s head with my mouth. I didn’t know if Lion was right, but I was guessing he was on to something. It didn’t matter, though. There was no turning back. I had to get Mai and Levi out of there. I wasn’t going to die. I was going to live, no matter what it took.

I raced toward the burning trees, the smell of wood and seared fur filling the air as I launched into the heat.

The flames licked at me, alive in their desire to consume anything they could. My fur crisped, and the pads of my paws blistered as I ran. I squinted against the smoke and held my breath as long as I could. I knew only the direction I had to go in order to get to the pool. Lion was right, around me the magic was fading and Kerry Park was being sent back to the form the humans knew. Within the flames, I could see the purple swirls of the magic that had made the park larger than it was supposed to be, and could see them breaking down in front of me.

I put everything I had into moving faster, of getting ahead of the unraveling of a world I needed to hold together a little longer. Just a little longer was all I asked, long enough to get my people and get the hell out.

I drew in a breath, forced to by a pair of screaming lungs and muscles that began to cramp in protest at the lack of oxygen. Not that the breath helped much in that department. Smoke filled my nose and I coughed, stumbled, fell into the flames, got up, and ran again. I flattened myself to keep my head as near to the ground as I could while still holding Pic’s stupid head. I could almost hear him laugh at me, a final bomb thrown to show his contempt for all those around him.

The flames thinned, as suddenly as if water had been thrown on them, and I fell into the clearing where the smell of my and Lion’s blood permeated the air. I was on my side, panting, finally able to take stock of injuries that were not healing as they should have been. For a moment, I thought it was because of my doubt . . .

“Ah, the magic burns deeply.” Bly bent over me and I cringed back, not wanting her to touch me. I didn’t dare shift, uncertain I could even hold my body together when I was so badly burned.

The wind whipped around us, and the flames bent in our direction. Bly grinned. “Your boy can only hold the flames so long, despite the blood in his veins.” She motioned to Levi. He was on his knees, his hands outstretched, and it was only then I saw the wall of water I’d fallen through at the very edge of the clearing. That moment of crispness that had cooled the flames and kept me from burning up as I lost my footing.

Bly kicked at Pic’s head. “Doesn’t much look like Pic, all burned up as it is. How do I know you didn’t just go and kill any old ogre and bring his head to me?”

I lunged at her, snarling, my paws blistered so badly that even a step left me sticking to the ground. Behind her came a soft cry.

“Bly, please. Please help us. For your grandson’s sake. For the sake of our people,” Mai said.

I saw her, and limped to her side. My skin was cracked and bleeding, open from the blisters that broke out everywhere the fire had touched me. Magic bit deeply when it finally took hold, I knew that, and this was to the bone in several places. I lay beside Mai. I thumped my tail once, twice, and then let it still. I’d done all I could. Now it was up to Mai to make Bly see what she needed to do. What she’d promised to do.

Tul lay next to Bly, his eyes closed, his chest barely lifting. His death was coming, I could smell it on him, the slow breakdown of organs and muscles as the tissue died. But Mai didn’t know that.

Bly hobbled over, taking her sweet as time as Levi groaned under the strain of holding the flames back. Rylee had been right about him. Not that I was terribly surprised. She was so often right about the wayward souls she brought home.

Without him, we wouldn’t have made it this far. If we survived, I needed to be sure to tell him that.

I watched as Bly went to her knees and cupped her hands around Mai’s face. “I told you that you would raise the child that would save our people.”

“Yes,” Mai whispered, pain lacing her voice.

“But you are barren.”

Mai’s eyes flicked to me. “There is more than one way to raise a child. They do not have to be of my blood to be mine.”

Yes, she was the right one. I could see her now in our lives easily, filling a space I didn’t think even Rylee knew was truly empty. The space that Dox and the ogres she’d called friends had left empty with their deaths.

Mai was pack, and that was why I’d been drawn to her, why I’d found her so easily.

Because she belonged with us.

Bly nodded. “Then let this be done. As I swore on the last breath of my grandson, I will heal you.”

She put one hand on Tul and other over Mai’s heart. Mai cried out, “No, don’t, don’t, please!”

Don’t what?

Oh, shit.

Tul’s breathing slowed as Mai’s heartbeat grew stronger. The wounds in her belly closed over and as she gained strength she tried to fight off Bly’s hand. But it was as if the old ogre mage was made of steel, and Mai was a child beating at a door she could not open. As suddenly as she’d put her hands on Mai and Tul, Bly stepped back.

“It is done. I’ve had enough with all of you.” There was an edge of tears to her voice, but it was gone in a flash, making me doubt I’d even seen it.

She snapped her fingers and a slice in the air opened . . . a cut in the Veil. I stood, cracked and bleeding as wounds reopened and oozed with pain and pus. We had to get through there, it was our way out of the forest. No matter where Bly was going, it would allow us a chance to get out of the fire and away from the remainder of the ogres. Who I had no doubt, once they regrouped, would be on our asses like white on rice.