LIAM (The Rylee Adamson Epilogues, Book 2) (19 page)

Bly stepped through the slice in the air and shut the Veil with a snap, and without even a glance behind.

I sagged, my head drooping. Mai cradled Tul to her chest, sobbing as though her heart was gone. As though she would not leave him. Wounded, I needed help from my own pack. What I wouldn’t give to see one of my own stride through the forest.

Levi . . . still had his cell phone.

I forced my body to shift to human. I lay on my back, my clothes seared to me in places and the wounds even more apparent now that they weren’t hidden by the thick fur of my body. “Levi. The cell phone . . . Call Rylee.”

“I can’t do that and still hold the water.” He panted the words.

I crawled to him and dragged him back so we were all at the edge of the pool. “You can’t hold it forever. Let it go, call Rylee.”

His eyes were filled with fear and the flickering image of the flames. I gave him a nod. “Trust me. We’re all getting out of here.” Gods, I hoped I was right.

He dropped his hands, the water fell to the ground creating a thin moat, and the flames raged, the sound of the fire eating the magic and trees filled the air. He fumbled to get the phone out. “There’s only four percent left on it.”

“Call.”

I stared at the flames, listening as the phone rang through. Rylee picked it up, I heard the sound of her breath, the hitch in her voice. “Liam.”

“I need help.”

“Pamela and Marco are—”

The phone went dead. I pushed Mai and Levi into the water of the pool. “Stay.” I shifted, my body feeling as if it were breaking as my skin tore. I tipped my head back, thinking of Pamela. She was part of my pack, a little sister, a wolf cub with a bite that could defy even the biggest wolf. I howled, putting my power and strength into the howl, calling her. Calling her to me.

The sound rippled out of me, through the trees. Once, twice, three times I called and then the smoke slammed into me, like a wall of bricks crushing my chest. Someone grabbed my back legs and tugged me into the pool. Mai held my wolf body so I floated in the water with her.

“You did all you can,” she said. “I’m glad you came. You stopped Pic. That . . . that is worth our lives.”

No, I was not going to die. I tipped my head back again and howled, begging for Pamela to hear me. Begging her to find us.

The flames surrounded us at the edge of the pool and the water began to heat. I knew we would be boiled alive. But I didn’t close my eyes. I stared into the fiery canopy above us as the leaves fell in flames and bits of branches and bark exploded into the air. Because above us, that was where Pamela would come.

I had to believe.

Belief was all I had left, and I refused to let it go. The water heated and I howled . . . this was the last. I would not have any more strength. I could feel it slipping. I suspected that being burned alive could potentially end my life as a Guardian if it was bad enough, but at that moment I wouldn’t even consider that possibility.

A shadow passed over us, the wings of a gray Harpy I knew all too well. I howled Pamela’s name as I shifted and the trees were blown back around us and the earth heaved. Mai screamed and Levi clung to me, his fingers biting into the blistered wounds. But I couldn’t be happier. The fear was gone. My throat was blistered down the length inside, which made talking nearly impossible. I stumbled out of the water and went to my knees. I was a Guardian, toughest of the tough, but I still needed my pack around me.

Pamela and Marco landed and she flicked her fingers at the flames. They went out in a snap, as though she’d stolen the air from them. Her hands raised above her head, the glow of green and blue in her fingertips grew until it seemed to be uncontainable. She let the magic go and a blast sped outward, a spray of water and earth that damped the last of the flames. Wisps of smoke curled up here and there, the blackened char of the forest right to the edge of the pool, a testament to how very close things had come.

Her blonde hair spun as she turned to me. “Liam!”

She ran to me and caught my face in her hands. I flinched but held still. Her magic spilled over me, healing the wounds and wiping away all trace of the magical flames that had eaten at me.

“I have never been so glad to see you in my life.” I wrapped her in a hug and spun her around, laughing. She patted me on the back.

“I missed you, too.” I felt the hiccup from her, like a tiny sob. I put her down and held her at arm’s length. There was a deep sorrow in her that hadn’t been there before she left on her last trip. But now was not the time to ask. “You got it in you for one more healing?”

She nodded and I took her to Levi. His eyes widened as he took her in. I knew what he saw. A beautiful girl with long silken fair hair and summer blue eyes. However though she was physically young she didn’t act it, and her eyes told a different story than her age. One of sorrow and strength, of fear, doubt and understanding that she was more than she seemed.

She took his face in her hands and he shivered as her magic ran over him. I held a hand out to Mai and helped her out of the pool. “Pamela, we have to get Mai back to the babies.”

Pamela drooped. “Liam . . . “

I held up a hand, stopping her. “No, don’t tell me it’s too late.” No, we couldn’t be too late. Not for the babies. We couldn’t have gone through all this, all this death and destruction only to fail at the finish line.

“There has to be a faster way to get home,” I said.

Mai shook her head. “Bly . . . she could have stayed and helped us jump the Veil.”

I closed my eyes, refusing to look at Pamela. I would not ask that of her, and besides that, I wasn’t sure she even knew how. “How long have we got left?”

“Hours,” Pamela breathed. “They have hours, at best.”

I did a quick spin around, seeing some of the animals who’d fought at my side creeping back in. But it was Lion I pointed at. “We need a way to cross the Veil. Now.”

He put a splayed hand to his chest. “Why the hell are you pointing at me?”

“Because I think that’s how you came to Seattle from wherever you’re from. You jumped the Veil using an entrance,” I said.

He shook his head, then sighed and nodded. “It’s at the top of the Space Needle. Which is currently closed to the public. And I don’t mean with yellow tape and an overweight, old security guard we can offer a donut to so we can slip by.”

I leaned back, remembering Lion running away in the zoo rather than try and take us out as everyone said he should have. “Couldn’t get in the other night, could you?”

He shook his head. “No. It was guarded with ogres as well as cops. I think it’s their out, escape plan B if you will.”

Mai nodded slowly. “I remember Pic talking about an exit strategy. I bet that was it.”

The
it
being a doorway through the Veil. I was betting it would take us to the castle, a center point in the Veil that led to a multitude of places. Including the North Dakota badlands which were a short distance from home. Or at least, I was hoping the cut in the Veil would bring us to the castle. Taking the doorway, wherever it led, was our only chance, a gamble I was willing to throw all my chips on.

“Priority number one is getting Mai to Rylee,” I said.

Pamela nodded. “Marco, how many of us can you carry that short distance?”

Marco looked over us. “All but one, I think. Two on my back, two in my claws is going to max me out.”

Lion shrugged. “I’ll meet you at the Space Needle. I can go on foot and make it in no time.”

I nodded. “I’ll go with Lion. We’ll meet the rest of you at the base of the Needle. Don’t stop for anything, Pam.”

She gave me a grin, a flash of humor on her lips. “I never do. I did learn from Rylee, remember?”

I snorted as I shifted into my wolf, Lion following me a split second later. I motioned for him to lead, seeing as he knew exactly where we were going. Marco lifted off as we leapt forward, Mai and Pamela on his back, and Levi held tightly in the clutches of one talon. The last thing I saw was Levi clinging to Marco, the kid’s eyes clamped shut. I wanted to tell him to take in the view, but then I recalled the flight on Ophelia. Perhaps it was best he just kept his head down.

Lion and I raced through the streets of Seattle with more than one car hitting the brakes as we ducked and dived between them. There was only so much of the supernatural the humans could deny. A wolf the size of a small pony and a lion running down the center line of traffic? Yeah, too much for even the biggest disbelievers.

The Space Needle was easy to see once I looked for it. Even without Lion, I’d have found my way to it as it rose above the city, easily recognizable. As we approached, I tensed, fully expecting the place to be crawling with ogres as they made a run from the disaster of their tribe.

There were yellow tape lines and a few police officers, but no ogres, neither in sight or in scent. I glanced at Lion, but he just shrugged as we slowed and shifted between one stride and the next into human form. “Maybe they figure they can’t leave without Pic?”

That didn’t make any sense. I frowned and looked up at the sky as Marco dropped from the top of the Needle in a straight dive. He swept his wings outward at the last second, stopping the headlong rush. Mai and Pamela jumped off his back, and Marco released Levi. The kid stumbled, his face green and his knees weak. Pamela steadied him with a hand. I saw the bright flush on his face as he pulled away from her.

Helped by a girl . . . he was going to have to get used to that. The reality in our lives was that the women were powerhouses in their own right.

And as liable to pull our asses out of the fire as we were to save them. Strike that, Rylee had saved me far more times than I’d saved her. I shook my head and strode toward the main entrance.

A guard stepped up, a city cop with him.

“Move,” I said, the word growling from my lips. The guard moved back, but the cop went for his gun. I was on him in a flash. I snapped his arm and took both weapons. The guard beside him stuttered, went white, and fell backward in a dead faint. I motioned for the others to go through the doors.

I paused and looked back at the male Harpy. “Marco . . .”

“No worries, Liam. I’ll meet you at home.” He bobbed his head once and then launched into the sky, turning east and disappearing in a low bank of clouds. He was one of the few males of his species left after the battle, and one of only two or three males in my pack. I needed to spend more time with him. We were lost in a sea of women with only each other to commiserate with. I smiled to myself at the image as he winged away.

“Let’s move,” I said. “We’re about to have more company.” Already sirens blasted behind us, coming from all directions. And probably with them, the remainder of the ogre mob.

We raced up the stairs, moving as only supernaturals could with speed and stealth unmatched. Even Pamela kept up, all her physical training holding her in good stead. Levi, on the other hand . . . he glanced up at me as the sweat ran down his face. I didn’t ask, I just picked him up and threw him over my shoulder. “No, I’m fine,” he said, the horror in his voice thick. Of course, I was making him look bad in front of a pretty girl not much younger than him. I shook my head.

“Injuries being healed can take a lot out of you,” I said, and he relaxed and let me carry him to the top.

We stopped at the top floor that led out to the viewing platform and restaurant. “No, we have to go higher,” Mai said.

From the other side of the door came the pounding of feet and the grunts of ogres. I shared a glance with Lion, but he hadn’t heard them yet if his blank stare was any indication.

“Go, all of you!” I pushed them toward the door that led to the mechanical rooms, and I could only pray a door led into the castle on the other side of the Veil.

The door behind me rattled and I grabbed the knob as it turned, forcing it to stay shut. I had to slow the cops and ogres down, to give the rest a head start. Maybe even get Pamela and Mai through the Veil. Because I had no doubt the door to the castle would not keep us safe, and I wasn’t about to lead the cops and ogres to Rylee and the babies.

That thought seared through me like a bolt of lightning. I lifted one of the guns I’d taken off the cop from downstairs and held it ready. I flung the door open before they could push their way through. The surprise move caught them off guard, and I was able to grab the cop in the lead by the arm. I dragged him backward and used him as a shield as I sighted down the gun over his shoulder. There were four cops and three ogres. I put the biggest of the ogres into my crosshairs. “You call them all off, or you’re going to die and I’ll ask your buddy to the right and see if he’s smarter than you.”

The ogre snarled, showing his teeth. “You killed my brother. I will hunt you down, Wolf.”

“Call them off, and you’ll get the chance to do that; don’t, and . . . well, I think you know how this will end.” The thing was, the weight of the gun in my hand told me all I needed to know. It was traditional, with ammo that wouldn’t act as it was supposed to. In other words, it wasn’t a gun I could depend on, but the ogre in front of me didn’t know that.

“I am Vam. I will come for you. I promise you that.” He thumped his chest a single time with one fist, and I gave him a nod as I dragged the cop back with me.

“Then I will watch for you, Vam. And you and I can discuss what we’re going to do about what happened here and which one of us is going to die as a result of it.”

He snarled, but didn’t press forward. He wasn’t bold like his brother. His brother had been the leader for a reason. Hell, I didn’t even remember seeing or smelling Vam in the mob. Those who’d hurt me, those I’d fought, their scents were imprinted in my brain. None of the ogres in the Space Needle had been in the fights.

I backed to the next door, and it yanked open. Lion grabbed me and I shoved the cop toward the ogres and other cops trying to file into the tiny space between doors. They went down in a tangled heap of limbs and curses.

We slammed the door shut behind us and it rattled with the sounds of multiple bullets rocketing into it. Lion and I raced up the final tiny set of stairs to a door that was barely five feet high, and opened into . . . nothing. I peered out and down. There was a slice in the air about twenty feet below the door, a glimmer of light coming through it. A single slice barely big enough for a man to fall through.