“We’re going to win,” I said, hands clenched in his t-shirt so I wouldn't slide onto the ground into a puddle of properly kissed goo.

“Damn straight.”

“And then, we’re going to figure this out.”

A slight lifting of the corners of his mouth in a classic Liam smile. “I look forward to it.”

This time, I kissed him on purpose.

Chapter 29

“Surrender now, and I will let the others live.” It was nearing daylight when I heard Sarvarna’s voice echo through my head.

“I haven’t issued a formal Challenge yet, your majesty. Don’t you think you’re jumping the gun a little bit?”

“You’ve gathered a group of Shifters together with the express purpose of overthrowing the Alpha Pack. Your brother has already admitted to it. As per our laws and customs, you are guilty of treason and subject to death.”

I finally caught her scent, and not just hers. Liam was right, there had to be at least twenty of them, and they were close. Too close. They stayed downwind, which was the only reason we hadn’t noticed them before.

“I thought I was supposed to die because I was a Thaumaturgic and an abomination. Come on. Make up your mind.”

“There are many reasons I will kill you, but now you won’t have to die alone. For your cowardice, your friends will now die alongside you.”

Liam slinked through the grass in the general direction of the Alpha Pack.

“Cowardice is sending in a legion of Shifters to fight your battles, Sarvarna. Call them off, and we’ll do this. Just you and me.” I trailed behind Liam, veering off slightly to the left.

“A leader doesn’t deal with such petty skirmishes. She delegates.”

And then they were upon us. It was like a wave of wolves bursting from the tree line. The acidic taste of fear flooded my mouth, but I didn’t let my terror control me. I sprinted across the grass and lunged at the first wolf I came to. The power he radiated marked him as a true member of the Alpha Pack, so I didn’t hesitate as I sank my teeth into the soft part of his neck and yanked. I moved on to the next in line before he even hit the ground.

Or maybe I should say the next two in line, since I was tag-teamed. While one distracted me from the front, the other sunk his teeth into my right hip. The pain was excruciating, but not debilitating. I slung the wolf in front of me into a red wolf who was charging towards Liam, and then spun around to face the coward who had my blood staining his muzzle. My teeth ripped into his front leg. The injury wouldn’t kill him, but he wouldn’t be walking again until the sun rose either.

Liam and I were good, and even better as a team, but no one can expect to win when the odds are two against twenty. The fight would have been over before it started if a second wave of Shifters hadn’t burst from the tree line, my brother’s small body in the lead. I barely processed there were more than a handful of Hagans when a black wolf landed in front of me.

I was confused, unsure if this was a friend or enemy until his smell registered. Warm baked cookies and Miriam’s favorite laundry detergent.

Hank. I wasn’t surprised. He said he would always come when Liam needed him.

One of the Alpha Pack lunged, and Hank ducked low before coming up in a fury of teeth and claws. Convinced he could take care of himself, I turned to face my next attacker.

“Excellent timing, Tal.” Just a few minutes more, and the army we had scraped together at the last minute would have been avenging our death instead of fighting by our sides.

“Most of them just got in before the sun set, and then we had to get all the way across town in animal form,” came her reply. “You honestly didn’t think to inspect the field you would be Changing in before you got there? If you would have told me yesterday where the battle was going down, this would have gone much more smoothly.”

I would have defended myself, but I was too busy fighting for my life. I don’t know what human war is like. I’ve never been crouched down in some Middle Eastern hole in the wall while gunfire and explosions echo around me, but I can’t imagine the sound is any more horrifying than what I heard throughout our battle. Snarls and howls. Whimpers and whines. I constantly sought out the voices I knew, listening for sounds of triumph or harm.

Liam and I focused our initial energies on the the Stratego and Taxiarho. I tried to exert Dominance with them, to force them into submission, but it wasn’t happening. I knew it wouldn’t, but I still tried. I didn’t keep up with how many I killed, although I knew their individual faces would come back to haunt me in my dreams. The others, the ones who had simply come to defend their Queen, were easier. Some of them would actually submit to me, which meant I could let them live. It didn’t always happen, but it did happen. Maybe it was only the allies I had mistaken for the enemy, but I like to think otherwise.

Occasionally I would catch a glimpse of the others. Liam was, as always, magnificent. Like me, he was trying to force submission or merely injure as many as possible, but when there was no other choice, he killed quickly and without hesitation. Jase was paired up with Joshua, who was swinging a sword around like a gladiator. Once I even saw a coyote I was certain was Makya. He wasn’t in the middle of the fray, but instead another Hagan purposefully kept him corralled to the sideline.

The battle seemed to wage on forever, but I know it couldn’t have been more than half an hour before the sun started to rise in the sky. The less Dominant ones were the first to fall to the ground, the tremors of the Change wracking through their body. Liam and I stayed in wolf form until the very end, guarding over the others along with Joshua, who was still carrying around his sword. I don’t know if there are actual Rules of Engagement for Shifters, but I felt strongly one of them should be not attacking someone mid-Change.

The field looked exactly as it had in Talley’s vision. Blood was everywhere. Even though most every wound would heal during the Change, their skin would still be stained with the blood spilled. But not everyone would heal. I made my way through the mass of writhing bodies. Hank was one of the first I ran across. I could tell the fight had been particularly hard for him, but he was Changing quickly. I was happy for him, but more so that Liam didn't have to lose another father figure.

Jase was a bit harder to find. The relief at seeing him mid-Change almost outweighed the weirdness and grossness of seeing him mid-Change.