They reached the Scorched Earth entrance en masse.
They may have been chomping at the bit to get inside, but politics still ruled. A Level-7 mage scanned the occupants of the cars with a neutral gaze, his face shadowed by the black hooded coat he wore. Glowing red runes lit up the skin of his hands as they danced around his fingers in a caressing weave.
Guardian.
Giuliana had only heard of the great mages stationed at Scorched Earth prepared to kill any trespassers. They protected the portal cities from threats. Curious humans may be allowed in so far to see the edges of the city—where the pretty homes and sparkling paranorms lived—to make them believe there wasn’t blood and war within. But if they caused any sort of commotion, they’d never be allowed to return home.
They’d been charged with their duty after the dragon had come into Encantado, blazing a trail of devastation. The runes on their skin locked them to their oath, keeping them on the edge of the city, always separate and yet needed.
“Where is your Alpha?”
Giuliana couldn’t help the tremble that spread over her at the mage’s voice. It was deep, thick with power.
“I am here.”
Dominic stepped forward, his head held high. As an Alpha, he had to show no submission to any below the Council level, and even then, he chose when he did. Kalinda was the only one to get his respect in such a way, but he only did it in official situations.
Otherwise, Romano would never let him hear the end of it.
The mage lifted his hand toward Dominic, and Giuliana crouched, ready to battle.
“Be calm, Enforcer. I am simply checking his reason for being here.”
“You could ask,” Romano offered, stepping up beside his Alpha.
“People lie.”
The mage’s gaze went white. It was so bright, Giuliana struggled to keep her eyes open as the runes on his hand sped over his skin with dizzying speed.
“Show me.”
Loud, so fucking loud. The words were a mark of demand, and Dominic’s eyes closed. After a moment, the mage gasped.
“I am Torin. As the Ales is in trouble, you will be allowed entry. I will escort you within Scorched Earth to your destination. Where is the Fae?”
Silva stepped forward, her wings midnight darkness and glittering stars. She wore her Fae armor, this time in all black to match her wings. It was stark against her white hair and violet eyes.
“I am Niamh Danaan of the Silver, and this pack is of my House.”
Torin’s eyes widened at that, and he glanced at Dominic. “Do you accept?”
For a moment, Giuliana’s Alpha’s gaze met Silva’s. She nodded, and he shrugged. “I accept.”
“As pack of the Ales and House of the Fae Queen of Seraph, you will be given immunity to any damages you cause within the Scorched Earth boundary. But let that destruction leak out, and I will end you all.”
As threats went, it was pretty badass. Giuliana could feel the weight of it settling around her shoulders, a promise instead of boast.
Who the hell is this Guardian?
Ancient, Red whispered.
How old?
I don’t know. Old enough to obliterate you, at least.
Gee, thanks, Red. Aren’t you sweet?
You asked.
Giuliana rolled her eyes at her wolf and watched as Dominic waived them forward. “I will head back to my mate. Keep me updated on the status of the battle, do you understand me?”
“Yes, sir!” the wolves called at once.
Pasquale rolled his shoulders, a warrior ready for war. Giuliana appreciated the long lines of his back and his direct stare at Torin.
Alpha.
Torin, as if summoned by her internal thought, surveyed Pasquale for a moment before he turned back toward what looked like a solid wall riddled with names.
Those who died.
It was a memorial to the mages, humans, and other paranorms who’d lost their lives when the dragon came. Torin lifted his hands and placed them on the wall. It shimmered before wavering and disappearing.
The blackened and twisted lands of Scorched Earth spread before them. The ground was cracked and split, some areas still red with undying fire. It seemed to breathe, burping steam and fire in spots.
“The wall keeps the dragon flame from spreading,” Torin explained.
“It still burns?” Giuliana couldn’t believe it. The dragon had come and gone decades ago; the fire shouldn’t be still going.
“To this day. Watch your step and follow closely. The place in your Alpha’s mind was once a sacred space.”
Giuliana lifted an eyebrow but did as the Guardian said. Pasquale moved first, right on Torin’s heels, Giuliana behind him, Zahara next, and his wolves spreading out around them in a tight circle. Romano noticed it, smirking, but said nothing.
The small army kept a tight file, traversing the scorched landscape with sure feet. As wolves, they could sense the ground. Not in the same way as mages, but they knew where it was safe to step and where it wasn’t. It worked for them now.
Torin picked up speed, his legs eating up the distance in a hard race, one to rival an ordinary wolf. That was surprising. Mages, no matter how strong, couldn’t move as fast or have the senses a shifter had.
The Guardian was full of surprises.
He cut to the left, and the shifters followed. Silva stayed in the air, barely hovering above the ground. She must have been conserving her strength for the upcoming clash that was sure to happen. As her hair shifted in the breeze, a silver hilt of a sword appeared between her shoulder blades. The Fae Queen was not coming for a simple rescue mission.
Giuliana could understand her resolve. Kieran had crossed a boundary there was no looking back from. No matter what, he’d die today, and Romano’s constant growls added to the atmosphere of retribution filling the air.
Heath. Kalinda. Silva.
They’d all been hurt by Kieran’s need to have Silva, for a reason none of them were aware of. But it wouldn’t matter when they found him.
A flash to Giuliana’s left grabbed her attention, but it moved too fast for her to know what it was.
Did you see that?
See what?
Pasquale tossed a look back at her over his shoulder before scanning the horizon.
Maybe it was nothing.
Your senses are strong. We’ll keep a lookout.
She liked how he did that. How he took her thoughts and trusted them. No one had ever trusted her so completely. Her heart felt as light as her feet. Maybe, just maybe, they could do it. Figure out the details and give this a chance.
A forest rose from nothing, shimmering in a haze until it solidified.
“The trees are real, no matter what your mind tries to tell you. Dodge them!”
Torin’s command reverberated through the air. That was fucking weird. Her wolf senses didn’t pick up a single tree even if she could see them. She would have assumed they were a mirage, but at Torin’s call, she shifted to dodge the first one as they entered.
A yelp told her a wolf hadn’t listened, too cocky and sure of their nose.
“You will die here if you don’t listen to exactly what I say.”
They would be sure to. The pack pulled closer together, streaking in and out of the trees. Another flash, this time to Giuliana’s right, nearly made her stumble to a stop. There was a wolf, one that wasn’t with them. But even as Giuliana lifted her nose to the air to sniff, the wolf was gone, and they weren’t downwind of it.
Who the hell is that?
A Renegade may be tracking us.
Just saying the name in her head made her hands shake, but she’d grown stronger, facing her memories slowly each day. It didn’t stop her as it had before.
This fucking place is messing with my nose. All I smell is soot and fire. Even these dead trees don’t smell of wood.
I keep seeing a wolf.
It is probably a scout. We’ll have to deal with it when we get there.
Scout or not, they wouldn’t be turning around. They had to get to Kalinda. It had been several weeks since she’d been taken, and they didn’t want to trust that Kieran wouldn’t hurt her now that he knew Silva was completely healed to fight.
It still confused Giuliana as to why he wanted her healed. It would be easier to take an enemy when they were too weak to fight back. Waiting had a sense of honor she didn’t trust Kieran to truly have. Not after killing an innocent man or attacking the Council offices under the guise of a Trinity mage. This thing didn’t make sense, and Giuliana couldn’t help but believe they were heading into an ambush, one they were forced to.
Torin began to slow down, bringing the wolves to a crawl before they stopped. “Ahead, is the old dais.”
“They have one here?” Silva alighted next to Torin. “I didn’t think mages maintained those anymore.”
“This one was preserved before the creation of Scorched Earth.”
“Meaning no one could get here to destroy it.”
Giuliana stepped forward. “Want to explain what the dais is?”
“We can do that after I get my mate,” Romano interrupted.
“The dais is deadly, Romano. It’s better to be prepared,” Silva warned.
The normally jovial wolf stood to his full height. “I’m deadlier.”
“The dais was made as a meeting ground for mages and Fae. It’s a place of coming to compromise or ending wars.”
“He started this war, and we’re going to finish it.”
“Agreed, but we have to face the truth. He’s stacked the odds in his favor. In the dais—”
“We’ll move now.”
Giuliana had never seen Romano so disagreeable, but she couldn’t fault the wolf. If Pasquale were in danger, she didn’t think she’d have been able to wait out the time for Silva to heal. Though, to be fair to Romano, Dominic had made Zahara ward the wolf so he couldn’t leave his Alpha’s home to make sure he didn’t sneak out and become a one-man army.
She understood his need to get to his mate as soon as possible. “We will get to her, Romano. She’s still alive.”
“I know it. I feel her.”
Losing a mate would cripple any shifter, no matter how far apart they may be.
“Torin, can we get to them from here?”
Torin nodded. “We’re just steps away. The trees block your view, but once we step on the other side, it’ll be clear.” He closed his eyes a moment, lifting his hand once again. “Eleven souls on the other side.”
“Kieran had four Fae and five wolves with him at the Council when he took Kalinda. That accounts for everyone. Be careful of the Fae warrior’s spears. The Unseelie tend to put poison on their blades,” Silva explained.
“Noted. Wolves.”
Romano may not have been an Alpha, but he was a Capo, a powerful one. All the wolves with them snarled. Some stayed in their human forms, palming their guns in preparation, others—the Bianchi in particular—shifted into their four-legged other halves. Giuliana allowed herself to partially shift, her fingers tipping with claws and her teeth sharp. If she needed to grab Kalinda and run, she’d make sure she did.
Zahara readied for battle as well, her eyes filling with storms and her hair whipping around her in a blast of air. The white lines and dots on her face were vibrant as her skin darkened. It was … eerie, to see her shift so. The witch doctor, in all her glory.
Torin watched it all before nodding. “You’re ready.”
He slashed his hand to the side, and the trees parted, bending under his gift to expose the dais. It was a large, flat stone circle with larger rocks standing up around it. Sort of like the human Stonehenge. In the center stood who Giuliana assumed was Kieran, given his triumphant smile and Silva’s hiss. Behind him, a golden orb hovered with Kalinda floating within it.
“Romano!”
“Mate!”
Giuliana dared to grip Romano’s bulging bicep, keeping him in place. When his gaze ripped to her, she nodded at the warriors around the bubble and the wolves at the ready.
Romano snarled but stayed put.
“I smell Heath.”
They all froze at Pasquale’s words. Romano recovered first. “What?”
“Heath’s scent is all around here. Giuliana, come.”
Giuliana stepped forward, already knowing what he needed. She plastered her back to his front, and his power wrapped around her. For the first time, Pasquale exposed himself, and Romano stepped back.
“What the fuck?”
“Just … wait a second,” Giuliana whispered.
The colors of scent surrounded her again, vibrant black to the wolves, a darker, gritty one spiked green for the Fae, and Kalinda was a bright rainbow. But she also saw something else, something that confused her.
The same corded scent she’d seen around the clearing that represented Heath was around the dais, prickly and shivering in a tight circle. Without thought, she reached out to Zahara and Romano. The wolf and witch doctor sucked in a breath.
“What is this?”
“Scent, Romano. As Pasquale sees it.”
Romano growled. “Heath … how is he—”
Kieran stepped forward. “Well met, Niamh. I have one demand, that is all.”
“What did you do to Heath? Do you think we’d let you go after you killed him and took my mate?”
Kieran sighed. “I wasn’t talking to you, dog. And as for your mate, she’s perfectly fine. Silva needed some … encouragement, and I ensured she got it. I gave her time to heal, doesn’t that count for something?”
Romano stepped forward, his muzzle flashing to sharp, white teeth. “Commendable enough for me to shorten your death just shy of too much blood and guts.”
“You say that as if you could reach me.”
Romano lunged forward, and the Fae behind Kieran sprang into action, pressing their spears into the bubble surrounding Kalinda and pointing them at her neck.
“No!” Silva roared.
“I was speaking. It’s rude to interrupt. Now, I’ll continue. I, Kieran of the Shadow, challenge you, Niamh Danaan of the Silver, to Osaltirhiem.”
Silva sucked in a deeper breath, breaking away from Giuliana’s hold. “All this for a duel?”
“All of this, and a duel to the death. It’s time for you to answer for all your crimes.”
Giuliana snorted. “Says the Unseelie who killed an innocent man.”
Kieran glared at Giuliana before he stepped forward. “I killed no one.”
Slowly, Kieran’s body shrank, thinning out to a lanky form Giuliana knew so well. Long limbs, black hair just around his ears, the same sarcasm filling his eyes. No longer were his ears pointed, and he had similar height, but none of the impression of a man.
No, he was a teenager with just the promise of what will be.
The scent tracer locked, straightening out, and Giuliana knew exactly who she was looking at before Pasquale said a word.
“Heath.”
“This is awkward.”
It was the same boyish voice. The sardonic twist to his lips. Heath.
“Stop playing games. We know how well you mimic, you fucking bastard,” Romano argued.
Kieran pulled a slender phone out of his pocket and dialed. Romano’s phone rang, and the wolf growled.
“Can’t mimic knowledge. Tell them, Silva.”
The Fae, pale and disbelief written all over her features, nodded. “Fae glamour only works on appearance. He wouldn’t have known what Heath knew.”
“He has his phone. That’s easy to figure out,” Romano argued.
“Your favorite gun is the Beretta you keep under your pillow. You pointed it at me one time when Dominic made me come get you to teach me a lesson,” Kieran said to Romano.
Romano tensed and growled, long and deep. “We came not only for Kalinda but to avenge you.”
For a moment, Kieran looked sad. “I know. I thought … Silva would come looking for me. But she didn’t.”
The night Giuliana and Pasquale found the clearing, the trap had been set to confuse a scenter and force them to use a stronger person to map. Maybe even mages to search, and that would have meant Kalinda and Silva.
“You didn’t expect Pasquale.”
Kieran turned his attention to Giuliana and Pasquale standing together. “I don’t think anyone would have planned for him.” He looked back to Romano. “I didn’t hurt her, like I promised, because of who you all were to me. Give me Silva, and Kalinda is free.”
“You know better than to ask for that.”
Kieran nodded. “Yes. I see that now. The Osaltirhiem is the only way. Step into the circle, Silva, and Kalinda goes free. I swear on my blood.”
“Like we’d believe you!”
Putting a staying hand on Romano’s arm, Silva stepped forward. “As a Fae, he’s bound to the rules of the Blood Duel. Swear to free Kalinda and leave the others unharmed, and I will accept.”
“I swear it.”
The rune-filled circle on the stone floor of the arena glowed brightly.
“Kalinda will kill me if you die,” Romano argued.
“Damn right,” Kalinda added.
“It’s a good thing I won’t die then, isn’t it?”