AURORA
Hundreds of harpies and wolves—hellhounds and undead—poured out of the forest. They surrounded us from all angles, from around us and above us, coming in by the freaking droves to fight with a bunch of people from the Sanguine Wilds and gods.
Tears welled up in my eyes as I relaxed in Mars’s arms. It had been so difficult to connect to them through the mind link, but I had done it. Not only that, but I’d also inspired them to come fight for our cause.
Hella had hurt one too many people and monsters here. We would end that tonight.
As the final few harpies trickled in, I shifted in Mars’s arms to get a good look at everyone. There were people here that even I didn’t recognize, wolves I hadn’t healed, nor had I saved. People who recognized me as Dawn, not Aurora.
When everyone finally surrounded us, I stared around and shuffled to my feet. Mars stood next to me and held my hand to steady my slightly trembling body. I still felt a bit too drained of energy for the second time in the past few days, but this had to be done.
“We are ending this tonight,” I said to the creatures and gods from the underworld.
A fury of whispers erupted through the forest, accompanied by head nods.
“One thing that must be done,” I started, taking a deep breath to calm myself, “is to get Nyx and Hella away from each other. Their powers are far too strong to use together. Hella has some brute strength left in her, and Nyx will make us all go crazy. We lost Ares that way.”
Murmurs broke out among the species again, but Mars growled to silence them.
“Yes, it’s true,” I confirmed, hoping that what I was about to say was accurate. “Ares was captured, but don’t let that get you down. He will do what he needs to do inside Hella’s home to escape and aid us in any way that he can.”
After taking another step forward, I smiled tensely at them all. I hoped that tonight wouldn’t be another night that I lost Mars, though. I couldn’t lose both of them or else I would be broken to pieces. We needed to get home so badly. Our girl was growing incredibly fast.
“We already have Fenris locked and chained up,” I announced. “He is our prisoner, and we will use him wisely. We will either end his life or we will use him to advance us in this war—to win this war. No matter what, we will win.”
“Taking Nyx away,” Mars stepped in, “will be a collaborative effort. But we especially need the harpies to bring Nyx elsewhere. Is that possible?”
The woman I’d helped before flew forward a few feet and nodded. “Yes.”
“What do we do next?” another god chimed.
“Once we get them apart, I will try to free those hounds and hellhounds from Hella’s hold,” I said. “I know that we will have to kill some of them, even your old comrades and friends whose minds have been taken over. But sacrifices must be made.”
Sacrifice was all I seemed to know lately.
“I know that we’ve all tried to fight this war before, and we lost.” I glanced around, heart racing. “Do not fear them. They will thrive off of it. They know that they have the upper hand. They know they have captured a god. They know that they are stronger together. But we know our strength. We know that we refuse to be part of this torture anymore.”
All I could think about was finding Ares again and getting the hell out of here. I wouldn’t let Hella stop me or anyone else from having a good life.
“Tonight, we run. Tonight, we live!” I said, staring out into the forest that surrounded Hella’s kingdom and watching as the sea of gods, goddesses, hounds, and monsters nodded in agreement.
They all looked ready to fight, to survive.
I shifted into my wolf, feeling the power swell inside me, and ran through the woods to lead our pack of warriors. Mars sprinted beside me, his body close to mine and his eyes glowing the most intense shade of gold.
Tonight, we would find our other half.
Tonight, we would have the war of all wars.
Tonight, we would kill Hella, like she had done to me.