The morning sun streamed through the windows and glowed against Violet’s hair as she walked through the rows of refugees one last time, making sure that no one else still wanted more breakfast. She’d lost track of how many cartons of eggs and loaves of bread they had gone through. These poor people had been hungry. Saul’s soldiers had only fed them the bare minimum to keep them alive. Some of them, who had been imprisoned for quite some time, had wasted away to skin and bones. Violet could not understand how anyone could treat fellow shifters, wizards, and humans so cruelly. She looked over at Weston and her heart overflowed with love for him. He had been the one to make sure these people were rescued. It was because of him, her dragon with a heart of gold, that the battle last night had even been fought in the first place.
Weston caught her staring, and walked over to plant a kiss on her lips.
“You should sit down and rest,” he said. “You’ve barely taken a moment to catch your breath since you got up at five o’clock this morning.”
Violet sighed as he wrapped her arms protectively around her. She loved how he felt strong and gentle all at the same time. “I just wanted to make sure everyone was taken care of,” she murmured into his chest. “I can’t imagine how scared these people must all have been, starving and at the mercy of Saul’s awful soldiers.”
“I know,” Weston said. “But they’re safe now. And well-fed. You should get off your feet for a minute.”
Before Violet could respond, her moment with Weston was interrupted by Holden’s voice. “Hey, you two lovebirds! Break it up and come to the meeting room. Peter and Knox want to powwow.”
Violet blushed and tried to pull away from Weston, but Weston pulled her closer and gave her a big, showy kiss on the lips. Violet looked up just in time to see Holden rolling his eyes and turning around, but Weston just laughed.
“He’s one to talk,” Weston said. “He has a new lifemate of his own.”
Violet smiled. It was true. Holden had found love when he met Nick’s mother, Elise. The two of them had been nearly inseparable since they finally admitted to having feelings for each other. Elise was here now, but was busy in the kitchen cooking up a storm. She had worked in the restaurant industry before meeting Holden, so she was an old pro at making meals for large groups of people.
“Come on,” Weston said, grabbing Violet’s hand and pulling her toward the stairs. “We better head to the meeting room before Knox has to come looking for us. He doesn’t like to have to ask twice to get people to show up to meetings.”
Violet followed Weston to the meeting room on the second floor of the house. The whole house was overcrowded right now, since it had gained about a hundred new occupants overnight. But Peter and Knox had still managed to clear space in this room for a meeting location. Along with Peter, Knox, and Holden, several of the refugees sat at a long table that had been dragged up here. Violet had no idea where they’d found the table, but it fit quite well in the room. She sat down next to Weston and waited for Knox or Peter to begin the meeting.
Peter stood and gestured toward Violet and Weston. “I’m sure you all already know these two, but I’ll introduce them, anyway. Weston here is a dragon shifter, and a member of the Redwood Dragons clan just like Knox and Holden. He’s the one responsible for planning the attack last night, so you can all thank him for the fact that you’re no longer captive to Saul’s men.”
The refugees all spoke words of heartfelt thanks before Peter continued with his introductions.
“And this here is Violet. She’s one of the most talented wizards in Falcon Cross, and she helped Weston with the attack that destroyed the bat cloning operation. She’s a great asset to our cause.”
Violet felt her cheeks turn pink at Peter’s praise, but he didn’t seem to notice. He continued speaking, turning to introduce the refugees who sat in the room with them.
“We have here a representative from each group of refugees,” Peter said. “There’s Mark, a bear shifter. He’s representing the shifters. Sid there is a wizard, here to represent the wizards. And Joseph is a full human.”
Violet nodded hello to each of the men. “Nice to meet you,” she said, then turned back to Peter. She knew the old wizard had a purpose for calling this meeting that went beyond just giving everyone the chance to get acquainted, and she was getting somewhat impatient to learn what that purpose might be. Peter did not keep her waiting for long.
“I’ve gathered all of you so that you can all hear what Mark, Sid, and Joseph have to say about their time as Saul’s prisoners. I know that you’ve all worked very hard to bring an end to Saul’s stronghold here, and I think you’ll enjoy hearing what you’ve saved these people from. Who wants to go first?”
“I’ll start,” Joseph said. He stood and looked around at the group, making eye contact with everyone. “This has been quite a difficult time for me, and for many of the citizens of Sandview. As I suppose you know, Saul invaded our town. He tried to force all of us to join his evil army. Some did, out of fear. But many resisted. Saul captured all those who resisted. His power easily overcame us. How could mere humans hope to stand up to wizards and shifters? Of course, we were all shocked to discover that shifters and wizards existed. And until we met all of you, we thought they were all evil. I’m ashamed to say that we were even wary of the wizards and shifters who were being held as prisoners with us. Even though they were nice to us, we just couldn’t bring ourselves to trust anyone who wasn’t human when we’d been treated so poorly.”
Violet sat up straighter, feeling a sudden sense of alarm. “But wait,” she said. “If everyone in Sandview saw Saul, surely there must be humans there who are freaked out and trying to go to the police or government. That’s going to cause problems for our war effort!”
Violet felt anger rising in the pit of her stomach. She couldn’t understand how Saul was being so careless and exposing the world of shifters and wizards to humans. There was an unspoken agreement between all shifters and wizards, whether good or evil, that humans should not be allowed to see shifting or magic if it was at all possible to avoid it. Humans tended to freak out at these sorts of things, and this could make the lives of shifters or wizards difficult. When police or military witch hunts started, everyone suffered. But Saul had never respected these unspoken rules. Instead, he regularly recruited humans for his army, often using force to compel them to join.
“Well, the people in Sandview don’t remember Saul anymore,” Joseph said sadly.
Violet was even more horrified as the full implication of what Joseph was saying hit her. “You mean…”
Joseph nodded sadly. “Saul’s wizards did memory wiping spells on everyone in town. They don’t remember him at all. Of course, many of them don’t remember who they are, or have forgotten big chunks of their lives. Some of them have straight up gone crazy.”
Violet rubbed her forehead with her hands, fighting back tears. “Saul has to be stopped. He’s so awful.”
Murmurs of agreement filled the room. Violet shouldn’t have been surprised that Saul had used memory wiping spells on an entire town. After all, Saul’s dark magic and evil seemed to know no bounds. But she still sat in shock, thinking about how irresponsible and damaging such actions were. Memory wiping spells were dangerous. Falcon Cross only allowed their use in extreme cases, and even then their use had to be approved by a head council member. Such spells were highly intrusive and had the potential to go very wrong, as evidenced by the fact that many people in Sandview had now forgotten who they were or gone crazy.
“Saul’s bad deeds didn’t just extend to the humans of Sandview, though,” said Mark, the bear shifter. “He trapped many shifters from across the country and kept us as prisoners to do scientific experiments on us. He was trying to figure out a way to clone other types of shifters besides bats. I’ve seen so many of my fellow shifters subjected to horrible experiments. These experiments never resulted in Saul being able to clone anyone, but they did result in a lot of deaths.”
Violet shuddered again. She almost didn’t want to hear what Sid, the wizard would say. But Sid was standing too, now, and Violet held her breath as he spoke.
“As for the wizards, we also suffered a great deal. Saul captured many of us and tried to force us to learn dark magic to join his army of dark wizards. If we refused, he would have his dark wizards use us to practice dark magic spells. Many wizards also died or were wounded.”
Violet looked over at Peter and Knox, who both had grave expressions on their faces. And no wonder. Everything Violet had just heard was horrifying. She reached over and squeezed Weston’s hand. He squeezed back and looked at her, his eyes wide and sad. She knew they were both thinking the same thing: they were so glad they had rescued these people. Their only regret was not doing so sooner.
Peter stood then, and looked at the three men who had just told of the horrors they had suffered at Saul’s hands.
“We would again like to extend to all of you an invitation to come to Falcon Cross,” Peter said. “Anyone who wants to join us in our wizard town will be given safe passage and protection in our town. I know it doesn’t make up for what you have suffered, but hopefully it offers you the promise of a better future.”
Violet watched the men look at each other, and then back at Peter. Sid, the wizard, spoke up first.
“We’d like for you to take the children, and any of the women who are willing to go,” he said. But the rest of us have already decided to stay. We want to help the people in Sandview who are suffering after having memory-wiping spells used on them. We want to rebuild the city, and make it a stronghold against evil. If Saul tries to come back, we’ll be prepared. He’ll never take this town again.”
Peter smiled. “I can’t argue with that. If there’s any help we can give you, let us know. And please let the children and woman know we’ll be leaving for Falcon Cross tonight as soon as darkness falls. Anyone who wants to come with us is welcome.”
“Thank you,” Sid said, and Joseph and Mark murmured their thanks as well. Violet thought she saw the hint of a tear in Joseph’s eyes, but he brushed it away quickly.
“What about Blackstone?” Weston asked. “Do you think any of the townspeople here saw what was going on?”
Knox spoke up. “We haven’t heard anyone saying anything. We’re hoping that because we’re out on the edge of town and have tried to operate mostly at night, no one saw us. Or, perhaps, if they did see us, they think they’re not seeing things correctly, and couldn’t possibly have seen a dragon.”
“We’ll keep an eye on Blackstone,” Sid said, “and make sure to let you know if any humans here get concerned.”
“Well then,” Peter said. “I guess that settles it. Everyone who’s leaving, pack up your things. Tonight, we fly to Falcon Cross.”
“Did you hear that, V?” Weston asked, looking over at Violet with a huge smile on his face. “You’re going home. And, of course, I’m coming with you.”
Violet’s heart leapt in her chest. “I can’t wait,” she said. “Let’s head to our apartment and pack our things.”
The mission to Blackstone had been a life-changing experience, and Violet was grateful for it. But she had never been as excited to head home as she was right now.