Their thirty-minute trip to the western border was done in complete silence and running as fast as they all could. Wolfe felt everyone preparing for battle, especially Dannika. He knew she was glad to have the support of her friends and family but wished they would’ve stayed back in the Lodge, safe and far from the Shapeshifter.
Stopping at the tree line, about a hundred yards from the Shapeshifter, the group looked at the sky as Angus and Grey descended, returning to human form right before their feet touched the ground. The Enforcer immediately went to his mate while Grey walked over to Wolfe and Dani and sighed, “I’m not sure what that old woman is up to, but she’s conjuring something. Her magic just keeps increasing.”
Wolfe watched as Dannika pulled the box from her pocket, looking at it as if it might give her the answers. Shrugging as an answer to the questions swirling through his brethren’s mind, Wolfe waited until his mate looked up at him and said, “I have no clue what we’re supposed to do, but it only seems logical that we go out there and face her.” She looked around the group. “If this is our fight then I guess we better show up.”
Pulling her to his side, Wolfe looked into the faces of their friends and nodded, “She’s right, as usual.” He grinned as everyone gave a tense chuckle. “I understand if you want to stay here and see what happens. None of us have a clue what this Shapeshifter is capable of, but from what Queen Eistir said, that crazy bitch plans to wipe us all off the face of the earth. So…”
“Oh, shut the hell up,” Grey cut him off as everyone laughed out loud. “There is no way in hell any of us are letting you two traipse out there by yourselves, so save your breath and let’s go take this bitch down. I’m hungry and ready for a good reason to party.”
Everyone agreed with a loud war cry of, ‘Hell, yeah,” and Wolfe didn’t even try to stop the huge smile that crossed his face. “Alright then, if you’re all sure, let’s do this.”
Turning himself and Dannika around, the Guardsman let his mate slide out from under his arm but made sure to grab her free hand as they headed out into the open and closer to the Shapeshifter. Stopping thirty yards from the border, the Guardsman made his mate stay by his side as they both looked at the old woman, still in her trance, just outside the Blue Ridge Pack boundary.
Several tense moments ticked by while Wolfe tried to keep his dragon and himself from jumping the gun as Dannika stood beside him serene and calm like they were taking a walk on a nice Sunday afternoon. Feeling the tension growing in his friends who stood behind him, the Guardsman was just about to call to the old woman when the low, raspy voice of the Shapeshifter filled the space between them.
“I see you have come to try to stop my mission, Morning Star of the Crystal Clan. Just as your mother and father did and their parents before them and theirs before them and so on all the way back to the great Queen Eistir and her King Astraeus.”
Squeezing Dannika’s hand, Wolfe offered all his love and support as pain sliced through his mate at the mention of her parents. He could feel the rage burning through her at the knowledge that she stood before the being responsible for their deaths, but then his mate spoke, and the Guardsman could not have been prouder.
“That was the past. This is now. Why have you come?”
“Do not be coy,” the Shapeshifter mocked. “You know exactly why I am here.”
“I want to hear you say it,” Dannika challenged.
The Shapeshifter slowly raised her head, looked across the field with her foggy gray eyes and chuckled, “Why, my dear, you are the Morning Star. I somehow knew you were still alive, although you did a good job of hiding. Your magical skills were and are quite impressive for a dragon.” She spat the word like it burnt her tongue to speak it before continuing, “You and your mate hold the ability to heal all of shifter kind, allowing those horrible abominations to flourish when they should be rotting under the earth. You must be destroyed, so that my kin can rise out of the darkness we were forced to endure and take our rightful place as the dominant species.”
Her words were spoken so matter-of-factly and without the slightest hesitation that were they anywhere else, Wolfe would’ve thought she was giving a weather report or discussing what to have for dinner. It was disconcerting at best and absolutely horrifying in reality. This powerful Shapeshifter believed she was on some demented divine mission and was willing to do whatever it took to eliminate everyone who opposed her.
Focusing on his mate, Wolfe felt Dannika’s fury combined with an overwhelming determination to burn the awful creature before them to the ground. He applauded her restraint, not sure he would be able to hold back if he was face-to-face with the person or persons responsible for the death of his Clan.
“And you think you have what it takes to bring me and mine down?” Dannika dared. “One old woman and a group of rogues, unfit to be part of any Pack, Clan or Sloth, only able to run around the countryside, hiding on the fringes, losers without names or a home to call their own.” The dragoness scoffed and Wolfe knew she was baiting the Shapeshifter. “But then, you would choose rogues. After all, that’s what you are, isn’t it?” Dannika took a step forward. “A loser, who has no real power of her own. A wannabe who had to steal what she has from others because she wasn’t blessed by the Universe.”
The lavender light that had been surrounding Dannika since her return to the Lodge grew brighter as sparks danced around her head. Pointing to the border of Blue Ridge Pack territory, the Morning Star taunted, “You are so low you cannot even cross the boundary onto sacred land!”
“Now!” The Shapeshifter screamed, her dark mysticism shooting like lightning bolts from her finger tips.
The rogues, having taken the forms of their animals flew at the wolves protecting the borders as the Shapeshifter took flight, aiming her cane, now suddenly a silver sword, at Dannika’s heart. Throwing his mate behind him, Wolfe pulled his broad sword from the scabbard on his back, deflecting the thrust of the Shapeshifter’s blade before tossing the woman to the side with all his strength.
Strong, white magic filled the air as Grey and Angus became dragons and the others called forth their wolves. Immediately taking to the sky, the Guardsmen rained fire down on the rogues, filling the air with howls of agony and the scent of burning fur from the rogues.
“Wolfe, turn around!” Dani yelled as their friends, now wolves, charged the rogues who had avoided the dragons’ fire.
Spinning with his sword at the ready, Wolfe ran forward, engaging the Shapeshifter in a battle of intricate moves and clashing blades. Listening to Dannika’s voice in his mind while keeping their enemy busy, he did exactly as she said.
“I know what we have to do,” his dragoness instructed. “Drive her closer to me.”
“Are you sure?”
“Completely,” she quickly answered. “Try to make it so your back is towards me and when I tell you to drop to your knees and reach for my hands, do it.”
Wolfe heard the conviction in her words and felt the belief filling their mating bond as he responded, “You got it, my love.”
Quickly changing his tactics, Wolfe let the Shapeshifter work her way ever closer while turning them to the right with every swing of his sword. Feeling Dannika at his back, he swung his blade upward stopping the Shapeshifter’s downward thrust at the precise moment, Dani yelled, “Now!”
Spinning to the left, the Guardsman elbowed the Shapeshifter in the chest, grinning at her loud ‘oomph’ as he let his sword hit the ground and grabbed Dannika’s hands. Looking into her eyes, his mate roared, “Mar an bandia beartaithe!”
The jeweled box shot straight up in the air, hovered about their heads for a split second, and then began to spin like a top. A sound, like a tiny whine in the darkness, grew louder and louder until Wolfe thought his ears would surely bleed. It was so loud he barely heard Dannika’s instructions of, “Whatever you do, do not let go of my hands,” in his own mind.
Holding tight, as the atmosphere filled with so much magic Wolfe could feel it pressing down on him, the Guardsman nearly fell on his ass when a shockwave of epic proportions shook the ground like an earthquake measuring ten-point-zero on the Richter scale. With his ears ringing and multi-colored spots dancing before his eyes, the Guardsman pulled his mate into his lap, curling his larger frame over hers to protect her from any and all who sought to harm her.
Bloodcurdling howls and screams of agony filled the air. The scent of ozone joined burnt fur making it hard to breathe as Dannika fought to get out from under him.
“Wolfe, let me go!”
Not answering, he looked around for the Shapeshifter, finally finding her crawling across the still-shaking earth, trying to grab her sword. He watched in horror as she flashed from one animal to another, a sick collage of the shifters she’d killed in her bid to run the world.
Jumping to his feet, while keeping a hold of Dannika’s hand, Wolfe stalked towards the Shapeshifter, put his large booted foot on her blade and spat, “It’s over. You lost. Give up.”
Holding up her ever-changing head, the Shapeshifter snarled, “Never. You will never defeat me.”
Her fingers touched the hilt of her sword at the exact moment a massive red dragon landed to Wolfe’s left and shot a contained burst of fire that ignited the Shapeshifter into a wailing ball of fire that rolled around in circles. Changing back to human form, Angus strode towards Wolfe, shaking his head. “Sorry to steal your thunder, lad, but she needed to die. I could not let her draw another breath.”
“Not a problem,” Wolfe grinned, then to Dannika, “Are you okay?” He looked her up and down, checking for any cuts or bruises.
Laughing out loud, she teased, “Stop! I’m fine.”
“What the hell was that?” Daire asked, he and Darragh coming up behind the couple as the others came from all directions, everyone looking dazed and somewhat confused.
Before Dannika could explain, Grey landed with a loud thud to the right and immediately changed back to a man. Jogging towards them, he pointed at the burnt and charred remains of the rogues and what little was left of the smoldering Shapeshifter. “Y’all just couldn’t wait for me to have any fun, could you?”
“Whatever, I smelled the burning fur, you had plenty of fun,” Wolfe scoffed.
“Yeah.” Grey looked quite pleased with himself as he bumped his shoulder into Angus and added, “Me and this guy had a little fun, but he got the big kill.”
Shaking his head, the Enforcer grumbled, “And I’d do it again, to keep us all safe.”
“That box is something else,” Ellie pointed at the now cold and dormant artifact. “It shook Caleb and me right outta our fur.”
“Me too,” Olivia chuckled, standing close to her mate.
The rest of the wolves nodded, with Becky coming up to Dannika and holding out her arms. Reluctantly letting go of his mate, Wolfe looked on as the two women hugged and his mate assured her best friend, “It’s all over now. We’re all safe.”
Pulling back, Becky smiled with tears of happiness streaming down her face. “Thank the Goddess. I couldn’t live without you, girl.”
“Right back atcha.”
“Enough of the mushy stuff,” Daire teased. “We have a mess to clean up and some wolves that need your attention, Dani.”
Giving her brother a mock salute, his dragoness burst out laughing when Wolfe grumbled, “Okay, but I get her after that and,” he leveled his gaze at the Alpha, “I promise to rip the hide off anyone who bothers us.”
The group erupted in laughter as they all began to walk back towards the Lodge while Daire’s Betas and Trackers started cleaning up the remains of their fallen enemies. As they all entered the cover of the trees, Olivia called out, “Don’t forget old Wolfey boy, we are having a Mating Party for y’all.” Then she and Ellie yelled in unison, “And we are not taking no for an answer.”