“Winter,” a familiar voice says as a hand strokes my cheek, and I open my eyes to see my angel leaning over me. Dabriel watches me closely, his hair falling around his face and his marks glowing ever so slightly all over his skin. I’ve never spent a lot of time looking over each mark, seeing how they all resemble shapes, and they are difficult to look at for too long as it hurts your eyes. It’s kind of like looking at the sun. Dabriel has a white shirt on, and jeans, but they are crinkled, and he looks tired. I look down to see I’m wearing the stupid black dress still, and I’m lying on top of the covers of my bed at the Goddess’ castle. The bedroom is such a comfort to see, as much as being with one of my mates.

“Dab,” I say, sitting up, and he pulls me to him with a contented groan. I wrap my arms around his neck and kiss his cheek, waiting only a second for him to turn his head and fully kiss me. I moan as he slides his hands into my hair, and his tongue gently wrestles with my own. This is everything, being here with him and being safe.

“You’re awake, lass,” Jaxson says from somewhere nearby, and Dabriel breaks away from the kiss, leaning back, so I can see Jaxson as he walks into the room. Jaxson looks tired, but so determined, as he walks over to me and leans down, pulling me off the bed and into a hug. I wrap my legs around his waist as he kisses me fast, then breaks away.

“I fucking missed you, don’t do that again. I can’t keep losing you like this,” he tells me. I run my hand over his beard that needs shaving and the messy hair that falls slightly into his face. He looks tired but still has the wild side to him, the side that makes him the very wolf I know he is.

“It’s not like I chose a family reunion, Jaxson,” I say, wriggling out of his arms, and he sighs as he lets me go. “How did the distraction go?” I ask him, looking him over for any injuries but not seeing any.

“I decided the best way to get his attention was to destroy half the castle, so I caused an earthquake and brought down the left side of the castle,” Jaxson says with a shrug like it was nothing when I bet that was some hell of a show of power. “The demons attacked, and we held them off, until the demon king got there. I went to fight him when he realised you had gone, and then the witches came and used their power to portal everyone out,” Jaxson tells me. I bet the demon king was mad.

“What happened to you? How could he take power over you, make you almost a zombie?” he asks me gently.

“He controlled me somehow; he got into my head and made everything go black.”

“Do you know about the witches?” Dabriel asks me gently, and I shake my head. I only remember the witch the demon king killed at that messed-up dinner. There isn’t anything else, just blackness and every time I try to think about it, it seems to slip away from my thoughts.

“Winter, he used you to destroy the crystal ward that protected the witches’ city. Then he brought his dragons in, and the island is destroyed,”

“Dragons? He used me?” I ask, shock making me feel sick.

“Yes, but it wasn’t your fault.”

“How many witches survived the attack?” I ask, and Jaxson hesitates before he tells me.

“About three thousand, maybe less as a lot are injured still,” he says, and I know that means thousands died in the witches’ city. A city full of people I’m meant to protect as I’m their queen, and instead, I let the demon king use me to destroy the ward that protected them.

“It’s not your fault, you know that?” Dabriel asks me, and I just look away. There’s silence between us all as I guess they don’t know what to say to me. It is my fault no matter what they say. I should have done something, fought more or tried to wake myself up. If I hadn’t been stupid in the first place, the demon king wouldn’t have even escaped.

“What do you remember, Winter? Anything you could tell us could help at this point?” Dabriel asks me, trying to give me a way to be useful.

“I don’t remember much, only bits. I remember a dinner, and two angels were there with a witch,” I say but turn to talk to Dabriel more. I hate that I have to tell him about his brothers. No matter the fact I know he doesn’t get along with them, this is more than just sibling fights. No, this means his family betrayed him, and I know he will never forgive them for it.

“What angels?” Dabriel asks me, sliding off the bed and his wings gently fluttering at the side of him.

“They were your brothers, they told me,” I tell him gently, and he frowns, standing up off the bed. I won’t tell him what else they said to me or about him dying, I would never let that happen. I would never let any one of my mates die for me.

“And, he is working with the demon king. It wouldn’t surprise me to know the whole council is,” he says, coming over and kissing my forehead. I wrap an arm around his waist, feeling his one wing almost holding me to him. I wonder if he even notices he is doing it. I can’t help but gently guide my hand over his wing, and I feel him gently shiver.

“I’m happy you’re safe and here, but I must go and speak with Lucifer. If the angels are working with them, we are not as safe as I would like,” he tells me, and I nod. I get it, being the royals we are means we don’t have a lot of time to celebrate them saving me. Dabriel walks out the door, holding it open as Freddy runs in and tackles me in a hug. I take a deep breath as the kid almost suffocates me with his strong arms.

“You’re back,” he says, happily squeezing me, and I hold him close.

“I am, where is Wyatt?” I ask Jaxson over Freddy’s head.

“We are having problems with the witches and Vampires, there is a fight going on, or he would be here. He saw you before Atti, and he had to go and deal with the problems,” he says, and it’s not surprising knowing that my mates would have brought the surviving witches here. Now, we are trying make vampires, witches, and wolves live together after hating each other for so long. There is always going to be arguments, but I know this is the best thing for us. This castle is the safest place.

“Let’s go then,” I say, letting go of Freddy and letting Jaxson take my hand as he leads us out of the bedroom.

“Go and find Katy and Harris will you, Freds? They will want to know Winter is back,” Jaxson asks Freddy when we get outside my bedroom. Freddy gives Jaxson a grumpy look before sighing.

“Fine,” Freddy says and runs down the corridor in the opposite direction. I look up at Jaxson as he leads us out of the corridor that has our rooms, and I hear the shouting the moment we get to the top of the stairs. I listen to the arguments as we walk down the four flights of stairs and past many witches, wolves, and vampires that are leaning over the bannister and watching. Many turn and look at me with wide eyes that have a range of respect, kindness and what’s worse is fear.

“ Ils ne restent pas ici, ni les sorcières,” I hear some man shout, his French words I don’t understand making me guess he is one of the vampires.

“I don’t want to be around stupid old vampires anyway. At least us witches aren’t cruel, evil people” I hear shouted back to whatever the man shouted in French. I come down the stairs just in time to see Atti hold a witch against the wall by his neck, while Wyatt lifts another older-looking vampire off the ground by his coat, his feet hanging off the ground.

“What the hell is going on?” I ask, and the room goes silent. Wyatt drops the vampire at the same time that Atti lets go of his man, they both smile over at me. Atti and Wyatt both look stressed even with the smiles. That’s the only thought that comes to mind as I rest my eyes on them. Atti has his cloak on, the black contrasts against his wavy, blonde hair and his grey eyes light up as I smile at him. Wyatt draws my attention the most right now, it feels like forever since I’ve seen him. I let my eyes drop down his body, seeing the tight trousers and button down white shirt he has on, that show off his impressive body. His dark, almost bottomless, brown eyes watch me, and I think he is feeling the same as me. The urge to be close to my mate is hard to resist, even with the number of eyes on us. It’s almost funny the looks of happiness they give me, like they weren’t just stopping a fight or Wyatt wasn’t holding a vampire up by his neck. The vampire on the floor coughs and moves away but I’m kind of proud of Wyatt, he could have just used his compulsion on the vampire and made him stop. Instead, he was trying to be reasonable, well as reasonable as a vampire prince who just got his mate back can get that is.

“Nothing we can’t deal with,” Wyatt says, his eyes drifting over me and finally landing on my eyes. I take a step closer to him and trip, almost falling, but Jaxson slides an arm around my waist and stops me. I clear my throat and look down, seeing nothing. I just tripped on air in front of lots of people, damn it.

“Supernaturals are not meant to live together, this is wrong,” the witch with light-blond hair, who Atti was holding, says as he stands up and shakes his head at me. Jaxson’s loud growl is enough to make him stay quiet and not comment on whatever he is thinking. I know I don’t have many fans with the witches, not after what I did to their city. They don’t seem to look at me with hate, like I expected them to. No, they seem to only have fear in their eyes as they stare at the vampires and wolves. I glance around at the five female witches with their hoods down, bundled together on one side and then to the ten or so vampires huddled closely together. The wolves are bundled together by door. The space in-between them is huge.

“Everyone listen.” I shout, and the crowd of witches, vampires, and wolves turn to look at me. I take a deep breath, knowing I need to say this and then spend time figuring out everything else.

“The demon king has an army; a massive army. I saw them. He has thousands and thousands of soldiers that will kill anything in their way, and they have the weapons to kill us. He won’t stop until we are all dead; witch, vampire, wolf, or angel. It doesn’t matter to him,” I tell them, the fear shining in their eyes as they watch me.

“Isn’t he your grandfather? You brought down the ward and let the dragons in!” a female witch says and steps forward.

“You’re right, he is. He has also killed all my blood relatives other than himself. He has killed because he is insane, and his thirst for power is out of control. I can only say I’m truly sorry for the ward, for letting him take control of my mind and not figuring out he has that power.”

“How do we know you won’t flip and start attacking us?” an older, French vampire asks, watching me with his hand on a sword strapped to his side.

“If you attack her, if anyone attacks my queen, I will personally rip you to pieces,” Jaxson growls out and the vampire looks down. I place my hand on Jaxson’s shoulder and step away from him.

“The demon king can’t come here, and he can only control me when he is close. I understand your fear, I feel it, too. I have family here, and you are my people. I won’t stop until he is back in hell, where he belongs. You may not trust me, or some of you may hate me for everything I’ve done. It doesn’t matter, at the end of the day, war is coming. In war, you will see I side with you. I was human once, but I never felt right. I felt lost and being here is home,” I say, and several of the supernaturals all look at each other.

“Our queen is right, we are at war, and squabbling like children over race is not going to win us a war that will save our children. Save our mates,” Atti shouts into the room and then walk over to my side.

“There has never been a threat like this, there has never been a war like this. We will all die if we don’t work together, our children will die. There isn’t a choice here. We fight or we die. You make your choice and spread the word. Those who want to fight, meet me and the other kings in the training rooms in the morning. Those who don’t or won’t, stay out of our way, or I will kill you, myself,” Wyatt shouts, and his voice echoes around the room as whispers follow. I watch as he walks over to me, sliding his hands over my cheeks and kissing me.

“We will win this for you,” he tells me, and lets go, dropping to his one knee in front of me and bowing his head. Jaxson and Atti mimic his actions, and so do all the other people in the room, each one of them kneeling and bowing their heads. I look over to see Alex standing near the door, her arms crossed, and she winks at me before bowing herself.

“We will win this war, and I will kill the demon king. It’s what I’m destined to do. It’s what my grandmother, my great aunt, her mates, and my parents died for. I will fight for us all,” I say, my words echoing as I leave out the most important part of the prophecy, that someone will die, and I’m going to make sure it’s me. No one else is dying for me.