by Alanea Alder
Sascha shook his head. "What did we do without you?" He looked around. "Where's Beta?"
"Drag your knuckles and beat your chests. I sent Beta to back up Aiden." Meryn looked around. "Where's Rheia?"
Sascha pointed to the Council Manor. "She's in there with some of the injured."
Meryn turned and went to Penny. "Head inside kiddo, your mom is waiting for you." She looked up at one of the fae warriors. "She is your only responsibility. You're her new shadow, got it?" The warrior banged his fist on his chest and held out a hand to Penny and escorted her inside.
Meryn looked at the remaining seven fae warriors. "The rest of you decide who will guard Beth and me, and the rest are to report to Sascha. Our main focus is getting as many people here to safety as possible."
One of the warriors stepped forward. "My name is Doran Ri' Eirlea, brother to Brennus, our Queen's consort. I will stay and guard you. My queen was very clear in her orders that nothing was to happen to you." He also raised a fist and banged his chest making the armor ring like a bell.
"Well, all righty then. Doran you're with me. Everyone else, get your orders from Sascha." Meryn turned to Byron. "Can you watch over the barricade?"
He stared down at her unblinking. "What are you going to do?"
She shrugged. "Nothing."
Ryuu cleared his throat. "Denka, I think we all know that is a lie."
Meryn sighed. "No explosives, that's all I can promise."
Byron pinched his nose the same way Aiden did when he got aggravated. "Fine, but if anything happens to you, Adelaide will skin me, and use my fur as a rug. No putting yourself in danger, young lady."
"Pffft, would I do that?" She held up a hand at their dubious expressions. "Never mind." She turned and darted away with Ryuu and Doran in tow.
"She will either save us or be the death of us all," Byron said, heaving a great sigh. He turned to Beth. "And what will you do?"
"I'll head inside. I'm used to coordinating large groups of people from when I worked with my uncle in Noctem Falls. Pretty soon, we'll have a lot of scared people looking for someone to tell them what to do." She said looking at the small groups already arriving.
Byron clapped a hand on her shoulder. "Gavriel is very lucky to have you."
She smiled. "I feel the same way about him."
Beth blinked as she watched Meryn bounce past them wearing a green army helmet and carrying a gun slung across her back.
Dears Gods in heaven!
"Meryn, what in the hell are you doing? Where did you get that helmet?" Sascha roared.
"I'm helping, and I got the helmet from one of the duffel bags behind the sandbags, cool, huh?" she asked, rapping her knuckles in it.
Beth didn't have the heart to tell her she looked like a child playing soldier. The helmet kept sliding down over her eyes.
"Help? Help how? Dammit, Menace, that gun is bigger than you!" Sascha said, trying to pull the gun off her back.
Meryn backed up. "I got this!" She ducked behind Ryuu then ran inside the Council Manor, Ryuu, and Doran following.
Sascha grimaced and held a hand to his midsection. "My stomach hurts. How does Aiden do this all the time?"
Beth patted him on the arm. "She'll be fine. She's been practicing with Penny and Colton. Aiden forbade her to use handguns after she accidentally shot him, but he was okay with her learning how to use a rifle."
Sascha gave her a sour look. "A high power sniper rifle?"
They heard men shouting to their right. Beth and Sascha turned to see a small group of three ferals bearing down on them.
"Shit! They must have gotten past Delta!" Sascha brought up his gun, but before he could fire the three ferals went down, one right after another.
Sascha's walkie-talkie crackled. "Gamma Kitten One, did you see that? I got em! Over."
Beth laughed. Sascha shook his head in defeat. "Good work, Menace. I owe you one."
Slowly, in small and large groups the entire city was evacuated to Council Manor. Beth stayed outside to help give them direction trying to keep neighbors together. Since all the units had now fallen back to the manor, she was about to head inside when she looked up and saw a thick white mist begin to roll in toward them from every side street.
She hurried over to Sascha. "What is that?"
Sascha shook his head. "I have no idea."
"Gamma Kitten One can you let everyone know that I've borrowed some of your peeps and we're creating that mist. Over." Meryn's voice broke the silence.
Sascha picked up the radio and looked up at the roof. "What is it, Menace?"
"I haven't seen any ferals in a while. That's when I remembered some of them could be invisible. So I had two of our witchy friends use earth magic and water magic to make a flour-based, glue-like mist. That shit will stick to everything. So if you see a blob of white coming at you with no face. Shoot it. Over."
"Shoot faceless, white blobs. Roger that Menace, Gamma Kitten One over and out."
Beth smirked at him. "You know, now that you used that call sign, you're stuck with it for eternity."
Sascha shrugged blushing. "It's grown on me."
Beth looked down the street. "Not to ruin your night, but you have faceless white blobs appearing in the street."
Sascha gave an evil grin and turned to the men around him. "Light those motherfuckers up, gentlemen!"
Beth put her fingers in her ears as dozens of different caliber guns started going off all around her. She hurried inside to help keep the people calm. She couldn't let Rheia and Meryn do all the work.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
Darian checked his gun and stood with his back against the wall. Amelia's light had led them to an abandoned clinic.
"Darian, you sure?" Aiden whispered.
He nodded.
"You'll get her back, I promise," Keelan whispered.
Darian looked down at his friend. "Did you have a premonition?" he asked, keeping his voice low.
Keelan's smile was sad. "Something like that. When the time comes, don't hesitate. Make sure Aiden leaves."
"Keelan, what..." Darian started.
"Move out!" Aiden whispered loudly.
Colton took point and checked the door. Luck was on their side; the door was unlocked. Stealthily, they made their way down the dark hallways. Darian could tell it was making everyone extremely nervous that there was no resistance. He was about to concentrate on Amelia to get a direction when they heard screams.
"Amelia!" Darian hissed. The men ran toward the sound of the screams. It took everything in Darian to resist the urge to run into the room. Aiden held up a fist and peeked in the open door. He nodded and they ran inside.
Darian watched in horror as his mate writhed in pain under a glowing crystal. Keelan darted forward and pressed a series of buttons. The crystal dimmed, and the straps holding his mate were released.
Gavriel turned to Keelan. "How did you know how to do that?"
"Saw it in a dream," Keelan said, pulling a lever down that shut off the entire device.
Darian caught Amelia as she slumped forward. When she opened her eyes and saw him she began to cry.
"It's okay my love, you're safe now." Darian lifted her up into his arms.
Her eyes were unfocused as she shook her head. "Trap. It's...a...trap," she whispered.
Keelan grabbed Darian's arm and shoved him toward the door. "Run!"
They had only made it about halfway down the hallway when a bright light appeared behind them. Darian looked back, and a large, glowing sphere appeared in the middle of the hall.
Keelan stopped and planted his feet. Lifting up his left hand, he started casting.
"Keelan, come on!" Darian yelled.
Keelan raised his head, and the look on his face was peaceful. "Remember what I told you, don't hesitate. Colton, get Aiden out of here." Behind him, Darian heard Aiden fighting Gavriel and Colton as they practically carried him down the hall.
Keelan smiled. "Goodbye, my friend. Tell my b
rother he was right, but this was the only way I saw where you all lived. Tell him I'm sorry for what I've done, but I'd do it again." Behind Keelan, the sphere pulsed. He turned back to Darian, tears in his eyes. "Go!"
Darian held tight to Amelia as he turned and left his friend behind him. Outside, Gavriel and Colton had tackled Aiden to the ground to keep him from going back inside. Out of nowhere, Lorcan and the Beta Unit ran up to them from the parking lot.
"Where are we at?" Lorcan yelled.
"Bomb!" Colton shouted.
Kade, the Beta Unit witch, had just enough time to raise a shield when a pulse wave slammed into it. It threw the men to the ground, shoving them back several yards.
It took a couple minutes for the ringing in his ears to stop. He gently laid Amelia on the ground. She wept uncontrollably into her hands. He stood on unsteady legs and blinked, trying to clear the dark shapes from his vision.
He could just make out the forms of the other men standing and shaking their heads.
Lorcan turned to him. "Where's Keelan?"
"Guard Amelia!" Darian yelled.
He didn't answer Lorcan's question, because he didn't want to say it out loud. If he said it out loud, it would become real. He pushed past Lorcan and ran with Aiden back into the building. The turned the corner and skidded to a stop. There, in the middle of the hallway, lay Keelan's crumpled body.
"No! No, Keelan! You idiot!" Darian ran over and pulled his friend into his arms. "Aiden, help him!"
Aiden sat on the ground, his elbows on his knees his face in his hands. Was their commander crying? He couldn't be crying, because that would mean they'd lost Keelan.
He shook Keelan. "Wake up!"
Behind him, Oron tried to gently pull Keelan from Darian's hands.
"No!" he pushed Oron away.
"He said he'd been having the same nightmare for weeks, and every night he tried to change the outcome. This must have been the only series of events that he would allow to happen. He said this was the only way we'd all live," Amelia said, tears streaming down her face.
He pulled Keelan up and yelled in his face, "You knew! You sonofabitch! You knew and sacrificed yourself anyway!" He heard his voice crack and didn't care.
"Get him up! We need to get Keelan back to Lycaonia, maybe we can figure out the spell to undo whatever this was," Lorcan said.
"The voice over the speaker said that the spell would rip the soul from the body of any living thing in the building, creating soul spheres. He said that they would collect the souls of all the Alpha Unit members." Amelia shuddered.
Aiden looked up from his hands. "They have his soul?" His voice was almost unrecognizable. Amelia could see the image of a bear semi-imposed over his body. Aiden's anger was almost palpable.
Lorcan looked around, confused. "Why didn't they just kill us in the parking lot when we were all stunned for a few minutes?"
Amelia looked up, her eyes distant. "I don't think they would have risked a fight with two units. Besides, I think they have plans for your souls."
Colton pulled Aiden to his feet. "We'll get his soul back."
Aiden nodded. "Yes, we will, right before I destroy every single one of them," he promised.
The men nodded looking at each other.
Oron helped Darian stand, but Darian refused to hand Keelan over. He carried his friend's body to the car and gently laid him in the backseat.
Aiden turned to Lorcan. "How did you know to come?"
Bishop, Beta's vampire, shook his head. He turned to Gavriel and Aiden. "Your mates. They were uneasy and said something was wrong. They sent us after you."
Aiden looked shocked. "She never ceases to amaze me."
Lorcan clapped Aiden on the shoulder. "Wait until you hear this. Sascha kept us updated as we drove out here. Meryn moved everyone from the Alpha estate into Council Manor, evacuated the city, then proceeded to set up on the roof as a sniper before working with the witches to release this particle spell that made all the invisible ferals visible."
Aiden opened his mouth and closed it.
Gavriel shook his head and turned to Bishop. "How'd you find us?"
Bishop rubbed the back of his neck. "GPS locator beacons that Meryn made us install on all the vehicles."
"Let's go help my baby sister-cousin," Amelia said, her voice sounding flat.
Darian turned to his mate. "Love? Are you okay?"
She nodded absently.
Kade walked over and laid a gentle hand on her shoulder; he immediately pulled it back as if he had been burned. "Gods above, her magic is completely unfettered. It's as if something stripped her of every discipline or restraint that she built to control her magic. What in the hell did they do to her?"
Darian cupped her face in both of his hands. "Baby? Do you know what that machine was that you were in?"
She nodded, her eyes unfocused. "He said it would steal all my magic."
Kade turned to Darian. "We need to get her to Quinn. He uses earth magic like Amelia. He can help her get her magic under control."
All at once, the men were moving.
Oron took the seat next to Keelan's body. He met Darian's eyes and nodded. Darian knew that his brother would look after Keelan while he helped his mate. Once Amelia was well, he'd face what had happened. Later, he'd face it later.
*****
Just outside the city, Darian heard Colton start cussing.
"We have company," Gavriel said from the drivers seat, keeping an eye on the rearview mirror.
"Maybe they changed their mind about a fight." Aiden cracked his knuckles.
Colton's phone buzzed, and he answered it putting it on speaker, it was Lorcan.
"What do you want to do, Commander?"
"Punch it. Let's put some distance between us. Then I want to pull over and transfer Keelan and Amelia to your vehicle. Your only objective is getting them to Adam and Quinn as quickly and as safely as possible. Alpha Unit will handle our guests," Aiden said, his face dark with emotion.
"Roger that," Lorcan confirmed before hanging up.
Aiden turned in his seat to face Darian. "I'd understand if you wanted to go with Amelia."
Darian looked over; his poor mate stared into space, tears trailing lightly down her cheeks. He kissed the top of her head then turned to Aiden. "No. I owe them for what they did to my mate and for what they did to Keelan. With any luck, Keelan's soul is with them, and we can set him free."
Aiden nodded and turned back in his seat. Gavriel pushed down on the accelerator, and the van behind them became smaller and smaller. After about ten minutes, Gavriel brought the SUV to a stop, and the men moved quickly. Darian had time to kiss Amelia before Lorcan picked her up and carried her to their SUV. Larik, Beta's fae warrior, nodded at Darian, his eyes flicking to the silver ring on Darian's right hand. Larik raised his fist to his chest in salute before picking Keelan up. Darian trusted all of his unit brothers equally, but he felt relieved that it was another fae looking after Keelan and Amelia.
Doors slammed and the SUV carrying the most important person in his life, his mate, turned left and sped toward Lycaonia. Everyone, including Oron, got back in the SUV.
Aiden looked around. "Let's take this off the main road. I don't want any innocents to get hurt."
Gavriel nodded and turned left down the same road where the other SUV had just disappeared. They drove slowly for about five miles before they saw the dark van coming up fast behind them. Gavriel pulled off to the side of the road, and the men got out. They stepped into the road and watched as the van got closer and closer. Less than a mile before the van reached them, it came to an abrupt stop, and the front of their car collapsed in on itself like an accordion. Steam from the radiator created a cloud that was barely seen in the grey pre-dawn light.
"Well, you don't see that every day," Oron said, squinting at the wreck.
After a few minutes, the van doors opened and men stumbled out. They looked up and saw the five unit warriors standing in the middle of the
road and ran forward. Seconds later, like their car, they slammed into an invisible force, and blood spraying, their bodies fell to the ground.
"Well, I'll be a sonofabitch; Elder Airgead must have figured out a perimeter spell." Colton whistled his admiration.
Gavriel tilted his head and watched as the completely dazed ferals tried again to run at them only to be knocked senseless against the barrier. "As much as I would love to watch them do this all day, we do have ferals attacking the city." He pulled out his gun.
Colton looked over at the men on the ground and sighed. "Doesn't seem right. They should be frothing at the mouth and trying to bite us."
"Think of it like killing a mouse in a mouse trap, it's just a quicker way to exterminate," Aiden said, pulling his gun out.
All five men walked over and took aim. The sound of gunshots shattered the tranquil winter morning. They checked each body and the car for Keelan's soul. Not finding it, one by one, they dragged the bodies into the ditch for burial detail later and got back into their SUV.
"I bet you it was a witch in the city that freaked out during the attack that created the perimeter," Colton said, looking out the window.
"We need to find out who it was so we know the conditions. No perimeter is perfect, we learned that with..." Aiden swallowed hard.
"With Keelan." Gavriel said, finishing their commander's sentence.
"One thing at a time, Aiden. Let's secure the city and make sure our mates are safe first. Then we'll let your father try to figure out who broke the law and cast a spell over the whole city while we get some rest," Colton said, resting a hand on his friend's shoulder.
Aiden just nodded.
Everyone was quiet for the rest of the drive to the city.
*****
Amelia stared out the window as Lorcan maneuvered their SUV through the parking garage. No one spoke as they pulled into a spot and got out. Larik picked up Keelan and gently lifted him out of the vehicle. Amelia watched; to her, it looked like he was sleeping. She recalled his smile, they way he teased Darian, his concern for his friend, and the way he would wink at her, making her feel like she belonged. He was the sweet one, the kind one. Why? Why had this happened to him?