Ch. 113: Battle Goddess

CHAPTER 113
Ally~
Right when I thought this had all been for nothing, we heard a commotion coming from above.
“Is it them? Are they here?” Kyle asks me, more panicked than I’d ever seen him.
“No, not yet,” I say, registering the warmth of my amulet. It’s not white hot yet, the danger is still on its way. “But they’re close.”
The heat keeps rising. Thundering weight shuffles around outside and upstairs. I smile. We’ve done it, they’re getting ready for the attack.
Almost twenty minutes go by, and then my amulet scalds me with heat.
“It’s them. They’re here now,” I tell Kyle who has been pacing his cell.
“Ugh!” he rushes up to the bars between us. “Can’t they let us out? We can help!”
I know. I feel the same way. I think about all those in need of some witchy powers. I try not to think about Nick. He’s got to be around here soon. What if he needs me and I’m not there?
“Hurry!” we hear from down the way.
The person gets closer and I realize it’s Mitchell. He has a key in his hands and he rushes up to me.
“They’re so busy they didn’t notice me swiping this,” he says while unlocking my cell. He gestures to where Kyle is. “I assume we can trust him too?”
“Yes, completely,” I assure him.
I push open my cell door and start tunneling down deep into my power, we’re going to need it.
“Where’s Nick?” I ask him.
He spins back to me with a knowing grin while swinging open Kyle’s door. “I had always kind of hoped if one of us got a non-werewolf mate it would be me. Always wanted to shock my parents. Figures it would be goody-two-shoes Nick.”
I don’t let my face give anything away.
“Yeah, alright,” he says, almost rolling his eyes. “Come on, not a moment to lose.”
He leads us up and out. The sun is getting lower, a midafternoon sun. It blinds me for a moment. I hear howling. And then, screams.
Kyle and I take off towards the commotion.
“And no! I don’t think he’s here yet!” Mitchell yells from somewhere behind us.
I don’t look back.

Evan~
Nick nearly killed me on the way south, and the way back up north. I swear, I’ve never heard of a crazy werewolf driver. I mean our reflexes are supposed to be great, but apparently that didn’t translate to Nick behind the wheel. Who gave this guy a license?
“Dude! Can you-” I start to yell but suck in my breath instead as he swerves around another car and jumps three lanes in a row. “Nick! This isn’t Frogger!”
“I almost missed it!” he roars back, like that’s an excuse.
We get off this exit and start winding our way up to the packhouse through the backroads. I linked my dad again but he’s not answering, probably just very busy. Right?
He’s strong, Xavier says in my mind.
Great, now I’m so pathetic my wolf has to assure me of my dad’s safety like I’m some young pup.
I’m thrown forward suddenly, the seatbelt strains.
“Nick!” I start to yell at him until my eyes focus on what he’s seeing.
Smoke. Fire.
He slams the car into park, and we both start shifting before fully opening the car doors.
I ran in the direction of the fire, somewhere in the eastern side of the territory. Blazing past our regular security. They recognize us and don’t try to stop our wolves. Their agitated pacing tells me how much they wish they could join, but someone has to watch our other sides or we risk an attack on all sides.
Nick is a hair faster than me, and I follow as we get closer to the noise. Now that we’re closer I see more. Lights in all colors like little lightning strikes. Smoke. Blazing fire. Fireballs in the air heading towards our frontline. Nick heads left and I see an opportunity I can’t pass up. There’s a brat throwing zaps at several wolves and she’s so distracted in all the chaos that she doesn’t see me approach from behind a bush. I lash out quickly and take a strategically-placed bite into her neck.
“Ahh-” her scream is cut off as I bite in and pull her side to side.
One more good shake and - I hear the crack of her neck. A nearby witch screams and runs towards her corpse that I’ve thrown to my right. She faces me and starts throwing fire. I dodge and weave, trying to get close, another warrior of my father’s jumping in alongside me. She throws lighting erratically and cries out, missing us entirely. I try to get closer but she spins and throws a fireball right at my chest. I try to leap over it but singe my belly. The feeling would normally make me whimper but right now all I see is red. Hate. For these invaders. For these kidnappers, these murderers.
I hear screams, taste blood and sweat in the air. Orders come through the pack-wide link. One is in my dad’s voice and I’m assured that he’s doing just fine.
I howl and charge again. She throws lightning at me, with more focus, more anger. I dodge some and am grazed by others. She throws air or something at me. I fly backwards, losing my balance as I land. In my stumble she hits me. A good clear shot. Goddess it hurts. A knee buckles and I try to move when she hits me with a fireball to the head. I’m on fire. Something in my Beta blood pushes me to react, to survive. Before I can even think of what I’m doing I’m rolling in the dirt like it’s the first grade and the visiting fireman is explaining how to ‘Stop, Drop, and Roll.’
I kick up a ton of dirt doing this and the way it’s throwing off her aim now gives me an idea. I dig, roll, and kick dirt all over, after enough is up I use it as cover. I run quickly to the side and crouch down waiting for her to move more. I go to jump and am hit by something as strong as a building. It sends me right back to the ground and as I clear my vision, I see it.
Damnit.
Vampires.
A super pale, red-eyed bastard leers down at me while he helps the witch to her feet. Well, this just got harder.

Nick~
I know she’s here. I am sure of it the minute I’m close to the smoke. We pick up her scent and take off, vaguely noticing Evan not with me any more. We’d look back but my heart is somewhere out there putting herself in danger.
We dodge a few fights, bite into the ankle of an unsuspecting witch, and move forward. Weaving through fire and electricity, and invisible shields, we move and move. There’s growling and yelling, screams and hits. Her cinnamon roll scent gets significantly stronger. But where is she?
“You b*tch!” Ally screeches.
The sound of her voice is enough to make me weep. She’s okay.
I push through a few wolves engaging some witches in battle when I finally see her. Truly a goddess of battle in her own right.
Ally’s standing firmly in a fighting stance, her arms moving up in a particular motion from the earth, light all around her in a circle, and then her arms fly up, the light gathering and smacking right into the chest of some blond witch throwing the biggest waves of fire I’ve seen out here.
“Some friend you are!” she screams again, making another motion and light comes up from the earth that’s so bright I squint.
She throws it at the fire witch and she goes flying backwards. I want to make myself known but don’t want to risk distracting Ally, it could risk her getting hurt. So I turn to find something I can jump in on when I see a blur.
There’s a Vampire moving quickly, running in her direction. I rush forward to get in between them when I hit a rock-solid wall. Then the Vampire hits me.
“Nick?!” Ally asks, glowing, panting, with her curls all loosened from her usual bun.
She looks beautiful, and - angry?
The Vampire regains his footing and charges at her but she blasts him with light after giving him a short glance. He screams and runs, his body disfigured from burns.
Ally rushes at me and puts a hand to the top of my head, a pet and a scratch under my chin as she bends down to hug us. Asher melts under her touch.
“You’re alright,” she says, tears in her eyes.
She kisses our forehead quickly and turns in time to see the blond fire witch blasting a huge wave of fire at us. I start to push Ally out of the way but she slams into Ally’s shield before getting any closer. Her fire is distinguished before it gets to us.
“I’ve got a full shield on, don’t worry,” she says, rubbing my ear.
For a second I forget we’re on a battlefield and not having a picnic.
She smiles at me ruefully and stands back up, throwing light from her right hand, and left hand. She switches quickly, back and forth like she’s playing an instrument. Amazing to watch. The bright lights contrast against her dark brown skin.
“Nick!” she yells at me after a few more attacks, sending that witch backwards again.
I turn my head to the side.
She laughs. She actually laughs. I feel my ears twitch. But there’s so much warmth in her gaze, I can’t be embarrassed for long.
“Nick, I think your friends need you more than I do right now!” She throws light at another witch closeby who was burning a wolf. “The shield will let you in and out, no one else,” she adds, nodding at me and then running back to the fire witch, pelting her with whips of light.
I’m in love, Asher says as we take another long look at our battle goddess.
I know I am, I tell him.