Chapter 128

**Thomas**

"What is she doing?" Eli asks the second he and Noah run up and stop beside me.

Maya is standing close to the shield that glistens when the swaying trees allow sunlight to peek through.

"She is protecting her people," I say, but I do not go into further detail.

I may not be able to see into Maya's mind, but I know exactly what she is thinking. I could see it in her eyes when she woke up. She was different now. Wiser. In her eyes, I saw that she already knew what she would do. I know because it is the same thing I would do. Her mind is working according to her Fae side. Calculated and unemtional. Practical.

The odds of success in this situation means we will lose something in this fight, but she plans on making sure the loss is as minimal as possible. That means taking out as many enemies in one go as possible and doing that by being unpredictable. See, in this world, a hero sacrifices themselves to save others, but what happens once they're gone? The people will eventually be in danger again and there will not be anyone to protect them.

"I will go with you, Freddie. Just let my pack go." We hear Maya say holding her hands up to show she is no threat to Freddie or his army.

He falls silent and looks over her cautiously. His face is an open book of uncertainty and confusion. He doesn't know how much Maya has changed which means she is an unknown variable.

A wild card.

Something he doesn't know how to control.

The problem with people like Freddie is that they become overconfident and that's why he smiles at Maya's offer and agrees.

"Come with me Maya and I promise to never touch your pack again." He says with a smile that says he knows he has won.

How wrong he is.

"Good," Maya says before turning to Freddie's mother. "Open the shield enough to let me walk through. Please."

The Mage nods and steps alongside Maya and raises her hands to make the motions of the spell.

"Maya! Don't!" Eli calls out.

He and Noah rush forward and Maya turns to them.

"We are not letting him take you," Eli growls a warning with his eyes sharp on Freddie.

This only makes the mad man laugh.

Maya reaches out and brushes her fingers over Eli's cheek. "Do you trust me?" She asks.

"Of course I do." He says confidently.

"Then trust me to do the right thing now. There is so much I want to say to you guys and explain, but there isn't time now. Trust me to do the right thing." She says looking deep into his eyes.

"Okay," Eli says lowering his head to rest against her.

Noah steps up and then Tommy and then me. We surround her and all hold on to her in some way, needing the contact.

"Well this is sweet but I am losing my patience. Come, Maya." Freddie calls out breaking the spell that had fallen over our group.

Maya steps back and looks at each of us. "I love you guys. Tell Isaiah how much I love him too, okay?"

"Tell him yourself when you come back to us," Noah says and Maya smiles at him.

She looks at me and for one moment she opens her mind to me and speaks to me. *"Move everyone back Thomas."*

My eyes go wide at the sudden but welcome intrusion. I nod and step back with my mate brothers.

Maya gives us one more soft smile before turning back to the barrier and nodding for the Mage. We hear her say the needed spell and with a quick hand flick, the barrier parts and Maya walks through. As soon as she passes through the barrier snaps back into place and two Blood Demons step forward and grab her. Growls break out all around me at the treatment of her and I see all of the pack around us are ready to charge forward to protect and fight for their Alpha.

"We need to do something," Eli says quietly, only loud enough for me and our other mate brothers to hear.

"We can't pass the barrier, and if we open it those monsters will come flooding in." Noah reminds him.

"We can't just let her go, Noah. Not again." Eli growls out and I can see the tension in his body as if any second he will burst forward and try to break through the barrier.

"She asked us to trust her. So that's what we'll do." Tommy says landing a firm hand on Eli's shoulder.

"She doesn't really believe he will keep his word, does she? Even I can see everything he said was a lie." Eli says as he begins to pace.

"Our mate is wise and has learned to expand her mind during her coma. Like she asked, we need to trust her." I say confidently. "She asked me to move everyone back, let's get everyone past the tree line."

Eli let out another frustrated growl before turning to the growing line of pack members including the new packs that had arrived recently.

"Everyone move back past the tree line. This is a request from your Alpha." He calls out to the crowd.

With only a few seconds of hesitation, they do as he asks and the crowd retreats past the trees.

"She asked you to move them?" the Mage asks once we are all safely behind the tree line.

We could still see the crowd of Blood Demons standing ready but Maya had disappeared into the crowd. Freddie also couldn't be seen from here.

"Yes," I answer her but I keep my eyes sharp ahead of me. "She seems to have a plan that she isn't sharing with us."

The Mage woman hums in agreement. "She mentioned to me that she knew what she needed to do, but didn't share much with me either."

"When she called for you?" I ask finally turning to her.

"Yes. She seemed to have made up her mind on it, but I can't say for sure if whatever she had planned is the same now that she has accepted her true power." The Mage says.

Before I can speak again and a loud scream comes from the direction of the barrier. A scream like I had never heard before. It isn't Maya, but the sound of a creature. I scan the entire space of the barrier but I don't see anything unusual until the second scream comes. More and more join in and my heart start to race at the sight I am seeing. The entire first row of the Blood Demons is pushing against the barrier. They are burning and screaming in pain but they do not stop. They continue trying to push through with the bodies alone.

"What the hell are they doing?" Eli yells out trying to speak over the sound of the dying Blood Demons.

"They're trying to break through the barrier," Tommy calls out in reply.

"Take your positions and hold the line!" Eli calls out to our small army.

Everyone shifts in place readying themselves for a fight.

The sounds of screams grow louder and banging comes along with this new wave. We watch nervously as the Blood Demons pound and throw their bodies at the barrier.

"Can they break through?" Tommy yells to the Mage.

"The barrier spell is strong but it will grow weaker the longer it is left up." She replies but I watch her begin to move her hands as if ready to fortify the barrier if need be.

We stand ready and watch as the bodies of the killed Blood Demons are trampled over by a new wave trying to break through as well. They look crazed, more animal than they should be. The ones who had attacked before looked the same way. Freddie and cursed an entire race into being killers with no sense of self-preservation. The perfect soldiers.

"They're breaking through!" Someone calls from further down the line.

Eli takes off running while Noah, Tommy, and I space ourselves evenly along the lines of our army if you can call it that.

The sounds of the Blood Demons begin to grow louder as more people call out that they are breaking through all along the line of the barrier. none have broken past the tree line though, their bodies too burned to go further.

"They are trying to test for vulnerable spots!" Tommy calls out from several feet away.

I look to the Mage and see her eyes shut tight and her lips moving quickly. Whatever she is doing isn't enough.

Our time is running out.