Chapter 80

Aiden
Jo shifted as she neared Lukas.
“Luke, where’s Lily?”
Before he could answer she sprinted into the castle. Not even a minute later a roar shook it and she was leaping out of a window. She landed on her feet and stormed over to where Magdon lay gasping for each breath he took. She began to kick and punch his body.
“YOU HAD ONE MOTHER FUCKING JOB! YOU FAILED! YOU FAILED THEM! YOU SORRY PIECE OF-”
Lukas pulled her away from Sterling and into his chest. “Jo, it’s not his fault. He is dying. He must have tried his best to protect them. He gave his life for them.”
Jo kneed him hard and leapt back at Magdon, screaming in anger. Ethan grabbed her around the waist and hurriedly took a couple of steps away while she struggled to get back to him. She yelled cuss words at him until Lukas walked over to grab her chin and forced it up.
“Enough!,” he ordered, letting his aura out to force her to submit.
She quieted immediately, but still shot the dying reptile furious looks. Lukas went over and put his hand on his father’s heaving side.
“Where is your witch, Aiden?”
His eyes glazed over, before he nodded. “On her way.”
A small tear in the air opened and a young woman stepped through. She bowed to Lukas and then to Aiden.
“Your Highnesses, how may I be of service?”
“What can you do for him? My mother did something to him and we need to keep him alive until we can rescue Sasha and Kalani.”
The witch walked around Magdon, laying her hands on him, muttering quietly to herself. She sighed as she came back.
“There is only one thing I can do.”
“Do it,” Lukas said without hesitation.
“It’s not a guarantee that it will work. It will only slow his death.”’
He grabbed her arm and pushed her towards Magdon. She sighed and began to chant in a strange language. Magdon’s body shimmered, before he shifted down to his human form. Lukas went over and lifted him up. He carried him quickly inside as Aiden looked around at the others.
“I’m going to get my mate and I’m going to get her tonight.”
Melissa stepped forward. “Chrys has been teaching me about portals and stuff. I can help. Sherri and Raven can help me get the innocents out.”
Aiden growled. “Do you think I give any fucks about their ‘innocents’? Every single person in that Goddess damned town will burn.”
Sherri stepped forward growling. “There were some people there that didn’t treat them poorly. Like my fucking parents, so we’re getting them out.”
“Mine, too. Kalani asked for them to come here or did you forget?,” Raven growled.
“I’m fucking king. YOU WILL OBEY MY ORDERS!”
Gregory put his hand on Aiden’s shoulder. “Aid, listen, when we get the girls back, and we will, trust me, you don’t want them to hate us. We should let them get the innocents out.”
‘Also, if they are getting their people out, they won’t be in our way. We can focus on the girls. Kalani wanted them to go,' Gregory continued through their link.
Aiden growled. “Fine, you can go ‘rescue’ people, but nobody that was ever mean to them. Also, you need to do it fast, because I will level Tursum by the end of the night.”
Sherri and Raven bowed. “Thank you, Your Highness.”
Lukas clapped his hands behind them. “So, what’s the plan?”
“We go rescue our mates. Tonight. Right now.”
“Well, as good as that sounds, my mother has access to ice crystals. That’s how she took my father down. We can not just go in there guns blazing. I can promise you she will have found a way to weaponize the crystals.”
Aiden bared his teeth at him. “So, what are you saying?”
“We go and watch, but let my witch prepare a defense to the ice crystals.”
Another portal opened by them and an elderly man stepped out. Lukas walked over with his hand out. The man shook it.
“King Lukas.”
“Javier, have you thought of a way to protect us from the ice crystals?”
“Yes, but it will take 12 hours to whip up and I will need help.”
“12 HOURS? YOU FUCKING CALL THAT WHIPPING SOMETHING UP? DO YOU EVEN KNOW THE DEFINITION OF WHIPPING?”
Javier raised an eyebrow at him. “If you don’t want to lose your dragons, 12 hours is not a long time to wait.”
Aiden took an aggressive step towards the man and grabbed him around the throat. “I’d rather lose Mikhail than my mate. Speed up the process or I will eat you.”
He waited until Aiden threw him away to answer.
“Well, my king, you will not win against Anastasia without your dragons, so I must insist on the 12 hours.”
Lukas stepped in front of Javier as Aiden moved towards him again. “We will all help. What do you need?”
“I will need witch bane, silver, and DNA from the witch that created the ice crystals.”
They exchanged looks. “We don’t have the witch's DNA.”
Javier rolled his eyes. “Of course you don’t, sire, otherwise you wouldn’t need me. Lucky for you, I created the antidote and know how to use partial DNA to get it done. As long as I can have a child from them give me blood, I can extract the witch’s DNA.”
Lukas held his arm out immediately. “Take as much as you need.”
Chrys came out with her arms full of bottles, both empty and full. “I have witch bane and silver. Just need blood.”
Javier smiled at Chrys. “My, my, my, daughter. You are looking great.”
She grinned. “Daddy, can I help?”
“Wouldn’t have it any other way.”
She passed him some of the bottles and began to walk towards the forest. “King Lukas, if you would. I suggest everyone else get some rest. We will be back as soon as we can.”
Everyone exchanged looks. “Did they just say get some sleep? How in the-”
They all collapsed on the ground, snoring.

Someone was hitting him in the face. He shot straight up. “SASHA!”
He leapt to his feet and started swinging. Lukas backed away.
“Aiden, stop. We just got back. We have the antidote.”
He looked around and saw the rest of their rescue party slowly getting to their feet. Javier and Chrys handed each of them a bottle of red liquid. Aiden glared at Lukas.
“You put us to sleep,” he accused.
“Sorry about that. I don’t know if you have met Sasha, she is almost as scary as Jo. I do not want to get murdered if you showed up and got hurt. Chrys did do a spell to check on them. They are okay, right now.”
”Don’t ever fucking do that again,” Aiden growled.
Lukas rolled his eyes. “I was also thinking that in order to give the girls time to get everyone out, we need to send someone in first as a distraction.” He clapped his hands together. “Who’s volunteering?”
“I am. She will be expecting me. I came for Sasha last time and she tried to have me killed. She’s triple pissed at me that I’m not dead,” Aiden said.
Lukas nodded. “Alright, then the rest of us will hang back until Sherri, Raven and Melissa are clear.”
“Let’s go.”
Aiden went to shift and Lukas remained still.
“What?”
“We need to take the antidote, it’ll take about an hour to be effective.”
“Fine.”
Aiden down the bottle, before taking a running leap into the sky. He sped towards Tursum, not even caring if the others were following him. 45 minutes later he landed in the center of the town.
“ANASTASIA,” he hollered.
A few minutes later, she appeared, dragging a bound Sasha behind her. She put a blade to her throat, smiling.
“King Aiden, have you come to say goodbye to your beloved mate?,” she taunted.
He bared his teeth. “Let her go.”
“Now, now, you would take all my fun away from me?” She nodded her head to the ground in front of her. “On your knees, Your Majesty.”
His jaw clenched. She pressed the blade into Sasha’s throat and droplets of blood welled up. Aiden knelt at her feet, glaring at her. Sasha shook her head.
“Aiden, no.”
“I love you, baby.”
Two men approached him. One opened a vial and held it to Aiden’s lips.
“Open your mouth,” Anastasia ordered.
Sasha struggled harder. “MOM! NO! PLEASE!”
Anastasia shook her. “Hush, girl. I’m only finishing your job.”
Aiden met Sasha’s eyes. “You will always be my queen, Ash.”
He opened his mouth and the man dumped the contents inside of it.
“Swallow.” He swallowed. “That’s a good boy.”
The crystals burned his chest and he got weak. He slumped forward and the men laughed as they grabbed his arms. Aiden’s vision blurred and he closed his eyes. Sasha’s cries of anguish tore at him. He took a deep breath as they began to drag him inside. Suddenly, all the pain and weakness began to ease. He reached for his link to Lukas.
‘Hurry, will you? I want to kill this bitch already.’