Xavier swooped low over the escaping Fae, kicking his hooves at the FIB agents who raised their weapons against the fleeing rebels, whinnying loudly in encouragement. There was a sharp metal spike encasing his horn that the twins had made for him and it was alight with Phoenix flames. He neighed in delight every time he shook his mane and the glitter from his hair made the flames burn with the colour of a rainbow. He’d looked pretty ridiculous when he’d strapped that thing to his head in his Fae form, but I could admit it looked kinda badass now. Especially as he worked to hold the FIB off as he’d been tasked. But me? I had the most important job of all.
“Awoo!” I howled in my Fae form, cupping my hands around my mouth as I stood on top of one of the muddy huts the imprisoned Fae had been forced to sleep in. And as Nymphs turned their attention towards me instead of the rebels trying to break past them, I created a powerful illusion of those very people, splitting away from the real path they were taking and leading the Nymphs in several directions, their huge probes swiping through the air and slashing through nothing but my illusions. Far beyond them on the other side of the compound Lavinia and Lionel were chasing more of my illusions in circles, carving through nothing but sweeping droves of magical casts instead of the Fae we were all working to rescue.
I laughed at the chaos, catching sight of Cal as he moved like the wind between the real rebels, freeing their magic so they could defend themselves. Clouds of smoke and flashing light exploded across the huge compound as the Fae took revenge for their treatment in this hellish place and I grinned at their efforts.
My gaze hooked on a couple of little kids running hand in hand towards Max and Washer, nearly falling time and again as the crowd stampeded past them, my smile falling away.
“This way! That’s it, move your hineys!” Washer encouraged as he beckoned the rebels past him to where Leon and his family were working to disguise them with spells and hide them from view altogether.
I growled as a man’s knee smashed into the back of one of the kid’s heads and the two of them fell sprawling into mud.
I howled, but this time it was a real Wolf’s howl as I pulled my clothes from my body and dove forward into the fray, my gigantic paws slamming into the mud as I ran against the tide of fleeing Fae to reach the kids. The Phoenix fire gauntlets on my hands had shifted to accommodate my paws, but I kept the flames unlit as I ran through the sea of our allies to ensure I didn’t hurt anybody.
Screams rang out ahead of me and a huge shadow blotted out the moon as a massive Nymph stormed through the crowd, knocking Fae down and ramming its probes into their chests.
People fell against me, terror everywhere and magical casts going up into the air which only caused more danger as explosions of fire and ice blasted over the crowd.
I barked loudly to try and tell them to stop, ducking my head as an ice ball fell from the sky and took out a guy beside me. I leapt over two women in front of me, landing right over the huddled bodies of the two children as the Nymph reared above them and its branch like arm smashed into my head.
I stumbled sideways with a yelp, but I didn’t fall, leaping up and slashing my claws down its chest with a savage snarl, the fire igniting across my gauntlets and burrowing into its body.
The Nymph shrieked in pain, stumbling back and I pressed my advantage, jumping up and biting its throat while tearing at its body with my claws. Something snapped beneath the pressure of my jaws and the Nymph exploded into ash, my paws hitting the ground as I turned back towards the kids amidst a cloud of dust and embers, nudging them with my nose to get them up.
The boy was a little older and tugged his younger sister up by the hand, their tiny fingers knotting in my fur as I helped them climb onto my back.
Then I stood up to my fullest height and charged along with the crowd towards the shattered fence, Max and Washer’s powers falling over me and making my heart sing. Freedom was close, we were so near.
Max’s eyes fell on me within the surging rebels and he ran forward to meet me, pulling the kids from my back and holding them to his chest.
“I’ll get them out of here. Cal needs help,” he said urgently, turning and running beyond the fence.
His final words left me with a sense of terror in my chest as I leapt up on top of one of the sheds to see across the compound to find him.
Caleb was fighting three Nymphs, moving fast and slashing at them with his twin blades, but he couldn’t hold all of them off, even with his speed. And as one of them smashed a fist against his head which knocked him clean off his feet onto his back, I howled loudly, hoping he’d hear, that he’d know I was coming. Then I leapt off the roof of the shed, my paws thumping to the ground. I was already running, tearing towards my best friend and the guy I loved so deeply that the thought of losing him completely terrified me.