Falling for Angels - Hazel Hunter Page 0,48

girls running for the castle.

“The battle, ’tis beginning,” Sinclair murmured, reaching for his sword.

“Wait.” As I felt my sister’s magic slithering through the air I put my hand on his. “They’re not Ruith’s weapon.” I turned my head toward the loch, where the shining waters began to seethe and boil, and a wave of ugly yellow light spread beneath the churning waves, stretching out as it engulfed everything in its path. “That is.”

I’d just gotten the last of the Angels into formation for our final practice when I heard Griogair outside shouting for archers to ready their bows. My husband would not be holding a drill now, so my shamaness power went to Defcon 5.

Gayla stepped out of line and peered at my face. “Coco, your eyes just turned black. Like black with stars. That is so cool, can you teach me to do that?”

I looked at her.

“Okay, okay, chill.” She stepped back into position.

As Doc Ivers passed by me she met my gaze, her own steady. Frost bloomed in Andrea’s footprints as she headed for the stairs, and then melted as her mate, Kendric Gowan, passed her with a brush of the back of his hand against hers. He went out the other way, leaving a trail of magic and heat in the air.

Seeing the same determination in the face of all the Angels with me, I nodded to the girls. “All right, ladies. Show time.”

I led the squad single-file out of the courtyard and through the narrow entry guarded by the brawniest of our guys. As I passed him Roxanne’s husband lifted his ham-size fist and began striking the iron armor covering his chest, and then all the guards did the same. We marched to that cadence as we spread out, forming a wall between the castle and the loch.

I took a moment to look back at the battlements, where my husband was striding along the walk lighting the archers’ braziers with a torch. He saw me and pressed his hand over his heart, and then smiled as I did the same.

Love you. That was all we needed to ever say to each other.

Heavy vibrations shook the ground under my feet, but when I looked out toward the loch I didn’t see horses charging at us. I saw Reggie, Caroline, Tory, Miranda, and every other member of the squad—including me.

“Oh, hell, no,” I heard the Lola next to me mutter.

The calpa had shifted into exact duplicates of all the Angels. Now the clan wouldn’t know who to fight and who to protect.

Behind them I saw more shape-shifters in horse form being led by Iloren, Velvet’s halfling brother—but not him. With my shamaness eyes I could see the dark aura of Ruith’s spirit radiating from his form. She’d snatched her own son’s body, and as she came to a halt she transformed into his druid human form and raised her hands.

“As once I was cast to drown in your embrace, now I bid you swallow up and choke the breath from my enemies,” she shouted. “Take them from the face of the earth into your depths. Avenge me and mine and crush the life from them all.”

Beyond the Angels charging us the magic-polluted loch waters began to rise up from the banks, cresting higher and higher as they formed a towering, terrifying wave. Fish flopped around the now-dry loch bed around it as it began to curl over, and then turned into a huge flood heading straight for Dun Dorchas.

“Now,” I shouted to the girls, who turned and ran with me into the castle. The guards followed us inside, slamming down the barriers Smith had erected over all the openings.

Roxanne’s husband gave me a grim look. “’Twillnae hold against so much water, Lady Gabrielle.”

“It won’t have to,” I promised him.

I went to the window, where I saw the tsunami-size wave reach the calpa who had shifted into Angels. As the water rushed around them they shifted into their horse forms, and slid beneath the waves.

“Everyone, into the courtyard,” I called to the squad. “Reggie, you’re up.”

Our tumbler grabbed a wool tartan, wrapping it around her as she ran out through one of the arches.

Sweat trickled down my face as I closed my eyes, and focused on the druid magic seething inside me. Please, Gods, don’t bail on me now.

As I walked, the snow I created flurried away from me and I stayed clear of Griogair and the archers on the battlements. Climbing the steps to the tower walkway, the