snarled, skidding in the grass, turning back. Dylan’s air of command was enough to make them remember their purpose, to defeat the enemy. Only then would the cubs be safe.
Under his barking roars, the Shifters formed up into columns, putting the cubs behind them, and then they struck.
Rhianne screeched her eagle’s cry. She sensed Ivor reaching for the deep, nasty magic that would destroy the Shifters. It was difficult magic, but the Shifters were leaving him no choice, in Ivor’s opinion. It was him or them.
The cubs didn’t stay put. They raced along with the Shifters, their smaller bodies rushing under those of the adults. Tiger-girl, darting ahead, bound in one swift leap over the gap in the earth, landing paws-first on Ivor.
Ivor stumbled back, fighting her with his bare hands. Olaf also jumped the gap and began biting Ivor’s boots.
The scene would be comical if it weren’t so terrifying. Rhianne dove, wings coming out to slow her as she neared the earth. She righted herself, latched her talons into Olaf’s thick fur, and rose with him, carrying him out of harm’s way.
Olaf kicked and squirmed, growling his displeasure. Rhianne felt the waves of his irritation rolling to her.
Why’d you do that? I was kicking butt. Put me down!
Rhianne rasped her admonishment. Cease flailing or I might drop you.
Olaf at least quieted long enough for Rhianne to circle to the rear of the Shifters and deposit Olaf in front of the giant polar bear Zander, who’d risen to his hind legs to watch them come.
Olaf hopped up to his back legs as soon as Rhianne let him go. Did you see me, Zander? Did you see me? I kicked butt. And then I was flying.
Thanks for that, Zander’s body language said to Rhianne. He gave her a salute with his giant paw before he turned to round up more of the cubs.
Rhianne winged once more to the front of the fight. She couldn’t fly all the Shifters to safety, she knew. She had to kill Ivor instead.
Ivor had managed to get Tiger-girl off him. He must have used magic, because she limped along the far side of the trees, snarling her fury, with Connor circling her, protecting her.
Walther was laughing. His hands moved in a blur as he shot arrow after arrow at the Shifters, happy to have targets he could hit. More than one Shifter went down with arrows in their hides, even as others strove to reach him.
An arrow flew straight toward Sean’s mate, Andrea. Sean, who’d sprinted from the circle of trees as soon as he’d been freed, shoved her hard, both of them going down in a spurt of dust as the arrow flew harmlessly past them. Sean lost hold of his sword, which tumbled away from him and imbedded itself, point-downward, in the grass.
A bright light rent the space between the trees, and a tear in the fabric of the air opened. From it stepped another Fae, this one in bronze chain mail and a cloak, long white braids swinging.
He rapidly positioned himself behind Walther and grabbed him by the throat.
“That was my daughter you were aiming at,” he declared in hoch alfar.
Walther elbowed the Fae but struck the hard links of the mail shirt. The warrior positioned his hands on either side of Walther’s head and unceremoniously snapped his neck.
Walther’s face went still, and he dropped. Dead.
The warrior dusted off his hands. “I never liked him. Dylan!” he shouted in English. “Come help me clear out the rubbish.”
Ivor glared at the warrior—Rhianne assumed he was Fionn, who guarded the Fae gate from the other side. Ivor’s expression turned to annoyance, and he pointed a finger at Fionn.
The Fae warrior screamed as electricity suddenly wound through his mail shirt. Andrea, who’d squirmed out from under Sean, shifted to wolf and ran for Fionn. She dragged him from the clearing, using her teeth and claws to rip the mail from his body.
The warrior lay limp, Andrea whining and nuzzling him, Sean bending to tend him.
Ivor stepped back, alone once more.
Lightning struck not far away, the crash of thunder obliterating all other sound. Tiger was roaring, summoning the cubs to him and leading them at a lope away from Ivor. Even Tiger-girl and Connor abandoned the fight, Tiger-girl stumbling eagerly toward Tiger.
Ivor drew magic from the ley line, from the earth, from the air, from the gate, from the storm. He was about to lay waste to the Shifters, and Rhianne had no idea how to stop