Through the Ether (Force of Nature Book 5) - Amber Lynn Natusch Page 0,53
the crowd, shoulders back and head high. But from where I stood, slightly behind him, I could see how tightly his hands were clasped behind his back; how white his fingers had turned. The proximity of his newly-acquired pack was taxing him again, and he was struggling to hold it together.
As if Merc could hear my thoughts, he slowly walked over to the alpha and stood shoulder-to-shoulder with him, the contact between them little more than a gesture of solidarity to those looking on. But I knew better. He was grounding the werewolf, just as he grounded me when I was lost to my powers. I let out a little sigh of relief, then joined them.
“The royals won’t think us foolish enough to attack in their territory, where our powers are not as strong,” Merc said.
“But you have me, the princess of Faerie, to combat their strength, and together we can take them down—end their reign of madness and cruelty.”
“And if we fail?” one of the new pack members shouted out.
Merc took a step forward, slow and controlled and terribly menacing. “Then we die.”
“If Phineas and Larken make it here, we’re dead anyway,” Knox added, “and I for one would rather go out on the offensive.”
Merc looked back at Knox. “As would I.” I could practically hear the smile in his voice as he said those words.
“Time is wasting,” Reinhardt said as he stepped forward with Kingston at his side. The coven queen and Sherry were right behind him.
“Where is this portal?” the coven queen asked.
Merc turned his attention to her and the rest of our army. “Right this way…”
***
I swore that damn bridge would give out at any second when way too many people started to make their way onto it. In the first group were all the usual suspects, along with several of Merc’s enforcers, a dozen of Knox’s most trusted Alaskan wolves, Reinhardt, Kingston, the coven queen, and Sherry. The rest of the army lined up nearby, waiting for their chance to do the ultimate swan dive/trust fall into the unknown—or the Ether, as it were. It was a leap of faith, to say the least, so it seemed best to have those in charge do it first. I guessed the adage about your friends jumping off bridges really did apply—or so I hoped.
Interspersed with the crowd was the New York pack. Merc and Knox had made sure to charge some of the enforcers and Alaskan wolves with the task of making sure the New York pack followed suit. Just in case.
“Are you ready for this?” Merc asked as we looked down at the abyss below.
“I’m ready to get Grizz back. Not so sure about the rest. And I’m hoping that Etherian doesn’t flip out about our lack of a body for him.”
“He’ll get on board with our plan,” Reinhardt answered from down the row. “If he desires a body enough, that is.”
“And if he doesn’t?” I asked, knowing full well what his answer would be.
He felt the need to say it anyway. “I imagine he’ll kill us all.”
Great.
“Focus on the portal,” Merc said in my ear.
“Well, now all I can think about is us dropping in there and Etherian crushing us like annoying little bugs.”
“He would have done that last time if he wanted us dead,” Knox pointed out. “Whether he likes it or not, he needs us. He can’t kill the royals himself.”
“Knox is right,” Merc agreed.
I couldn’t help but smile. “You two agreeing all the time is starting to freak me out a bit,” I said with a laugh.
“We have a common goal.” Knox’s eyes were heavy on me as he spoke.
With the heat in his stare clouding my brain, I tried to calm my mind and channel my energy down into the depths below. It reached out into that inky darkness and probed below the water’s edge to seek the hole between our world and the Ether. It only took a minute to find that distinctly fey energy.
Ready to return so soon?
Knox and I shared a quick look, both of us having heard the rogue fey, and he nodded.
“Yes.”
Do you have what I want?”
No.
“Yes.”
Etherian didn’t bother to answer. Instead, he sent the swirling vortex of wind and water up toward the bridge. The eyes of those standing on land—those that had not witnessed it before—went wide with shock. Even Knox’s new pack appeared unnerved by the form the portal took.