It gave me the strength I needed to hold Selene in place. She was slumped forward on her knees, her face streaked with tears, black makeup running along her cheeks. Hardening my heart I stepped closer, ready to end this. I was done with Selene. This woman had stolen my crown, allowed hundreds of my people to be killed on the Island while she created a magical blanket, and worst of all, she had tried to kill my familiar. She had barely been queen for a week and was already trying to start a war between wolf and bear after years of peace – a peace that even the Red Queen had suffered to maintain.
Selene deserved death. Before I could reach her Larak’s head shifted in my general direction; he hissed and lunged wildly at me. But he was slow, and had bad aim with his blindness. I was able to catch him easily, squeezing his head in my hands. Selene was fighting me again now, sobbing and shouting, “I’m the true queen, you are scum. I’ll kill you and re-earn the love of the shifters.” Her desperation was visible.
Making a split-second decision I pinched Larak’s jaws so his teeth were bared, then taking a leap toward Selene, slammed his venom-filled fangs into her neck.
“Nooo!” she shouted at the same time Larak hissed.
Tightening my grip on the snake, I ripped him away from her and tossed him back to my waiting familiar. Finn wanted the honor of ending Larak’s life. I would keep my eye on Selene. Pearlescent venom dripped slowly from the gaping holes in her neck, and as I heard the crunching of Finn taking Larak’s head off behind me, Selene roared in agony.
I wanted revenge, but I wasn’t evil. I didn’t want Selene to feel the death of her familiar for too long. I lowered my head close to hers, and in a low voice, without inflection, I said, “You will die a failed queen. May you have more honor in your next life.” She was beyond caring at this point. The death of her familiar had left her no more than a shell.
I dropped my hold on her at the same time I slashed my sword across her neck, taking her head clean off. Purple mecca blasted from her as her body crumpled to the floor.
I spun around to make sure the rest of my people were okay. Kade and Carrie were cutting down the last guards. Finn was standing beside Larak’s headless body. And Violet – oh God, where was Violet? Sabina looked dead in the corner, but my best friend…
“Violet!” I shrieked frantically.
She appeared right before me, scaring the crap out of me. I grabbed my chest.
“Vi! You scared me.”
She gave me a wink. “I wasn’t going to walk over here through all that blood and ruin my new shoes.”
I pulled her in for a hug, not even caring that she didn’t like to be touched. I needed to feel her warmth, hear her heartbeat. I never wanted her taken from me again.
She squeezed me hard, then pulled back, looking me in the eyes. “Long live the queen!” she called over her shoulder.
Carrie, the two remaining guards, and Kade all bowed in agreement.
“What is your first order of business, My Queen?” Kade’s deep voice carried across to me and I couldn’t help but smile.
“Let’s go stop this war. It’s time to bring our people together. We’ve fixed the mecca and can live in peace once again.” The shifters would have immediately felt the death of Selene, but since I still held a connection to the mecca and my people within me, there wouldn’t be the usual backlash of power. The loss of control would be minimized.
Violet brushed her hands along her dress, wiping it clean of the debris she’d picked up fighting Sabina. “First we have to officially get your crown back. Which means you need to call a meeting of the packs.”
She was right. Calista would be able to help me with that. She had contacts everywhere, she’d get word out.
“I want wolves and bears, together. We’ll meet on the Island, and form an alliance tomorrow.” A grin ripped across my tense features. “The council is about to find out what happens to shifters who betray me.”
I hadn’t slept in almost forty-eight hours, or longer, my last night’s sleep being in the Otherworld before I was jailed. I took a brief nap on the boat across to the Island, but it was barely enough to keep me going. Calista and Gerald had very quickly gotten word out about the end of the war and called a meeting of the packs. Tomorrow morning I would go before all of my people. Not just my people, but also Kade’s.
It was bad timing, having to wait another day to reclaim my crown – officially anyway. Selene had only been dead for a few hours, and already a slight weakness was spreading in our packs. As I predicted my queen bond was keeping it at bay, but we still had to sort this out immediately.
“Will they all make it in time?” Carrie asked me as the boat started to dock.
“Some will have to travel all night, but they’ll make it,” I said as I stood, widening my stance to keep my balance. “Calista has already spread our story, the evidence of what Selene was doing with Sabina, the way they allowed the fae to enter the night of the summer festival, the way the council betrayed all of us with their secrets and lies…” I stepped into Kade’s heat, letting his body soothe my rough edges. “That this war with the bears is completely one-sided, and that bears and wolves are meant to rule together.”
Kade’s chest rumbled behind me. “Tomorrow morning we will petition to be co-rulers of the shifters, uniting our energy and the boroughs’ mecca. Here’s hoping they don’t fight us too hard.”
Our luck had never worked out that way, but it wouldn’t matter. Somehow or other, I would make them see this was the new future for all of us.
As soon as we were off the boat, Violet, Carrie, Kade and I took an ATV to the bear estate. Even though I could have safely gone to the wolf estate, I needed to see my sister first. I was tense the entire drive, hands clutching on the sidebars. No one spoke. Kade was driving, expertly weaving in and out of the natural landscape. Finn was running; he needed to work off some energy. Nix was in the sky, keeping an eye out. Having a bird’s eye view was turning out to be hugely useful. I wasn’t sure how I’d lived before Kade and Nix.
“Winnie is fine,” Kade said as he placed his hand across my thigh, which I was bouncing up and down. “Nix is already near the estate. She can see her playing in the garden.”
A surge of relief and joy burst through me. I laced my fingers in Kade’s and pulled our joined hands up close to my chest, cradling them. “I’m failing her as a mother slash sister. I keep promising myself I’ll do better, and she keeps getting pushed aside for this crazy life I’m living. I don’t want to be like that anymore. I don’t want her to always be second.”
Kade’s grip tightened and our ATV ground to a halt as he turned to face me fully. “We will do better by Winnie.” His voice was serious, no room for doubts. “We’re going to be a family. She’ll live with us, and we’ll be there every single day for her. She’ll never doubt that she’s loved and wanted and protected. She’s my cub now, and I’ll not let either of you down.”