Another three outliers fell by my hand, one managing to rake its claws along my collarbone before its head rolled.
I forced myself to think about the moment when my mother had advanced on me as a child, her eyes wild and a blade in her hand. She’d said she was going to make us human again, but… I pictured my mother’s eyes. Eyes that had been the same violet as my own had flickered to red as she’d strode toward me, the color a crimson shade that had terrified me. But it wasn’t until now that I realized what it meant.
“WARRICK!!” The cry that left me contained a fury that tore apart my insides, burning its way through me piece by piece. I would tear the vampire apart.
CHAPTER 32
~ Raine ~
Theoutlierdroppedthefae soldier, and I flew after the creature as it flapped its wings and soared high into the clouds. The creature banked left and then right, its wings spread wide as it narrowly avoided my jaws, but I wasn’t letting it get away. Opening my mouth, I let my fire light up the sky, and the beast turned to ash before my eyes.
Satisfaction hummed through me, but Darian’s warning had me snapping to attention.
“There are more!” my siren shouted as he let two stars fly, blinding one of the winged outliers that appeared from the thick clouds on my right. The creature shrieked and clawed at its face as another five outliers attacked me from all sides, their taloned feet aiming for my wings.
Darian reached for his bow and shot a series of arrows at one of the creatures that angled toward me on my left. I stretched my neck and closed my jaws around another outlier, tearing the creature in two. Blood filled my mouth, and I roared, my tail flicking as I swooped lower. The remaining outliers came toward me, and one grabbed hold of my right wing.
Darian’s song filled my ears, but his magic wasn’t directed at me. The music was just audible over the sound of the wind, but the outlier that held my wing didn’t release me.
“My power isn’t working!” my siren shouted in alarm, and he leapt for the outlier, his sword in hand.
The beast snapped its head at him, but he maneuvered his body out of the way of its jaws, and his sword sliced through the creature’s neck.
My teeth closed around the body of another outlier on my left, and I tossed its lifeless form away before letting my fire free and incinerating the last outliers. But when I turned my head back, Darian was gone.
Fuck.
My heart pounded as I angled my head toward the ground, pulling my wings in as I shot after my siren.
My mate.
Down.
Down.
Down, we fell.
Darian’s tiny form drew closer to the ground, and the battle rose up beneath us, the monsters still killing each other and crying out as they spilled blood.
Down.
I passed Darian and spread my wings, leveling out as he landed on my back, his thighs gripping my neck. Smoke trailed from my nostrils as I screeched, relief coursing through me, but my relief was short-lived when I noticed Asher, Locke, and monsters from the houses of Thorem and Axeran battling a sea of outliers.
Flying toward them, I opened my maw and burned away a section of the outliers. Asher lifted his fist into the air, but he didn’t stop running. I looked at where he was headed. Across the battlefield, Warrick still watched from the safety of his beast, and I growled as I eyed the vampire.
“You can’t go closer to him, lovely,” Darian shouted in warning, pointing to where the sirens of the House of Saceris and the other monsters allied to Warrick were waiting in formation. Veering away from them, I let my fire burn away more outliers.
I circled around Kade and the wolves, and sections of the rebel army, only burning away outliers when I was sure my fire wouldn’t harm the rebels.
Vasken, Lyr and her mates, Garan and the gargoyles, Losak, Quinn and the shifters, they all fought divided. In his shifted form, Losak’s basilisk head rose up, his teeth sinking into a huge outlier that walked on legs the size of tree trunks. The beast swung one of its meaty arms sending Losak flying, and Quinn’s fox ran beneath the outlier’s legs distracting the creature. Cassar’s boar grunted and barreled into the outlier from the side, causing the creature to stumble a step.
Curving around, I incinerated the outlier’s head, my blue flames licking down its body. The creature toppled, crushing outliers as it fell. The rebels cheered, lifting their weapons into the air as they screamed at me, and I roared, flying higher once again as I avoided the spears and magic of the fae.
With my help, the rebels were managing to hold out, but across the battlefield, outliers seemed to come from nowhere, attacking the fae army from behind.
The back lines of the fae turned and began fighting against the creatures, but the silver horses reared up in fright. King Chalir fell from his saddle, landing hard, and a cloaked figure ran to his side. The king was on his feet in an instant, and fae soldiers surrounded him as they fought against the monsters. Fae lifted their hands, sending outliers flying with wind magic, while others created a wall of dirt that slowed the creatures down.
But it wasn’t enough.
