Fighting Fate (24 page)

Logan leaned into her touch and closed his eyes. “I won’t risk you, Cailin,” he growled.

“As I won’t risk you. That’s why we’ll be together. We’re not alone either, Logan. Look around.

We’re gathered for a battle, and we’re not backing down. No matter what.”

Her mate looked up and then over her shoulder. She followed his gaze and took in the sight of

what would happen only once—what had never happened before.

Forty of the strongest Redwood Pack wolves alongside twenty of the strongest Talons.

It seemed the final battle in this war was on the horizon.

They would put all of their blood and lives into this to send Caym back to hell. That was the

only outcome they could accept. The only outcome they could live with.

They’d fought the demon and his wolves before and had lost only because of Caym himself. This

time, though, they had the magic they had long since searched for. They could break through the dark

wards. They could defeat the demon.

That was, of course, if the magic actually worked.

Cailin swallowed hard.

The magic
had
to work.

Their plan was simple.

Use the magic Emeline had found and do the bloodletting of Cailin and Logan. That would start

the process that would open the portal to hell. Emeline was sure that the magic would not only open

the portal but also alert the demons of Caym’s presence.

Cailin just prayed that the other demons stayed on their line between the realms.

They
really
didn’t need more demons on their lands.

Then, when the wards were down due to Caym’s attack, they would be able to fight.

“Are you sure this is going to work?” Gideon, the Talon Alpha, asked Kade for the third time.

Her brother closed his eyes, and she knew he was begging for patience. It wasn’t that Gideon

was annoying or even non-trusting. It was that the man was asking the same question they were all

thinking.

Everything rode on this spell, and they’d never used it before.

Talk about pressure.

“We’re here, Gideon,” Ryder, Gideon’s brother and Heir to the Talon Pack, said. “That alone

means we’re trusting them. Let’s just get on with it.”

It had surprised Cailin that so many of the Talons had come to fight. Not only had the Alpha and

Heir come, but Gideon had brought one of his other brothers, Walker, who was also the Healer, and

one of the Brentwood cousins, Mitchell, the Beta of the Pack. That made four high-ranking and

powerful wolves ready to fight with the Redwoods.

They had promised before they’d be on the Redwood’s side, Gideon and Mitchell even fighting

alongside them before, but this show of force solidified something much deeper within the Packs.

She’d never known of two Packs to work so closely before. Wolves were so secretive, so

reclusive, she wasn’t sure this had ever happened.

Grateful didn’t even begin to cover her feelings.

The Talons had brought their enforcers and other members of the Pack to help fight if Caym

decided to push the battle closer. The other members of the Talons and their hierarchy had been

forced or elected to stay behind and protect their Pack.

It made sense, as the Redwoods had done the same, even going so far as to evacuate to their

hidden sanctuaries.

On the outside, everything seemed as though it was spiraling out of control, but Cailin knew

differently. All paths and trials had been coming to this point, this time in space and existence. The

final battle was here. She just knew it.

They would either win and defeat the demon or die trying.

There would be no in-between.

They had long since passed that barrier, that option.

“What is our next step?” Gideon asked Kade, letting his earlier question pass after Ryder’s

comment.

Cailin gripped Logan’s hand, needing an anchor.

Kade met her eyes, searching, and she gave him a nod. She was ready. As ready as she’d ever

be.

“Logan and Cailin will perform the ritual with Emeline. We will move and station our wolves

around the wards and will fight when the time comes. Caym was so worried about Cailin and Logan

before that we believe they need to be the ones to kill him. That doesn’t mean we will let them go at

the demon on their own.” Kade met Gideon’s gaze. “I want us both near them at all times. Two

Alphas against the Central Alpha. Caym might have let most of his stronger wolves die during our

war, but I wouldn’t believe that is all he has. He’s incredibly cunning. We will all need to be on our

guard. I don’t know what’s up his sleeve, but together we can kill the Centrals that get in our way.

With our magic against his, we should be able to finally send Caym back to where he came from.”

The others around them, her family, her Pack, the Talons, murmured in agreement, the tension

and anticipation in the air so thick she could taste it.

“Send him back to hell?” Walker, the Talon Healer, asked, his head tilted. “Is that your desire?

Not to kill him, but to send him away?”

Emeline, the sole elder in their presence, moved to stand beside Kade. There was a power about

her today that Cailin hadn’t seen before. Almost as if the moon goddess herself surrounded the elder.

Interesting.

“We can try for both,” Emeline answered once Kade gave her a nod. “While sending his corpse

back to the hell realm so no part of him remains with us, we might only be able to lock him back

within the demons. We don’t know, but that doesn’t mean we aren’t going to try to make him pay for

every sin, every death, every pain.”

Cailin raised her head and howled at her elder’s words, the others joining her. The Talons

howled as well, their harmony sweet, poignant.

“We’ll stand beside you,” Gideon promised.

“As we will you,” Kade vowed.

The Alphas shook hands, and a sense of power washed over her, tickling her skin, shocking

down her back.

Emeline came to stand before Logan and Cailin. “Are you ready?”

Cailin looked to Logan, searching his gaze for any sense of worry. Her mate merely nodded then

lowered his head, brushing his lips to hers.

“Together, Cailin. Always.”

She nodded as well then followed Emeline to a stone bowl that someone, most likely Noah or

Hannah, had set up on a pillar.

“Go to your positions,” Adam called out, a sense of urgency in his tone.

This was it. All of it. Everything had come to this.

“We don’t know how long this will take or what Caym will plan,” Kade added. “Stay safe and

stand beside your partner. We will not fail. We are Redwoods!”

“And we are Talons, allies, friends, fighters,” Gideon called out.

Howls went up, and then they dispersed. She watched her family leave to take their places,

mates with mates, friends with friends. Cailin swallowed the ball of emotion in her throat, promising

herself that this would not be the last time she’d see them.

They would
not
lose.

They’d already lost too much.

Kade and Mel stood on one side of the pillar while Gideon and Mitchell stood on the other,

surrounding Emeline, Noah, Cailin and Logan. Cailin had a feeling that only Emeline didn’t know

why Noah was there beyond his abilities as a doctor, but that was a problem for another time.

They’d deal with it all in the future because there would
be
a future to deal with.

Logan squeezed her fingers then placed their clasped hands over her belly. “For her or him. I’m

not letting you go without a fight, princess. I love you too much for that.”

Cailin blinked back tears but raised her chin, ready to take back her life from the depths of

despair and loss.

“For her or him, Logan. I love you too.”

Emeline looked between them, the sense of loss so potent within her eyes Cailin had to hold

back a sob. The elder had lost even more than Cailin had over her life, but here she was, ready to

fight. Cailin would do the same.

“I’m going to cut your palms and then bind your hands together with rope,” the elder began.

Emeline took a deep breath then licked her lips. “The spell calls for a binding of strength and

memory.” She held out a fraying piece of rope, so worn and used Cailin knew that this must have been

something precious to the bearer. “This was the rope that held together my letters from my mate. I

kept every single one he ever wrote to me before he died. We will use this to hold the two of you

together in peace, ritual, and sacrifice.”

Pain marred Emeline’s features, and Noah put a hand on her hip, steadying her. The woman’s

eyes widened at the touch, and then she nodded, leaning into Noah’s hold.

“Ready?” Emeline breathed.

“Yes,” Cailin and Logan answered at the same time. “Always.”

“Once I make the cut, the spell should work. Expect Caym to retaliate because we are cutting off

his powers in some way in order to do this. I’ll be chanting, weaving the spell, so I won’t be of much

use once I begin.”

“I’ll protect you,” Noah vowed. “Keep your mind on the spell and what you need to do. I’ll take

care of the rest.”

Emeline nodded, not turning to meet Noah’s gaze, and Cailin was grateful for that. She wasn’t

sure she could handle the new emotions from either of the two people in front of her along with

everything raging inside her own body.

“Hold out your hands,” Emeline ordered.

With one last look at Logan, Cailin held out her palm, wincing as Emeline worked the blade

with two quick, efficient strokes.

“Palms together,” the elder ordered then began to chant in a language Cailin couldn’t understand

but knew it held power and meaning.

She started to become lightheaded, a warm sensation floating through her as Emeline bound their

hands, the blood from her and her mate filling the small stone bowl.

All at once, it felt as if a hot poker sliced against her ribs, her lungs. She called out, not able to

hold back. Logan yelled with her, something weighty, substantial slamming into her from the inside

out.

Cailin met Logan’s gaze as the demon screamed.

The fact that they could hear Caym not only in their heads but from the den itself didn’t surprise

her.

Not anymore.

Caym knew.

The mountain that the Centrals resided near roared.

Then all went black.

****

Logan woke to screaming, his nostrils burning from smoke. He tried to open his eyes, only to

close them right away because of the blinding light. His head throbbed, the staccato drumming on his

eardrums making him want to vomit.

He took a deep breath then cracked open his eyes, letting the light in slowly. As soon as he could

keep his eyes open without the feeling of a hammer on his temples, he rolled over, reaching for

Cailin.

“Cailin,” he croaked out, his throat filled with what had to be dirt or ground rocks.

He pulled on his hand, wondering what was caught on it and cursed.

Fuck.

Cailin.

They were bound together with that damn rope. He blinked, getting the dirt out of his eyes, then

looked down at his mate, unconscious, bleeding, and bound to him.

“Baby, wake up,” he pleaded, his wolf on alert.

Whatever magic they had done, it had taken down the fucking mountain.

He couldn’t sense any enemies around him, but he knew he was slower than normal from

whatever had knocked him out. He needed to take care of Cailin then find his Alpha.

Then they could figure out their next step.

He had no idea if the magic worked and if this was the expected outcome.

Although he would have thought Emeline would have mentioned the explosion part if she’d

known.

Logan leaned over his mate, brushing the hair from her face. He got a good look at the wound on

her hairline and let out a breath. It didn’t look deep, not at all. Head wounds just bled a whole hell of

a lot.

He could hear others around him, moving, calling out, and from their scents, he knew they were

Pack, not Central, but he needed to get Cailin up and safe.

With a growl, he let his claws out on his free hand and tore through the binding. He hoped he

didn’t fuck up the spell, but damn it, he needed both hands to protect his mate. As soon as he was free,

he framed her face then went down her body with his hands, checking for wounds. Other than a few

cuts and bruises, she didn’t appear to have any broken bones.

Thank the moon goddess.

Her eyes fluttered, and he let out a breath. “Open those green eyes for me, princess. There you

go. Wake up, Cailin.”

“Logan?” She coughed, and he cupped her cheek, helping her turn so she could find her breath.

“I’m here. We’ve got to get up. Can you move?”

She nodded then winced. “Other than the headache, I’m okay.” She let out a breath. “You heard

him in your head, too, didn’t you?”

He sighed. “Yes. Damn it. It didn’t make the portal show up, nor did Caym go away it seemed.

He knows we did something. What we did is anyone’s guess.”