Okay. We’ll figure this out. I’ll bound onto the deck where I left you. I’m cloaked. Only five seconds out. Oh, shit, you’ve got Invictus pairs back there, at least three, maybe more. But I’m gliding in anyway. I can sneak through. And now I’m on the deck.
Zane watched the back door glide open and the next moment, Olivia had her arms around his neck holding him fast. At the same time she spread her cloak to encompass him.
Two Invictus pairs entered the cottage right after her, probably thinking Zane had opened the door.
He gripped her hard, his throat painfully tight, pulling her off to the side, away from the Invictus. I’m hoping they’ll leave this space, then we can slip by them.
Got it, she said.
Both wraith-pairs, believing the living room was empty, raced into the hall that led to the bedroom. Zane quickly led Olivia back to the deck. She hopped onto his boot and he went straight up into the air, moving west toward the Fae Guild complex.
My Guard will be here in the next few minutes. I told them to fly in from the north and to let me know when they’ve arrived. But right now, we’ve got some vulnerable fae to rescue.
Then we’d better get on it.
Damn, the woman was game and not a single recrimination.
He veered back to the Guild’s formal garden and found several wraiths already feeding on captured women.
Zane, if we get close enough to those fae trying to hide, I can cloak them. We could carry them out of here that way.
It’ll do.
He dropped next to a woman crouching behind a hedge and spoke quietly to her, warning her he was cloaked. We’ll get you to safety.
She was wide-eyed with panic but nodded, even though she couldn’t see him or Olivia.
Olivia then extended her cloak and the moment she did, the woman leaped into Zane’s arms.
He immediately rose into the air and flew swiftly back to the forest. He told her the Guard was coming as well as the shifter brigade, and to hide until she saw forces she trusted.
As soon as the woman was safe within a cluster of large rhododendron shrubs, he flew back to the compound.
He saw two women racing from one cottage to the next. He sped toward them and repeated the same process. Once Olivia had the fae cloaked, she was strong enough to hold one woman against her while he grabbed the other.
He carried them back into the forest, then dropped them to take cover, as he’d done before.
He repeated the process, again and again, as fast as he could. Olivia frequently directed him, her gaze searching constantly for signs of women in hiding.
He pathed to Chase, letting him know what he was doing. I need a quarter of your men to protect the women I’ve left in the forest. Alert them to your presence, then get them the hell out of there and away from the Guild. I want the bulk of the Guard that’s with you to surround the central part of the compound. There are at least fifty wraith-pairs attacking and feeding in the central area. They’re also searching through all the rooms. How far out are you?
Half-a-minute. We’re flying fast.
Good. Let me know when you’ve arrived. Olivia and I are carrying as many into the woods as we can.
Zane took a moment to fly over the forest in search of wraith-pairs who might be chasing after fae that had escaped into the forest on their own. He found two fae women barely forty yards away from a shrieking wraith and her bonded troll mate.
He landed a few feet in front of the women and again, Olivia uncloaked them just long enough to alert the women.
“Come to me,” he shouted, holding out his arms.
The panicked women took a split-second to assess then raced toward him.
He caught one and Olivia caught the other. As Olivia’s cloak descended, he pulled the group a few yards to the right. The wraith shrieked her frustration as she plowed forward along the path well away from Zane’s position.
He gathered one trembling, weeping woman into the circle of his free arm, Olivia took the other and he carried them north.
Chase let him know his force had arrived and that part of his men had already started gathering up the refugees.