Amanda screamed when a black wolf bit into her shoulder, and we tackled it just in time to see Josie run out of the barn in the distance, heading for the forest. The doors bang-opened again, momentarily distracting me when Melana ran out, carrying a bloody Rayan. Amanda suddenly shifted, tearing through everything that got in her way as she ran toward the barn just as Jamie rushed out, and she attacked him.
I slipped in the mud, blood drenching our coat, and Tyrant shook himself before taking down the last of Alpha Jamie’s men while Amanda viciously ripped into Jamie. His daughter’s voice seemed to echo as she screamed, watching her father get torn apart.
I saw Ace rush out, his entire body covered in burns and drenched in blood. He looked over at the screaming girl before taking off in her direction. Glancing at the barn, my eyes went to my mate, and relief flooded me that she was indeed alive. Lucy looked around before darting off in the direction Melana and Josie had gone.
Turning back to Avery, I saw Beryl getting the better of Avery. Avery tossed her arm out, trying to deflect Beryl’s magic when she was launched backward. The blow made her skid across the ground on her feet. When she dropped and punched the ground, a crack split up the aisle, and I jumped out of the way just in time before the earth swallowed me. Beryl laughed manically.
“You’re no match for me anymore.” Beryl cackled before throwing a fireball at her, which she only just managed to block when a forcefield flitted up around her. She staggered, gripping her knees before lifting her head and glaring at the woman, her emerald green eyes glowing like a beacon in the darkness before they turned black as night. I could hear her breathing from here as she grew weaker. The smell of electricity in the air made my fur stand on end when lightning cracked loudly above before spearing down at Avery and hitting her.
The sky glowed a crimson red as lightning smashed the ground around us and lit up the sky. Turning toward Beryl, the divide in the earth was huge. We backed up, hitting the fence covered in grapes behind us before charging forward and jumping across. Tyrant ran toward Beryl, and Aamon was right. Witches were in a league of their own.
Beryl didn’t even look in my direction. Instead, flicking her wrist out and tossing me into the barn. I hit the ground and was forced to shift back when a piece of splintered wood pierced through my side just as I heard Aamon’s voice scream out for Avery over the winds. My vision blurred as I got to my hands and knees just as Amanda ripped out Jamie’s heart, and Aamon rushed toward Avery when a blast of power exploded out of her.
The blast knocked me back against the barn again and flattened the trees surrounding the place, the grapes exploding with force as everything in its path was obliterated, the barn turning to splinters and bursting, raining down chunks of wood and debris.
The house exploded in fiery rubble when Aamon suddenly dropped where he stood. He collapsed on the ground while I was caught between a magical tornado as Avery and Beryl battled it out. Avery’s eyes and nose started bleeding as she tried to conjure up more power to overthrow Beryl, the winds so strong branches were flying off trees. The noise was deafening when I saw a flaming branch coming straight at me. Then all I saw was darkness, and I got knocked out.
Chapter ninety-five
Lucy
Outside was utter chaos. What I wasn’t expecting to find was my mother fighting Jamie. She was injured, but it didn’t stop her fighting. I looked around, horrified at the carnage, looking for my brothers, when I noticed Ace grab a little girl I assumed had to be Jamie’s daughter. She was screaming and thrashing in his arms when my mother called out to me.
“They went into the forest!” she screamed at me as she punched Jamie in the chest, her hand piercing through him. The noise was sickening, but I turned, sniffing the air as the wind picked up. Rayan’s scent was weak but noticeable.
I darted off into the trees when I was suddenly thrown forward by a blast behind me. A shriek left me, and pain rippled through me from the bond. I knew Tyson was hurt but still alive. Shaking myself off, I noticed the trees around me broken and flat against the ground like something had just bowled them over when I heard faint voices.
I moved quickly, chasing after Melana and Josie, wanting to get my brothers to safety. Although I had no idea where I would be safe with everything going on; it was madness, and if it weren’t for my heightened vision, I wouldn’t have been able to see in the darkness. The lightning was crazy, and the winds only got stronger as I pushed forward against them, trying to navigate my way through what was left of the forest. Twigs and branches were snapping off trees and whipping my arms and face as I tried to listen over the howling wind. I felt like I was running on a treadmill, barely making any distance with the winds swirling around me and pushing me in the direction I had come from, when I hit a small clearing and saw Melana with her arms outstretched. Rayan was at her feet when my eyes darted to Josie, who was holding Ryden.
Rayan was screaming at her to give Ryden to him as he got to his feet. My hair whipped around my face as I made my way over to them, Josie’s eyes instantly seeking me out, and she snarled, baring her canines at me.
“Please, Josie, just give me the baby,” Melana begged her sister, and I growled, baring my fangs at her wondering what was going on.
“They will kill me,” Josie said, and Melana took a step toward her, but Josie pulled Ryden closer, her hand on the back of his neck. He was screaming, the wind carrying his voice away.
“Please, Josie, just give me my brother?” I asked, holding my hands out for my brother.
“You took my mate,” Josie sneered at me.
“She never took him, Josie. He is sick. Why can’t you see that?” Melana tried to reason with her, and she looked down at Ryden in her hands, wrapped in his filthy blanket. She shook her head.
“This is the only way. I give him back, and they will kill me,” Josie said.
“No, you can go. Just give me my brother, and you can go, Josie. We won’t chase after you,” I told her, my eyes on my brother in her hands. Melana nodded to her, holding her hands and stepping closer, but she took a step back again before turning her glare on me.
“This is your fault, all of it. You just had to report him to Avery. You took him from me. Now I will take everything from you,” she screamed, and I saw her hand twitch a second before I lunged at her. Ryden went flying from her hands. His squeal pierced my ears and heart as I tackled her, and we hit the ground.
Josie punched me in the head, and Rayan screamed, making me look over at him to see Melana catch Ryden. Just as Josie grabbed my throat, she climbed on top of me, her claws sinking into my throat as she strangled me.
“We were in love! You took him from me! You took my mate,” she screamed and gritted her teeth, and panic kicked in when I suddenly couldn’t breathe. I clutched at her hands, and she screamed when I felt her wrists breaking but didn’t let go. She headbutted me, and I saw black for a second before grabbing her hands, trying to loosen her grip when she suddenly went rigid; her grip loosened on my throat, and a look of shock crossed her features. Josie looked down at her chest. Her hands let my throat go, and I coughed and looked up to see Melana standing behind her, tears rolling down her cheeks. Josie looked up at her sister.
“I won’t let you hurt anyone else,” Melana choked out before closing her eyes, and I heard a sickening tearing noise before my legs got coated in a substance I knew instantly was blood. Josie’s lips parted before she fell to her side. I stared up at Melana, holding Josie’s heart in her hands before she collapsed to her knees beside her sister. I scrambled backward, looking at Josie while Melana sobbed over her sister’s body, pulling her little sister into her lap and cradling her head while stroking her face.
Tears sprang into my eyes at what she had done. Josie was my friend once, and it was clear how much doing that broke Melana. Looking around, my eyes fell on Rayan, who was staring blankly at Melana, Ryden clutched in his arms, and a sob broke past my lips as I got to my feet, rushing toward him.
“Rayan!” I cried out, dropping beside him and looking down at Ryden in his arms. He was eating his own hand, sucking happily and unharmed, when I heard someone call my name over the wind.
“Lucy, Rayan!” I heard someone scream, and my head snapped up in the direction of the voice to see my mother burst through the trees.