The sound of glass shattering happened all around right as shadowy birds entered the castle. The flock began swarming and swooping at us, clawing at our faces. One got my cheek enough to draw blood.
All hell broke loose when the ceiling of the library came crashing in. What I could only assume to be a giant troll, stood before us in all his fury as the sickening magic of Morrigan corrupted him. Anger guided his wooden club as he began bashing around the room, standing three times bigger than the other men in their primal forms.
“We need to get out of here!” Cullen began leading us to the door. Everyone rushed to follow him for us to get out of the castle, but I was swept away with this feeling of absurd jealousy in my haste. Morrigan wanted Cian as a mate, pursuing him when he was already taken. Given, the corrupt queen didn’t know I had laid claim on the dark prince, but it didn’t matter. My ties to him were deadly when it came to protecting what was mine.
Shaking my head, I made sure to not let such trivial thoughts bother me now. This wasn’t going to be easy on me when it came to other women seeking my men, so I had to start now with controlling myself.
Vexing sounds lifted from below, letting us know there were creatures downstairs. All of us stopped in the long corridor that led to the rooms we were staying in just as I remembered my dagger wasn’t on me. Running ahead, I knew I had to retrieve it before we left the castle.
“Briar, where are you going?” Cullen followed in haste with the others hot on his heels.
“The dagger,” it was all I said, but that was all they needed. Once inside my room, I grabbed my things in order to go a little faster. As we sat inside, we heard the feral cries just outside of the room we were in. Cian locked the door without a second thought to give us a little bit of a barrier before we had to fight. From the noises coming, we knew there were going to be too many of them for us to compete against. Morrigan really wanted Cian, so she sent her whole army to retrieve him.
Fear swept through us all, but we never faltered when it came to knowing what had to be done. Looking around the room, I tried to see if there might be something in it that we could use before turning back and seeing the wings on all the men. Now that they were part dragon in their primal forms, it made more sense to use what they had just been given.
“You need to fly out of here,” I ordered. Pointing toward the window, all of their eyes swung that way.
“Briar, we don’t know how to fly because we’ve never done it before.” Bain was the one who argued an important thing, but we didn’t have time for it.
“Morrigan wants Cian, and her whole army is inside this castle to retrieve him. We don’t have time for flying lessons, so you’re gonna have to figure out how to glide to the ground while doing it.”
“She’s right,” Cian agreed. His black wings stretched behind him as though he was trying to get familiar with the muscle groups. I observed how his horns were red instead of black, wondering why he had such a unique coloring to him. It fit the dark prince theme that everyone knew him by, and I did find him attractive. I found all of their primal forms attractive.
“Sounds great and all, but Briar doesn’t have wings. One of us is going to have to carry her.” Alastair raised a good point, but we didn’t have time for it.
“We just have to do it anyway, so who is brave enough to hold me?” Placing my hands on my hips, I met all of their stares. Cullen was the one to step forward, meeting my gaze to tell me he would keep me safe.
“I’ll take you,” he answered.
Running out of time, an ax finally chipped away enough of the door for us to see the tip of the blade. There was also the feeling of thundering footsteps coming our way that told us the troll wasn’t in the library anymore.
Fergus ran to my bed, grabbing all the furs he possibly could before bundling me in their center. His eyes looked worried because we didn’t know how this is going to go, but he knew we didn’t have any other options from Cian‘s castle falling. “Just in case you need some cushion when you land.”
He was always so sweet to think of me first, and I adored him more for it. Everyone rushed to the window and began hopping over the ledge from the door being shoved enough to sit on its hinges. Cullen took hold of me just as the army swarmed the room.
We were out in the open snowstorm being pelted with shards of ice. The flight was jagged from him never doing this before, and I could hear him muttering curses over his lack of ability to get it on the first go.
“Little Rose, brace yourself!” It was all he said as his wings tried to fight the weather, crashing us into a drift near the bridge.
Hands were instantly all over me, trying to uncover me from the furs. When I said I was okay, they let me up with a groan just as the creatures began to chase us.
“Into the tunnel!” Fergus shouted, picking me up to land over his shoulder.
The men charged into the small space just as Cullen took out the bridge with his magic. That would keep the flightless ones away. He turned to look at me before getting inside the tunnel. “Little Rose, pull out your dagger for light!”
Just as he said it, Fergus used his earth abilities to create a cave-in on both sides of the tunnel. That was when I knew this was going to be our night. We would be camping in a tunnel, hoping there was enough oxygen to save us.
We moved to the other end, knowing we’d need to leave that way during the daylight. All of us needed to rest after hurting our bodies by jumping out the window.
~
Morning came quickly as the men packed up the furs to attach to their cloaks. I was the last to rise, still suffering from the sex we had. They never bothered me, giving me time to sleep from everything being sore.
“You’re awake,” Bain greeted me.
“And I feel like someone ran me over with a dozen wagons,” I groaned.
Fergus was in the front of the cave, using his magic to move a few rocks at a time. “The earth has told me we shall have safe passage. Morrigan’s minions abandoned us before dawn came, but we will need to be ready for anything.”