The sky pulsed with an angry red hue as the first shrieks of shadow beasts tore across the forest. The air thickened with magic and death, the scent of sulfur and burning fur curling around the trees. The entity's army didn't walk, they poured through the woods like living tar, twisting and growling, their bodies black smoke and bone blades.
Kaleb's POV
His giant white wolf surged forward before he even registered the scream. He shifted mid air, slamming into the first shadowbeast with bone crushing force, his claws glowing with silver light. This was his pack. His home. His family.
He tore into the creature's throat, yanking it clean and tossing it aside like garbage. Another lunged and he spun, digging claws deep into its belly and using brute strength to tear it in half.
"Come at me, motherfuckers!" he roared, his voice distorted by the growl of the beast within.
Lightning crackled through his fur. His rage made the very air burn.
Arwen's POV
Blades drawn, Arwen moved like a ghost. Each strike was elegant, but deadly, his sword slicing through shadow flesh like butter. He channeled ice through one hand, freezing a beast mid pounce and shattering it with a kick to the chest.
His glamour dropped in the chaos, revealing his glowing eyes and battle worn tattoos. Fae power bled from his skin as he summoned vines from the ground to entangle three more. Then he grinned. "You bitches picked the wrong pack."
With a swirl of wind magic, he launched himself into the sky, impaling another with a cry that shook the trees.
Elisha's POV
The Alpha Dragon King exploded from the sky with a roar that split the clouds. Shifting mid descent, his golden form illuminated the battlefield. Shadow monsters scrambled too slow and they all burned, screaming.
Elisha incinerated dozens in a single breath. His wings knocked aside a pack of them, and with a roar, he dove, crushing one with each claw. His tail whipped around, cleaving through another five like a blade.
Then they made the mistake of throwing shit. Literally. One shadow hurled a chunk of burning wolf house at his face.
"Oh hell no."
He shifted back to fae form just to stomp the monster's head flat with dragon imbued fury, shouting, "Did you just throw poop at a DRAGON KING?!"
Sable's POV
The demon's wings ripped through the canopy, claws glowing with dark fire. His forked tongue hissed and his snake like demon cock slithered in anticipation, which would've been hilarious if he wasn't gutting monsters by the dozen.
Sable dropped into the fray like a living meteor, stone hard skin turning aside their blades. He grabbed one creature, ripped its head off with his tail, and used the spine to beat another into sludge.
His runes glowed crimson. He muttered dark spells under his breath, and a dozen shadow monsters exploded in shrieking agony. He let out a guttural roar, eyes pure black with red flames dancing inside.
"She is mine," he growled.
Liam's POV
He moved so fast the eye couldn't track him, appearing behind shadow monsters and slicing their heads off before they could blink. "Oops. You dropped this," he quipped, tossing a severed arm aside.
He saw the wolf pups cornered and zipped over, fangs bared, summoning a vortex of dark wind. As he dove, one beast leapt and caught his arm in its jaws....ripping it clean off.
Liam screamed. Blood sprayed. He just stared at his bloody stump.
"Fucking hell," he gasped. "That's my jack off arm!"
But he still used his other to punch the thing's throat out before collapsing to the ground with a thud.
Rhiannan's POV
The second she saw Liam fall, the ground obeyed her screams.
Roots burst from beneath her feet and ripped through ten monsters at once. She screamed, pouring power into the battlefield vines ensnaring, thorns piercing, the earth groaning under the weight of her rage.
She leapt to Liam's side, pressing hands to his chest. Her magic roared through him, glowing, divine, untamable.
"You don't get to leave me," she growled, tears streaking down her dirt covered cheeks.
His heart beat steadily in his chest and she breathed a sigh of relief.
She screamed again, releasing a shockwave that blew the final wave of shadow monsters into ash. She was over this.
As the dust settled, the pack mourned their dead. Bodies were gathered. Flames lit the forest in honor of the fallen. But not one shadow beast remained.
And in the center of it all, Rhiannan stood, her mates bloodied, bruised, and battle worn around her.
The entity would regret this day.
He had no fucking clue what he'd unleashed.
The battlefield still steamed with blood and ash when Rhiannan's eyes snapped to a faint twitch in the shadows. Amid the mangled corpses and scorched earth, one of the monsters moved.
"Hold," she commanded, her voice low but sharp as a blade.
Kaleb's fangs bared. "It's still breathing?"
"Barely," she muttered, stalking forward.
The thing snarled weakly, obsidian ichor leaking from its cracked jaw. Broken, twisted, but still tethered to the same darkness that plagued her dreams.
Rhiannan dropped to her knees beside it, her magic prickling at the edge of her fingertips. She could feel it, the thread of power leading straight to its master.
"Oh, you're gonna help me find your boss," she whispered, a wicked smirk curving her lips. "Congratulations. You just became my snitch."
Elisha shifted beside her, his golden eyes flaring. "You want to keep it?"
She rolled her eyes. "Not like a pet, Your Royal Dragonass. Just long enough to crack its magical GPS."
Sable growled his approval, already yanking chains from the ruins with a dangerous gleam in his eyes. "I'll bind the bastard myself."
Within minutes, the creature was gagged, shackled in enchanted iron, and dragged into the pack dungeon, an old, stone walled chamber that hadn't seen use in years. It smelled like blood, dust, and secrets.
Perfect.
Elisha's elite dragon guard arrived, their armor still smoking from their teleport through the portal. The commander gave her a nod. "We're ready, my queen."
Rhiannan's eyes glittered. "Time to go dark witch mode."
The Spell
Rhiannan spread her hands over the old spellbook she'd conjured from the Enchanted Library. The pages curled at the edges, alive with twitching symbols and whispers in languages lost to time.
"We need basilisk fang," she said, snapping her fingers.
"On it," Kaelin growled, already shifting into fur.
"Elven crystal salt," she added.
Sera and Sol bolted out, wolf forms flying.
"Wyvern blood."
Grath nodded once and stalked toward the armory.
"And a feather from a banshee owl," she finished.
Elisha raised a brow. "What the hell even is..."
"Just get it," she snapped, already scrawling runes onto the dungeon floor.
The men scattered like puppies with assignments, growling and grumbling but moving with purpose.
Kaleb lingered, nostrils flaring. "This is dangerous."
"I am dangerous," she replied, fire lacing her voice. "And he's not ready for me."
The monster hissed through its gag, and Rhiannan turned toward it, eyes glowing with divine light.
"Oh sweetheart," she whispered, placing a hand over its chest. "You're gonna show me everything."
She grinned wickedly, already tasting the entity's surprise.