Page 65 of Ruin

“Easy,” breathed Connor, a wave of reassurance filtering into me.

We had stayed far enough away that our scents wouldn’t reach the mix of Weres and demon guards who were dressed in the armoured jumpsuits Zander had worn in the past.

Connor’s brows dipped, and his gaze followed the line of the cleared runway.

“What is it?”

“The runway. There’s no snow and very little ice. They’ve had, or are expecting, a plane to land.”

He was right. “What does that mean?”

“Nothing. We carry on as planned.”

Time ticked by. I shuffled in the snow. Damn, my whole body was a block of ice. Connor glanced at me and his gaze softened. “Call her. You have to be warm enough to fight.”

“I’m fine,” I said before he could say anything more. Him seeing me as weak was the last thing I wanted. He raised his brows, his mouth twitching before he turned his attention back to our enemy. “I would never think you weak,” he murmured from the side of his mouth. My heart banged in my chest as we waited in the ever increasing shadows for Alex’s signal.

Around us the forest was silent, the wolves looked more like mounds of snow than animals but none of them moved, neither did our ‘soldiers’.

Our whole force had split well before we reached the prison. Two squads would cut the fences and enter the compound at the side and rear, and our main force would break through the main gates as soon as we got Connor’s go ahead. The element of surprise would only help if Alex succeeded. If he didn’t, then Drake would use his tech to block the camera feeds, but that would take far longer.

Until three days ago, the prison’s cameras had been offline. That meant somebody in there knew how to fix stuff like that. I bit my lip, hoping the clear runway didn’t mean Berith had received supernatural reinforcements. My gaze drifted to the grey, snow filled sky before lowering back to the runway. Or that demons had been sent out in the world.

Connor’s eyes narrowed, his vision honing in on the nearest camera. “The camera’s are off, Alex has done it.”

I tensed and called upon Mea and Fire. Both of my girls responded and warmth invaded my body, loosening my tight and cold muscles.

“First squads—go,” Connor commanded, the tiny microphone fitted to his throat picking up his voice vibration. Within seconds the metal gates were blown wide and the first two squads rushed into the compound from where they’d cut the fencing. The Weres guarding the compound quickly turned their attention to them, leaving the bare minimum of guards near the main gates. I cringed as bullets from the remaining watchtower rained down on our forces. A lone demon fired indiscriminately. Answering gun fire echoed, but no matter how many bullets hit this demon, he wouldn’t go down. We pretty much needed to annihilate their vessel to send a demon back to Hell.

Groaning at the stiffness in my joints, I swung my bow off my back, tuned out the noise of the attack and knocked an explosive arrow. I steadied my body and using Mea’s help, honed my vision through the thick falling snow and in on the demon. Gripping the bow string lightly, I lifted my elbow a fraction more, judged the light wind, released a steady breath...and let the arrow fly. Under my coat, my tattoos burned, but they always did when I used the faerie bow. I shook the snow off my shoulders and held the bow loosely in my grip as the tower shattered in an explosion of metal and wood.

There was another almighty explosion from the back of the building that was the entrance to the underground prison. Flames and smoke billowed from a hole in the roof. I ran towards it, hoping Alex was safe. He’d blown the security centre to shit, as per Connor’s plan. No bots or cameras would be working now.

Weres poured out of the entrance, sprinting over the snow towards the squads that fought their way across the prison compound.

“Move!” Connor’s voice boomed out. His pupils sparked with deep red flames that I had never seen before, his voice full of power and authority. Not a single shifter or wolf hesitated. It was as if Connor had been keeping them all still, but now they were compelled to move. “Show no mercy!”

Connor launched himself into a run. I spinted after him as fast as my shorter legs would take me, not wanting him to leave me behind.

Wouldn’t dream of leaving you, Firecracker. Come on, your cute little arse can run faster than that.

He must have tapped into his Hell-beast to talk to me as he was still running. I scowled at his back. I could hear him laughing at the finger I mentally gave him.

Now, now. Is that any way to behave towards your King?He huffed a chuckle, turned and waited for me to catch up, his eyes glowing.

King, my arse,I answered while flinging my bow up into my grip. The silver and blue dragon tattoo Walker had given me tingled again and a flash of blue energy lit the bow. I silently thanked the Winter King. The tattoo had always gifted me enough fae magic to increase the power of the fae weapons I used. I fired towards a Were who leapt from the top of a pile of storage boxes. An arrow thudded into the centre of his chest and he slammed onto his back in the snow. One arrow in the chest wouldn’t normally stop a demon-fuelled monster but these weren’t ordinary arrows, they were fae. He roared up at the snow filled sky, thrashing in what looked like agony as we ran past. I didn’t stop, I just ducked when the arrow exploded. I had no arrows left.

Connor fired silver bullets into the chests of two black clad guards. They didn’t go down.

“Ember!” He shouted a warning, but I was already moving. He hit his attacker straight in the visor with a fist that caved it in as if it was paper, then yanked his clawed hand out. From the corner of my eye I saw the guard collapse, but didn’t stop to gawk at my mate’s strength. The other guy was on me. I lunged sideways, ducked under his first punch, straightened and slammed my bow down on the back of his neck then caught him right at the vulnerable spot under his helmet. The solid blow made him stagger. I pulled a blade from my thigh sheath and drove it into the same spot. It had been a long time since I’d killed, but these were not people, not anymore, they were demons, and they deserved to go right back to Hell.

Moving swiftly, I severed the demon’s spinal cord, then sprinted across the snowy ground until I stood beside Connor, our backs up against the wall of the small building. A group of wolves bounded up, their jaws bloodied and their eyes bright with the thrill of battle. The lead wolf snarled, but dipped his head at Connor.

“Brother,” Connor greeted Kawan.

The wolves stood back. One man nodded at Connor, then kicked open the door, throwing in a grenade. “Down!”

Instinctively, I covered my ears to the blast. Before we could run in, the doors burst outwards and more Weres staggered out, shaking their heads and roaring. Bullets only slowed them down, but having their throats ripped out by a wolf stopped them; for now at least.

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