Page 72 of Freed Wolfsbane

Not wanting to make the old man walk too far, I hurry to meet him at the end of the dock.

He dips his head at me. “My queen. Good to see you again. I trust that the arrangements I made are satisfactory?”

“Yeah, you did a great job. Where did you get all of them from, anyway?” None of them look like the rundown ones from the boathouse.

He smiles secretively. “You only saw the only ones I’m comfortable leaving that close to the Knights. I store the rest of my fleet somewhere much safer.” That’s a massive fleet for one dude to own.

Jad’s chest puffs up. “Yes, they are all mine, and, as such, they are yours as well. My family’s investments have paid off over the years. We always try to keep a fleet on hand should our queen need us.”

My eyes are wide in surprise. It’s been thousands of years since Dido died, so it’s impressive that one family has been in perpetual readiness for her eventual return for all these years. “Well, good thinking because this is exactly what we need.”

Jad preens at my praise. “I assume you brought people with you capable of piloting them? I was unsure if you wanted me to share your business with those in my employ, so I did not bring anyone with me.”

I nod. “Yep. We have some mages and shifters who know a thing or two about boats.”

His lips curl up in disgust at the mention of mages, but he smooths out his expression before anyone else notices. “Very well. You and your mates will be in my vessel. I don’t trust anyone else to get you where you need to go.”

I huff a laugh. “I’m good with that. I don’t know who the captains are, but I can find out. Do you want to show them what they need to know?”

“I know who will be piloting. I can gather them up for you,” Malachi tells him. When he gets a nod, he strides off into the crowd to get everyone.

It only takes fifteen minutes to load everyone up and set off. Our boat, with Jad at the helm, is in the lead with the other fifty trailing behind us in orderly rows.

Rhys, his top mages, Vale and his betas, some enforcers, and the other alphas who came with their pack are with us. I think the only alpha who wasn’t able to come was the Nightshade one, but I’m honestly not sure. All of the giant, scary, look-like-they-can-kill-you-with-a-thought alpha dudes blend together after a while.

We sit in tense silence for the entire hour it takes to get to the veil. When we approach it, Jad cuts the engine and signals the rest to do the same. He has to go boat to boat to get everyone across. One of the mages is going to portal him between the vessels, making it easier for the old man to reach everyone.

“Brace yourselves,” Jad calls before he turns on the engine and slowly sails our boat through the veil. Like last time, it feels like a giant hug when I pass through.

It must be really uncomfortable for the others because everyone grimaces, and one or two of the alphas hisses in pain at the crossing.

I feel a little more like a badass that I can do something big, scary alphas struggle to do, but that feeling fades as soon as I spot the heavily fortified hidden city. There are even more ships here than last time, with dozens of Knights scurrying between them.

Awesome.

Just what we needed. More Knights.

I shake my head but don’t say anything as one of Rhys’s mages, Max, portals Jad to the next boat. It takes Jad twenty or so minutes to cross the whole fleet. He stands in each vessel until it passes the barrier, then goes to the next. I’m honestly surprised he’s able to get everything done in that short of a time.

Once everyone is through, Rhys and his mages huddle up to discuss in hushed whispers how they’ll take down the barrier. After a few minutes, they break away and line up with their hands outstretched. Before they start casting, Rhys turns to me. “You want to help, Briar? We could use the power.”

I blow out a breath. While I know everyone was going to find out what I’m capable of at some point today, I didn’t expect it to be right now. It makes sense that the barrier will take a lot of magic to break, and I can help with it. The more mages who help destroy it, the less drained each individual will be, leaving them with more magic for the fight.

One of the mages scoffs. “How will a wolf help us?”

Sighing, I call my mage magic and let some of it seep out to pool in my palms. The mages gasp when they see my icy-blue power. “Because I’m not just a wolf.”

“How is that fucking possible?” one of the Alder brothers asks in disbelief, his blond eyebrows, which match his shoulder-length hair, raising. “She’s definitely a wolf, but I can smell the mage magic coming off her now, too.”

I shrug. “There is a lot of stuff that used to be possible that most people don’t know about anymore. Hybrids are one of those things.”

The other Alder brother narrows his brown eyes. “How can we trust you?”

I can feel my eyes turning the ice blue of my wolf. Dido infuses my voice with her power. “Because I’m risking a ton of people I care about to defeat the curse, when I don’t have to. I can already shift, but I’m doing this to help everyone else. Because I am one of two of my entire family that is left thanks to the Knights hunting us down. Because I put my life on the line over and over to stop the Knights. If you don’t trust me because I’m also mage, then you shouldn’t be here. We need everyone working together to accomplish this, and infighting will only give the Knights another advantage we can’t afford to give them.”

The bear alpha averts his eyes and mumbles, “Sorry.”

I raise my eyebrows at him. “You want a portal home? I’m happy to open one.”

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