Page 73 of Freed Wolfsbane

He shakes his head but still doesn’t look up from the ground. “No. You’re right. This is bigger than whatever disagreements I have with mages. If your mage power gives you a better chance of defeating the Knights, then I’m all for it.”

Giving him a nod, I turn around and walk over to the mages. Rhys reaches back and pulls me in front of him so I can see the barrier better, much to my mates’ displeasure if the growling behind me is anything to go by.

Rhys snorts. “On my count, we’ll aim an attack spell at the barrier. Three, two, one!Adflictare.”

While Rhys and his mages all shout the same spell, I let my magic flow through me without much direction other than to get rid of the dome. I’m not sure whose magic or what combination of power shatters the spell because it breaks with a deafening boom and a blinding flash of light that looks like an atomic bomb just went off.

I squeeze my eyes shut to block out the explosion of light. When my eyes no longer feel like they’re frying behind my lids, I peek one open to see the Knights frantically scanning around for the intruder. When the guns on the naval ships start swiveling around and preparing to fire, I point at the boats. “Time to go! We need to portal in before they start firing those.”

Rhys follows my hand, and his eyes widen. “Yep. Let’s go. Cian, open the portal.” He grabs the radio on his belt and tells the other mages, “Portal everyone in now.”

A portal opens in front of us. I let the other mages go through first and wait for my mates. Turning to Jad, I ask, “Will you be okay?”

He smiles slightly and nods. “I will, my queen. One of the mages is staying with me, and I will work to get all the boats out of the veil as quickly as possible. Worst-case scenario, I can always leave the vessels. We can buy more.”

My lips twitch down, not liking leaving Jad, but it’s our turn to go through the portal. “Okay. Be safe.”

Jad nods at me grimly. “You too, Briar.”

Taking a deep breath, a step through the portal to the hidden city filled with Knights, having no idea what I’ll find on the other side.

CHAPTER35

BRIAR

Everything is quiet when we walk out into the hidden city. Our footsteps on the old cobble stones are loud in the silence of the night as we cautiously venture further in. We portaled to the outer eastern edge that’s closest to Dido’s castle. Even though it’s closer, we still have a decently long walk because it’s right next to the green space I saw Ryker in.

The peace doesn’t last as shouts ring out from all around us. I assume that’s the other teams coming across Knights. We have a short distance to go before our group meets up with the other two that will be acting as additional protection. I still don’t think we need it, but I’ll defer to Rhys because he’s done this type of thing much more often than I have.

We don’t run into anyone as we step off the cobblestone path to wind our way through the orchard. No one jumps out from the trees at us, even though the mages have their giant guns at the ready.

I’m honestly a little weirded out when we make it to the abandoned warehouse that’s our meeting point without encountering a single Knight. The other two teams are already waiting there when we arrive, so I guess they had a pretty uneventful trip as well.

It’s not until we’re a few streets away from the center of the city that we see our first enemy. He runs out from around a corner, watching over his shoulder and not looking where he’s going. Two shots from one of the mages has the soldier dropping to the ground lifeless before he even knew we were there.

I’m starting to think we have a real shot at this if that’s how easy it is to take out the Knights. That is, until we walk through a barrier I hadn’t even noticed, and I’m assaulted by the sound of screams, gunfire, and heavy artillery. The booms from the big guns rattle the buildings around us, sending dust and loose stones raining down on us.

One of the mages puts up a defensive spell to protect us from debris. It’s not a moment too soon because a contingent of Knights burst out from behind a building, rapidly firing in our direction. The bullets bounce off the shield, but I see cracks starting to form from the impacts.

I let my magic trickle out to reinforce the dome. Some of the other mages also do the same thing. Rhys turns around to level me with a serious look. “Don’t waste your magic on stuff like this. I’m betting you’ll need everything you have to break the curse.”

Saint nods in agreement. “He’s right. Your magic isn’t infinite. The rest of us can take care of the defense and fighting right now.” His red magic snakes out to wrap around one of the Knights’ throat. The guy drops his gun and claws at his neck as he’s strangled by a force he can’t see. Eventually, the dude’s eyes roll back in his head, and he falls limply to the ground.

I hate that they’re right, because I feel so useless sitting here while the mages protect us and shoot at the Knights. Sighing, I withdraw my magic and stand in the middle of the group, doing nothing.

Some of the shifters break off from the group with a mage to sneak around the back of the Knights. They manage to take out quite a few of our attackers before the Knights even know what’s happening.

With the mages and shifters working together, our teams make quick work of the attackers. We encounter several more splinter groups of Knights that try to stop us from reaching the green space. While they slow our progress significantly, they’re nothing we can’t handle.

At least until one guy pulls out a freaking shoulder missile launcher. When I see him whip out that, I hastily throw up a shield behind the existing one. It’s a good thing too because the rocket smashes straight through the shields. The four mages that were holding up the shield collapse, knocked out cold.

I wince at the impact, feeling like someone slugged me in the breastbone, but my shield holds. One of the alphas steps behind the rocket launcher Knight and twists his head violently to the side. When he goes limp, the Porter alpha carelessly drops him.

“You okay, baby girl?” Malachi asks in concern from in front of me.

“I’m fine,” I grit out as I breathe through the crushing sensation in my chest.

Rhys surveys his downed mages with a practiced calm. He doesn’t freak out or start yelling. Instead, he nods to the redheaded mage to his left. “Conan, portal them back to the clearing.”

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