Page 44 of The White Stag
Fucker.I loathed Basil. It was only a matter of time before he showed his ugly face where we could adequately punch it.
“Who is Basil?” Reagan asked.
“Alastair’s bodyguard. Kind of like we are to you. He’s the reason it took so long for us to find you. He was hopping all over the country, creating diversions. Every time we thought we found you, we’d find a cleaned-out apartment with a little note from that bastard. The only reason wedidfind you was because I had the brilliant idea to jump in the dumpster that hadn’t been cleaned out yet and go through his trash,” Finnan said.
“That dumpster was full of shit diapers, drug needles, and about six pounds of spoiled shrimp. I can still smell it in my nightmares. Basil might be unwilling to do that for Alastair, but I’d do it again for you,” Cyrus said.
“Well, we need to make a plan,” I said. “Basil finds things, so he’s probably found us. He can portal and has better training to pull this off than Alastair does. They are going to portal in the same place and then split up. It’s the only way to pick all of us off.”
“Basil will not leave his side,” Cyrus said. “The only reason he was away from him this entire time was to lead us away from him. Basil hates us as much as we hate him, but he also knows we are stronger Fae than Alastair. So if Alastair dies on his watch, Brock is going to torture him until he gets bored, then kill him terribly.”
“We need to make a plan because we don’t know where they are going to show up.”
“I’ll shift and patrol outside,” Tucker said.
“Finnan and I will too. Oisin, stay inside with Reagan. If you see them outside this house, shift and portal her out of here.”
It was a good plan. Tucker was massive when he was shifted, and Cat-Siths were amazing at tracking their prey. Cyrus could blend in with shadows, and Finnan was pretty deadly in a fight, even if he was a goofy motherfucker. I wouldloveto be in the battle that ended this for good, but it was my job to keep Reagan safe, and I was one of two people here equipped to get her out of here.
It was go time. Everyone filed out the back door, and I stayed with Reagan. She was magnificent, if a little foolish. She didn’t have a drop of magic except for random fire sneezes, and she was ready to fight me about staying away from the window and if I got her away from here. It was our job to protect her, not the other way around, but she absolutely hated that we were risking our lives for her.
“This is stupid. Alastair wants me, and I’m the one person here he needs to keep alive. So you should use me to draw him out and kill both of them.”
“This is my nope face, Reagan. Basil is completely unhinged and bonded to Alastair like we are to you. If it comes down to you or Alastair, he won’t hesitate to kill you. But if he needs to hurt you so the two of them can escape, he will do anything to protect his prince.”
“I hate this. I hate that my magic hasn’t come in yet, and I can’t do anything but stay in here and hide.”
“There’s no fucking shame in that when your magic hasn’t come in yet.”
Before she could even say anything, someone kicked the front door in, and I heard the crack of a gun. I wasn’t shifted, so I couldn’t portal us both out. Reagan jumped in front of me like it was her job to die for me. The iron bullet ripped straight through her chest and into my stomach. I heard Alastair roar, then the sound of someone running away.
I collapsed on the ground in agony as blood poured from my stomach. I looked at Reagan. Her lifeless eyes were staring right at me. We failed. Black spots clouded my vision, but I heard footsteps as everyone ran into the cabin. Cyrus cried and fell to his knees. Finnan set to work, trying to get the iron bullet out of my stomach. I didn’t care. All I could do was stare at Reagan.
She started smoking, and Cyrus had to jump back as she was engulfed in a bright red flame so hot that I could barely breathe. The flame was so intense that it reduced Reagan to ashes in a matter of seconds. I was barely holding on to consciousness, but I was trying because I had a feeling this was important.
Reagan burst from the ashes with wings and a plume of tail feathers made of fire. She let out a shriek of rage and went flying out of the front door after Alastair. No wonder her magic hadn’t shown up yet. Reagan was a fucking phoenix. She needed to die to trigger her magic. We hadn’t expected that because phoenixes were supposed to be creatures from our mythology.
Alastair thought he’d fucked up by killing the girl he needed to complete his stupid plan, but I’m pretty sure he’d just pissed her off enough to go out there and get her revenge. It was beautiful and totally badass.
“Listen to me, you fucker!” Finnan yelled. “You’d better stay awake because I’ve almost got this bullet out. If you die, I’m going to be so mad at you, and Reagan will never forgive you.”
I smiled through the blood in my mouth. I got to see an actual phoenix emerge in my lifetime. I wanted to see what she would do with her magic, but the black spots were getting larger, and I felt weak.
I closed my eyes.
