Page 49 of Ascension of the Pack

Chapter 31

The air was saturated with the smell of death, blood and fire. Greg stood next to me, naked. ‘I’m sorry about Tristan,’ he said softly.

Me too,Esme whined sadly in my head.

I nodded and tears filled my eyes again. ‘He saved my life. That brute was coming for me to rip me to shreds, and I was focused on Isaacs. Tristan and Arden saved me and they died for it.’

Greg wrapped an arm around me and kissed my forehead. I closed my eyes and tried to breathe. ‘Anyone else dead from our side?’ I asked eventually.

‘Not yet,’ Greg said.

In my head, Esme let out an exultant howl. Our pack wasstrong!

Greg continued, ‘We’ve a few with pretty bad injuries, though. Max and Toby from the Devon pack might not make it. I’ve called Leyla and she’s on her way here. Daniella is trying to keep them alive until then. Jacob’s been pretty badly injured, too. He got pulled down and one of his wings was chewed off at the base.’

‘Can a witch regrow it?’

‘I don’t know,’ he said honestly. ‘Maybe.’

‘Is anyone left alive from their side?’

Greg shook his head. ‘With the fire elementals and Bastion, it was pretty much mass destruction once we learned how to work with the wind and air. Besides, I got the impression they didn’t want to walk away. At no point did they try to withdraw.’

‘It was do or die. Suicide by wolf.’

‘Indeed,’ he agreed grimly.

One of the better ways to die,Esme sniffed.

I’d rather die in my sleep.

Or in bed with Greg,she suggested archly.

That would be pretty traumatising for Greg.

Not if he dies at the same time.

Simultaneouspetit mortwhich resulted inla morte?

Perfect.

Bastion approached us; he was in his human form and tiredness shadowed his eyes. ‘Thanks for coming,’ I said warmly, stepping up to hug him.

‘Oh, you know me, I’m always up for death and destruction. Is that the orb?’ he nodded at the glowingsphere in my hands. ‘I expected it to be bigger. Have you checked your phone?’

I blinked at the non-sequitur. ‘Um, no. I don’t exactly have it on me at the moment.’ I gestured at my naked body.

Bastion dug out his own phone, pulled up a message and held it out for me to read. It simply said:Jess and I are getting married tonight at midnight. She’d like you there.

I blew out a breath and looked around me. I couldn’t leave my pack now, not even for Jess. I sighed. ‘I’ll attend via video call,’ I said. ‘Can you set that up for me? Don’t mention any of this to Jess, I don’t want her to worry on her wedding day.’

‘You got it.’ He looked at me for a moment. ‘I haven’t been able to find Ghost.’

‘What do you mean?’ Bastion was a world-renowned deadly assassin and part of that terrifying reputation was the fact that he could find anyone, anywhere.

‘I can’t find her,’ he admitted. ‘I think something has happened to her. After the wedding, she’ll be getting my full focus so I’ll be incommunicado for a while. I just wanted you to know.’

‘Bastion.’ I reached up and touched the bags under his eyes. ‘You need to break the curse. You need to see Amber.’

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