I froze. The wraiths were creatures of nightmares. “No. I’ll not give in to unholy magics.”
“It is the only chance we have.”
“Then we bring the alphas here.”
I rushed to my room, threw myself onto the bed, and willed myself into the dream world, and to his side.
The first sign I was successful was the acrid smoke that filled my lungs.
“Omega,” Magnus growled. My mate was full of dread purpose and looked the part. His body was covered in armor painted black as the Great Void where souls went when they died.
“I will bring you to us,” I said with an unnatural calm. “We have a better chance defending from the brothel.”
“Impossible. Go back. I will meet you on the bridge.”
“Come with me!”
His eyes met mine. Blind; he was blind to good sense. Blind to the world around him. Yet I did not think he was so stupid that he would ignore my judgment. “Go.”
A blink and I was back in my room. “He rejected my help,” I spat at Quintus and Yuna, who sat by my body. “He will fight to our walls.”
By nightfall, he was here.
I reasoned with myself that I could not have known how destructive alphas could be. How easily they could cut down hundreds, perhaps thousands, of betas with a single swipe of their otherworldly swords. However, without their mates, they could be wounded. So by they time they reached the bridge and began to cross it, many were being dragged by their comrades. Many were missing legs, others had arrows through their hearts, their eyes, and yet they lived.
We opened the gates just as the first arrived. They stank of sweat, of blood, and even as they passed into the brothel’s courtyard, some began to heal. Somewhere in the building, their mate waited for them.
And at the center of it all, Magnus. He stood guard at the foot of the bridge, holding off betas and urging the alphas to cross it.
“Magnus! Enough!” Through the cacophony of war, my voice carried clear as a bell. Though he gave no sign, I knew he’d heard me, for with a final sweep of his great blade, he began to walk backwards along the bridge.
“Fall back!” he shouted, and the alphas obeyed his command. I slipped through their retreating figures to get to the cruel alpha who was taking a foolish risk.
“Where are you going?” Quintus screamed as I dodged around him.
“To end the world,” I shouted without looking back.
I knew as we met on the bridge he did not intend to continue in this lifetime. His final sacrifice would start the cycle afresh. But that did not suit me. I would have the world be reborn whole—alpha and omega together, not divided by a veil.
“You should have stayed inside for this, Tenora,” he snapped, his eyes fiercer than ever before. Then he slammed his sword into the stone separating us. The earth shook again, wrenching the two halves of the bridge apart. Beneath us the water boiled, and to his back, the ground ruptured as molten lava forced its way through the cracks.
Betas screamed. Some threw themselves into the moat, not knowing it was as deadly as the what they ran from. Magnus’ lips twisted in a smile. “I won this round, omega. See you in the next lifetime.”
“No!” I leapt forward and grabbed at his hand. Luck, a god I had never known to be on my side, granted me the inch I needed to gain hold of Magnus’ burning wrist. I found myself nearly dangling off the edge of the bridge, the molten stone lighting my dress on fire and burning through my skin. “I will not let you go.”
“Tenora,” he growled through the flames that licked his face. Since he had put a block between us, I could not imagine thepain he must be in. My presence was not enough to heal him, and my touch did nothing but dampen the flames where my skin met his. “Let me go. I’ll be reborn.”
“Not this time. I’ll not let you pull some stunt again.” With godlike strength, I clenched my thighs around the bridge that was a broad as a stallion’s back. Thus secured, I wrapped my other hand around his wrist, bonding my fingers together, allowing my flesh to melt and my bones to calcify into an unbreakable manacle. My magic kept me alive despite the unconscionable pain, but my fury at Magnus provided the power I needed to lean back and drag him away from his death.
His blind eyes revealed nothing, so I did not catch the moment he decided to live. I only guessed his intention when his free arm swung and his fingers dug into liquid rock. If I had strength, he had a hundred times more and even as the stone melted away, he managed to pull himself onto the narrow bridge, his body landing on mine, our faces inches apart.
“I do not pull stunts,” he snarled. “I am a god.”
A hysterical laugh built inside of me. And with it, great, hiccoughing sobs shook my body. “So am I.”
“Stop this nonsense.”
“No.” Through snot and swollen eyes, I smiled. “I’ll cry, I’ll scream, and I’ll save you from yourself every time.”