Page 135 of The Aurora Marelup Complete Saga Omnibus

“I’ve got your back, D!” Alaric shouts as he fights another two Lycans.

We cut through the assailants like a hot knife through butter. With every swing of the sword, a body falls. Black blood and ash are everywhere—Lycan bodies and crimson cover the forest floor around us. Alaric takes a moment and gets dressed between attacks. After all, it would suck if his dick got clawed off in battle.

The next wave comes and hits hard. The Wyvern has joined the fray. Alaric gets that cocky smirk of his, and then his eyes glow. The roars of the War Dragons fill the air as at least a dozen takes to the air setting the sky on fire.

I don’t know what’s more frightening to me, the roar of the flames overhead or the bodies of the charred Wyverns falling from the sky. Alaric smiles, looking at the battle overhead, then turns his gaze on the Strigoi coming at us. I feel a shift in him, and he pulls an Aurora and pulls ice spikes up from the ground from under their feet. Un-fucking-believable. Just what our family needs, two of them able to impale at a thought.

“Hell yeah!” Alaric screams before shifting his arms to his gauntlets and sending ice spikes up and through the Strigoi. It doesn’t kill them; it only slows them down. Alaric impales them, and I dash forward and cut their heads off with my talons. It seems to be a very good working relationship.

I hear Alaric yell my name, and I look up in time to see a Wyvern falling right at me. I roll and try to get out of its way. Unfortunately for me, its tail catches my hind leg, cutting my thick hide with its spike. I roar and slip off the rest of the way. Alaric runs over when things settle down, and he takes a look at the gash in my hide.

“That’s gonna leave a mark,” Alaric says with a slight chuckle. I watch him shake his head, then study the wound more carefully. “If you shift, it may heal it most of the way. Though, I’m afraid it will leave a scar no matter what we do to heal it.”

Alaric backs away from me while there’s still a lull in the battle, and I shift back to my human form. Damn, even shifted back my leg looks like shit. At least it’s not bleeding anymore. Alaric crouches down at my side, getting eye level with the side of my leg to get a good look at the wounded area.

“It’s not bad, D. It looked a lot worse when you were your bear. I’d say give it a few minutes, then shift back.” Alaric’s fingers gently palpated the angry red skin, checking it for further damage. Alaric double checks the length of the wound twice, and at the very end he finds a solid mass. One finger shifts to a talon, and he cuts my skin open without warning. I grit my teeth and growl through it as he pokes and prods the hole he made. Several moments later, he removes a splinter of the Wyvern’s tail spike.

Alaric offers me the splinter once he removes it and all of its fragments. It doesn’t matter how fast we heal as shifters, leaving anything in a wound can lead to a massive infection. The screeches fill the air again as another volley of Strigoi comes pouring out of the break in the wall. I drop the splinter andshift back to my bear’s form and prepare for battle. The Strigoi spread out, going in all different directions this time. Something changes in their behaviors; the puppeteer is pulling strings a bit differently this time. I just hope everyone else is safe and ready for this next assault.

CHAPTER 108

Dominik

Wave after waveof Strigoi keep coming. It’s like the waters rising at the change of the tide. Lycans occasionally attack from behind, but we are lucky that Arnulf’s people are in the trees, keeping an eye out for us. We bite and claw our way through the attackers and still, they just seem to keep coming.

Desi, Arnulf’s second in command, notices a tunnel near the castle’s wall’s southern border. Fluidly, he shifts back to his human form and gets dressed quickly. Sword drawn, he approaches the hole cautiously. I walk up beside him and lean against his leg slightly so he knows he has the security of my wolf.

Desi turns his head to look at me and rests his free hand on my back. I move forward and sniff at the tunnel entrance. It reeks of death and stagnant water. It’s safe to assume the Lycans with their sensitive noses would not be traveling this way. If anything used this, it would be the Strigoi.

Dante isn’t far from where we are, and Desi signals him to come over. Dante ambles over to us, and Desi explains that we want to seal the hole up. Dante’s large dragon head lowers to look at the hole, and we watch him tilt his head several times. Dante turns toward an oak tree and bites into it, pulling it out ofthe ground. Desi and I back up quickly as Dante shoves the tree with its roots down the hole. One problem solved.

Dante raises his head suddenly and launches into the air. Several minutes later, we see why he left so abruptly. A group of Wyverns fly past the castle towers trying to burn our troops. Alaric joins the fight; he’s not as big as the War Dragons, but he’s more maneuverable than they are. Fire rains down from the sky; screams and howls of pain echo through the valley.

The Wyverns hit some of their targets, but not all of us. I reach out through the pack link, telling my people to take cover under anything they can find. Most of the dragons in our ranks on the ground are opening their wings to provide shelter. Thank the Gods that they are with us. The smell of smoke starts to fill my nostrils, causing me to start to sneeze to try to clear them. The woods are on fire, and currently, we are trapped. We have two choices: enter the castle walls and possibly die or remain in the woods and hope the Ice Dragons can extinguish the fires in time.

I reach out through the bond to Alaric and inform him of our situation. I hear his answering roar in the distance. The ominous beating of wings can be heard long before they are seen. Several Ice Dragons swoop in and start breathing their frost flames, stopping the fire in its tracks. I watch the dragons, and it amazes me how each species’ weapons work.

Aurora wanted us to stay out of the castle, but it’s getting to the point that it’s the next logical decision for us to make. I notice that Dimitri and his bears are starting to knock down more of the wall in the distance, making more sections unstable. The Ice Dragon that is with us sees the instability, lowers his head, and pushes at the stones. The wall starts to crumble and give way, falling in all directions.

The noise and vibrations awaken more Strigoi. I watch them claw their way up and out of the earth in the castle courtyard. It’sprobably one of the most frightening things I have witnessed in a long time. How many beings have been killed and turned into Strigoi over the years? I hope to live long enough to see my love and brother again.

The Strigoi keep coming and coming like a never-ending flood of death. We can’t keep fighting like this, so I give the order to fall back. We need to rest and regroup. I can see the fatigue starting to wear on my troops; this isn’t good. My eyes fall on my pack mates, and I can’t believe what I’m seeing. They are still determined even though the odds seem stacked against us.

Alaric’s roar can be heard echoing through the valley shortly after the sound of paws hitting the dirt can be heard. Our second wave of troops has arrived. Yes! We swap places with the new arrivals and hang back, catching the stragglers. Aurora’s plan for splitting up the teams seems to be most effective. Healers move through the ranks at the back, patching up those who need it most first.

Ellis ambles over and shifts back to his human form before me and leans against the nearest tree. “My man, this is the craziest shit I’ve ever seen! How many deadheads do they have in there?” Ellis flails his arms around then drops them at his side.

I shift back to my human form and look at my flesh slowly, making sure everything is okay. Carefully, I listen to Ellis, and his concerns are quite valid for once. “Well, to be perfectly honest, I’m not sure. It seems like they have stockpiled an army of Strigoi.” Honestly, I’m exhausted, and our outlook seems bleak. I keep looking back towards the wall, watching the others fighting with everything they’ve got. We really need to find the puppet master and kill them off to stop this flood of Strigoi.

I signal Desi, and he flies over and shifts before landing. “Yes, Dom?” He cants his head, studying Ellis closely.

“Can you send one of your smallest flight shifters to go investigate the towers? I have a feeling one of them holds the person controlling this entire mess. If we can cut off the head, the troops should lose their will to fight.” I look from Desi back to Ellis then back to Desi again.

“We have four in our ranks. I can send one to each tower and the others to investigate the castle and courtyard. If they are here, we will find them.” Desi looks to me then over to Ellis before shifting and flying off. His calls fill the air, and other calls answer him quickly. Four little Merlin Falcons come flying out of nowhere, blowing past Ellis and me so fast we can barely tell what they were.

“What the fuck is that?” Ellis looks at the little slate-blue streaks that fly past us.

I shake my head and start to laugh at him. “Those were our eyes in the sky—small, incredibly fast, and super agile Merlin Falcons. They’re perfect for checking out the towers and castle. Now we just need to wait for Desi to report back if they find anything good.” I turn to face the castle, watching the tiny blue blurs buzzing the towers. Occasionally, they stop and hover for a moment, then take off again.

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