Page 67 of Conflicted Fate
“Sounds good,” he said, pulling back and giving me a smile. Then he glanced toward the rest of our army. Shifters were just milling around, waiting on us. “Would I be right in saying that you’re heading toward Nycitum and Lycaonus?”
“We’re going to finish this,” I growled. “Once and for all.”
“Good,” Gare said, the smile that curved his lips upward falling well short of his eyes and promising all sorts of pain for those in his way. “Let’s do this.”
“Glad to have you aboard,” I said. “That’s one more wolf Lycaonus will have to worry about.”
Gare frowned at me. “One more?”
“Are you not coming?” I was confused.
“I am.” He turned on his heel and started back up the hill, beckoning for me to follow. “Come on.”
I glanced at Kiel, who was still in his wolf form, and shrugged before heading after the shifter. Kiel yawned and followed along in our wake.
“Word about Arcadia and what the Alphas did there spread fast,” Gare said as I crested the hilltop. “So, I brought along a few friends who were just as pissed off as I was.”
“Holy shit,” I whispered, staring at the second army spreading out down the far side of the hill. A quick estimate said they were about three-quarters of our numbers. At least, somewhere around there.
“Friends, you say,” Kiel said as he shifted at last.
“If it can happen to Arcadia, then why not Lycaon?” Gare growled. “The people arepissed, Kiel. I just gave them a focal point. I’m surprised not more joined your people on their own.”
“We didn’t send anyone to Lycaon,” I said. “We felt it was too dangerous, too many loyalists there.”
“Not anymore,” Gare said. “We dealt with that. Most of the city rose up. These are the ones with experience. Former Wulfhere, or they just simply know how to fight. The rest are holding the city.”
I just stared at the vast seas of wolves, looking back and forth between them.
Maybe therewashope, after all.
Chapter Thirty-Four
The fierce cries of support that followed the merging of our two armies faded away with the darkening of night as realization set in.
It was the last night before we reached our destination. The final time where all of us would be together. Many in the army didn’t know one another. Most were strangers, but that didn’t matter. Bonds had been forged in the days leading up to our departure, and they had further solidified when our ranks swelled. We were fighting for what wasright, which meant we were friends.
Many of those friends would die tomorrow, no matter what we did. But more would die if I couldn’t live up to my end. People who had marched hundreds of miles, thousands in some far-flung cases, would do so just to die on a foreign field. Such were the realities of war.
Come on, Fate. Where are you? These people need your help. My help. They need us. They’re counting on it. Please don’t let me down. Show me that you’re there and ready!
Still nothing but silence.
Fists clenched, teeth grinding, I tried again. And again.
No answer.
Around me, the warriors who came to fight for freedom were settling in for the night. Those who had never seen battle before were gathered around campfires, telling boisterous stories and laughing heartily as if nothing bothered them. That was their brave face, to pretend they weren’t scared.
Those whohadseen fields of slaughter were getting the one thing every warrior wished they could have more of: Sleep.
Still others found ways to live in the moment and remind themselves—and the person they lay with—that they were alive. Sex was the ultimate reminder of life, and nobody blamed them for finding what bit of privacy they could in the face of potential death.
Yet more, those who could do none of the above, sat alone, staring into the abyss of their own minds.
I made my rounds through the camp, thanking those who looked to me and ignoring those who wanted to be left alone. It was important, in my mind at least, that those who had called for their support were visible and easily reachable. I wanted them to know we cared.
Clive and Andi weren’t where I’d left them when I returned. They, too, were probably out among the warriors, giving reassurances and being seen. Everyone knew our leadership quartet, along with Gare, were the ones at the heart of it all. But though we may be the hands guiding it, it was a stand for all. A line had been drawn in the ground, and we weren’t going back.
