เข้าสู่ระบบThe highway went completely silent except for the low hum of the streetlights and the wind blowing up from the river gorge. Down at the bottom of the hill, the last groups of capital soldiers were scrambling into their transport trucks and driving back toward the lower city limits.I stood near the black granite pillars, watching the red taillights vanish down the mountain pass."They're fully pulling back," Cade said, stepping off the concrete guardrail and slinging his empty rifle over his shoulder. "I counted at least thirty trucks heading back toward the central plaza.""They won't stay down there for long," Lucian said, wiping a thin smudge of soot off his dark coat. "Malakor lost his siege equipment and his vanguard team, but he still controls the downtown district.""Let him try to hold it," Brecken grunted, walking back toward our SUV. He kicked a fallen iron shield off the yellow lane divider into the drainage ditch. "The moment we step down off this hill, his men will run."
The smoke from the burning catapults floated up the pass, making my eyes sting. Down below, the dark column of two thousand capital soldiers began moving up the four-lane highway in one massive block.Malakor wasn't testing us anymore. He was sending every single man he had up the hill at the same time."They are coming all at once!" Cade called down from his high concrete pillar. "Front line is heavy armor with iron shields! archers and tactical riflemen right behind them!""Soren, how is your energy?" I asked, looking at the glowing purple wall."I can hold the barrier," Soren said, wiping sweat from his forehead. "But when that entire army hits the magic circuit together, the feedback is going to hurt.""We won't let them just stand there and push against it," Brecken said, gripping his twin broadswords tight. "As soon as their front line makes contact, we hit them from the sides.""Look out!" Lucian warned, pointing his rapier down the road. "Archers!"Down the slope, hundreds of
Down at the bottom of the hill, six heavy catapults lined up across the highway lanes. General Malakor stood on top of an armored transport truck, waving his silver sword toward our position."They are loading the catapult arms!" Cade shouted down from his high concrete pillar. "Looks like heavy stone blocks wrapped in iron chains!""Soren, can your wall take direct hits from siege weapons?" I asked, looking at the glowing purple barrier."The pillars can handle physical rocks," Soren said, gripping his wooden staff tight. "But six at once will drain my energy fast.""Then we don't let all six hit at the same time," Lucian said, pulling his rapier. "Cade can shoot the crew operators from his high angle.""The distance is too far for rifle shots down to the river turn," Cade replied over our radio units. "The wind coming off the gorge is pushing bullets off track.""Then we hold our ground and brace for impact," Brecken said, stepping in front of me with his broadswords out.Down below
Down below us, two thousand capital court soldiers started turning away from the ruined bridge and heading up our mountain road.I checked my gun, slapped the magazine in, and racked the slide. I stood next to the three black stone pillars anchored into the concrete guardrails, looking at the purple energy barrier stretching across the highway lanes."They are forming up at the bottom of the hill!" Cade called out from his spot on top of the concrete pillar overhead. "Front line has iron shields and long pikes! Three transport trucks are right behind them!""Let them try," Brecken growled, pulling his twin broadswords from his back. "This road is narrow. Their big numbers don't mean anything if we hold the center asphalt.""Don't get careless, Brecken," Lucian said, stepping up on my right side with his rapier in hand. "General Malakor doesn't care how many of his own men die. He will send five hundred soldiers up this hill just to test Soren's barrier.""My ward isn't falling," Soren
The two-hour mark passed on the river highway bridge. Commander Kael’s vanguard stayed parked near the northern treeline, waiting for their General's heavy armored column to arrive. We bought valuable time, but anxiety pulls tight in my chest as I look up toward the dark concrete ridge behind us. Soren should be placing the final boundary anchor stone right now. A pack wolf came running down the asphalt road from the upper highway, stopping right beside Brecken and me under the streetlights. "Alpha," the runner panted, resting his hands on his knees. "Witch Soren finished planting the three anchor stones along the concrete ridge pass. He says the barrier is ready to activate, but he needs you and Aria to trigger the blood link." "Good," Brecken said, turning to Lucian. "Keep twenty wolves here with Thomas. Keep Silas on the barricade in plain view. If those cavalry men start their engines, shoot their officers." "Understood," Lucian replied, pulling his black trench coat tighter a
Thomas and two pack wolves dragged Lord Silas up the concrete basement stairs, binding his wrists with heavy iron chains. Brecken, Lucian, Soren, Cade, and I followed them out into the main council parking lot under the buzzing streetlights. We stopped Silas from taking the boundary altar, but he threw a bigger war at our front door. The Tribunal is finished, but the capital court has ten times the tactical troops Hale ever had on these streets. "How long until your father's main army reaches the city boundary?" I asked Lucian, stopping near the front bumper of our pack SUV. "Silas said the capital vanguard was already moving down the northern highway pass," Lucian answered directly, sheathing his blood-forged rapier. "If they take the expressway, their armored column will reach the outer city gates by morning." "The outer gates can't hold a full vampire legion," Brecken said, wiping blood from his forearm onto his jeans. "The iron security doors were damaged when Marcus's men move
I lay there in the big bed staring at the ceiling for a long time after Brecken left. The t-shirt he gave me smelled like him. Pine and storm and something warm that made my stomach feel weird. I pulled the blanket up higher and tried to ignore it. My body still felt weak. Like I had run a maratho
I know everyone says omegas are weak, well we actually are. and personally my case is different my name is Aria Frost and i am about to let you in my world. I am what you call a Tribrid. Rejected and now four alphas would do anything to claim me. *** I stood there in the middle of the ballroom w
He didn't get to finish. Not because he changed his mind. Because halfway through the first sentence about my father, a sound cut through the house that nobody else seemed to notice.A heartbeat.Not mine. Not even his of course he didn't have one I could track properly, just this low slow thing th
Gareth was already in the car the light of the SUV kept flashing through my eye's. Chants kept replaying on my head. My witch side has been quiet but observing. Showing things that might take forever to figure out. My wolf curled inside me. My vampire side kept raging. An urge to something or someo







