Warlord's Ward

Unchained

"Are we ready?"

Rampage didn't even glance up at him as he nodded.

I was at Killian's back. My hands somehow finding their way up onto his shoulders to grip them. I wasn't sure if I was reassuring him or me...

Or just holding onto him so I don't lose him in the chaos.

He peered at me over his shoulder. "You're going to have to let her loose."

I blinked quizzically at him.

"Your she-wolf." He explained.

I could barely remember the last time I'd taken that form.

I was always locked away in Auntie's house.

But now I was going to need to.

"I need you to kill as many of the humans as you can on your way out."

"Out?"

What does he mean 'out'?

"You're going to go straight through the Training Gardens and cross the meadow toward the woods. Get there as fast as you can."

"No..." I said slowly. Eyeing him. "I'm waiting for you."

"No!" Both Rampage and Killian barked at the same time. Making me flinch in surprise at their rough tone.

"It doesn't work like that." Rampage said.

"Once you change, I'll have problems focusing."

I didn't understand.

"It's near the Mating Moon." He reminded me quietly.

"Ohh..." Willow murmured. Pointing at me as she nodded with a grin, making her dark hair bob forward.

"You're going to affect him, like I effect my men." She gestured at the mages huddled behind her. Fondling her shoulders and reaching around to stroke her belly or massage her ass.

Like they can't keep their hands off her for a moment.

My eyes rounded.

"Like that?" I gestured.

Killian gave me a long look. "Worse."

***

Worse?

Killian turned from me to eye the others. "Let's go. Time to fight."

He ripped open the door.

Rampage gave him a quick look. "Time to fight?"

"My father used to tell us that before our pack went into battle with others." Killian jogged down the narrow stairs. Taking the quick turns.

I couldn't see beyond he and Rampage but heard someone draw a quick breath and knew we'd encountered the first of the knights guarding the castle.

Killian rolled a short, curved sword, he'd had tucked behind his arm, forward. He slashed the knight between his helmet and the plate of his armor. Slicing his throat before spinning the blade above and bringing it down alongside the metal collar to sink down into the collar and deeper into vital organs.

The knight crumbled. Causing a mess for the rest of us to stumble over.

Killian was still moving down.

Rampage on his heels.

They soon entered the foyer and Rampage caught my arm and dragged me between he and Killian. Pinching me between their backs and handing me a sword, he'd obviously pulled from the felled knight.

The thing immediately clanged on the stone floor as the tip fell. Far heavier than I expected it to be.

I immediately dropped it. Realizing there was no way I could wield it.

Rampage groaned and impatiently picked it up.

"Heavy." I murmured. Half in shock as another knight charged and was cut down. Shouting to the others. In a breath, knights were pouring from both sides of the stairs and the Banquet Hall.

My eyes widened and I realized I badly needed a blade.

Killian ducked a sword and only me moving with him, kept me from separating my head from my neck.

I yelped.

Killian swung his sword forward to slice through another man.

Freeing one hand to reach back and squeeze my thigh as if to verify I was still there and still well.

"I'm okay." I whispered. Instinctively responding to his concern.

***

Even as I was starting to panic, the mages were pouring out of the tower to stand in a line behind us.

It was Tanya's dark whipping magic that cleared my head to toss aside a man that was aiming for me with a battle cry.

Next Willow whispered. "Attack them for me, Loves."

The male mages poured from the line in various directions. Their hands out and hair blowing as they shouted words in languages I didn't understand.

Words that made knights gasp and fall, clutching their throats.

Some had their eyes roll back into their heads until they could no longer see, clawing at their cheeks in their desperate blindness.

Others cried in pain, clutching their stomachs, their faces bluing and sucking in as they withered before my eyes.

Mages were murdering in every direction.

It was a terrifying sight to behold.

"Guard!" The Captain of the Guard bellowed. Reverberating as he drew his sword and looked purposefully at us.

"No you don't." Warlord said in a hushed voice before whispering in a deep, echoing voice. "Midnight..."

The room quaked so hard that the edges of stones crumbled and gave. Dark smoke billowed in like a descending fog. Circling around us and lowering between us and whatever knights came next. Blinding them in pitch darkness.

The sun outside had even seemed to dim as if clouds blocked it.

"This is you?" I asked in wonder.

"I've played docile long enough." He growled.