A child of all five families.

My heart beat faster. Please let this be enough.

I held my hands up, palms facing outward. “I will face the demons without you, if I must. To defend my family. Pamela. Rylee. I will do all I can to protect this world we call our own and all who reside in it. We are their tutelaries. And I, for one, will no longer look the other way.” I turned to Griffin, who stood on the edge of the group. “And you, Great Wolf, will you stand with us? With your grandson and his mate?”

Griffin shifted into his wolf form, threw back his head and howled into the night air. He leapt forward, stopping in front of me, bending one front leg so he could bow. He almost ruined it with the big wink he gave me from the dirt.

Peta moved up with me, pressing her body against my legs. “I am with you, Lark.”

Pamela put a hand on my back. “I am with you, Lark.”

Bella went to one knee in front of me beside Griffin. “I am with you, Lark.”

I looked out at my family and slowly, one by one they dropped to their knees.

“I am with you, Larkspur.”

“I am with you.”

“I will stand and face them.”

My eyes burned with tears. Years of emotion that had not flowed since my first banishment. I walked amongst them—my people—touching each one until the last. Until Niah. I went to my knees in front of her.

She wrapped her arms around me, holding me close and whispering in my ear. “Your mother is so proud, Lark. You are going to change this world. Not destroy it, but remake it into something better, stronger.”

I pulled back from her. “I hope you’re right.”

She smiled at me. “Have I been wrong yet?”

The laugh that escaped me was only a little bitter. “A time or two.”

Niah held up one finger. “But not this time, child, not this time.”

I truly hoped she was right. May the mother goddess have mercy on us all. If I was wrong and this wasn’t the right thing to do, I would be condemning my family to utter destruction.

Standing, I held a hand out to Pamela, but spoke to my sister. “Belladonna, take them to the ceremonial grounds near the badlands.” We locked eyes. She knew the place I spoke of, we’d been there together once before. Right before I’d been banished the first time. She drew in a slow breath and nodded. I went on for the benefit of the others. “That is where the final battle will take place. Wait for me there before going into the fight, no matter how bad it looks.”

“Where are you going?” Bella asked, and I felt the worry of my people as keenly as a sharp knife against my skin.

I gave her a half-smile, took her hand, and squeezed it.

“I am calling in the favors owed to me. It will not only be the Terralings who stand with Rylee and this world. Not if I have anything to say about it.”

CHAPTER 26

RYLEE

THE COLD SNAPPED through me like a bitch slap from hell. I tried to take a deep breath, but my lungs seemed to freeze, and I knew I didn’t have long to find Ophelia. I stumbled through the snow, following the dragon’s threads. Even though she was only a few feet in front of me, I couldn’t see her. She lifted her head, her body completely covered by a thick layer of snow and ice. Her violet eyes blinked at me and her voice cascaded through my body.

Rylee? Her head lifted sharply and she looked past me. Looking for Blaz. I reached her side, my whole body shaking as hypothermia hit me as hard as if I were still affected by the Hoarfrost demon’s sting. My hand went automatically to the black snowflake on my chest, tracing the pattern. “Ophelia. I need you to make a fire.”

Here, come closer. She snaked her head around me and pulled me into the curve of her neck. A deep rumble echoed through her body and a few seconds later the scaled skin under me heated. I clung to her, sheltered from the wind by her body, and I burst into tears. “Blaz is dead, Ophelia.”

A low-pitched keening slid out of her. I felt him die. I knew he was gone, but Erik didn’t believe me. It is why I sent him and the children away.

I blinked up at her. “What do you mean?”

Ophelia’s deep violet eyes shed tears that froze as they fell through the air. I knew you would need me to fly you into the final battle. And I knew if you came for me, the children would be in danger. I couldn’t have that.

Pressing my forehead against her neck, I breathed in the scent that was uniquely dragon; wind swept skies with a touch of ozone, and with Ophelia, an underlying layer of meadow flowers. “Thank you.”

There are not only your children to think of, Rylee. I laid my eggs days ago. My head jerked up without meaning to.

“Blaz and you?”

Yes. He knew; he knew I was carrying a small clutch.

The cold had receded enough that I could think clearly. “Ophelia, we have to go. We have to get back to the farmhouse. But I will freeze my ass, most literally, off if we travel without anything . . . .”

She clawed at the ground in front of her and dug out a long, heavy flying coat. I made Erik give me his for you.

There were holes in the top of the coat. “You yanked it off him?”

He didn’t believe me when I said Blaz was gone. It is the curse of being called mad, Rylee. No one believes you. Especially after what happened with the demon. She looked away and I put a hand on her.

That had been hard, for her to realize she’d been duped because she so badly wanted to bond with another Slayer. A demon had convinced her he was a Slayer and she was his dragon. Her grief over losing my father had left her open to manipulation and she’d fallen for the ruse, which had almost cost us dearly.