Nothing. Nothing would matter then.

“Don’t tell Rylee.” He held his hand up and twisted the Veil so he could look into Jack’s mansion. He’d opened the Veil at the front door, so they could look into the main hall. Berget touched him on the shoulder.

“Hold it open; I’ll step through and see—”

“Faris! Keep it open. Don’t let go!” Doran’s voice shouted in the distance. The pounding of hooves almost made him close the Veil regardless of the daywalker’s words.

Berget fell backward as unicorns burst through the opening, followed by Doran, Will and his leopard shifters, Deanna, India the spirit seeker, who was barely out of childhood, Charlie with a half dozen other brownies, and Mer the green ogre. The two shamans they’d sent to London stepped through as well: Louisa and Crystal.

“Close it, man! Close it the fuck down.”

He let the Veil snap shut, cutting off the sound of howling renting the air. Jonathan sat up in the hay.

“Demons.”

Berget went to him, cooing softly in the way of a vampire hypnotizing its prey. “No, go back to sleep. Those are nightmares, Johnny.”

He flopped back, a murmur on his lips. “I wish they were nightmares.”

Didn’t they all?

Around them, the unicorns settled into the hay, their glimmering horns picking up the light. Liam counted a dozen and that included little Calliope, though she was different than the last time he’d seen her. Her nub of a horn was no longer a nub but an actual horn that protruded two feet off her forehead and had a wicked gleaming point. Her eyes turned toward him and she bobbed her head.

Thank you, Wolf. You have our gratitude, yet again.

Will and Deanna gave him a nod and went with their group to the back of the barn, near Jonathan. They sprawled out, and it hit Liam that they hadn’t run from something. They had been battling for their lives when he’d opened the Veil.

Doran slapped his hand on Liam’s back. “Good man. They almost had us at the end there.”

Faris laughed softly, but didn’t try to push forward.

“It’s not Faris running things right now,” Liam said.

Doran’s turn to laugh. “I know. I am a shaman still, remember?”

“What was chasing you?”

“Demons, of course, but they’d taken up in residence amongst a few of the remaining vampires, werewolves, and harpies that were still sick. Which cut our numbers down yet again. We lost at least half of our people in that fight before you opened the Veil.”

Liam shook his head. No one was safe from Orion and his lackeys.

“Now what?” he asked Doran, hoping the shaman had some brilliant insight as to what the next step was. How to prepare for the coming battle, what weapons they would need, or who they had to bring in.

Doran’s green eyes were serious. “Now, we wait for Rylee and pray to the gods she arrives before Orion.”

Closing his eyes, he tried not to worry that Rylee wouldn’t make it in time. But the woman had her own way of doing things, and it was rarely the way he would see them done.

And showing up late to her own party?

That had Rylee written all over it.

CHAPTER 28

RYLEE

OPHELIA’S FIRE ENGULFED me and I didn’t get my mouth shut in time. The flames raced down my throat, into my belly and lungs as if I’d invited them in. The heat was intense, but it didn’t hurt as it raced along my nerve endings, synapses, and bones, burning out any trace of the paralysis.

The flames died down and Ophelia caught me, tossing me onto her back. There, better now?

“Shit, a little warning would have been nice.” I tied myself into the harness, sweat sliding down my skin under the long coat.

But you trust me.

“That I do. But a warning would have been nice too.”

Ophelia was already winging south toward the farm. We were a long way away though, and I was hesitant to believe we would make it. Until I looked at the ground. The view flashed by, easily five or six times faster than when I’d ridden Blaz.

Shit, we were going to make it with plenty of time.

That made me nervous. Through the bond to Orion, he pick up on my unease, while I felt his frustration. Something hadn’t gone his way and I didn’t think it was the fallen ones’ destruction that bothered him.

Something happened, something he’d been banking on. As much as he was able, he tried to pull his thoughts away from me. He was on the East Coast still and there was a flash of irritation that I was still watching him. That made me grin.

What does he think, that you won’t spy on him now that you have that connection? What a moron.

I laughed and pressed my hands against her. “Any ideas as to what he might be up to? You can feel his bond through me, right?”

Yes, I feel him. A gust of wind swept in from behind us, pushing us even faster. But there is too much distance to pick up a true direction of his thoughts.

That was the problem. I didn’t want to be closer to Orion. No, it wasn’t worth it, of course. We’d be close enough, soon enough. Far sooner than I wanted.

I curled down against Ophelia’s back. “I’m going to try and sleep. Wake me if anything seems off, anything at all.”

Of course, I am not Blaz. I will not keep you from what is your calling.

No, she wasn’t Blaz, but that was okay. Her strength echoed through me in a different way. Perhaps . . . perhaps I’d had to lose him so Ophelia could truly bond with me. Maybe this was fate playing out. Not that it made his loss easier.