At least none until our friends finally let loose. Giving us the sort of support Dannie could have had if she hadn’t tried to be judge, jury, and executioner all on her own.

Reece, whom I really hadn’t seen in full-on action before, blasted across the clearing in a literal wall of sand and dust. His power always reminded me of a desert storm, and now I could see why. He stood at the center of it, his energy extinguishing some of Dannie’s as he sent her flying in his cyclonic sandstorm.

Shadow and I were up in an instant, and we joined the desert deity, using our powers against her once more, finding a hidden strength neither of us knew we had. Desperation and adrenaline were the reasons human women could lift cars off their babies. Today we were the desperate ones, and we were using it to our full advantage.

“She’s weakening,” Shadow roared. “But not enough to tear the stone free. Not yet.”

“One last attempt,” Reece bit out, his voice a rumble like the storms he had raging around us. “All of us. All of our power. Hold nothing back.”

The others fell into line, Midnight and Inky still giving us some breathing room from the creatures, but that wouldn’t last long. This truly was our last shot.

Our one chance to save the world.

55

The eight of us faced the phoenix. Maybe this was how it should have been all along, our power versus her power. No games or prisons. No conversations or attempts at redemption.

I didn’t regret allowing her the chance to save herself, but that chance was over now. Now we had to play for keeps, and I would hold nothing back.

Len held back, since he was saving his energy to remove the stone, but the rest of us shot power into her focusing on our individual strengths and magics. The strongest aspects and skills of our races. Reece with his desert power, dry as it ripped against our skin like magical sandpaper. Alistair’s was water-based, but his water turned into large weapons he shot at Dannie in the form of icy green swords, pointed spears, and other missiles. So far, none were penetrating the shield she had formed over herself, but it was all working to weaken her. Angel had her blades, moving up close and personal, slicing and dicing against Dannie’s power, moving like a freaking ninja so that the goddess could never touch her.

Lucien zipped around super-fast, his vampire strength and speed allowing him to pummel into the shields, searching for weak points, and when Dannie winced more than once, I knew that he was finding targets. Galleli still didn’t speak or make any sounds at all, but he was flapping his wings above Dannie, staring down with a look of complete focus on his face.

Everything okay? I quickly asked, worried that he might have spotted something.

Her mind is strong, he replied. But I will continue to try to break through to take control of her.

Awesome. Good luck.

Mentally, I pulled away, allowing him to focus, all the while having a minor freakout that he could take control of minds. As handy as it could be in this situation, there was always the worry that one day he might use it against us.

But, I mean, all of us were powerful, not just Galleli. We were the checks to each other’s power, and that was why our group was so strong and well-balanced. Which meant I had nothing to worry about. On that front at least.

“The shield is falling,” Shadow roared, and his flames were near twenty feet high as he continued to dig at the barrier around the phoenix. At first, I thought he was talking about that shield erected by Dannie, but unfortunately, I was wrong.

It was the mist shield.

Dannie had just been protecting herself long enough for her army to break free. Damn her and her intelligent battle-ready mind. Next time we fought an arch-nemesis, I wanted one who was stupid. It was only fair.

The army raged at us en masse and we all fell under the assault. Dannie added to that by offensively blasting her power into us, sharp and powerful assaults that penetrated into the center of my power. It hurt, and I cried out as I struggled to cut the tie she’d created by tethering her attack directly into my energy.

I expected the others would be doing the same, only to break free and find all of them were being crushed under the fire army and Dannie’s attack. Our mists were holding back what they could, but it wasn’t enough.

“Stop!” I screamed, shooting myself into the air, blind rage at my loved ones being attacked driving me. Shadow roared at me too, and I knew he was working to save our friends and get to me, but he couldn’t do it all.

The power inside of me exploded, a nuclear blast that shot me into the sky, my fire wings flapping powerfully as breaths sucked in and out of my mouth in loud rasps. It was pure rage fueling me since I was exhausted and broken, but maybe rage would be enough.

Dannie and I collided in the air, and that was the first time anyone had been able to touch her. Her feathers were icy cold under my clawed hands, despite the heat she was channeling in her flaming tail and power. “You feel empty,” I screamed in her face, digging into her with all my strength. “Your soul is gone, Dannie, and there’s no way to come back from that.”

Those flaming eyes flashed at me. “You know nothing about souls, child. Or sacrifice. You have been a selfish brat from the first moment I saw you in Torma. A disappointment. But I decided to give you a chance to grow into a being worthy of the legacy you carry.” Even on a bird face, her disgust was obvious. “You continue to fail. You continue to be unworthy. Your parents thought it, your true mate thought so, and so do I.”

Her words hurt. She knew how to use them as weapons, hitting at my soft, vulnerable belly. But there was one truth she couldn’t take from me: Shadow Beast was my true mate, and he had not rejected our bond. He’d fought for it.

We both had and I was no longer that poor pathetic pup from Torma.

“You can’t take me down like that,” I said softly. “A few months ago, it would have worked, but I’m not the same being as I was then. I did best your mind control, and I will best you again now.”

I’d been building power in my center, every ounce I had, in preparation for the attack that she was about to send my way. Only she once again went for my vulnerabilities and continued to use her power against my friends. The tethers she held to them, the ones they couldn’t break, were killing them. At least the ones who were easily killable, and the others would soon have their energy stripped away until there was nothing left.