I sent a thought to Ophelia, a simple request.

The world and time narrowed to small flashes and tiny images. The tears on Marcella’s cheeks.

The strain in Louisa’s eyes as she looked up at me.

The beat of Ophelia’s wings as she rose into the air.

The smell of demons heavy on the back of my throat.

For a moment, I felt a presence beside me. Giselle’s spirit drifting close, and with it, her voice.

Follow your heart, Rylee.

Follow my heart. Marcella was my heart. The demons around us roared, the sound of their battle cries actually reverberating inside my chest. No more Immunity for me, and they knew it.

“Invoke the bite, Faris,” I yelled. I needed all the strength I could get in order to reach Marcella. Even if that meant the wound from Deanna’s strike healed.

A rush of power lit through me and I leapt from the top of the barn, landing in a crouch in front of Louisa. I pulled my two swords from my back and stood, holding one over my head and pointing the other at a grinning Orion.

“To me! Calliope, hold!”

From inside the barn came the battle cry of my family, my pack, and my heart swelled with hope.

We could do this. For the first time, I truly believed we had it in us to defeat Orion, despite the enormous odds against us.

I leapt forward, swinging my blades at the demons closest to the barn. They dissolved as my weapons touched them. Their eyes widened as they began to fall back. Cowards, they had no heart, and I had no doubt they would scatter.

Except I was wrong again. I battled into the heart of the mob, a ten-foot space around me, and my family followed. Berget and Liam moved up to my right side, Doran and Louisa were on the left.

Ophelia rained fire down on the ranks, turning piles of demons into melted puddles like wax crayons being pushed together in a hot pot.

The demons kept coming, flowing toward us and around us, like water. I reached out, Tracking all my people at the same time, their lives shining beacons that I held to as I destroyed every demon I came in contact with.

Crystal was the first of ours to fall. The blow caught her by surprise and I let out a scream as her death rocked through me.

“Rally! Calliope, now!” I yelled, and our circle shifted, pushing harder toward the burnt out shell of my old farmhouse.

Orion laughed. “You think you can make it through them? Rylee, you are a fool.”

The unicorns burst out of the barn, their coats shimmering in the pale darkness like living lanterns. They drove forward, Calliope leading them in a V formation, driving hard through the heart of the demons. Tiomon swept by me and I grabbed her mane, launching onto her back.

“He has Marcella and Zane!”

Not for long. Tiomon’s voice had a harsh edge to it I’d never felt from a unicorn. A righteous anger bled from her into me and I held onto it. I clamped my legs around her, and alone, we blasted through the demons.

Her horn stabbed and slashed, as did my swords, as we carved through them. Twice, I caught the edge of blades on my right leg. An arrow shot out of the horde and deep into Tiomon’s shoulder.

But we didn’t slow. Her hooves clattered on the edge of the cement as we scrambled up the back steps and onto what was left of the foundation of the farmhouse.

I leapt from her back, the burning fire in my leg telling me all I needed to know. The blades that had cut into me were poisoned, and for the first time in my life that meant something. What a great fucking time to lose my Immunity.

Tiomon reared up and then plunged forward, her head down as she charged Orion. With a roar, he tried to get out of her way, but holding two babies that wasn’t going to happen.

He threw Zane first, tossing him high into the air above our heads.

“NO!” I was too far away, Zane would fall. He would be crushed against the broken timbers and cement. His green eyes found mine and he reached for me, the only mother he’d known. Child of my heart, but not of my blood.

A hair-raising screech snapped through the air, and as Zane fell, Eve swooped out of the night sky, catching him as carefully as if he were her own. From her back, Alex whooped. “Gots him!”

In the distance, came the growing howl of wolves rolling through the night air. Hundreds of wolves coming to our aid. But how the hell was that possible?

Eve screeched again and I glanced up to see Alex grinning down at me. “Reinforcements!”

I stumbled to one knee, the poison spreading fast despite Faris invoking the bite. Fucking hell. I stared at Orion as he tried to dodge one very pissed off unicorn. She darted in, her horn piercing his left shoulder, right over Marcella’s head.

He screamed and I scrambled forward. With Tiomon keeping him busy, I had my shot at him.

A body slammed into me from the left, taking me down in a tumble of limbs. Around us, the horde roared and pulled back. Hot, rancid breath poured over me and a thick body pressed me into the ground. “War has come for you. Now what will you do?”

Tiomon’s voice reached me. I have her. Fight, Rylee, and fear not for your daughter. She is my heart mate and I will protect her.

Relief flowed through me and I stared up at the demon on top of me. He looked like a politician I’d seen on TV once, with a weak chin and terrible hair that might as well have been a mop badly stitched on.

“Rhymes, really?” I drove my elbow up, catching War under the chin and knocking him off me.

But my blow was weak and he reeled back only a little.

“Oh, we aren’t done yet.” He laughed, pushing his hips against mine and it slammed home what he wanted to do. War wasn’t just about fighting, it was about showing how strong you were over those who couldn’t defend themselves. Rape, degradation, horror. They all made up war. I wrapped my legs around his waist and pulled him tight against me.