Sabrina screamed. “No!”
Cross held his breath, then something changed in his expression. “Hold on!” His arm snaked around her, tucking her in against him.
Everything happened so fast, she barely had time to blink. She felt that coldness around her, but then it was gone. “What the …” She glanced around. They were at the edge of the force field dome the mages had created, sheltered under some cherry blossom trees. “Cross?”
He was kneeling down beside the gray wolf. “Stay still,” he told the wolf. “It’ll only hurt more.”
Cross must have transported them away from the altar, but because of the dome, they could only get this far. “Stay here and don’t move,” he instructed. “I’ll be right—”
He disappeared, and two seconds later, he was there again, along with her father and two other men. “Back,” he finished.
“Dad!” she cried, hugging him. “Dad …” He didn’t move, so she hugged him tighter, but he remained eerily still, staring into nothing.
“The potion will wear off,” Cross said. “But for now …” He knelt down next to the wolf. It wasn’t moving and its breathing was labored. “Thank you,” he whispered, then grabbed the end of the dagger and pulled.
A loud crash muffled the wolf’s pained cries. She looked back toward The Obelisk and saw that everything had erupted into chaos. There were several wolves attacking the mages, but aside from that, she saw all kinds of projectiles being hurled about—electricity, fireballs, rocks, park benches. She even saw the two Almoravid in the fray, holding their own. Krogan lay by the altar, all bloody and torn up, a hateful expression on his face as he realized their side was losing.
“Goddamn you!” he screamed. “We have the ring and the necklace, fall back!” Three mages formed a circle around him and began to chant.
What were they doing?
The red glass dome receded around them. “Cross, look!”
He looked up, then realized what was happening. “Fuck! He’s getting away with the other artifacts.” He glanced down. “I can’t leave yet. I’m not done dressing the wound.” He kept his hand over the gray wolf as bandages magically appeared over its chest.
A realization swept over her and Gunnar’s words came back to her. “It’s all right, Cross.” She squeezed his shoulder. “It’s all going to be all right.”
“But they’re getting away!”
“It’s done,” she said. “We’ve changed it. We changed the future, don’t you see? I’m still alive. Everyone’s alive.”
“I—” His ocean-colored eyes went wide. “You’re right. Gunnar said the ending wasn’t set in his new vision.” He got to his feet and looked down at the wolf. “This should help you for now, but we’ll have someone see to you as soon as we can. Just hang on, Ransom.” He raised the dagger up. “Thanks to him, we’ve at least managed to keep this one.”
“But the ring …”
“They still need all three together.” His brows wrinkled together. “But now … how could it …” His expression changed.
“Cross? What’s wrong.”
“I think …” He took a sharp intake of breath. “I just realized something … but I’ll have to wait until we’re all done here to try and figure out if my theory is true.”
“Looks like everything’s going to be all right.” She nodded back toward The Obelisk.
Most of the mages were lying dead on the ground, while the two who were remaining were tied together as Elise guarded them, her hands raised up, blue light crackling from her hands as she formed what looked like an electrified cage around them. Daric and Meredith, on the other hand, were going around checking that the mages were all dead. Duncan had an injured Julianna in his arms and gently laid her down on one of the park benches that hadn’t been thrown around or burned up.
“Sabrina! Cross!” Astrid jumped over the railing to get to them, Zac behind her. “Thank God! It’s all over.”
Cross embraced his sister, then exchanged a quick backslap with his brother-in-law. “For now, anyway.”
“Will he be all right?” Zac asked, glancing down at Ransom.
“Yes, I got the dagger out and dressed his wounds.”
“Let’s go get cleaned up,” Astrid said.
“Saving the world’s messy business,” Zac said with a laugh as he kissed his wife on the cheek. “Now comes the fun part.”
Astrid rolled her eyes. “Right. The cleanup. AKA, my job.”
Cross had brought Sabrina, Ransom, Jonathan, the two Lycan bodyguards, and Julianna to the medical wing of The Enclave so the latter three could get checked up, then went back to The Obelisk to help with the cleanup. As Cross said, whatever spell or potion her father was under eventually wore off. Although Jonathan insisted he was fine, Dr. Blake nevertheless ordered he stay overnight for observation.
“I’m not injured,” he grumbled as he lay back on the hospital bed.
Despite his grumpy disposition, Sabrina was just happy her father was all right. She gave him a kiss on the forehead. “Please, Dad, just stay at least until morning? I want to make sure there’s no lingering side effects of whatever potion they gave you.
“Fine,” he said.
In the next bed over was Julianna, who was being fussed over by her husband and decidedly not enjoying it. “For Christ’s sake, MacDougal, you’re worse than my mother!” She swatted his hands away. “The fireball just grazed me and the nurse patched me right up. I’ll be fine in a couple of days.”
“Och!” The Scotsman exclaimed. “You’re my mate, and I’ll hover over you as much as I want.” There was a flash of grief in his eyes. “Darlin’, I don’t know what I’d do if I lost you.”
The bed next to the quarreling—now embracing—couple was empty, which Sabrina guessed must have been reserved for Ransom. As soon as they arrived, Dr. Blake had him brought to the operating room to check on his injuries. Duncan explained that Lycans healed much faster than humans did, but it wasn’t instant, and things like broken bones had to be taken care of right away, or else they might heal
