Lightning flared from Orlando’s fingertips to engulf the entire mass of fighters surrounding them like a cloud of white light. It lit up the entire area and sizzled through everything present, like a fallen live wire sparking some kind of localized electrical storm. No one even had a chance to scream. He cut down everything around them, barely missing some of those who were actually on his side. Even when his enemies were dead he didn’t stop, and the power rushed out from his fingertips to set fire to buildings and trees. It melted and twisted the blocks of the road and the street posts in horrible contortions, ranging further and further until it looked like the entire city would be engulfed by it.
Aura was watching from her position on the ground, but she couldn’t believe what she was seeing. Orlando with the power that Candra could provide for him was terrifying. He was a force that nothing could go up against and live, and she didn’t even know how to feel or react at the sight of him.
Candra squeezed a little tighter against him when she heard the yells of surviving Council fighters as they ran, but they were quickly silenced by the storm Orlando had ignited. Slowly, she stood up on her toes and kissed the back of Orlando’s neck once before she whispered against his skin. “They’re running.” Candra didn’t understand what was going on any more than anyone else, but she could feel him. Orlando. They were inextricably connected.
Something in him listened to her. As he felt her draw on him, her whisper at the skin of his neck, the lightning slowly died around them, though it still sparked uncontrollably along his hands and his clothing. It was a huge effort to stop the flow of power running through him, it felt so good just to let it loose. Once he finally had it under control, the sight of the fleeing enemies wasn’t even the first thing to register on his mind. It was the fact that, unlike the fight on the road to Spain, he didn’t feel tired in the slightest. He felt alive. Strong. So strong that even the sight of all the fighters he destroyed didn’t faze him.
It seemed like forever before he stopped, but when he did, Aura was one of the first to stand up. She saw all of the surviving Council fighters band together, but they were retreating. They stayed together in hopes that they would be able to protect each other, but they all knew that it would take much more to go up against a Shadowborn and a Lightborn together. Once their own fighters could see that their enemies were fleeing, everyone else stood up. Aura wasn’t the commander of anything, but she knew one thing that everyone would agree with. “I think it’s time to go back home.”
The Ironborn fighters gathered and waited for their command from Nick. Even though Aura made the statement that they should go back home, it was ultimately his decision. Lea was the one who spoke up for the entire group of Iron Guard. “What is your command, Alpha?”
Nick nodded to her, the weight of responsibility falling back on his shoulders like a mountain after the enormousness of everything that happened that night. “Gather everyone, and set crews to gathering the dead. They’ll be buried in Spain where they belong, not here. When everyone and everything is assembled, we’ll go, not before.”
With his order given, he went to lean against one of the many vans gathered to take his pack home, and sighed heavily. Aura was nearby, and there were wounded and dying around him that were tended to, but he needed to be alone for a moment. He was vaguely aware of someone coming up and telling him she was going to tend to his cuts and obvious injuries, but he shooed her away and leaned his head against the cool metal side of the van with his eyes closed.
Aura sat on the back bumper of the van, since no one would let her help or tend to the wounded. It wasn’t that they didn’t want her help, it was just that there were people better trained to do the task than a tattoo artist. “She called you Alpha.” Aura asked softly, but she knew that he could still hear her.
“That’s because I am.” Nick responded quietly, then coughed a few times before he turned around and leaned back against the van with a sigh. “After you were kidnapped, the Council sent a representative to offer terms for your release. My father thought your kidnapping was the best thing that could have happened. Thought it would give our people a reason to go to war, to fight for him.”
“You fought him.” It was a statement rather than a question, since she knew that was the only way that he could become Alpha without his father giving him the power and authority. His father never would have given up his power freely.
“I almost killed him.” Nick explained in a tone void of emotion and regret. “I challenged him and beat him within an inch of his life. He still couldn’t even speak or walk when I left him behind with my mother.” His voice seemed far away, as if he was, for the first time, registering shock at what he had done.
“You’ve earned the place you always deserved.” Aura looked at the ground, since she didn’t want to look around and see faces. Faces that died to save her. Ones that fought
