Night Fae by Meg Xuemei X.
Chapter 21
The aliens rammed into the cave with endless energy. The walls quaked, the ground rumbled, and debris and rubble rained down from the ceiling.
We flung up our arms to cover our heads and jumped around to dodge the falling pebbles. At the same time, everyone darted fearful glances at the entrance. Fortunately for us, the cave’s mouth was too narrow for the aliens to get in.
Joy kept snarling at the entrance, ready to charge the hunters to protect me, but it’d be suicide for my hellhound to battle them.
Joy, stay with me, I commanded.
He trotted to me, rubbing my aching shoulder with his head. Then he growled at the hunters again.
My brother clung to me.
“You’ll be fine,” I said, hugging both the hellhound and my brother. “I’ll make sure of it.” Though I didn’t sound as confident as I hoped.
“We explored the cave,” Jill volunteered. “There’s a winding creek going out to the other side, but the outlet is too narrow for any of us to pass through. The entrance is the only exit. If the monsters never leave, we’re trapped.”
And our food would soon run out.
My hellhound and I couldn’t take on even one hunter. The Legend Heavy had been lost during the struggle, tossed away by the alien. It was useless against them anyway.
The aliens slammed into the west side of the cave now, seeking the weakest spot to force the cave to collapse on us. We’d withdrawn into the end of the cavern, but it wasn’t deep enough. With the hunters crashing into our shelter like this, it would eventually give out, or the enraged aliens would tear through the cave and finally get to us. We’d either be buried alive or be torn apart by the hunters.
I hid the anxious look on my face. If I fell apart, my team would, too.
“We’re fucked left and right,” Megan said.
I didn’t even bother to remind her not to swear in front of my little brother.
“Let’s think. Let’s just calm down and think,” Richie said, pacing. I could see beads of sweat glinting on his forehead.
Thinking was useless at the moment.
I slid into a sitting position against the jolting cave wall. “Let’s rest for a while. We need strength.” I paused for a second. “Give the last apple and sandwich to my brother, then the rest of you can divide the remaining food between yourselves. I don’t want any. I’m not hungry.”
Actually, I’d burned all my calories during the battles, but my Fae body could sustain itself much longer than the humans. Maybe it was time to test how long I could go without any sustenance.
My team hesitated.
“Go on,” I said. “None of us are in any shape to fight the alien hunters anyway. Let them do their worst and rock the cave, and we’ll rest for a few hours.”
They didn’t argue and started to divide the food among themselves. Jill, however, insisted on taking a look at my shoulder and leg wounds. She then used the med kit in my backpack to patch me up.
Nox insisted on me having half of the sandwich and apple, or he wouldn’t eat either. I got him to eat the entire apple, but I shared the sandwich with him.
We ate in silence while the hunters kept up their assault on the cave, making the earth shake. It was nerve-wracking to huddle in a subterranean hole like this, but what choice did we have? The aliens outside were much more deadly.
And they would never give up their hunt.
I’d thought that I could protect my team and my brother and get them out of the Wild Hunt, but I might have doomed them to a worse fate. Before I knew it, my face was wet with tears.
“Evie, we’ll figure it out,” Richie said, squatting beside me.
He didn’t sound that confident, and no one seemed to be convinced.
A nagging feeling whirled in my gut. What if the game never ended until I was dead? Wasn’t that the whole point of the Wild Hunt?
How long could I keep going? If I tossed myself at the hunters’ mercy, would the Furies allow my team and my brother to go home? If that was what it took to save them, I’d do it. However, I did not trust the Furies.
I’d have to wait until my mates came for me, either to rescue me or hunt me. I’d make a bargain with them and entrust them with the safety of my brother.
“We haven’t lost, Commander,” Nox said, biting into the last piece of his turkey sandwich. “I believe in you. You kept Asuka and all of us safe when our parents couldn’t. You came for me and protected me. You cut the aliens. No one could escape them, but you did.”
I hadn’t exactly escaped them. The aliens were waiting outside while terrorizing us. Eventually they’d get to us.
“You’ll get us out, Evie,” Nox continued, not aware of the fear and turmoil churning inside me. “I’ll follow all your orders from now on without questioning them. When we’re home, I’ll do more cleaning in the house. I’ll do laundry. And I won’t fight with Cassidy to use the bathroom first every morning.”
I kissed his crown. “That’s a deal, Nox. All the dirty dishes will be yours to wash.”
He widened his eyes. “You ask too much, Commander. What about Cassidy and Emmett? Shouldn’t they take more responsibility? I’m only one person. I can only do so much!”
“Your twin will help you,” I said coolly.
“The kid is right,” Megan said, chiming in. “You’re our ace. If it hadn’t been for you, we wouldn’t have gotten this far.”
“Think of the rest of the first hunting gang,” Jill murmured, adjusting her glasses. “They were all dead.” She shuddered, and our group traded glances, remembering the terror of seeing bloody human heads and body parts dropping from the alien’s enormous jaw.
“Evie,” Richie said. “I’ll do whatever it takes to guard your back and protect your brother.” Remorse or probably something more passed over his sooty face. “I won’t ask for your forgiveness, and I’m sorry for everything. If I’d truly seen you, I’d never have given up on you. But then”—he flashed a resigned, sad smile—“I never truly had a chance. Megan is right. I’m not in your league, and we all owe you our lives.”
“Thank me when we get out of here,” I said. “Let the past be the past. Let’s focus on surviving. The hunters want me instead of any of you. I’ll lead them away from you, and when it happens, you run like hell. Find another shelter. My hellhound will guard all of you and help you get out of the game. If I survive, I’ll come for you.”
If they were better off without me, I’d stay away from them. Joy would take care of Nox for me.
“We’re not letting you sacrifice yourself again,” Megan said, shame flashing in her eyes. “We all panicked, but I’m getting my shit together.”
Jill nodded. “We won’t let you die for us.” She laid her hand on mine. “We’re all in this together. We’ll fight and live through this together or die trying.”
The rest of the team placed their hands on top of Jill’s and mine.
“Can I join you guys? I don’t want to be left out,” Nox asked sheepishly, since he was the only kid in the group. He’d gotten used to me yelling at him and my other siblings, demanding they excuse themselves from the table when the Fae kings visited.
I’d been a bad sister.
Then suddenly, the cave ceased rumbling. It didn’t ease our minds, though. We traded worried, fearful, and slightly hopeful looks in the eerie quietness.
“Did they give up?” Jill whispered. “It’s good, right?”
“Maybe they’re tired,” Richie whispered back. “They can’t keep it up forever. I’m getting drained just by sitting here.”
I didn’t tell my companions that the aliens could go on bombarding the cave for days, if not weeks. I’d caught a glimpse of what they truly were in their own realm. A new wave of dread twisted my insides. Had the intelligent, monstrous beings figured out how to topple the cave? I hadn’t come up with a countermeasure yet; I was spent and injured. Jill had only patched my flesh wounds. My broken ribs hurt like hell, and every breath was an effort.
I knew, though I refused to accept defeat and let Brigantia win, that it would take a miracle for me to prevail with the most lethal alien hunters sitting on our asses.
I closed my eyes. I was bone tired, hurt, outwitted, and terrified, and I felt so alone and hollow without my mates. I dozed off, only to be jerked awake by a sudden clamoring outside the cave.
I bolted upright, my blood running cold. What fresh horror had come for me and my companions?
A cacophony of shouts echoed through the cave. The sound of steel striking steel pierced the air. Shrieks of rage and pain from the alien hunters threatened to shatter my eardrums.
Then, a familiar scent—night and sunlight and pine and sage—swept into the cave, carried by the chilly wind. Every cell in me swirled to life.
My mates were here! They’d come.
A battle raged outside. A rush of adrenaline energized my tired body.
“You won’t harm my mate!” Baron roared.
Hot tears flowed down my face. I hoisted myself up with a trembling hand on the moss wall.
“Our help is here!” I said as I scrambled toward the cave’s mouth.
Standing by the entrance, I watched Baron slide under the gigantic male alien and drive a white longsword into the hunter’s massive thigh. It seemed the Summer King planned to bleed the hunter to weaken his opponent first.
The hunter spun quickly and jerked Baron into a large rock with his spiky tail.
My heart jumped into my throat, fear seizing me, but I didn’t shout a warning or run to Baron. Distracting him might just get him killed.
I drew Netherbane, ready to charge into the fray when I saw an opening. Baron rolled away at the last second, leapt as if he was carried by the wind, and cleaved the hunter’s clawed hand.
The hunter rammed his claws into Baron with an enraged bellow. My mate dodged, but he was a breath too late, and the alien’s claws sank into his thigh.
I roared and charged toward them.
Baron snapped his head toward me for a nanosecond, his golden eyes burning with fear.
“Stay away, Evie!” he shouted. “I got this!”
“Eve, don’t you dare come near!” Rydstrom shouted from the other side of the battlefield.
From how I ran, they knew I was injured.
Both kings forbade me from joining them in the battle. They just couldn’t help being overprotective. Through our bond, which had sparkled to life now that we were in the same realm, I could sense their extreme worry and fear for me and their joy at seeing me alive. They’d thought they’d probably lost me, and that had nearly undone them.
Baron pulled himself out of the alien’s claws with a roar of pain and rage. He evaded another sequence of brutal strikes from the alien, faster than a flash, and jumped onto his adversary’s massive back. Fire traced his Fae blade as he thrust it toward the alien’s skull. The alien’s remaining claws slashed backward and swiped Baron away from it, sending him flying toward a black tree planted in the rocky terrain.
Baron twisted in the air and landed in a crouch. I’d never seen anyone halt their own fall like that. I’d never seen Baron fighting at this supreme level, but then, we were in the Wild Hunt now, and he was giving it all he had.
He roared, and the alien bellowed. They lunged for each other again and collided midway. Losing a hand hadn’t slowed down that damn male alien.
Fifteen yards away, Rydstrom plunged his black sword into the female alien. The Fae kings’ swords, expertly forged and infused with magic, could cut into anything.
The alien was gigantic and formidable, but Rydstrom was the King of Nightmares. He surged forward like a violent wind and bore down on the alien. Even without magic, Rydstrom proved to be a terrifying force of nature.
The ferocious female alien realized that she’d met a bigger predator, no matter her size. She reared and took off into the air. The Night King’s obsidian wings whooshed open, and he shot into the sky like a flash of midnight lightning in pursuit of his prey.
The hunters had become the hunted.
The female’s massive shoulder bled. Rydstrom’s raven-colored armor was splashed with both the alien’s blue blood and his own red blood. He was wounded as well.
When my mates hurt, I hurt more. The mental pain always transferred to physical agony. I took the pain willingly into my chest. If I could lessen theirs through our mating bond, I’d gladly take it all.
I wondered if they could also feel my ache through our bond, now that we were in the same plane. Was that how they’d found me?
I wasn’t in any shape to battle the aliens, but I still wanted to help my mates. I also realized I was a liability to them at the moment. So, I watched the brutal battle with acid worry flooding my stomach.
While the female alien looked over her shoulder to check if the King of Nightmares had caught up with her, Rydstrom shot toward her from above. He was faster. When she realized her strategic disadvantage and thrust her claws and tail up at Rydstrom in a frantic defense move, the Fae king beelined for her unguarded side like a falling star.
Rydstrom swung his sword and sliced through the female alien’s thick neck until her massive head rolled off. Her lifeless eyes remained open in blind rage.
The male alien yowled in grief and hatred as he burst into the sky. Baron lunged, his two Fae daggers pinning the alien’s left wing to the ground. At some point, while I watched the Night King battle the female alien and behead her in the sky, my hellhound had jumped into the fray. He bit down on the male alien’s undamaged arm and refused to let go, even though the alien tried to hurl him away. Stubbornly, the hellhound prevented the alien from slashing at the Summer King with its sharp claws.
Baron swung his arm back, his taut muscles flexing powerfully, and thrust his Fae katana into his foe’s eye until the blade was buried to the hilt in the alien’s skull.
“That’s for hurting my mate,” Baron snarled menacingly. Then another blade appeared in his hand, and he stabbed it into the alien’s other eye. “And this sword will soon enter Brigantia. I’ll end that worthless bitch.”
Joy finally let go of the dead alien and howled in victory, blue blood dripping from his snout.
My companions let out a loud, collective breath of relief behind me. Nox wiped tears off his sooty face and clapped his hands and cheered.
“We’re safe now, right?” Jill asked.
“Who are those magnificent hunks?” Megan asked, her voice brimming with admiration. The girl was crushing hard on my kings.
Jill pushed her glasses firmly up the bridge of her nose as if hoping they could serve as a magnifying glass as she trained her gaze on Rydstrom, then Baron.
“I’ve never seen anyone hotter than them,” she sighed.
I didn’t blame them. Fae males always had that kind of effect on mortal women, and here we had two of the most powerful, gorgeous Fae who walked the earth.
Richie glared at the Fae kings, a stunned expression written all over his face at their masculine beauty and battle prowess. He was considered very hot by human standards, but compared to the Fae who strode toward us, he couldn’t hold a candle. He knew it, too, and was not pleased.
Defensive hostility coiled in his blue eyes.
Baron approached me with a lithe gait, his white longsword sheathed behind his back, his eyes burning golden and never leaving my face once they’d finished roving over my body to check for injuries.
Rydstrom swooped down from the sky and alighted right in front of me before I could run toward Baron. The Night King regarded me, a turbulence of joy, relief, rage, sorrow, and desire twirling in his midnight eyes.
“Ryds,” I whimpered.
“I’m here now,” he said, and he tilted my chin and slanted his sculpted mouth over mine.
I moaned against his lips, my arms wrapping around his neck. I would never let him go again. Not even a dozen horses could haul me away from him. His arms came around me and held me tightly, crushing me against his chest.
He wouldn’t let me go either.
“It’s my turn to kiss my mate, Night King,” Baron barked beside us.
“Fuck off, Baron!” Rydstrom said, then crushed his sensual lips against mine again, as if he planned to kiss me for eternity. As he deepened the kiss and I opened my mouth for him, he growled in approval. His wings came around me, cocooning me protectively and at the same time displaying his dominance toward the others.
“Rydstrom is my sister’s suitor,” Nox said proudly. I could picture the smug smile on his face. “He bought us expensive chocolates and wine. Baron, who’s waiting for his turn to kiss Commander, is the other suitor. They’re both crazy about her.”
Jill and Megan gasped and sighed. I didn’t know how Richie was reacting to Rydstrom kissing me possessively, as I couldn’t see his expression. And I didn’t care.
“Both of them, for real?” Megan asked with undisguised envy.
“There used to be a third,” Nox narrated, enjoying the role of being the inside man. “His name is Rowan. He’s very rich, too, and he bought us lots of expensive gifts.” Nox loved money as much as Cassidy, though he was less snobbish than my little brother. The twin had been worried about our lack of money when my parents disappeared, so in his eyes, being rich was the number one qualification to be my beau. But I bet after this ordeal, he’d change his opinion. He’d probably go for powerful, and Rydstrom and Baron had both just proved that they could protect us. “I liked Rowan, and my twin Asuka liked him, too, but Evie dumped him. She said to shoot him in the face if he and his knights ever showed up at our house.”
Anguish ripped into me at my brother’s mention of the Winter King. I wondered if he was warming my evil sister’s bed right now while I fought for my life. But at least he hadn’t joined the Wild Hunt. I didn’t know what I would do if he came to hunt me down.
Would I slice him open if it was either him or me? Could I?
The image of cutting down the Winter King instantly sent a deep wave of sharp pain into my chest, even though I still hated him for his heart-wrenching betrayal.
Rydstrom anchored his hand on the base of my skull and tilted my head back for a scorching kiss, seducing me back to him. The pain eased in me, and passion for the Night King ignited my cells. I kissed him back wholeheartedly, and then I realized that he wasn’t just kissing me. He was pouring his energy into me, wave after wave, and the agonizing pain from my broken ribs faded to a dull ache, then vanished. My broken bones mended, and the wounds on my leg and shoulder closed.
My mate was feeding me with his starlight and healing me.
Love and gratitude saturated me, but anxiety and confusion also rose in me. This was the null field, so how could my mate heal me with magic? Then a thought clicked in me. The Night King wasn’t using magic. My mate was feeding me through our mating bond, a mythic force that was beyond any magic, power, or force in the universe.
“Get hold of yourself, Rydstrom,” Baron hissed, glaring at the Night King. “She’s my mate, too. We’ve talked about this. You’ve claimed Evie, and now I must claim her before the hunt controls us. It’s the only way to fight the coming compulsion. We don’t have much time left since I need to heal her first.”
Rydstrom glared back at Baron. “What did you think I was doing just then, Summer King? I was enjoying my mate while healing her.”
“I can continue with that,” Baron insisted. “You know my magic has the best healing elements.”
Rydstrom pulled away from me reluctantly, and I darted my gaze between the two kings. Baron wanted to claim me now? This was hardly the place, and we had no time for that, no matter how much I wanted him.
Rydstrom nodded gravely. “We’re the last huntsmen. We should have hunted you instead of battling the aliens, but we bypassed the rules of the Wild Hunt. We came to the scene earlier to obliterate the obstacles for you. However, the wild force will soon overwhelm our minds, and there’ll be nothing left but the burning need to kill you—our own mate. I’ve claimed you, my love, so I can use the power of our unbreakable bond to counter the coercion. You haven’t formed an official mating bond with Baron, and thus it’ll be more difficult for him to fight the bloodlust that will soon overcome him. You need to forge the bond with him right away before…”
“You’re wasting time with your long-winded words,” Baron growled.
My mouth opened in question, then closed as the Summer King spun me away from Rydstrom and crushed his mouth to mine.
