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nReece

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nI had just told my little mate to wait with the guards I assigned her when the building exploded around us. The beasts I saw flooding into the room was nearly enough to turn my stomach. The sight of them was sickening, but I needed to protect my mate.

nThe warlocks around us were casting spell after spell toward the beasts, but the magic didn't seem to be doing as much damage as I thought it would. I had to wonder if Edmond had given them some kind of shield.

nNo matter, I would still rip them apart. I was stronger and faster now than I was even after my Little Bunny had placed a mark on me. Once I had been given the position as commander of the Goddess Guard I could feel the power coursing through me. And that power wasn't just in my wolf form either. I leapt, still in human form, toward a beast. It was the size of two people, twice as tall and twice as wide but with no intelligence what-so-ever. It seemed that Edmond was controlling them with that swirling purple fog he seemed to enjoy using.

nWhen I met the half wolf half deer beast mid leap I latched onto its arms. I felt the immense strength that it had, but it was nothing compared to mine. I pulled its arms down easily, forcing them to its sides. While I pushed those hideous limbs out of the way I heard the snapping of bones, but the creature just didn't seem to notice.

nEven with two broken arms, the monster continued to come toward me, fighting me. When I looked into its eyes I saw an empty soulless expression. Whatever Edmond had done to these people to make them this way had killed everything about them. It seemed like he was taking not just children recently, but people from every shifter class there was.

nThese were my people. I was their king, but I couldn't protect them from this psychotic warlock. I had not known of their existences, nor their suffering. But now here I was seeing the outcome of their lives. I was fighting against my people and I could do nothing about it. Right then and there I vowed I would not let my people suffer like this ever again.

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"I'm sorry I couldn't stop this from happening to you. All I can promise now is to end your suffering torment and do what I can to stop it from happening again.

" I said to the beast before me just as I finished yanking on its arms, separating them from its body. Still I heard nothing from the creature.

nThe thing was still coming at me, its head lowered so that its horns were pointing toward my head. I knew I needed to finish it off, I couldn't dwell too long with one monster with so much going on around us.

nI swung myself up behind the thing and latched onto its neck. I yanked him down to be on my level. I was not a short man by any standards, but this thing dwarfed me like I was a child.

nWith the beast bent over backwards, allowing me to plant my feet on the floor for leverage, I pulled hard. The sounds coming from the thing were beyond terrible. The snapping of bones and ligaments. The tearing of flesh, sinew, and cartilage. These sounds reverberated in my ears as I pulled hard on the things head.

nThe moment the monster's body separated from its head I heard its gurgling screeches cease. Also, I was sprayed along one side of my body, head to foot, in the spray of blood and other fluids that arced from its falling body.

nI scanned my immediate area for my next target, and that's when I felt my stomach drop to the soles of my feet and my heart stop beating altogether. There were a dozen monsters bearing down on the group I had left my mate in. These were not part of the original group that came in, but another set that had just broken through the side of the building.

nOn top of the monsters, there was debris falling all around them. I had left them in a corner, hoping that they would be safer that way. Now, with the falling debris and the monsters approaching them they had nowhere to escape.

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"Noah!

" I called out to him as I ran to protect my mate.

nNoah knew instantly what I needed, what I wanted, and started racing to help. He was almost as covered in blood and gore as I was from the creature he had just finished off, but unlike me he was in his wolf form.

nI leapt, quick as lightning, onto the back of another beast, this one seeming to have part of an eagle shifter as it reached toward me with hands covered in large talons. I would not let these beasts hurt my mate or my baby.

nThe monster's neck snapped under my arms and stopped moving. It slumped to the floor, falling out of my grasp as I sought another target. I would need to kill them as quickly as I could to protect everyone.

nOne after another Noah and I helped David, Otsana, and Shane destroy the monsters. We had cut their numbers in half and were steadily moving on to the others when I heard Juniper scream out.

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"Get back!

" One of the creatures was close enough to grab her now. She and Trinity had moved to the side to avoid the corner a little as the battle was waging around them.

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"Back the ** off.

" I heard my mate scream as she pulled Juniper toward her and narrowed her eyes. A second monstrosity had joined the first and they were bearing down on them. I watched as my mate sent a pillar of flame from her hand to the creature in the lead, causing it to fall to the ground and begin to burn instantly.

nThe second monster was still closing in just as a third and fourth started looming from their side. The girls were still facing the corner where the first two beasts were lumbering at them and hadn't noticed the addition of the creatures from the initial attack squad.

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"Trinity!

" I yelled in panic. I was running toward her, my mind nearly blank from worry when I put a shield in front of her to block the attack from the monsters.

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"Luna!

" David had noticed her situation as well and was at her side in an instant. He pulled the two of them aside just as all three monsters converged on the spot. The one in front bounced off my shield as the other two ran headlong into the wall. I had just leapt onto the back of one, Noah on the one beside me, when I heard the sound of the world falling around me.

nIt wasn't the world really, but it might as well have been. I turned to look in what seemed like slow motion as everything around me moved too quickly. Just as I turned my head and looked at my mate along with David and Juniper I saw what had made that sound.

nEven David with his supersonic speed didn't have the chance to react quickly enough when he noticed what had happened. It seemed like we were all just doomed to watch it happen and not be able to stop it.

nA chunk of the ceiling, at least six feet in diameter, had been hanging down. Sagging from the weight and the missing support of the building around it. That chuck of sagging wood and plaster and whatever else was right above them when they had moved out of the way. But when the creatures smashed into the wall, it was knocked loose. It didn't have that far left to fall, and in the blink of an eye it had crashed down onto them.

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"NO!

" I screamed as I finished the creature in my hands off as I started to run toward them. It had just started to move as David was pushing it off them when a gust of wind swirled with purple smoke. Inside that smoke were two more of those beasts.

nThat smoke dropped both of those large, looming figures right onto the fallen chunk of the ceiling. They regained their balance as David crashed back to the floor. The beasts ripped through the debris beneath them as if they were being guided by Edmond directly.

nI ran as fast as I could, forced to watch as I made my way to my mate's side. The creature on the left had reached her first. It pulled her from the rubble and lifted her up.

nMy Little Bunny was dangling in its grasp, blood smeared across her face.

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"Trinity!

" I yelled her name again.

nI was not the only one converging on the scene. Gabriel, Dietrich, and Crawford were all running as fast as they could along with Noah and myself. Still, we weren't quick enough to stop the second beast from land half a dozen blows to her in quick succession.

nAll of this had happened in less than a minute. My Little Bunny had been dazed from the ceiling landing on her head, then the large, heavy beasts slamming down on top of them. She had not recovered herself enough to react. But I was trying hard to get to her.

nThe five of us slammed into the beasts at the same time. Just after, I noticed everyone else running our way. They had all been busy with their own fight when this horror scene played out in front of me.

nI reached for my wife, to snatch her out of the air, but she moved before I could get to her. Shawn had used his telekinesis to guide her safely to the floor. Griffin stopped at her side as soon as she was laying down. Shawn then used his powers to lift the debris off David and Juniper who had still been trapped under the beasts. They, like my mate, had lost consciousness when the enormous creatures with their immense weight crashed down onto them. Paul ran to his mate's side as Otsana reached David. Together the two of them pulled the unconscious duo out of the way and over to Griffin.

nDietrich went to assist Griffin as the rest of us finished off the last of the beasts. The ones that had landed on the debris were the last two. All the others had been taken care of by our group and the warlocks alike.

nThere were several injured parties among the group, but none so as Trinity, Juniper, and David. I watched as Paul and Otsana both caressed their mate's faces. Fear, sorrow, and anger were written in every line of their face and the set of their eyes. I wanted to pull Trinity into my arms, to hug her and find a way to make things better, but I had to let Griffin work.

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"Step back please.

" He told the others who had crowded around. Otsana and Paul were pulled back by Jackson and Cedar respectively. I was forced to just watch on as Griffin's healing light emanated around the three unconscious figures.

nIt was a heartbreaking few minutes that felt like they lasted for an eternity. But I watched, ever vigilant, as the bloody gash on the side of my mate's beautiful face closed and left nothing, not even a scar. The blood remained but not the injury.

nThe same thing happened to the scratches and bruises. And the place where a part of the ceiling had penetrated her abdomen, something I was too blind to see before. It seemed to push itself out as the wound closed with the magic Griffin was using.

nWithin minutes, they were all healed and I saw their eyes fluttering. All three of them were waking up.

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"David.

" Otsana called his name as she ran to him and kissed his cheek.

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"Juniper.

" Paul did the same, pulling his wife into his arms.

nI was right there with them, pulling my Little Bunny into my arms and onto my lap.

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"Baby, are you alright?

" I asked her, worry still thick in my voice. I watched out of the corner of my eye as Dietrich leaned in close to whisper to Griffin. I didn't care what they had to say to each other, I was just happy to have my family in my arms.

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"Reece.

" My Little Bunny called out from in my arms.

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"Shh. I'm right here sweetheart.

" I assured her.

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"Reece.

" She said my name, more urgently this time.

"I don't feel it.

" She was beginning to cry now.

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"Feel what, Little Bunny? What's wrong?

" I felt the tension and fear begin to wash over me again.

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"The baby. I don't feel its warmth in me anymore.

" I looked up to see Griffin and Dietrich looking at me with sad and angry eyes.

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"I'm sorry, Reece, I couldn't save it.

"

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"I am sorry, but its light is gone.

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"No.

" I shook my head trying to force what they were saying to be untrue.

"No. Tell me you're lying. Tell me it's a cruel joke. Please.

" I pleaded with them.

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"I'm sorry.

" Griffin hung his head.

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"No.

" The tears were streaming down both my face and my Little Bunny's.

"No.

"

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