A Fair Fight

A Fair Fight
\[Lucian’s POV\]
I don’t waste any more time before I’m moving forward, teeth bared, claws ready, but when I’m close enough to touch him, he disappears, leaving me reeling.
Growling, I shake off the shock of him avoiding me and look around until he appears again, his hand holding a swirling ball of energy.
“Only a fool would think that he can take me.” He says, his voice reverberating around us. “No mere pup can take me.”
“How about a pup and a fox?” Victor demands, suddenly appearing. “Think you can withstand that?”
As he speaks, he begins to shift, and once he is in his fox form, he is attacking. He’s fast, nothing more than a blur of red and white mixed with black, but even with his speed and agility, he is still unable to land a blow on the mage.
What the hell is this man? I think, looking for an opening. He can’t be a normal human.
‘He’s using something.’ Aspen murmurs, taking me by surprise. ‘Can’t you feel the energy radiating around us?’
For a moment, I don’t speak as I consider what it is that he is telling me, and when I feel it, a faint thrum of energy just beneath my feet, I understand how it is that he is able to dodge so easily.
Sneaky fucker. I growl, digging my claws into the ground and then moving them so that whatever enchantment he placed on the floor is broken. But since I’ve discovered your trick, you won’t be able to keep it up.
Once I finish eliminating one of the energy grids, I extend my senses looking for the other, and when I find it, I’m moving, destroying it like the other.
One by one, I begin to destroy the mage’s guides until I’m certain that he can no longer feel mine and Victor’s movements. Only then do I attack, hitting from the back while Victor swipes at his heels, and when he crashes to the ground, neither of us wastes any time aiming for him.
Shifting back into my human form, I place an arm against the mage's throat and then hold him in place while the sound of footfalls reaches me.
“Looks like backup has arrived.” I murmur, watching Pandora’s father and Owen head toward us. “Too bad, I was looking forward to torturing some answers from you.”
“You speak as though you expect me to speak.” The mage laughs, his voice dripping with victory. “But you should know that I’m not the one that you should be worried about, and right about now I’m certain that my friend is dealing with the children in that room.”
Eyes widening, I take in what the bastard is telling me, and when I turn my gaze toward the panic room, I watch the door disappear completely, leaving no way in and no way out for all who are inside.
\[Pandora’s POV\]
“Princess! Princess!” The small voice reaches me the minute I stir and find that I’m no longer in the hall with Victor and Lucian but instead in the panic room with the rest of the children. “Are you okay?”
“How?” I rasp, sitting up and then hissing as my body screams at me. “Where’s Lucian and Victor?”
“Princess,” the same small voice says, drawing my gaze to a pup whose name I think is Emily. “Victor brought you in here.”
Victor… Not Lucian.
Eyes widening, I jump up and prepare to head toward the room's exit but fall again as a wave of dizziness hits me.
“Dammit,” I growl, reaching up and touching my head. “What is this?”
“You were injured.” Emily says as the other children begin to gather around. “The mean mage hurt you, princess.”
“But what about Lucian?”
“Who?”
As Emily speaks, she exchanges glances with the other children around us who look confused. Of course, they don’t know who he is, not when he was hidden from the world.
“I have to go and check on him.” I hiss, trying to stand but finding I can’t. “I can’t just leave him.”
“Princess, you’re still injured.” Emily tells me, trying to get me to stay still. “Don’t move around too much. I’m certain that your friend is fine, so you should just…”
“No!”
I couldn’t just stick around, not when I didn’t know what came of Lucian. He was weak, he was recovering from silver poisoning, and he wasn’t the one that brought me here. That had to mean something, right?
Lucian. I call toward the darkness, though I know that he won’t be able to hear me. Please tell me that you’re okay. Send some sign that you’re fine.
“Princess!” Emily repeats as I slowly begin to rise again. “You have to stay…”
“My, aren’t you stubborn.” A low, dangerous voice says, causing a chill to race down my spine. “You’re in such a condition, and yet you’re still trying to act tough. And for what? For my idiot brother who isn’t even worth your attention?”
Eyes widening, I snap my gaze in the direction of the voice, and when I find him, leaning against the back wall watching everything that is happening in amusement, it takes everything not to try to attack.
“Don’t look too shocked.” Lux says, kicking off the wall and heading toward me. “I know that this was certainly not what you were expecting, but unfortunately you’ve left me with no other options.”
“Why are you here?” I growl, watching as he closes the distance between us. “Shouldn’t you be somewhere hiding?”
“Why would I hide?” He asks, giving me a look of amusement. “My fiancé is here, so of course this is the place I should be.”
“I’m not your fiancé.”
“You were,” he snarls, his eyes flashing. “Until you let my brother come between us, but don’t worry, soon enough everything will return to the way it is supposed to be. Once your pack and my brother are out of the picture, you’ll have no one to depend on but me.”
“Even then I wouldn’t depend on you.” I snap, getting to my feet and bracing myself for whatever Lux has planned. “Even if you were the last person on the earth, I would never depend on you.”
“Too bad,” he sighs, stopping close enough for me to feel his warmth. “I was hoping that you would come obediently, but it seems that you want to do this the hard way.”
As he speaks, his hand shoots out and then wraps around Emily’s throat while I’m left to watch in horror, and in that instant, I understand what it is that he meant.
If I didn’t quietly and obediently go with him, then he was going to hurt or even kill all the innocent children.