Strike Now

Strike Now
Lachlan MacCrae POV

The energy near the temples was unholy in its magnitude. The Star Temple shimmered like a living constellation, its silver and violet stones pulsing with the heartbeat of the cosmos. Just beyond it, the Earth Temple rumbled low and steady, wrapped in vines, roots, moss, and old, sleeping magic. The air buzzed with sacred intent, ready to be unleashed.

And gathered here, fifty strong, stood the fiercest circle I’ve ever commanded. Witches in embroidered cloaks, wild eyed and humming with spellfire. Mages with runes carved into their arms, their fingers twitching with latent force. Dryads wrapped in bark and bloom, the scent of sap and soil thick around them. All of them had dropped what they were doing to answer my call.

Because we all knew. Raelith wasn’t just a threat, she was a fucking infection, festering inside our Queen. I stepped between the twin altars, magic crawling over my skin like lightning beneath flesh. The tattoos along my arms flared to life, glowing a blinding white blue.

“Star Goddess,” I called, voice sharp as a blade. “Earth Mother. Light and soil. Sky and womb. Answer me.”

Magic surged like a beast awakened. The wind howled and twisted. The earth moaned. The roots around the Earth Temple writhed like snakes, and the stones at the Star Temple lifted into the air, spinning slowly, defying gravity.

All around me, the circle began to chant. First the witches, their voices high and melodic. Then the dryads, low and resonant like the creaking of ancient trees. And finally, the mages, their incantations cracking through the air like thunderclaps.

I raised both hands high, and a dryad priestess stepped forward with a stone bowl. Inside it...blood, stardust, and earth from Elowen’s sacred place. Her sacred thread. The tether.

"Bind it to her,” I growled. “Let her feel every. Fucking. Second."

I dropped to one knee and slammed my palms to the stone. “Goddesses,” I begged, “Give us yer wrath. Lend us yer vengeance. Help us cast this soul wound back where it crawled from.”

The circle flared. Green and silver light burst from the Earth Temple, roots exploding from the ground like spears, twining skyward. Starfire burst from the sky, crashing down in a spiral of cosmic flame.

The ground split beneath us and released a choking fog of blight and light, a paradox of creation and destruction. That fog coalesced into a serpent shaped curse, pulsing with sickly green and glittering silver. It slithered up from the bowl, tasting the wind, sentient, furious.

Caôranach, my wolf, growled in my head. "That thing's a fuckin' god borne scourge, lad. Let it fly."

“I intend tae,” I whispered. “Go feast, beastie.”

The witches chanted louder, weaving their magic into the tendril.The mages stepped forward, slamming staves and hands into the earth to charge the curse.The dryads whispered ancient forest prayers, vines climbing up their arms to join the spell.

Then I let it go. The curse screamed into the sky, tearing through clouds, disappearing into the unseen. We waited. A moment passed. Then, from the depths of existence itself...A scream. A high, unearthly, wrath filled scream, as if the void itself had been stabbed.

Raelith. Blood sucking bitch. Caoranach snarled with satisfaction. "She felt that. Good. Let the bitch stew."

I exhaled hard, sinking back on my heels as the light dimmed. The others collapsed in exhausted heaps. The roots settled. The stars faded. But we all knew one thing:

We had fucking hit her. “She’ll no’ be festering inside Elowen again anytime soon,” I muttered.

Not with the wrath of two goddesses, fifty casters, and a curse forged in soulfire and vengeance gnawing at her strength like rot in a dying tree.

Princess Rivena POV

The clearing behind the Moon Temple was quiet, too quiet.

No birds. No wind. Just the hum of expectation. Above us, the moon blazed full and silver, casting halos of light that danced across the sacred stones. It wasn’t night yet, but Selene didn’t wait for darkness when her daughter needed her.

Druen stood at my right, his massive arms tattooed with glyphs he’d carved in blood and bark. Lazurien knelt on my left, his hands pressed to the earth, vines crawling up his wrists like living prayers. Behind us, the dryad royal line knelt in reverence. The King, Queen, and the two princesses.

My heart thudded in rhythm with the drums of the earth, and Nyzari, my inner lycan spirit, growled in my mind. “Feel it? That’s her. The Moon Bitch is watching. Let’s fucking go.”

I inhaled slow. “Goddess Selene,” I whispered, “you who crafted wolves from stars and gave us strength when men called us beasts... lend us your vengeance.”

The dryads began to chant, their voices melodic, layered with ancient words. Lazurien added his own tongue, an older dialect, full of earth cracking syllables and root borne resonance. Druen lifted his arms. “We call you, moon mother. Shine your wrath. Bind the abomination festering in our Queen.”

I felt Selene arrive like liquid silver, warm and electric, flowing through my bones. The wind shifted. The light pulsed. And then the sky cracked. No metaphor. No poetic whimsy.

The fucking sky cracked.

A beam of concentrated moonlight and divine fury split the clouds above us, spiraling into a lattice of glowing runes. The binding spell formed like a spiderweb woven from comet trails and lightning.

It twisted midair like it had a soul of its own, then shot toward the ether with the force of a meteorite. I felt it strike Raelith through the bond that tethered her to Elowen. And her scream? It echoed through the realm like a banshee set on fire.

“That’s for what you did to our Queen, you diseased fucking leech,” Nyzari spat in my head. Lazurien swayed beside me, breath hitching as he grinned wickedly. “She felt that. She will bleed moonlight for weeks.”

Druen chuckled low and sharp. “We clipped her wings, even if just for a little.”

I tilted my head, listening as Selene whispered softly through the starlight still swirling above.

“You have two weeks,” she said. “Use them well. This wound will slow her, but she will recover.”

Two weeks. A divine curse and a lunar binding. It wasn’t forever. But gods, it was a fucking win. We dropped to our knees again, this time with laughter in our lungs and fire in our hearts. I reached out, lacing fingers with Druen and Lazurien.

“We got a piece of her,” I whispered. Nyzari howled in my mind. “Damn right we did. Let’s sharpen our claws for round two.”

Elowen POV

I felt it before I understood it. A loosening. Like something dark and festering had been pried off the walls of my soul. A breath I didn’t know I’d been holding finally released in a stuttering gasp.

“Wakey wakey eggs and bakey,” Lyssira whispered in my mind. “The rot is bound for now. We’ve got space now. We can fight.”

I stirred. My body felt heavy, soaked in magic and exhaustion. My throat burned. My chest ached. My soul… gods, it felt cracked but lighter. And I felt fingers. Calloused and warm, brushing through my hair with intimate care.

“Daxon,” I rasped. My voice was shredded like I’d swallowed glass and screamed underwater.

“I’m here, baby.” His voice was low and wrecked. He leaned closer, pressing a kiss to my temple. “You scared the absolute fuck outta me.”

I blinked against the light, vision swimming. Shapes sharpened. Lachlan knelt beside the bed, worry storming behind those ocean eyes. His fingers were pressed to the pulse in my wrist like he needed the rhythm to stay calm. Bram hovered like a massive guard dog, pacing, arms crossed but his knuckles white.

Ashrian was leaned against the wall, arms folded, fangs peeking slightly with stress. Even composed and ancient, his black, red rimmed eyes were glassy with emotion. And Vaelrix...gods, my delicious dragon...stood at the foot of the bed, wings furled tight against his back, jaw clenched, fire just behind his eyes.

My heart fucking cracked open. They were all here. I shifted to sit up, and immediately regretted it. Daxon gently pressed me back down, shaking his head softly. “Nope,” he growled. “Strict orders. You’re on bed rest. Don’t make me Alpha growl again, moonshine.”

I bared my teeth at him. “Bring me the head healer.”

The door creaked open. “You rang?” Taya strode in like the badass she was, sun charmed tattoos glowing faintly, her robes messy, fire red hair wild. Power crackled around her.

“I am the head healer, bitch,” she said with a little sing song sass. “And you? Are gonna fucking rest.”

I snarled at her. “I feel fine!”

“You are not fine!” she snapped. Zuki flared in her green eyes like a wildfire barely restrained. “Raelith took a chunk of her disgusting corrupted soul and latched it to yours. Like a leech on a rose. You almost fucking died, El.”

I froze. She fucking did what!? My eyes widened slowly as the fear and guilt slammed into me all at once. Lyssira growled softly, "I can feel it El. A tiny piece of her disgusting corruption just waiting inside us." She whined as she softly nudged her nose against my mind in comfort. I choked out a sob and managed to whisper, "She fucking did what!? How do we get rid of it?"

Taya softened. “The Sun God came. Helped me purge most of it. But even he couldn’t get it all. That’s how deep she clawed in. Lachlan...” she glanced at my mage mate “he gathered the dryads, witches and mages. The goddesses themselves sent a curse so strong it nearly tore the veil. Rivena and her dryad prince got the Moon Goddess to send a binding spell.”

I swallowed hard, not meeting anyone's eyes. “So… she’s gone?”

“For now,” Taya said. “Raelith’s weakened. Bad. We’ve bought you two weeks. Tops.”

Lyssira growled in my head, coiled and ready. “Then we rip her out.” I looked around. My mates. My anchor points. They were all here, torn, exhausted, furious, but here.

“You’ll need weekly sun purges,” Taya said, rubbing her temples. “And everyone’s gotta be patient with you, Elowen. This thing? It’ll twist your thoughts. Try to act like you. Try to sneak back in.”

I blinked fast as tears welled. “I don’t want to lose myself,” I whispered. “I don’t want to be her puppet.”

Vaelrix crossed the room in a blink, kneeling beside Daxon, his taloned hand curling around mine. “You won’t,” he swore, voice rough. “Not while I breathe fire.”

Ashrian’s voice was velvet and wrath. “If she tries to take you, she’ll have to face all of us. And I’ll make sure she never reforms again.”

Bram wrapped his massive arm around my legs like I’d fly away. “She took enough already. She doesn’t get you too.”

Lachlan leaned forward, pressing a kiss to my wrist. “Mo ghrá… ye’ve fought harder than gods. Ye’ll win this too. And I’ll burn the stars for ye if I have to.”

Daxon wrapped his massive arms around me tighter and held me close, kissing the top of my head softly. I broke. I didn’t sob pretty. I cracked, the pain and fear pouring out of me in choked sobs.

And they held on to me. Every one of them. Lyssira purred in contentment. My mates wrapped me in arms, magic, warmth, fire, fang, and promise.

They weren’t letting me go. I strengthened my resolve. I would NOT allow Raelith to be my fucking puppet master.