Chapter 29

Chapter 29
Nalani
She shifted her weight nervously between her feet. She was extremely jittery, waiting for the go-ahead to launch her attack. Her team had done well in training, giving her more confidence that they could take down the Light Beam. It was a terrifying thought to have to risk her life and that of her beloved mate to try to save the world. That’s all it was. An attempt. There was no guarantee that they were going to win. She glanced over her shoulder at Nomad. Almost everything that mattered to her was housed in his 6’7 frame. She turned to him to grip his face as Merlot spoke to the enemy’s leader. She pressed a soft, lingering kiss on Nomad’s lips.
“If we make it through this war, I want to start a family.”
His eyes glistened at her as he nodded. “Anything you want, Nala.”
She leaned against him, sliding her arms around his waist as the tension rose around them. She just needed this one moment to pretend like everything was okay. Just one. With him. Before the threat of death loomed even more precariously above them. As Merlot started the attack, Nalani shifted into her wolf, letting her whispered words, “I love you,” float on the wind.
Bea stood anxiously next to her while Jorrah shifted to jump on Namira’s back before she sprinted to the right, with Bea at her side, while Nomad, Lola, Monica, and Beckham all charged at the solid crystal being in front of the millions of people waiting to intercept attacks. Lola launched herself into the air, only to enter a portal as the Light Beam braced for a hit. Another portal opened above it, letting Lola drop onto the back of her neck. Her hands furiously tried to grab her as she danced along her back, narrowly avoiding being grabbed. The more she spun in an attempt to grab her, the more the Light Beam wobbled. Namira howled, drawing Nomad’s attention.
“BECKHAM! CATCH!”
Ropes shot from his hands toward Beckham. They pulled it taunt as Lola leaped off the Light Beam’s back, easily soaring over the rope while the giant crystal reached down to grab her. The Light Beam toppled over the rope, tripping when her feet got tangled in the ropes. She skidded to a stop in front of Namira, who immediately jumped onto her back to allow Jorrah to scamper along the Light Beam’s back, biting rapidly into it, growling in frustration as her teeth glanced off the hard crystal. Namira growled, making Jorrah dash back over to her.
Jorrah growled again as she ran up the Light Beam’s back as she began to push herself back up to a standing position. Jorrah sank her teeth into Namira’s back, injecting her poison into the quick-moving wolf. She leaped off the Light Beam’s back, turning in the air as Jorrah wrapped herself around Namira’s body, clinging to her as they fell. Namira rapidly fired several shots of her acid venom at the Light Beam, celebrating silently when most of the large balls entered the Light Beam’s mouth. The Light Beam howled in agony as the acid mixed with Jorrah’s poison burned its way down her throat while the balls of poison that hit the Light Beam’s body began to melt the crystal that it touched.
As Nomad caught Namira and Jorrah in a spell to guide them gently to the ground, the Light Beam glowed a dark blue, and the holes the acid caused started to heal. A low rumble, almost like a laugh, came from the Light Beam, making Nalani even more scared in Namira’s head. Namira pawed at the ground, growling. She glanced at Nomad and nodded toward the Light Beam, telling him to get her back up to the Light Beam’s mouth. Before he could do as she asked, the Light Beam spit back at them. Namira braced herself for the impact but uttered a thankful whimper when the sun was blocked out as Bea shifted into her dinosaur to protect them.
The balls of acid that the Light Beam had sent flying at them bounced off of Bea’s scales onto the ground, creating craters in front of them. Namira ran up Bea’s back as Bea lowered her head before tossing her head back, flinging Namira into the air so she could fire more acid balls at the Light Beam. When the Light Beam fired a ball back at her, a portal opened in front of her, swallowing her quickly before shutting. She landed back behind Bea’s dinosaur, giving Nomad a nod. Jorrah bit her shoulder again, making her whimper a little as the spider’s venom flowed through her blood again, mixing rapidly with her own acid.
Before she could figure out a way to get high enough to launch herself back into the air, the Light Beam wobbled. The Light Beam shook her head before pounding on her own chest. Monica rushed forward, ignoring Namira’s bark of warning and her siblings’ screams to stop. Bea whipped her tail to the left, hitting Monica hard enough to throw her back to her siblings. She uttered a scream of anguish as Nomad wrapped a barrier spell around her, keeping her at a safe distance from her mate as the Light Beam began to vomit black and silver bile. Monica screamed inside the spell, clawing desperately at it, trying to escape.
“STOP! STOP! THEY’RE KILLING HER!” Monica sobbed.
“Namira! Help her!”
Namira shook her head, knowing that it was too soon. If they had provided the Light Beam with the antidote already, their fight would have started all over again. They needed to let her get weak enough to be forced back into her human form. That was the only way they would eliminate the Light Beam’s threat to the fight. Jorrah clung to Namira, also ignoring her mate’s screams for the antidotes to be given to the Light Beam. The Light Beam’s glow got brighter until a surge of light exploded out, almost blinding them.
Namira squeezed her eyes shut as she darted around Bea in the direction of the Light Beam. When she tripped over a body, Namira opened her eyes as she spun around. She jumped onto the frail woman’s body, which was now lying where the Light Beam had been. Jorrah wrapped herself around the woman’s shoulder as she lowered herself to bite into the woman’s spine, injecting the antidote straight into it, while Namira sank her teeth into the woman’s lower spine, doing the same thing.
The woman’s body jerked under them, almost dislodging Namira from her back. Namira put her paws on either side of the woman’s body as she continued to flood her with the antidote. When her spasms stopped, both Namira and Jorrah retracted their teeth from her spine. Namira nudged the woman’s cheek, whining a little as she tried to make sure the woman was still breathing. Namira was shoved away by Monica, followed quickly by Jorrah, whom Monica threw. Monica turned to the woman, sobbing as she ran her hands over her.
“Please, Miranda, please. Breathe, my love. Please!”
Monica blew fire over her, lifting Miranda off the ground. Namira shifted back to rush to Miranda’s side. She checked Miranda’s pulse, panicking when there wasn’t one. She shot Link a guilt-filled look as she started to perform CPR on the deceased woman while Monica sobbed on the other side of Miranda’s body. The instant Miranda’s heart beat, it stopped for a few seconds before beating again. Nalani looked across Miranda’s body at Monica.
“Fire, now!”
Nalani was yanked backward by a spell, barely in time to avoid being burned by Monica’s fire. Nalani watched helplessly as Monica kept performing CPR on Miranda while breathing fire over her. Link stepped up next to Nalani with Lola wrapped in his arms, while Nomad held Nalani tightly.
“Did we do it wrong? Did we kill her?”
“No!” Nalani instantly denied it. “We couldn’t have.”
Link lowered his head. “But what if we did?”
Nalani shook her head, unable to speak, as she watched Monica continue to work on Miranda. She was upset at Namira’s choice to wait so long, which was only made worse by the grief and regret that Namira herself felt. She swallowed hard as she sent up a prayer to the Goddess, begging her to bring Miranda back.
Tears ran down her face. This was so wrong. They were the good guys. They were supposed to win. It was supposed to be easy. They had a foolproof plan on how to win the war for the Earth. She wiped the tears off her face, stifling her sobs. They weren’t supposed to lose anyone. Suddenly, Miranda shot up, gasping for air and lashing out at everything around her. Monica grabbed her fists.
“Miranda?” Monica cried, running her hands over her mate’s face. “Oh, Goddess, Miranda! I thought I lost you!”
Miranda pulled her hands away from Monica’s. “Who in the hell are you?”
“I’m Monica, and I’m here to take you away from your tormentors.”
Miranda shook her head as if trying to dispel her confusion. “Why do I already love you?”
Monica pulled Miranda onto her lap, rocking her back and forth. “Because we’re one soul, and without each other, we are not complete.”