Winter's War (Her Guardians series Book 4)(2)
“There are too many, Your Highness,” one witch says, and she must only be sixteen by her looks.
“Go to the Goddess’ castle,” I tell them both and send an image of the castle into their minds.
“Thank you,” she says and disappears with her silent friend. I look over to see some are using wind and most using fire, I’m proud of how they are working together. I try to find Winter again, finding I can’t. There’s nothing, but I’m not giving up. I will find her.
“Jaxson!” I roar into his mind when a demon runs at him from behind with a large, silver sword aimed at his head. I pull my power and lift the demon off the ground, throwing him into the hole, but it gets Jaxson’s attention as his glowing, green eyes lock onto mine across the fire and death that surrounds us.
“Winter is gone!”
Even over the witches’ screams, the distance between us, and the noise from the shaking ground, Jaxson’s threatening growl fills the night; a growl that speaks of pain, revenge, and a promise. We will find our queen.
2
Jaxson
“Where is she?” I growl out when Atti gets to me through the demons he kills on the way. A demon runs at me, and I grab him by the neck, lifting him up in the air and watch as he dies. The clothes he was wearing fall to the ground, and I look down. I shake the blue dust off the jeans he was wearing and pull them on, thankful they fit at all. Atti stops walking toward me to throw a demon into the hole. I pick up a silver sword off the ground by the leather handle and quickly run, swinging it down on the head of a demon that leans over a dead witch. Atti lifts his hands, using air to throw two more demons into the hole and then ducking when another witch does the same and throws a demon over his head. I woke up to this madness when five demons came into my room. They got a shock when I shifted and killed them all, or would have if they didn’t fight like emotionless zombies. It took me a long time to even get to the gardens, killing countless demons that I came across. I tried to help the witches in the gardens, but there were, and still are, so many demons here. So, I made a hole for them to throw the demons in. Otherwise, the ones without the fire power had no defence and no weapons. If there are this many in the castle, then the screams I can hear from the city tell me there are just as many out there. They are dying, and all I can think of is what Atti said, that Winter is gone. He has to be wrong.
“I can’t find her, I can’t sense her Jax,” he says, his words filling me with panic. She can’t be dead, I would know. Our mate isn’t dead. Yet, I can’t feel her like I would usually be able to. I can’t sense her around, and Atti wouldn’t just say this.
A demon runs at us, and Atti shoots a fireball at him, burning a hole in his chest, and the demon collapses into blue dust. I stomp over to a demon who is holding a young witch on the ground. She is struggling to hold him off with her air power.
“The whole city is under attack. Atti, you’re their king. You need to tell them to go to the castle!” I shout as I pull the demon off the witch on the ground, throwing him into the hole. Winter would never forgive us if we let our feelings cloud our minds over the responsibility we have to these witches. We can’t just leave them. Atti closes his eyes, his body glowing a yellow colour as he tells the whole city to leave,
“Everyone leave and go to the Goddess’ castle. It’s safe. I’m showing you the image now. Everyone go, leave the city, and you will be safe.”
I hear the same thing as the witches do, and they start disappearing. Atti stumbles a little, his hands going to his knees as he takes a deep breath. That must have been a fucking lot of power. I grab Atti’s arm, shaking him a little, and he nods at me. This isn’t the time to give up. We need to find Winter, and we can’t do that here. He straightens up and flashes us back to the Goddess’ castle, straight to Wyatt and Dabriel, who are pacing Winter’s bedroom.
“Winter feels gone, where is she?” Wyatt shouts walking over to us, and Dabriel follows. They both look as panicked as we feel. A feeling of sickness is spreading all over me, and I don’t know what to do. I can’t fucking do anything.
“I can’t feel her,” Dabriel says, and I nod, feeling the same. I feel empty, the place inside me where she was is hollow, now. I can’t sense her.
Fucking hell, she’d best be alive, or I’m going to destroy the world until I find her or kill myself doing so. There isn’t a life without Winter. I can’t lose her, not now. The only person that could have taken her is her grandfather–the demon king. It wouldn’t surprise me because I have a feeling he needs her for something.
“The demon king has her, doesn’t he?” I ask, and there’s silence from all of them.
“You remember that witch, the one that poisoned Winter and a demon killed her?” I ask them all.
Dabriel replies, “I remember. You think the demon king was protecting her?”
“Yes. He needs her for something, so that means he won’t kill her. We would all know if she was dead.”
“We have to find her. Whatever he wants her for, is nothing good,” Wyatt says and then mutters a string of curses to the room. We all feel the same way.
“Wait, I feel her,” Atti says and grabs our arms.
I feel a flicker of something, just before Atti takes us to Winter. To our mate.