Chapter 114: Chapter 114: Dark Battle
Azandra POV
Sensing Tulaska's anger, she hurried with Eirika and Roslynn from the feast. Lilia, Dane, and the others could handle the crowd. Kyon kept everyone calm with his lute music, making it easier for Azandra to slip away. Lilia wanted to help, but Azandra said NO.
"Lilia, you've taken enough punishment for a lifetime, and you and Thessi are both pregnant. Fenrir's guts, I have no idea how you survived that ordeal without losing the baby! STAY PUT. Dane, you heard all that stuff Jude said about submission. I don't normally say this, but get Lilia to submit."
He gave her a fierce Alpha look. "Consider it done. Lilia, inside Cresta House with the children."
"But–"
"Or stay here and keep everyone calm. Either way, you are staying put. Understood?"
Daxius looped an arm around Lilia. "Listen to your mate AND your father. If your mother were here, I'm sure she would say the same thing. Thank the Goddess she's off with Jude. They both deserve a bit of peace."
"Fine," Lilia mumbled, smelling relieved.
Azandra didn't wait around for Lilia to change her mind. She took off with Roslynn and Eirika, heading straight for Tulaska's home. The closer she got to the peaceful sanctuary, the stronger the dark energy. So strong it made her sick to her stomach.
Roslynn and Eirika doubled over, too, feeling the same thing.
Azandra grabbed their hands. "Come on!"
They pushed on, and darted through Tulaska's courtyard. Seeing Tulaska's front door open, they entered her home. A horrible sight met their eyes.
Hades writhed, sprawled out on one of the couches in Tulaska'a living room. Moaning, he clawed the air, fighting with a black and silver cloud floating just above him.
The Dark Goddess.
Azandra frowned. The demon didn't waste any time.
"Let him go," Tulaska shouted, shaking her medicine rattle in one hand and holding a crystal-topped staff in the other. "Release him!"
The Dark Goddess' silky, cold laughter echoed in the room. "He belonged to me long before you were even born. I'll never let him go. Ravyn Rolfe couldn't stop me, and I doubt you can."
Tulaska laughed in defiance. "LUNA Ravyn stopped you cold with her compassion and love. You're just too thick-headed to admit it."
Her boldness didn't make the dark cloud disappear, proving that Tulaska was right.
The Dark Goddess just laughed. "Tulaska, Tulaska, Tulaska … your precious Ravyn will get hers next."
"STAY AWAY FROM HER."
Those words came from Hades, not Tulaska.
The ancient shifter wizard growled, taking advantage of the fiend's silence, "She showed me kindness and compassion. Stay far, far away from her."
Azandra couldn't keep from smiling. Although it reportedly gave Jude a few headaches, Ravyn's approach had won over Hades. "She really is the Pack Mother," Azandra called out.
The fiend sounded shaken by Hades' strength. "You … you can't help her."
"I can and I will, if it's the last thing I do! Tulaska, too."
Smugly, the fiend hissed, "And your precious Cyran?"
Hades' roar shook the rafters. "If you ever touch him again, I'll blow you into oblivion. Not ever you are infallible."
Azandra couldn't shake the feeling of her skin crawling whenever she heard Hades' voice, but a small spark of admiration kindled within her. He was willing to protect Ravyn and Tulaska–two women. And he seemed to love Cyran to distraction, in his own way.
"And if you don't let him go, you'll have us to deal with," Azandra shouted.
The fiend scoffed, a hideous sound like something scraping against stone "He wouldn't do the same for you. He wouldn't–"
"One, it doesn't matter. Unlike you, we defend people and protect them. Two, he just risked you killing him again and sticking him in another body," Roslynn snarled. "Three, he's a shifter–he's one of us. We protect our own. And we'll fight tooth and claw for him."
* * * * *
Hades POV
When had someone last fought for him?
The last time he deserved it, centuries ago.
He still didn't deserve it, but these women still stood up to the Dark Goddess on his behalf, despite her excruciatingly painful voice and that smell like burning trees.
He hated just lying on his back while the Dark Goddess did whatever she pleased with his body. With his mind. With his soul.
His single fear kept him from resisting too much.
The fear that the Dark Goddess would simply crush this body, stop this frail heart from beating, and then stick him in another body of her choosing, as Roslynn said.
He had to fight, though. He had to protect Tulaska, Azandra, and the Silverpaw Wise Woman. And Roslynn, whom he'd encouraged Cyran to ignore.
"Don't you dare hurt them," he yelled at the Dark Goddess. "Their only crimes are being stronger than you and attempting to help me."
The sheer hatred that assaulted him turned his stomach. He felt like throwing up. His limbs trembled and his bones rattled as though a giant hand shook him.
"You'll never die, Absalom Sinsworth, Hades Ombra, whatever you call yourself," the Dark Goddess sneered at him. "I'll kill you and put you in new bodies. A new body every week. To use up like humans wear out a suit of clothes. Who knows, next time it could be Cyran, or Garnet, or the Blackthorn brat."
"YOU LEAVE MY FAMILY ALONE!"
It wasn't his voice that said those words.
It was the one person he'd longed to see for three years.
Golden, strong, and whole again. As handsome and noble as before.
Cyran Sinsworth.
* * * * *
Cyran POV
To hear Hades defend Azandra and the three wise women completely turned Cyran's reality inside out.
Hades, the manipulator and puppet master.
Hades, who tortured him with a sphere that shot silver lightning bolts at him while he just stood in wolf form.
The man who arranged to kill Cyran's parents, out of a desire to die himself.
The long-lost family member who never revealed their blood ties.
The man who acted, at times, as if he loved Cyran.
The key to stopping the Dark Goddess once and for all.
Flanking him, Jiro and Garnet stood tall and proud on one side, Naomi, Talon, and Kelara on the other. They faced down the fiend, with Kelara, Talon, and Garnet embracing their power. Jiro and Naomi added their own power. The mate bonds increased everyone's gifts.
"Let him go," Cyran shouted, blasting the Dark Goddess.
The fiend simmered, raged, and launched silver lances at them. "You are all going to die horribly!"
CREATORS' THOUGHTS 
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