Chapitre 119: Chapter 119: A Daring Idea
Kelara POV
"There's a better way! It's dangerous … but it may be our only hope," Kelara said.
No one could hear her over the howls of the wolves and the crackling of magical energy. She pulled Garnet away from the spellcasting.
Garnet's eyes locked on hers. "We're a little busy at the moment …"
Kelara looked at her urgently, feeling Garnet's frustration. "She's too powerful. We don't have an advantage. Even with Hades turning against her, she's still strong. Analyze the situation."
Garnet gazed at the shadow wolves. Anneliese's powers blasted one, but two more popped up. One of the nightstalkers pinned down Pascalline and drained her energy until she barely managed to get away, staggering back behind the others, her face pale and drawn. Ravyn ran to her.
"We're outnumbered," Kelara told Garnet. "I've encountered these things before, but not so many."
"We've heard about them," Garnet said. "But I've never seen them." She shivered. "The fiend keeps producing them out of thin air!"
"Exactly, and they'll wear us down like they wore down Mage Pascalline," Kelara said. "Unless we try something a little unusual."
Garnet beckoned Ravyn over so that the senior witch could listen. "We can't last much longer, Ravyn. What do you think?"
Glancing at Mage Pascalline, Ravyn agreed. "We have to do something."
The others fell back on Ravyn's command. Jude, Jiro, Naomi, and Patch shifted and regained their human forms. "We can't take much more of this," Naomi said. "They'll wear us down, like any predator tries to do to its prey."
Kelara nodded, quivering at the idea that popped in her head. Talon wouldn't like it, that was for sure.
Talon noticed, his eyes narrowing. "You're up to something, and it's probably dangerous. Whatever it is, I say no."
"Hear the girl out," Tulaska advised, her spirit strong and her eyes steely.
Talon growled softly. "With all due respect, she's my mate and I'm not willing to risk her."
"Dreamwalk," Kelara blurted.
Talon stiffened. "NO."
William looked confused. "Why, Dad? You dreamwalk all the time."
Innocent William. Having suffered from Talon's divorce … suffered in ways Talon still regretted. Despite that, he believed his father was all-powerful and could do anything. His youthful face shone with optimism.
Ravyn tensed. "You're very pregnant, Kelara. Do you know what the Dark Goddess could do to your unborn child? I've never dreamwalked, but I know it's nothing to fool with. I experienced a nightmare that I'm sure came from the Dark Goddess. She can manipulate dreams."
Kelara scowled. "She already tried to manipulate me. I threw off her petty tricks. She doesn't scare me. And we have to do something. I can walk right into her realm and strike at the heart. Talon–"
"NO."
D*mn, he could be such an Alpha when he chose to be.
Garnet put a restraining arm around her. "Listen to him, Kelara."
"GARNET. You said yourself that she tried the same cheap tactics on you, and you fought her off. You might have been pregnant yourself at that time."
Jiro conceded the point. "You probably were." Seeing Garnet's stony glare, he added, "But you weren't this pregnant."
"Does anyone have a better plan?" Kelara demanded.
Ravyn held up her hands. "Teach me to dreamwalk. I can probably do it. I'M not pregnant."
Delving into Ravyn's mind and getting a read on her energy, Kelara inwardly smiled to herself. Ravyn was, indeed, pregnant, and her new wolf abilities would make her pregnancy easier. However, she was newly pregnant, like Garnet.
"Dreamwalking is not so easy," she said.
"Ravyn is one of the strongest witches anywhere," Anneliese argued. "If anyone can learn the skill, she can. It's safer than having you do it, Kelara."
"BUT you need a guide," Kelara pointed out.
Talon's icy stare reminded her of the cold nightmare version of him in the Dark Goddess' illusions. "Then let me do it."
The three wise women, shockingly, supported Kelara. "Her powers are greater now that she's pregnant," Tulaska argued.
Roslynn piled on, red wolf eyes burning. "She's stronger than you think."
Talon bit back a curse. "Luna Lilia isn't here because Dane thought she'd been through too much, and she's less pregnant than my mate."
Eirika was intense. "Your mate and you have to make your own decisions, not judge by what others do. You live your own life, which, until now, was apart from the pack."
Jude shook his head at Eirika warningly. "It's his mate, you can't blame him for protecting her."
Eirika smiled mysteriously. "He doesn't know what she's capable of, like most men with their mates."
Talon tensed. "Kindly stick to your spiritual matters and–"
Defusing the argument, Cyran stepped in-between Talon and the wise women, because revered spiritual leaders or not, Talon didn't spare anyone when it came to defending his mate. "Hades and I can protect her."
Kelara gripped Talon's arm and bent his ear. "PLEASE. Don't come to blows with the wise women."
A low, annoyed growl answered her, and she felt his solid muscles ripple at her touch. "Apparently, I don't know what you are capable of. Or what it takes to keep you safe."
"She didn't mean it like that."
Kelara loved her mate to distraction. She'd found him when their circumstances couldn't be more different. A wandering adventurer who'd slept in every inn in Lugdunum, it seemed, catching the eye of a Peer of the Realm. She adored the man–but his gruff and hostile demeanor had been the only true part of the nightmare the Dark Goddess tried to distract her with. That attitude was on full display, times a hundred. How could she break through?
* * * * *
Jude POV
You could tell Talon had been mated for less than a year. He still thought he could dictate to his mate. Jude chuckled wryly to himself, thinking that even though he'd had Ravyn publicly submit to him, no Alpha worth his rank and title entirely believed he absolutely ruled his mate.
"If I may?" he asked, maneuvering Talon aside with a hand on his back.
Tensing, Talon whirled on him, golden eyes glittering. He smelled like strong pepper. "Talk," he snarled.
Jude chose his words with care. "You've been married before … I was mated before. But that doesn't mean we know everything."
Talon stood stony-faced.
Stubborn pup. Jude felt a mix of annoyance and affection. Talon was part of his extended family, after all. "Our mates submit to us, yes. But that doesn't mean we own them. I learned that the hard way."
Talon growled. "Leave my first marriage out of this."
A sore point. Jude held up a hand. "I realize–"
"You know NOTHING. I was traded off by my parents to Genevieve and her title-hungry family like a bargaining chip. Tell me you would do that to your own children, and I'll hit you."
The pain in his voice hit Jude where it hurt, as a father. Even Titania Hemming, who'd made her daughter's romance with Kyon into a challenge, had been appalled by Talon's parents.
"I can't imagine what that was like," he said.
But hadn't he nearly doomed himself to the same fate, insisting on a purely political mate?
Talon relaxed, just a bit. "No, you can't. I hope you never do."
Jude wrapped an arm around him. "I nearly did. Because of the pain of losing my Emer. I … I needed a mate to strengthen my pack, but I didn't want to risk going through that again."
Talon's eyes widened, and he smelled guilty. "I didn't know."
Jude sighed. "Your parents went for something that was safe–safe for them."
"But not for me, and not for my ex-wife."
Jude sidestepped the open wounds he detected. "And yet you have your wonderful son."
Talon's eyes lit up. "He was worth it. But he lived apart from me–which shows you how disconnected from our people I was." That smell of guilt and shame. "No shifter would allow that."
Jude shook his head. "You have a rosy view of our kind–shifters have done things to their children, too. It's rare, because we treasure our pups, but it happens."
"NOT like humans."
Jude tensed, sensing something had happened to William. Maybe at his own mother's hands.
"The boy is loved. The boy is fighting beside you," he said softly. "The boy is so attached to you that he glows every time you talk to him. Whatever happened in the past, you love him and are there for him. We don't always make the right choices with our pups, but we grow."
Hades joined in. "You couldn't do worse than me."
"Not exactly comforting," Jude muttered.
Cyran added his voice. "Even when you have perfect parents, pups still go astray."
Talon trembled. "William came back into my life because of Kelara. She's everything to me."
Hades rested a hand on his shoulder. "You listen to me. Kelara carries a Sinsworth pup in her belly. You're a Sinsworth. I won't allow HER to hurt my family again. Cyran and I can protect her. And you. Your boy will have to stay here."
Talon shook his head. "He's going to be Alpha of our little clan one day. He'll insist on taking the risk. He may be young, but he's strong. He's a shifter mage."
Hades' eyes glowed golden with approval. "I'll protect all of you."
Screams from Anneliese made Talon charge toward her.
The pink-haired witch lay wounded on the ground while a nightstalker swiped at her with its cold black claws. Patch roared and slammed into the fiend, followed by Naomi.
Jude glanced at Jiro, whose eyes filled with anger and resignation. "I say we should take the leap."
The others all murmured agreement.
William, just as his father predicted, joined the mages and shifter mages. "Anneliese got hurt! So did Pascalline. We have to do something. I can dreamwalk. Let's go do to this Dark Goddess what my father and mother did to a tenant on our lands that wouldn't pay up because he was selfish."
Jude's mouth quirked, recognizing the need for strength in business. "That's not a bad comparison. The Dark Goddess thinks this world is hers to own, but it's our world. We're keeping it safe. Garnet, stay here and protect everyone. You too, Jiro."
Jiro nodded. "Good luck, all of you."
Jude lined up with Ravyn, Talon, Kelara, and William. Hades and Cyran anchored either end, and a shimmering golden and violet bubble formed around them. Kelara and Talon closed their eyes.
"NOW," they both chorused.
Then, the world as they knew it faded away.
L’AVIS DES CRÉATEURS 
AmandaMadden
AmandaMadden Talon's and Kelara's love story probably deserves its own book!
Jude's experience with Ravyn has allowed himself to get through to Talon in a way no one else could.
What will the Dark Goddess' realm be like?
Creation is hard, cheer me up!
État de l’alimentation hebdomadaire
-- Classement
Power Stone 
-- Power
stone