Who is Magpie?

A quick look around the grounds and they could see smoke coming from other buildings. Wolven in their wolf and human forms had converged on the areas to try and free those trapped and extinguish the fires. From where they stood at the main pack house, it was clear that the fires had been strategically set to pull support in opposite directions to the buildings bordering the opposite walls.

Those that weren’t trying to smother fires were fighting other wolven in the yard, barks and snarls could be heard over the crackle of fire eating timber. Those that had emerged from the dining hall felt like they were playing catch up on the recent events, and began shifting to stand guard and help where they could. Jessamine could see the divide and conquer tactics of the Fae and her stomach knotted to see such chaos where she had just found peace.

Ezekiel shifted first. “Get anyone stuck inside, out of danger and reconvene at the pack house,” Ezekiel commanded through the mind link. “They are after your Luna!”

Howls and barks sounded around the pack house but every one of their own was paired off with a traitor or a rogue, those paired with a traitor struggling to accept what they had to do.

Bronx turned to Jessamine, clutching her face desperately in his hands. “Please, stay behind me. Just once listen, and don’t put yourself in danger.”

“Bronx.. I..”

“I don’t want to lose you.” At his desperate plea she nodded and he shifted, taking down an oncoming attacker with a swift bite.

More than anything she wanted to shift. She stood on her useless leg, clutching her crutch like it was the oven timer. This attack had been too well coordinated, there must have been a lot of people within the pack that were in on it for this much to happen at once.

The air was thick with the smell of smoke, and it billowed out from the dining hall even as those who remained inside were quenching the fire with the hoses set in the wall. The sprinkler systems had been tampered with, and though they eventually turned on anyone left inside had been doused in wolvesbane; the burns over their skin leaving them unable to shift.

She watched Ezekiel attack three other wolves at once, killing one and injuring the other two. Bronx took out one that came gunning for her, and she hated feeling useless as a human in a fight of wolven. As her resolve shifted to saying ‘fuck the leg I want to fight’, Bronx turned to her and growled lowly, shaking his head.

The ground began to shake with more wolven running towards them, but this group was different. People rode in on their backs carrying crossbows or guns and a shot towards Jessamine had the others around her pause.

“Shift back,” a man called from the back of a wolf. “I guarantee I won’t miss twice.”

A quick exchange between Ezekiel and Bronx and they were nodding their large heads. They moved back to shield her from the man as he got down from his escort.

“Azural?” Jessamine gasped, recognizing the man easily with his red hair.

He smiled at her. “Magpie, you remember me this time.”

“It’s Jessamine,” she returned, flicking her hair over her shoulder.

His smile didn’t waver. “You have your name back, good, I always hated calling you Magpie.”

“What do you want?” Her demand was clear but his goal was firm.

“Only you.” He aimed his gun at her mates and she quickly moved in front of them

“You hurt them, you hurt anyone else, and I’ll make sure you never get me.” Her voice was firmer than she thought she was capable of with her worst fears coming true.

“Uck fine,” he replied, lowering his gun but his colleagues kept aim. “Come to me then.”

She began limping forward, but their hands caught her arms.

“Jessa.” Bronx’s use of her name, that she hadn’t heard from his lips for a while until today, brought her back to the happiness she felt just hours ago with them beneath her calling it out in bliss.

“My love, please,” Ezekiel begged as well.

The tears that fell were immediate and her eyes just couldn’t stop them as they streamed down her face, but she kept her voice clear. “I love you.”

A bolt from a crossbow landed at their feet. “Come on now, my generosity isn’t limitless,” Azural announced with annoyance.

The fear they felt at losing her, at watching her leave with him, was beat out only by the fear in watching her die right in front of them.

Her free hand moved to the back of her head, trying to display that she was unarmed as she moved slowly towards him. Every step broke her heart a little more, but when she hesitated she saw the weapons move, from aiming towards the ground at her packs feet to their bodies, to encourage her forward.

When she got close enough for him to touch her, she moved her other hand up to her hair, tucked behind her head. Her mates saw her pull a pin free, and she slashed at Azural, stomping her cane down onto his toe and aiming for his jugular.

He dodged quickly and caught her wrist, spinning her around to place her back to his chest. He was softly chuckling at her attempt but the defeat she felt with his hold around her waist was too much for her to hesitate.

She felt that oven timer *Ding* in her head and took one quick look back to her mates with so much regret. She brought her other hand up with her fifth pin, that contained a second knife, and moved to slit her own throat.

“No!” Ezekiel, Bronx, and Azural shouted at once.

Azural brought his other hand over, moving his arm to cover her neck so she slashed the length of his forearm instead.

With her last failed effort everything broke. Her voice, her heart, her will to stand; the only thing keeping her from falling to the ground was his arm around her waist.

“Jessamine! Why would you do that?!” He demanded, his voice cold and angry in her ear.

A short sob escaped her before the words did. “I would rather die than go back to the hell of the garden.”

“Hell?” He gawked. “You told me you were taken care of, and they had taught you everything you know.”

“And beat her when they felt like it, drugged her everyday, and sold her to the highest bidder!” Ezekiel spat.

Azural looked down at her back, seeing some of the scars he knew were there, sadly. “I would never take you back there.”

He shifted her in his arms, signalling the wolven he’d come in on to shift and assist him. Every weapon was checked and aimed at someone from the Ashford pack to remind them of their situation.

Before she could prepare, Azural’s second was holding her arms firmly out of the way. Her dress was torn at the hip and Azural’s quick hands felt into the skin before pulling a blade and cutting into her flesh.

Jessamine called out and her mates growled from across the distance that separated them. Azural ignored them entirely, sticking his fingers in the wound to removed a small metal pill shaped object.

“A tracker?” Jessamine gasped. “They bugged me?”

He dropped the knife into the grass and pulled a small circular tin from his pocket. Opening it, it was full of Sanaberry and he rubbed it over the cut he had made before kissing her head.

“I’m sorry I had to do that Jessamine, but that thing has kept me from taking you with me for far too long.” Azural held her tightly despite the blood that now soaked the side of her dress.

She scoffed, her eyes still red from her tears before. “You didn’t seem to have any problem cutting me now.”

He kissed her head again and she hated how freely he touched her. “I didn’t know where it was. You have your friend Kookaburra to thank for this.”

Jessamine’s face gained a pallor complexion. “Kay? You saw Kay?”

Azural chuckled as he looked to Ezekiel and Bronx. “Seems the wolven aren’t the only ones who will be dealing with a coo in the future.”

He stared into her eyes, not seeing the disgust she felt for him, and smothered her lips in his. Moving back to stare at her twin mating marks.

“Two mates?” He questioned and smirked at her. “You were always kinda freaky in bed.”

Jessamine could hear growls getting louder, Azural had gotten cocky but the major fires had been extinguished and everyone was back in the fight. When Azural’s people turned their weapons to those running up, the people started shifting back, diving to disarm them. His second shifted back to defend him while he held Jessamine.

Jessamine had other plans, standing herself back up suddenly, slamming her shoulder under Azural’s chin, and knocking his head back. His grip on her loosened just slightly but before she could gain any leverage to get him off his claws sunk into her side.

She cursed out loud, before dropping all her weight on him, and as she fell jumping against the ground to knock her head against his face. One of his hands flew to his nose which was enough for her to drop her weight again and duck beneath his arm.

One step on her ankle sent a spike of pain through her and she limped forward barely an arms length between them. She tried to stand like she would have before, pretend the injury wasn’t there, to fight with all she had. Her head was running through her sparring matches with the others to remind herself that her fears meant nothing if he didn’t get her.

Azural dove towards her, a grin spanning across his narrow face like he was eager. She dove to the side, sliding on her single foot and having to catch herself from eating dirt with her hands. He leapt back at her and she rolled to the side, her dress tangling around her legs.

He managed to catch her ankle and drag her back over to him before she could make any distance. She was glad he hadn’t caught the injured ankle, but still used that foot to kick him in the nuts, deciding that bearing her pain for his was worth it. She managed, just barely, to flip back up onto her feat without taking her eyes off him .

“That was quite the cheap shot Jessamine,” he groaned, straightening up as his pain dissipated.

“You started it by taking aim at my mates,” she smirked.

“I marked you first. By mating rights, you are mine and I have waited far too long to have you all to myself.” His head jut up and Jessamine realized too late that he was signalling someone behind her.

An arm wrapped around her and a needle stuck into her thigh. One look down and she recognized it as the same kind that had knocked her out at her trial. Her head quickly became fuzzy and her legs turned to jello.

“Wuw wuw, easy there,” Azural coaxed, moving quickly to catch her before she fell.

“You phukin coward,” she spat, collapsing as the tired feeling took over.

“Sorry darling, you can fight me later, but we don’t have time for this right now..” he muttered under his breath, boosting her up to lay over the back of a wolf before moving up behind her.

He hadn’t used as much as the doctor, and she tried to fight the tired feeling back, despite knowing at most she could shorten the time she would be out. Her face was buried in fur that smelt like mushrooms, and she tried to blow it out of her face to see into the yard and glimpse either of her mates.

She couldn’t sense them, even her wolven felt like she was drunk. “Wolvesbane?” She thought she whispered, but the words were so garbled even Azural, who was attentive to her breathing, couldn’t make out the word.

She couldn’t figure out how they were leaving, how no one noticed she wasn’t there anymore, but when she looked up she saw a new fire had started. The main pack house billowed smoke near the end that contained the medical bay, and housed Doctor Pon and the other medical staff.