Lanie


    Being able to glimpse what Ste had been able to see about the High Council should have been more


    comforting, but knowing their ns made me so angry I had to get up and pace around the room.


    Only when I paused to look at my mates’ startled expressions did I realize that I’d been buzzing around


    the room like a bee. I consciously slowed myself. I hadn’t even broken a sweat this time.


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    Xander punched a fist into his opposite palm. “We’ll be ready for them!”


    Ste shook her head. “Sorry, Daddy, but no. The High Council has way too many soldiers at their


    command. More even than you’ve ever known of.


    They’ve spent their time these past months recruiting.


    There aren’t enough people in Brightsky who arebat trained.”


    Mason shook his head. “We were trying to work on that.”


    “No time for it now,” Xander said.


    “There won’t be enough capable staff to fight and protect those not capable of fighting,” Ste


    exined.


    “Everyone in this ce has some kind of talent,” I said. “You’re telling me that with all the different types


    of supernaturals in Brightsky, we can’t protect ourselves?”


    Xander also got up to pace, his steps measured and heavy as he walked. His expression had tightened


    and gone dark, and I could practically see his thoughts whirling, even if I couldn’t hear them. If he


    wasn’t my mate, the look on his face would have terrified me.


    The High Council had no idea who they were messing with, and a fierce pride rose in my chest.


    “Most of the people who live here in the enve have never had to even think about fighting or


    defending themselves. They’ve been safe here for so long,”


    Ste said. “In his own way, Mchi has been as detrimental to the enve as the High Council was in


    determining that they’d keep the truth about the Great Wars and the world atrge hidden away from all


    of


    you. By reassuring them over and over that they had no reason to fear, Mchi has made it almost


    impossible


    for any of them to fight.”


    “What about a spell? The witches here should be able toe up with some kind of protection, right?


    Can’t we use that, somehow?” Mason suggested.


    Zane didn’t pace. He sat back on the couch with his hands gripping his knees.


    A sense of unease drifted to me through the mind link. Not the new one Ste had created, and not the


    mate bond, but through my private connection with him. When Zane thought of witches, he was afraid.


    I wasn’t sure he was even aware of that fear, but when he imagined the use of spells, even in


    Brightsky’s defense, he shed back to Rhiannon and being forced to sumb to the workings of her


    magic. He also remembered using magic to help me get inside the hybrid testing facility, and, even


    further back, the spell that had taken our memories, making me Katie. A spell had also hidden my


    hybrid self from me.


    “Magic isn’t always bad, love, “I thought to him.


    I understood why he thought it was, but I had to believe it could also be used for good.


    Zane looked at me with wide eyes. We shared a silentmunication, unshared by anyone else. I tried


    to send him as muchfort as I could, but I could tell that he was still unsettled by the idea that we


    might have to rely on witches.


    “I don’t trust witches,” Xander said to his brother.


    Mason’s expression got grim. “At this point, I’m not sure we have a choice.”


    “Magic can only do so much,” Ste dered but with a tone of respect for her fathers. “It can protect,


    yes, but for aplex of this size, any protection spell will be limited. In order to cast bigger spells,


    there’d need to be a much greater advance warning, and even then, you’d have to have so many


    spellcasters working together. Not every witch is even capable of that level of strength. That’s why the


    spiders have be such an integral part of the enve. They’ve had generations to adapt and grow.


    They’ve entwined themselves into the very fabric of the enve. Their magic is so inherent in the


    structure and workings of Brightsky that nothing can truly rece them.”


    “We have to save them,” I said fiercely, my heart breaking at the thought of all those small lives


    destroyed


    I hadn’t even known about them until a short time before, but the idea that the High Council could


    simply wipe them out…I shuddered and fell silent.


    Tears p rickled in my eyes, mingled anger and sorrow


    life


    All I wanted was to live a peaceful life, and the High Council was making that impossible.


    e, and the High Council was making that impossible.


    “We have to save everyone,” I added before anyone else could speak.


    Ste stepped closer to me. “And we will, Mother. As soon as you leave.”