Mated To An Enemy

Ashleigh watched as her brother hit Roman and threw him against another tree.

She was shocked.

Axel was a warrior but never a very strong one. He was constantly distracted and self-conscious. The only time he had truly been able to hold his own was in the protection of someone else.

Even then, he had never had strong combat skills. But now, he was focused. He had control and movement. He was like a different man entirely.

Had she missed so much in her time with Summer?

“Ash…” Caleb called to her.

Ashleigh quickly turned away from the fight, running to her husband.

“Caleb, are you alright?” she asked as she touched the side of his head.

He let out a soft hiss. There was a large bump, it would hurt for a little while, but he would be fine.

“Axel has this,” she said. “You and Galen need to get to the hospital; Bell is already there.”

Caleb started to argue, but seeing Galen, stirring but moving sluggishly, he knew she was right. No matter what happened here, Galen needed to be with his wife and child.

He got to his feet with her help. She helped to steady Galen against Caleb’s shoulder.

Caleb wanted to tell her to come with him, but he knew she couldn’t leave her brother while he was still at risk.

“Go,” she smiled. “We’ll be fine. I’m sure Saul has already alerted the patrol about what’s happening.”

Caleb sighed and then nodded. He turned and hurried away with Galen groggily following his lead.

Ashleigh turned back to the battle. Roman was down on his knees as Axel leaned into his face holding his throat between his fingers.

“Get him, big brother,” she smiled, starting in their direction.

She paused, feeling Axel’s presence burn away from the surrounding area. The air getting warmer. As she stared at the scene before her, time slowed. The expression on Roman’s face changed.

The look of concern and the struggle to breathe faded. Giving way to one of anger and determination.

‘He cannot hold him,’

‘He is not strong enough,’

‘He will be killed.’

A roar echoed from Roman’s throat as he broke from Axel’s hold and stood up straight.

‘You must stop him.’

‘You must.’

‘He will kill your brother, and then he will kill Bell and the child.’

Ashleigh watched in horror as Roman grabbed Axel, yanking at his head as he punched into his chest and forced him to the ground.

“If I go berserker, I will kill Axel,” Ashleigh whispered to herself nervously.

She wasn’t confident that she would be able to throw herself into the fight without risking Axel.

‘Embrace the power.’

‘Accept the power!’

“I already told you! I can’t risk Axel!” she growled.

‘There is a way we can help, without hurting anyone.’

“How?”

‘There is no time to explain… listen.’

Roman placed his knee to Axel’s throat and held something over him, and a look that Ashleigh recognized burned in his eyes.

The same look she had seen in Granger’s eyes. The jealousy, the insanity.

“Where did you get this?!” Roman hissed.

Ashleigh could hear it in his voice. He was tipping toward the edge of his limit. He would kill Axel for trying to keep Bell from him.

“Who is Alice to you?!”

Ashleigh gasped, and time stopped.

Alice.

He said, Alice.

She took a deep breath.

‘Accept.’

This man was willing to kill Axel, not for Bell, but for Alice. He had broken Axel’s hold for Alice.

‘Accept.’

Ashleigh gripped her hands into tight fists. Clenching her jaw and taking a deep breath through her nose.

‘They know each other,’ Ashleigh thought. ‘Alice and Roman, they must have some kind of a relationship….’

The anger was tying knots in her belly. Alice had made a fool of her brother. Turned him against his own family.

She was a snake. A monster. A threat.

‘Accept.’

Ashleigh swallowed down her fear as she saw the frozen moment, Roman holding her brother with murderous rage in his eyes. She needed to save him. She needed to protect all of them from whatever Roman and Alice were planning.

“I accept the power you offer me,” Ashleigh whispered.

The spectral armor of steel with golden accents and fur lining at the shoulders appeared to form over Ashleigh’s body.

She gasped as she felt a fire in her chest and resistance in her body. It was strange, it hadn’t happened the last time.

A circlet of gold and steel adorned with a set of small wings at her temples.

There was a brief but intense pain in her head.

In her hand, she held a great sword of steel and gold.

The weight of the sword was more significant than any other weapon she had ever wielded.

And her eyes burned with the bright white light of the full moon.

Ashleigh dropped to her knees as the process seemed to end with her body stretched and pulled, leaving a painful sensation that felt wrong.

The armor, the circlet, and the sword all absorbed into her body, but she felt different. She felt strong and powerful.

She stood back up and looked at her brother, still frozen in the moment.

Without knowing why or what she was saying, she spoke.

“Protect the ones I love, remove the threat from my lands,” it came out as a whisper, spoken by a dozen voices.

Axel growled and gathered his strength, pushing back against Roman, pushing hard enough to get free of his knee and move away.

He stood up and stared at the monster before him. Roman snarled and gripped tightly to the braid.

“Give it back!” Axel hollered. He charged at Roman.

Roman snarled and charged forward.

They sped at each other with force and will, each genuinely wishing for the demise of the other.

But just as they were about to slam into each other, as they planned to tear each other apart, the air around them changed.

A strong and focused wind spinning and twisting like a tornado hit the ground between them, sending them both flying back into the snow.

Ashleigh held to a tree not far from them as the wind threatened to blow her away. She held her arm up, trying to block the wind as she kept her eyes on the scene before her.

The wind died down, and a woman stood between the two men on the ground.

A tall woman with pale skin and long black hair. A long white dress with teardrop sleeves. Her hair laid loosely at her back and shoulders, while the upper half was done with braids and two buns layered together, one smaller than the other.

Ashleigh gasped as she recognized Lian.