Crown of Faeries

29 | Finis

"Max!" I gasped as disbelief rumbled through my body. "But--how?" I narrowed my eyes through the darkness and instantly in the background, the fire pit erupted into the sky in one large wave of orange-red light, exposing the surrounding areas in a flash and allowing me to confirm that it truly was Max.

"We don't have time for that." Max said affirmatively. His eyes wondered over to Freya where another man was cutting her ropes. Max stepped closer to me and reached for my collar. Instinctively, I jerked away and then found myself foolish when his eyes widened.

"Sorry," I murmured before letting him take my collar off.

I didn't know how he was going to get the collar off in the first place. When Scar had placed mine on, she had made it very clear that there was no way in hell it would ever be able to come off. It didn't just have a simple latch and buckle like an animal's collar, it was some special metal and leather link that just sewed itself together on its own.

But when Max placed his hands against my neck and the metal inside began to heat up rather quickly. Before the sound of splintering metal rang through the air, I remembered he was a Druid.

"We must hurry." Max's voice snapped me out of my thoughts. I turned my head to see his eyes searching the forest, probably looking for Freya. And he must have found her for his face twitched in a soft smile as his gaze drifted off behind us.

Freya's sassy huff sounded right before she started violently cussing at the man who had cut her bindings. "What took you so damn long? Huh? Leave a damn nymph all tied up against a tree and you just watch her cry her eyes out as she--"

"Freya!" I shouted and her feverish eyes flashed over my way.

"They did the same thing to you!" She waved a hand my way as she glared at the green cloaked man. "She's a princess you know. I bet her royal ass she didn't like being treated such a way."

"I'm not a princess." I mumbled as I swung my arms in defeat against my sides and accidentally slammed my knuckles against a tree trunk. Hissing as I pressed my closed fist against my breasts, someone stepped from between the shadows.

Max instantly drew the sword at his side in a large arch, the steel reflecting the fire explosions behind us as the other Druids fought with Scar's men.

Kieran stood there with his hands raised to his shoulders in surrender as his earthy eyes glittered with humor as he peered at Max. "Always thought you would be the one to save the day. Aren't Druids sort of well-known for that sort of thing?"

"What are you doing here?" Max's eyes hit mine, "What is he doing here?" He then asked me not a second later. He balanced his sword skillfully in his hand as behind us all, the forest lit up in a large field of light as a tree combusted soon afterwards.

Scar's demands started to fire back and forth between her men and women as she instructed them through the fight. I looked over my shoulder to see her standing with one foot up on a jaggedly cut tree stump, and the other drilling itself anxiously into the dirt. Was she scared of the Druids and their magic? I wondered but never let the thought carry out as Max placed his sword back in the sheath placed on his hip.

"Since you're here," he rose his chin up a fraction. "Are you up to destroying a couple of Hunter's?"

Kieran's eyes wondered over to me and a smirk as dark as his heart played across his face. "Anything for my fiancé."

I had to fight the urge to roll my eyes as his long and lean legs started to carry himself closer to me.

Max seemed to be the braver one of the two of us, for his eyes rolled over twice before he let out a moan. "Let's just get this done with." He cut Kieran a hard look and Kieran walked right passed me to follow Max.