The Sentinels

3: Battlewounds

The day had come at last. Dante's skin had been itching for weeks and now he was finally back in his truest form. Forced to remain in human skin had taken its toll on him; being so small and defenseless was certainly not a state he enjoyed.

Now, he was twice as big as the largest house in Everett Valley and he enjoyed every second of it. Some of the trees in Everett Forest were still taller than he was, but looking down on humans was what really satisfied him. They reached about the height of half his foreleg. He could crush them with a single step.

Savoring the power he felt, Dante thought about humans and their weaknesses. Though small and arrogant, they were still a force to be reckoned with. They were the very reason Dante and his family had been forced into hiding so many years ago. He and their entire kind couldn't afford to underestimate the little ants again, no matter how little Dante thought of them.

Twenty-one years ago, Reagan had stumbled upon a Vatess, one of their few seers still on earth. Because of her predictions, there had been a glimmer of hope, hope for a better world. She'd seen that it was to be found in an isolated valley in the west. Even though Dante never let himself truly hold on to the thought of the world ever going back to how it was, deep inside him there had always been a spark of it lingering, waiting to be fed.

The mentioned isolated valley had better be Everett Valley—the other two up in the north, Illios and Potra Valley, had proven to be nothing but disappointments. He still hadn't come across any names from on the Sermin, a list that summarized everyone that had betrayed Dante's kind one way or another. People with the potential to have actual information. They'd hoped that by finding traitors, they would find information on enemy forces and if they could finally live in safety. And possibly on what could keep a war from happening.

Reagan hadn't allowed Dante to storm into Council Hall and wanted him to sneak in or find any other way—which was dumb, since there was no other way—but apparently whatever it was the Vatess meant, names of the perpetrators and those responsible or not, the little she devil was the key. Dante hated that their survival, somehow, had something to do with her. His gut told him that she knew something.

But why her? Of all people?

Before Dante could lose himself in his anger and frustration, he reminded himself of the one good thing in his life he was certain of.

Now that Kendra was at his side, the world was suddenly not such a dark place anymore.

And maybe.

Just maybe. Together, they could save it from dying.

"It would be so much more efficient if we would just snatch up the lot of them and fly home," Dante suggested but earned a deep growl that rumbled through Reagan's chest.

Reagan wasn't keen on his promised, that blasted Catherine girl, finding out about them and their true form. Not this way.

Reagan was trying hard to maintain his promise to her of giving her space. The fact that the four of them had followed the new rogue pack of wolves—with her in it—would probably not sit well on her. Dante could imagine the fit she'd throw when she found out.