As the werewolves began their interrogations, it was time for me and my people to leave. But before we did, the chieftains of every werewolf tribe insisted on thanking us personally.

“I speak for all of us when I say that you have our allegiance and loyalty for life,” one said—a recent recruit whose name I didn’t know. “Whatever you need us for, and whenever you need us, do not hesitate to ask.”

Every other chieftain nodded in agreement, calling out similar expressions of gratitude.

During our sweeping search through The Woodlands, we had gathered with us almost every single tribe according to the Cuthral leader—at least, every tribe that had survived the hunters’ assaults. The chieftains surrounding me had grown from about forty to almost two hundred.

Thus I found myself standing before the rulers of The Woodlands’ population. Here they were, bowing to us and offering their unconditional allegiance.

An idea struck me like a flash of lightning.

My, my, my… we might really have something here. Something quite extraordinary.

Before taking our leave, I made sure to look all the leaders firmly in the eye, and say, “I will be taking you up on that offer.”

Sofia

As our dragons shifted back into their beastly forms outside the Blackhalls’ mountain, I thought about our next step. Our plan was to return to the ogres’ kingdom, where we had yet more hunters to deal with. We had spotted one base already just by coincidence as we had been flying past. I wondered how many others they might have erected there.

But before we began that task, we needed to return through the portal to our base. Our chopper-cum-tank, Nightshade. We had to replenish our supplies, refresh ourselves and rest a while before tackling the IBSI again. The past few days had been long and tiring, even for a vampire.

Derek and I climbed atop Ridan. Derek sat behind his neck, while I sat behind Derek. I wrapped my arms around my husband’s waist and pressed my cheek against his back as we lifted into the air.

Derek was in a quiet mood. Contemplative. I thought back on the last words he had exchanged with the werewolves. He’d told them he would definitely be calling upon their help. I still wasn’t sure exactly what he’d meant by it.

“Are you okay?” I asked him, planting a kiss between his shoulder blades.

“Yes,” he murmured.

“What are you thinking?”

He let out a long, slow breath before he replied, “I’m thinking about why the IBSI is even needed in the first place. It’s because we are too small, too insignificant, in the face of Earth’s problems.” He cast a fleeting glance over his shoulder back in the direction of The Woodlands. “But just like that, we rallied an entire population of supernaturals willing to lay down their lives to help us…”

My pulse quickened as I sensed where Derek’s thoughts were leading.

“What if we managed to do that with more populations? More races?” he went on, passion rising in his voice. He twisted on the dragon’s back so that his piercing, electric-blue eyes could look directly into mine. “What if we could make the IBSI obsolete? What if we formed a cyclopean, supernatural army that was willing to become the guardians the hunters are supposed to be?”

I drew in a breath as his words sank in. Despite the overwhelming influx of supernaturals in the human realm, most remained in their home realms in the supernatural dimension. Most were not troublemakers. They were just normal citizens, keeping to themselves in their own lives and their own countries. In exchange for our freeing their realms from the hunters, if they could agree to take responsibility for their countrymen and women who’d come to cause trouble on Earth and work to quell them… it was an absolutely brilliant idea. If enough of them came through, surely they could overpower the troublemakers.

“Derek,” I breathed. “That would be… a miracle.”

“Not such a miracle,” Derek replied. “Gaining those werewolves’ loyalty was hard work, but straightforward enough.”

I nodded. Truth be told, I was taken aback by how sincerely the werewolves had offered their help and how quickly they’d been able to overcome their differences when it came to the safety of their home country.

“Granted, not all creatures are as noble,” Derek went on. “Some species like the merfolk just seem to be nasty and bad-tempered by nature. I doubt species of their temperament would agree to any of this even if we swooped down and saved their necks, but then again, desperation has a way of changing one’s nature.”

“Derek.” Vivienne spoke up from the back of the dragon behind us. “You are onto something, brother.” Her face had brightened with excitement.

Of course, although Derek and I had been having a one-on-one conversation, we were flying close to everyone else—most of whom had a heightened sense of hearing. Everybody had overheard and was looking at us with a similar expression to that in Vivienne’s eyes.

“It will not be easy, of course,” Derek emphasized. “God knows how many obstacles we will meet along the way. I must think on it more in the days to come—we must all think on it carefully, before submitting a proposal to the werewolves. We need to consider all the possible pitfalls, especially involving the IBSI, now that we have declared outright war with them.”

The IBSI. Something told me that whatever obstacles lay ahead of us, that organization would be the cause of many. I could not believe that they would just stop their immoral activities and encroachment. Even after the massacre we had just executed. There were too many of them. And whatever man or woman was truly in charge of the IBSI—for that remained a mystery to us to this day—had a heart of stone and blood of molten steel.