BASTIEN'S POV
"What the hell is he up to?" Damien hissed.
But Bastien grabbed the younger man's shoulder before the young alpha could throw himself into the fray again.
He had to think, so he kept an iron grip on Damien's arm.
Quintin was definitely faking it. He was doing a commendable job of looking like a total wimp too, except that in the time Bastien had spent with these three troublemakers, he'd learned Quintin was the most cunning of them all.
"Angus, see if you can heal Ronan the Dragon from here," Bastien said.
Angus shrugged. "I can, but without touching him, it'll be a very low-level heal."
"It'll have to do." Then Damien had a bad idea. Well, desperate times called for desperate measures. "If nothing else, just kill the pain for him."
That was what they did in the underground fight cages—pump their fighters full of pain inhibitors and send them back in.
Angus swallowed, but the young prince wasn't that much of a fool either. "I'll try to heal what I can first."
"Grrr…" Damien growled, because his arm was still trapped in Bastien's grip.
Which gave Bastien an idea.
"Damien, shift and create a distraction. Don't do anything stu—"
Damien was already gone, proving Bastien's iron grip had only been holding him back by sheer force of friendship. The young alpha transformed mid-stride into his wolf form.
Damien was quite a magnificent wolf. That was to be expected of the alpha heir of the Darkfall Pack, after all. There was a reason Bastien's grandfather had never managed to expand his organization beyond its current territory. Wolf territorial borders had proven deadly to cross.
The large wolf entered the arena, hackles raised, growling at the Lord himself.
"That idiot's going to get himself killed," Angus gritted out.
Bastien raised a hand to stop the prince from whatever he was about to do. "Just keep healing the dragon. Leave the idiot to me."
They needed Ronan the Dragon. He was a man worth the force of two armies. Bastien only wished he had more pieces on the board.
He pinched the bridge of his nose, feeling like a fool even as he prayed silently in his heart.
"Damien's Moon Goddess, I don't care if you're Ms. Jen or the moon itself. The wolf is a fool. Please do something and save us."
Back in the control room, it was dead silent.
Even the tapping on the keyboards had stopped as everyone stared at the screens, absorbing what they had just seen.
Everyone had seen it.
Ronan the Dragon—thrown aside and discarded.
Their greatest hero. The hope of all humanity.
In the corner, Jennifer's tears slipped silently down her face. Her lips trembled, and her hands shook even as she clutched her phone.
This was all her fault.
She wrote this.
And just as all hope seemed lost, a trembling young man stood up, staggered toward the Alien Lord, and started talking.
Quintin.
"What's he saying?" Harry asked.
Then a large wolf burst into the scene, growling and snapping. He lunged low, clamped his jaws around the AAA Roach, and snapped it in half.
"The fool," Harry muttered. "He's going to get himself killed."
At that moment, the heroes moved too.
Aerial fired a barrage of feathered missiles at the Lord. They did nothing to him, but they created enough of a smokescreen for Tien and a few of the stealth-based heroes to drag Ronan to safety.
Jennifer sniffled.
Laura passed her a clean tissue. "It's not over yet."
"But… but…" Jennifer blinked back her tears.
"—That's my cue."
President Xel's voice cut cleanly through the room.
Jennifer looked up.
Xel was already moving.
No hesitation. No fear. Just quiet certainty, as if she had always known this moment would come.
Jennifer wished with all her heart that she could be that woman instead of the blubbering, useless mess crying in the corner.
"Adrian," Xel said.
"Yes, ma'am."
"Harry. Laura."
"We're here," Harry answered, already on his feet.
Laura stood beside him, fingers flexing slightly, ready.
"Barrier at full output."
Laura smiled faintly. "Already there."
A faint shimmer flickered around them—barely visible, but heavy with presence. Their combined power pressed outward, forming something almost solid.
It was the strongest barrier two humans could create.
But as Xel watched the screens tonight, she had realized something.
Her heroes weren't heroes because of their abilities.
They were heroes because they never gave up, no matter how hopeless the situation became.
Like the young man and the wolf.
Like the two friends supporting them from the sidelines.
Xel had seen them move first.
Sometimes that was all a hopeless situation needed.
Someone to step up first.
Jennifer wiped her face with the back of her hand.
Her fingers trembled. Her chest ached. Her thoughts were a mess.
But she was the one who had written this disaster. Her boyfriend—who was not even technically her boyfriend yet—was lying face-down on the tarmac. Her MLs were facing the final villain with their lives on the line.
She stood up.
"I'm coming too."
The room went still.
Adrian blinked. "Jennifer—"
"No." Her voice shook, but it didn't break. "I'm done sitting here."
Xel turned.
Jennifer glared back with all the dignity of an angry cat with a tear-stained face.
"…Very well," Xel said at last.
Adrian inhaled sharply. "Ma'am—"
"Full protection," Xel continued, as if he hadn't spoken. "She does not leave the barrier under any circumstances."
Harry nodded. "Got it."
Laura stepped closer to Jennifer, the barrier tightening around her—layering, reinforcing.
Jennifer swallowed.
She didn't feel safe at all, but she stepped forward anyway.
No, she had no idea what she was going to do.
But she was the goddess, right?