Page 8 of The War is Coming

Ash nodded. “We will be.”

CHAPTER 5

Baylan, Blake and Maddy arrived in the Adams’ garden. Blake sighed happily, as, for a few hours he could throw off the weight of being Alpha King and Alpha of the Fortuna Pack. Here he could just be Baylan’s mate and Maddy’s dad.

“Come on,” Maddy said, grabbing their hands. “Let’s go and play in the stream. I want to chase the water.”

Blake and Baylan laughed as they let themselves be pulled to the waterside. They sat on the bank and took their shoes, boots and socks off, and Baylan and Blake rolled their trousers up, then the three of them walked into the water.

“Sheesh, that’s cold,” Blake said, shuddering. “Somehow I wasn’t expecting that.”

Baylan laughed. “Yeah, the water goes cold and warm, mirroring normal streams.”

The stream was a stunning oasis. The water was crystal clear with soft ground underneath to walk upon, and willow trees growing at the water’s edge with their long limbs moving lazily in the water.

Maddy moved away from them, and the water, like always, got shallower. When she was about six feet away, she turned and looked back and saw the water was still higher with Baylan and Blake. She ran as fast as she could to try and catch the higher water but couldn’t. Baylan and Blake ran around, making it higher for her to try and catch.

Blake stopped running and looked at them. “You know what we need?”

“What?” Maddy asked, flicking water at Baylan, who laughed and jumped back.

“Water pistols,” he said, with a massive grin.

“Really?” Baylan asked, still laughing.

“Yeah, it will be fun. Plus, we have the whole of this area to play water war in.”

“Come on, Baylan, it will be fun,” Maddy begged.

“It will be,” and suddenly in his hands were three large water pistols. “Fill them up and let’s get out of the water and play.”

Hades and Frederick appeared in the underworld. Frederick looked around and saw nothing but sand and a large structure that seemed to go on for miles. “Where are we?”

“Inside there is Tartarus. The back entrance is just down here.”

“So, how do you protect the door? I’m guessing piling boulders up outside wouldn’t work.”

“Unfortunately not. I’m going to station some hounds here to guard the door. They will attack first and ask questions later.”

Suddenly, four large black hounds appeared.

“Holy hell,” Frederick said, looking at them.

The hounds were massive. Frederick’s head didn’t even reach the top of their legs. They were easily eight feet tall, with large bodies and fiery red eyes.

Hades went to each one and stroked them. “This is my mate, Frederick Barbuda.”

The hounds, as one turned to him and bowed.

Welcome, Consort Frederick he heard in his head.

“Thank you,” Frederick said, moving closer. “You all look amazing.”

“Frederick, this is Shadow, Smokey, Storm and Wally,” Hades introduced.

“It’s lovely to meet you all,” Frederick replied, smiling and nodding at each one.

Shadow stepped forward and nudged his head into Frederick’s chest.