Kadrithan walked toward him slowly, relishing the moment and his victory. He would take Raziel’s head and plant it on a stake in front of the temple.
He stopped near Raziel’s head and looked down at him. “You could not hold us down forever.”
“That’s where you’re wrong,” Raziel whispered, a smile spreading across his face.
Kadrithan tried to step back but it was too late, Raziel was already casting his attack. The illusion fell from the incubus’s hands. They weren’t burned at all.
A spear of light drove toward him. The attack was too close to dodge.
Chapter 75
Amber
Strength. Power. Magic. It was all around them. She was nothing but a conduit.
Carter struck down, intending to get his jaws around her throat. She twisted under him and he hit dirt instead.
He might be wearing the skin of a wolf, but at his core, Carter was nothing more than a man. She drove her back paw into his balls, claws digging into him ruthlessly.
He yelped and threw himself backward in a frantic bid to protect himself. That was all the opening she needed.
She charged after him and slammed him into the ground. He could not kill her. He could not take her pack from her. He could not scare her into submission.
Her jaws closed around his throat. He thrashed under her. Frantic. Desperate. Afraid.
She bit down harder, cutting off his oxygen. The more he fought the worse he made it. His muscles spasmed as he struggled for oxygen he couldn’t get. The blood vessels in his eyes popped from the pressure. She felt him begin to die.
It was slow. Horribly, painfully slow. Every second felt like minutes as his thrashing weakened…then stopped. She knew if she let go now, he’d come back to consciousness.
Lifting her gaze to Ito’s, she bit down harder. Bones cracked under her powerful jaws. She waited until his heart stopped. Until the buzz of life in him flowed back into the earth.
When she was sure, she dropped Carter’s lifeless body into the dirt at her feet, then lifted her head and howled. The crowd joined her, acknowledging her victory. Honoring her in their own way. Ito, however, remained silent.
She had won this fight but they had taken her choice from her. Ito had forced her to kill in order to live.
Tired and angry, she shifted back to human. Her face ached. The other wounds were healing but she could tell something was wrong with that one. It would be a problem for later though.
“Are you happy?” she asked, holding Ito’s gaze. “Or would you like me to rip out his heart and lay it at your feet?” She walked toward him, magic and power still pounding through her limbs with every heartbeat. She nodded her head toward Zelas, hovering on the fringes of the group. “Or, should I lay it on an altar before the angels. This was their doing after all, wasn’t it?”
Ito scoffed. “The angels? What do they have to do with this?”
“They paid Carter to orchestrate all this. I’m sure he was happy to do it, but I was surprised to find out you were involved.”
“I have done nothing but support a pack who sought to protect our kind from foul influences,” Ito said with a sneer. “Perhaps I should have challenged you myself.”
Amber was done being frightened by anyone. She met Ito’s eyes, facing all the cold hate she found there without backing down. “Are you really so scared of me?”
His expression hardened as a murmur went through the crowd. “What reason would I have to be frightened of you?”
“I think you’re terrified to admit you’re wrong. I’m sure you don’t experience that often, but every time I manage to succeed it tips the scale a little further in favor of bitten wolves being equal to born wolves. Why you need to feel superior to me, I do not know.” She shrugged, holding his gaze steadily as he brought all his strength to bear. His power electrified the air, but it couldn’t touch her. Not anymore. “Even now you need to see me cower, but I won’t.”
A low growl rose from his chest. “You have no idea what you are talking about. I have watched you toy with power you do not understand, wearing the mark of demon. Any power you have is stolen and underserved. Your successes prove nothing except that a bitten wolf is a desperate, pathetic creature grasping after things never intended for them.”
“Desperate?” Amber asked, cocking her head to the side. “Desperate was paying someone to change a human against their will. Threatening me, getting me fired, getting me evicted. Hiring a witch to sabotage my Trials. A grown man throwing whisky on me to see if he could get me mad enough to make a scene. Desperate is approving a formal challenge based on lies just because you needed me to fail. I have fought back to survive, nothing more and nothing less. The only desperate people I see here are the born wolves that have attacked me, over and over again, for nothing more than pride.”
“That is enough!” Ito snarled, stepping forward as if he would strike her.
“I agree. That is enough,” Jameson said, walking out of the crowd toward her. “I did not protest this challenge, as you requested, but enough is enough. Amber has broken no laws, human or werewolf. She defeated Carter in a formal challenge. Is our Alpha Dominus going to violate his word and strike her down?”
Ito’s eyes bled red. “I should.”
Jameson stepped in front of her, his pack spreading out behind them protectively. “I expected you to be more honorable. If I have been mistaken, then you will have to go through me to fight her.”
Ito looked at each of them and straightened. “So be it, Jameson. You have chosen your side.”
The Alpha Dominus turned and walked away. The crowd dispersed, everyone returning to their vehicles except for Jameson and his pack.
She watched them leave silently, every instinct screaming at her to get to her pack as quickly as possible. They were fighting for their lives.
Chapter 76
Tommy
Cassandra and Deward were both running toward Raziel. If Deward got in the way of that spell, he’d die. Time slowed as Tommy launched himself through the air. He didn’t care if this meant they lost, or if Raziel got away. He couldn’t let Deward die. He had to save him.
He hit Deward in the side and they tumbled to the ground less than a foot from Kadrithan and Raziel. Deward bellowed in rage.
Cassandra made it though, throwing herself in front of Kadrithan just in time. The light drove into her chest, running her clean through and stabbing into the demon. She fell back into Kadrithan’s arms, her body convulsing as hot blood poured over his hands.
Deward tried to get out from under him, but he held his friend down.
“Attack!”
A great shout rose up, echoing throughout the temple as at least thirty trolls charged into the temple. Xenya, the elder, ran straight at Raziel, wielding a wickedly spiked metal flail. The incubus took a step back, watching as all his men were overrun by the trolls.
“This isn’t over,” Raziel hissed, limping backward.
Light split the air, rising up through the roof of the temple and rending the ceiling in two. Raziel shot upward, fleeing like the coward he was.
Deward’s struggles stopped abruptly and he went limp, laying on the broken marble as if he were dead. Tommy wanted to shift and help him but while Raziel had fled, the others hadn’t.
A spear burst through the chest of the angel standing over Tommy. His eyes bulged in shock as blood bubbled from his lips. Ithra yanked the spear free, twirling it around her in an elegant display of violence, thrusting and slicing every time one of them made the mistake of getting too close to her son.
Tommy forced himself to move, charging at the next attacker. His muscles ached with exhaustion and the burn from Raziel’s lightning on his back made it hard to breathe but he couldn’t stop now.
With trolls here to help, the rest of the fight went quickly. In what felt like an eternity compressed into the blink of an eye, it was over. He limped back to Deward, paws slipping in the blood-slick covering the floor.
&n
bsp; Kadrithan was cradling Cassandra. She lifted her hands to his face and whispered something that made him stiffen. Tommy couldn’t hear it and he didn’t care anyhow, not right now.
With a whimper, he shifted back to human form. His body was fighting to heal but he had more wounds than he realized. Cuts, both large and small, covered his limbs.
Ithra dropped her spear and knelt next to Deward, shaking him slightly. “He’s still breathing.”
“He…collapsed when Raziel…left,” Tommy gasped out between pained breaths. He looked around for Ceri. She could help. “Where’s Ceri?”
“With Derek. He’s injured as well,” Ithra said, smoothing her hand over Deward’s forehead.
“Where’s Genevieve?”
Ithra looked around. “I don’t see her.”
“I have to find her.” He forced himself upright, waited for the room to stop spinning, then rose to his feet.
“Are you sure you can?” Ithra asked, looking at him with worry.
He nodded firmly. “Yeah. No other choice. I’ll get Ceri to come help Deward.”
Walking away from his friend so soon after finding him was hard, but he wasn’t the one who could help him right now. Only Ceri could if it was the curse that was still affecting him. And Genevieve needed him, he could feel it. She was in pain.
He limped over to Ceri, who was with Derek behind the dais. There were burns on his hands and feet from where the lightning had exited his body. The tablet they’d fought for sat innocently on the ground right next to him –– untouched by the fighting.
“Is he going to be okay?” Tommy asked tiredly.
Ceri nodded shakily. “Yeah, just need to get him back to the house.”
“Deward collapsed when Raziel left and isn’t moving. Can you help him?”
She dragged her hands through her hair. “Yeah.” Leaning down close to Derek, she smoothed his hair back. “Will you be okay?”
He nodded, his face white as a sheet from the pain. “Yes. Go.”
“I have to go find Gen,” Tommy said as they walked back toward Deward. “She’s hurt somewhere out in the woods still.”
“Alright, take this,” Ceri said, pulling out two vials. “One for you and one for her. It’ll give you a boost of energy and heal you, just a little.”
He downed it immediately and relief spread through his limbs. The pain was muted and the worst of the exhaustion faded into the background. He took off at a run –– which was more of a jog, but it was as much as he could manage right now. Part of him wanted to shift, but he knew it would use up what little energy he had regained.
He left the temple, and let the pack bond guide him. Being able to feel it like this was new but the wolf knew how to use it. It was as easy as breathing –– well, easier than breathing right now. Breathing hurt.
He smelled the magic and metal of their guns as he drew near. It almost drowned out the scent of Genevieve’s blood. Picking up his pace, he moved as quickly as he could until he felt himself drawing close to Genevieve.
“Gen?” he shouted.
There was a weak yip in response and he turned around, spotting her tail near a bush. He raced to her side, dropping to his knees next to her. Her leg was a mess of blood and bone.
“What’s wrong? Why isn’t it healing?” he asked, unstoppering the potion Ceri had given him.
She whined, unable to speak, but he felt her answer as sure as if she’d spoken it. Silver.
“Crap, Gen. Take this.” He poured the potion into her mouth and she lapped it up greedily, letting out a sigh of relief as it began its work. “I’m going to have to pick you up.”
She huffed but didn’t argue. He got one arm under her shoulder, then quickly shoved his other under her flank. She yelped, fighting him as he picked her up.
“Hold still or I’ll drop you!” he shouted, holding on for dear life. He didn’t want to hurt her anymore, but he was too weak to carry her if she struggled too much.
A sudden warmth filled him, like the sun breaking through the clouds. Strength that wasn’t his own filled his arms and legs. Amber was getting close and she was helping.
Genevieve stilled in his arms, her head lolling to the side. He broke into a run. They had to get the silver out of her, fast.
Chapter 77
Ceri
Ceri was beyond bone tired. She was pretty sure she was sleepwalking. Every time she turned around she expected to see another angel hurtling magic through the air but it really was over. She smoothed a hand over Deward’s hair. The fighting was over at least.
“We have to do it now, but I’ll need more than just the two of you with how exhausted I am,” she said, looking up at Deward’s parents. “Would the tribe be willing to help? I’d need twelve of them to make a circle of thirteen. A lucky number.”
“I’ll ask,” Olwen said, rising and hurrying over to Xenya.
“How hopeful should I be?” Ithra asked quietly, her hand wrapped tightly around Deward’s wrist, as if she was the only thing holding him here.
Ceri took a deep breath. “I am almost certain he will live. But––” she added, cutting off Ithra’s sigh of relief. “He will not escape this without consequences. The curse has been on him too long.”
“What will happen to him?”
“We can’t know until the curse is lifted.”
Ithra nodded firmly. “Then I will worry about it later.”
Tommy burst in through the temple door carrying Genevieve, who was passed out in wolf form. “Ceri, she has silver poisoning.”
“I can help with that,” Xenya said, walking back with Olwen. A group of trolls she assumed were the volunteers followed them. “You deal with the curse, I will take care of your wolf until you are done.”
“Thank you,” Ceri said, suppressing her worry for Genevieve as best as she could. Everyone was hurt. Everything had gone wrong. She could only fix one thing at a time and this required her full attention.
Kadrithan laid Cassandra’s body out of the way and approached her. He was hurt too, blood trailing down his chest and burns on his wrist. “I have to leave.”
“Alright.”
“I made sure Derek has Raziel’s key. Hide it as soon as you can and tell Amber to keep her guard up. I don’t know when they’ll retaliate.”
She nodded, part of her not caring about the tablet or the demon’s stupid war right now. “I’ll tell her.”
He hesitated, then lifted his hand to her forehead. As soon as his skin touched hers, she was filled with magic that burned through her like a wildfire.
She gasped, jerking away in shock. “What the hell was that?”
“I promised to help.” Before she could demand an actual explanation, he disappeared.
She lifted her hand. It was shaking, but not from exhaustion this time. He’d given her some of his magic somehow. Curling her fingers into a fist, she turned to the others. It was time to break this curse. She wouldn’t waste the demon’s gift.
“Form a circle around him. We don’t have time for elegance. I’ll have to break it with brute force.” She walked over and stood at Deward’s head. The volunteers gathered around her; Ithra at her right and Olwen next to his wife.
“Wait!” Amber shouted, running into the room. “Let me help too.”
She wanted to cry with relief at seeing Amber here. Her alpha took the place of the troll to her left and grabbed her hand.
Up close, she realized Amber was hurt. Angry red claw marks, half-healed, covered her right cheek. “Your face, what happened?”
“I’ll explain later,” Amber said, squeezing her hand gently.
“Okay.” Ceri turned back to Deward and shut her eyes. “Nos ligare.”
Her magic rushed through the circle, binding them all together. As it settled into the group of thirteen, everything came into focus. The power of the pack, of the trolls, of the earth.
She opened her eyes and looked down at Deward. The curse covered his head like a veil. Impenetrable darkness. She l
et go of Amber’s hand and knelt on the hard marble. “Et non est tibi. Eum dimittere.”
The curse rose up, screeching in protest, but she reached through it –– into it –– and ripped it away. It fought back, trying to overwhelm her, but Kadrithan’s magic reached out of her and burned it away like it was nothing. Whatever fae magic was, it was more powerful than anything she had seen before.
Deward twitched, taking a gasping breath as his eyes snapped open. They were still milky white.
“Did it work?” Ithra asked.
“Yes,” Ceri said sadly.
Ithra dropped to her knees, gathering Deward up in her arms.
“Mother?” Deward asked, touching her shoulders in confusion.
“Yes, Deward, it’s me,” she said, pulling back and touching his cheek.
He flinched back in surprise. “Why can’t I see you? Where am I?”
Ceri turned away. She didn’t want to watch this.
Tommy was standing just behind her, watching the scene unfold in confusion. “What’s wrong with him?”
“He’s blind.”
Chapter 78
Amber
Amber ran her fingers through Genevieve’s fur even though she was still asleep. It was more to reassure herself that she was still breathing, still alive, than it was to soothe Genevieve. The silver had gone deep. Even with the strength she was sending her from the pack bond, it would be hours before she could shift back. The injury was taking so much of Genevieve’s energy to heal that it was slowing everything down.
Ceri walked in and collapsed in the chair next to her.
“How’s Derek?”
“Getting better fast with the salves.” Ceri put her head in her hands. “It’s a good thing I couldn’t sleep for weeks or I wouldn’t have all these extra potions laying around.”
She snorted. “Silver lining.”
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