by Cecy Robson
“They’re coming for Celia!” I holler.
Tears glide onto my cheeks with how hard I yell. They still can’t hear me. I try again, my words cutting off when dread rakes my spine in one painful strike.
I almost snap my neck with how hard I whip it in the direction of the kitchen. The Lesser witch, the server with the dreads, waits beneath the arch.
In a blink, he vanishes from sight. But…he’s still here.
I can’t see him, only sense him, looping through the dense crowd as the guests are directed toward the ballroom and away from Celia.
My power builds. Sparky trembles out of control. I don’t have the best aim. Not when most of my arm is glued to the floor, and my fingers are barely moveable.
Whatever is gaining ground toward Celia has no care for her life or that of her baby. It has a job to do.
Well, so do I.
I aim and fire at blank space and a sense of wrong more than anything corporeal, my frustration and fear taking form in blue and white fire and vengeance. I strike my target. There’s screaming, smoke, confusion, and the pungent smell of dark magic.
As the smoke clears, the spell holding me crumbles. Tye breaks free, the blood from his injuries splattering the walls as he runs. I manage to scramble to my feet and clutch his mane as he leaps over the rail. He twists his body, cushioning me as we land in the foyer beside Celia.
Aric stands holding an oddly muscular arm encased in gray fur, its claws mere centimeters from Celia’s protruding belly. Gemini holds another similar arm covered with patches of spindly black hair that intermix with gray fur.
The fabric cocooning Celia’s baby is torn, exposing her skin. Small drops of blood bead along the length of the scratch. The creature just barely grazed her. That doesn’t mean Celia doesn’t feel the effects.
Celia is breathing hard. She covers her mouth with one hand and clutches her stomach with the other. Misha clasps her shoulders, pressing her back against his chest as he guards her.
That thing, whatever it was, came close to gutting Celia. Fury ties a noose around me, threatening to choke me. I turn, wanting to find the creature, my need to kill it corrupting my senses.
Koda and Gemini’s twin wolf each have one of the creature’s legs. The face of Celia’s attacker is distorted but still recognizable as the waiter with the dreadlocks. Angler fish fangs poke through a disproportionately large maw, and squirming snakes replace his long hair.
The serpents along his head hiss, striking at Shayna and trying to sink their fangs into her flesh. She easily leaps out of the way, landing in a crouch, and then thrusts her weight forward to stab the creature in the heart.
The snakes and their owner spit at Shayna. She frowns, avoiding their venom, and stabs again, twirling her sword and cutting a spiral where the heart should beat.
“Dude,” she calls to Aric. “This thing’s not dying.”
Aric’s features darken from where he stands with Celia tucked against him. I didn’t notice him gather Celia away from Misha. I almost didn’t even see him toss the arm until it tried to crawl away. The claws scratch against the tile, leaving marks and chipping the tile. Gemini stomps on the hand with his foot, breaking the bones so it can’t move.
“What the fuck is that?” Aric growls. His attention, like every were, vamp, and witch who forms a blockade around us, takes in the pummeling me and Tye endured. Everyone knows we’re in danger, but like us, they can’t pinpoint the cause.
There’s no sense of neophytes, those witches close to becoming shifters who, although strong and deadly, remain human. Nor does the feel of were or vampire match anything this thing might be.
The attention I initially begged for is finally on me, yet now that I have it, I can’t think where to begin. “Something has come for Celia,” I say. I point to the creature. “It won’t end with him. We have to get Celia out of here.”
“No,” Tye insists. He swipes at the blood oozing from hand. “Destiny made it clear we can’t leave the house.”
“I know what she said,” I say, practically growling myself. “But you saw for yourself that the house isn’t safe.” I step toward Celia, thinking twice when Aric’s livid presence warns me to keep away. “Look, at the very least, we need to get Celia someplace where we can better guard her.”
Aric’s guttural tone is barely recognizable. “We can’t guard Celia effectively if we don’t know what we’re facing,” he replies. His gaze falls to her belly, to that spot that marks how close he came to losing her and their child.
The scrape is nothing compared to the wounds Celia has suffered in the past, but it speaks to the horror that almost transpired. Using care, Aric trails his hand down Celia’s stomach, wiping the blood from her skin.
The rage within Aric builds in frightening waves that ripple across the foyer. He releases Celia, slowly, shaking as if afraid to let go.
“Aric,” she says.
She doesn’t beg him to stay with her or plead with him to hold her. But the words are there, reflecting along her beautiful face as Aric sets her in my arms.
God, she’s so scared. I hold her close, quivering from what almost happened and what already has.
Gemini is beyond furious at the sight of me. He won’t like what I tell him I lived through, but this isn’t about me.
The tension congealing the air escalates as Aric approaches the squirming creature. Shayna flicks her sword with expert flair, beheading the snakes before slamming the tip into the creature’s eyes.
“Give him to me,” Aric tells her.
The request doesn’t suggest that she do so in one piece. Shayna swings her sword like a pendulum. The head rolls clean off the shoulders and toward her feet. With a twist of her wrist, she impales the head and scoops it up, offering it to Aric.
Aric grasps the head and slides it from the end of Shayna’s sword. “Who sent you?” he thunders.
The creature hisses and snaps his fangs at Aric. “Something stronger than you, wolf,” it says, struggling to speak.
Aric presses his hands together, caving the skull inward. “I asked, who sent you,” he repeats.
The creature is neither afraid nor appears to feel pain. It spits, fraught to form words with what remains of its face. “Nyte comes for the tigress. Nyte is here for her.”
“Nyte won’t have her,” Aric snarls. He slams his hands together, crushing the head like a rotting and smelly watermelon.
Aric tosses the head over his shoulder. “Let’s go,” he says. “Braeden, make the call.”
Braeden shakes his head. “The phones aren’t working, Aric. We already tried.”
Aric’s movements walk a fine line between human and animal. He reaches Celia and takes her from my arms. She remains in shock, barely registering more than her baby as she cradles her stomach.
Tye drills forward and blocks their way, earning a deafening growl from every were with Aric. Tye ignores them, holding his ground despite the large strips of flesh missing from limbs and side.
“Where are you going?” Tye demands. “Didn’t you hear me? Destiny says to stay in the house.”
“I heard you,” Aric bites out. “But where is Destiny? She should be here with Celia like she promised.”
Tye balls his fists. “Aric, Celia and this prophecy surrounding your children mean everything to Destiny. If she could be here, she would.”
“Then where is she, Tye?” Aric counters.
“I don’t know,” Tye shouts. “I…I can’t feel her anywhere.”
It’s a big deal for weres not to feel their mates. It doesn’t look good for Destiny, and it sure as hell doesn’t look good for us.
Aric rights his stance. As a mated were, he can sympathize with Tye. Bottom line, Destiny is not his priority, Celia is. His granite-hard expression is unreadable as he works through the situation. “Destiny isn’t dead, Tye,” he tells him. “If she was, you’d know it.”
He cuts Tye off and looks to me. “Tell me what you know.”
�
��Not much. I can only tell you what happened to me,” I reply. Mouthing-off aside, I generally have more to offer, even when all the crazy rains down like acid. Except, for the magic to turn against us like it did, someone must have allowed the enemy in. I don’t want to say more than I need to.
Aric nods slowly, understanding when my attention flickers to Celia. Gemini understands, too, although he doesn’t keep it together like Aric does. His dark gaze sweeps over my torn dress and the contusions and scratches littering my skin.
Gemini edges closer, ready to make someone pay. “If Taran is this injured, we’re not safe in the manor.”
“We’re worse off outside,” Tye barks. “If the grounds were safe, Destiny would be back by now.”
“Maybe. Maybe not,” Aric adds. “Either way, we can’t just stand here.” He motions to Gemini. “Let’s go.”
At Gemini’s order, several weres form a blockade in front of Tye. Tye changes into his beast form, his chest rumbling.
Aric leads Celia away, but Tye is determined to reach her. Koda shoves Tye before he can get close, sending the white lion sailing.
Shayna rushes forward as Tye rebounds off the wall and uses his powerful legs to barrel through the Warriors who charge. She presses her hands on Koda’s arm when he growls a challenge, demanding Tye face him.
“Koda, please don’t fight him. He’s our friend.”
Tye loses his mind the closer Celia is led toward the exit. He means to help, except I can’t be certain this is the right way.
Urgent mumblings spread through the crowd. Many of the attendants are gathering their belongings while others argue whether to remain or leave with the weres. Genevieve addresses her witches, sending guards to different parts of the manor to check for breaks in the wards and alterations to the spells.
There’s disarray from all sides despite the way the leaders work to calm their subordinates and reinforce the strategies and alternative plans each has in place.
Celia disappears within the legion of Warriors guiding her toward a doorway that appears with a power word from Genevieve’s second in command. Several witches take places on either side of the doorway, keeping vigilant as the first of the weres pass through.
I don’t leave my spot, watching as they leave and wishing I could tell her goodbye. There’s a brief pause, and then she’s suddenly visible, pushing through the bodies who swarm her.
“Taran, come on,” she says, slipping from Aric’s hold. “We have to get out of here.”
“I can’t,” I reply. I don’t have to yell across the room. She can make out my speech through the turmoil.
Gemini’s palm presses against my back. “Taran, I’m not asking,” he states. “We’re leaving.”
“I can’t.” I glance away from Celia and up at him. “Emme and Bren are missing.”
Tye morphs back into his human form. His torn flesh is no longer actively bleeding, but it’s far from healing. “Gemini, Destiny is gone. She sensed something dangerous and went after it.” His voice hardens. “She didn’t come back. Do you hear me? You don’t realize how powerful she is or what she’s become—no one really does. Except as lethal as she is, whatever is out there is stronger.”
Celia’s state worsens the closer she draws. Destiny is among our most powerful friends. If she’s in trouble, Emme and Bren are no better off. “What happened to Emme and Bren? Emme was supposed to arrive with the second wave of Warriors, and Bren was to stay with the others outside the grounds.”
Shayna’s long black ponytail swishes as she shakes her head. “Emme wanted to stay close in case Celia needed her. Bren…he uh, didn’t want her here without him.”
“It was a last-minute change,” Koda says. He glances at Aric. “Both were needed closer to Celia.”
Aric curses. “And now both are gone.”
I sweep the hair that’s fallen from my bun away from my cheek. It’s only then I realize I’m bleeding from a scalp wound. “I lost them over an hour ago.”
Aric whips away from Koda, where they’re forming a plan, to ask me, “What did you say?”
I don’t want to say everything I do…not when everyone who’s supposed to be on our side, isn’t. “The protective booby traps turned on me—”
Genevieve rushes forward, cutting me off. “That’s not possible, Sister Taran. These spells are meant to harm only those who mean harm.”
An army of head witches are gathered around her. Despite the clamor of voices and her lack of supernatural hearing, she heard me just fine. It doesn’t surprise me. Vieve didn’t become who she is without paying close attention.
She presses her lips together. It’s her subtle way of demonstrating insult and a warning that I better watch what I say. I slap my hands to my sides. We really don’t have time for this. “Vieve, I’m not accusing you of any wrongdoing,” I tell her, my voice harsh and raw. “What I am telling you is I spent over an hour in halls that led nowhere and back, rooms that spin like carousels, my body parts glued to floors, all while getting trampled by beings who don’t see me and who aren’t affected by my magic.”
Gemini edges closer, growling when a witch with stark-white hair and skin to match strokes the talisman around her neck and the ruby sparkles with magic. “Sister girl, you don’t know me,” I tell her. “Keep your hexes to yourself before that talisman ends up on the ground beside your burnt remains.”
Oh, and she stops stroking it then.
“Taran,” Gemini says. “You keep insisting you were gone a while.”
“That’s because I was,” I contend. “And I’ve been separated from Emme and Bren almost as long and exposed to these stupid—no offense, Vieve—spells and bullshit magic.”
“That can’t be right,” he mutters. His gaze flickers to Vieve and her ever-pressing lips.
I’m not a fan of his tone or what he tells me. He can sniff a damn lie, start sniffing away.
“Tomo,” I say, using his real name and losing the speck of patience I have left. “I went to greet Celia and ran into Emme and Bren. Together, we left to find Celia and were somehow separated in the corridors leading to the rear entrance.”
“Love,” he says slowly. “You left my side only moments ago.”
Chapter Six
I straighten, an awesome feat seeing how everything hurts down to my toenails.
An old witch scoffs, her dark eyes casting a reprimanding glare at the bleached bitch witch who threatened me. “The spells are indeed against us,” she says, her Aussie accent thick. She adjusts her position where she’s hunched in a chair. She’s several feet away from the other head witches, but the power she emits makes it clear she doesn’t need them. She motions around with a staff made from a twisted old branch, a coffee-colored stone at the tip. “We may not feel it, but it must be so if she describes spells we were made none the wiser of.”
Celia’s tiger eyes replace her own. She was strongly “encouraged” not to change into her beast form, the same advice given to pregnant weres close to their due dates. Celia isn’t were. Like our sisters and me, nothing like us has ever existed. But we’re not taking any chances. For all we know, that little one she carries will fly out of the birth canal sprouting a beak and wings.
Aric whispers something in her ear. She blinks a few times, her tiger eyes resuming their human form.
Aric’s friend, the one he introduced to Celia—Braeden, I think—watches her closely. “Incredible,” he says.
Yeah, weres can’t change their body parts like Celia can. It’s either beast or human. He’s fascinated by her; all the supernaturals are. It bugs me. I hate all the attention she’s getting; she’s already a target.
Celia doesn’t reply and ignores the escalating panic surrounding us. She meets Aric’s gaze, imploring him to listen. “I don’t want to leave without Emme or Bren,” she tells him.
Aric’s glance to her exposed belly is brief. I still catch it, and Celia does too. “We don’t have a choice, sweetness.”
Koda’s rock-steady
features solidify further when Shayna squeezes his hand. Like me, they’re torn with what to do.
Tye shoves his way through. “Aric,” he growls.
Aric’s fierceness amplifies when Tye takes a step too close to Celia. “I’m sorry,” Tye says, tilting his head in respect. “Look, Destiny was scared when she rushed to fight whatever’s out there.” He jerks his head toward the entrance. “Something strong is holding her back. Do you understand the shitstorm you could be walking into?”
Aric doesn’t blink. “Do you understand the shitstorm in here?” he counters. “This thing, whatever it is, is not only powerful enough to take on Destiny, it’s strong enough to alter spells the most powerful head witches across the globe spent weeks building. There’re countless curses set in place to injure and plenty more that can kill us. I can’t allow Celia to stay.”
“I hear you,” Tye bites out. “But we can’t leave. Taran and I were glued to fucking walls and floors. But we survived. I can’t be sure we’ll survive if we try to leave.”
“Celia can’t stay,” Aric fires back. He rams his finger in Tye’s face. “That thing that attacked her, I didn’t see it, I didn’t sense it. If Taran hadn’t shot it and made it visible—”
Aric’s voice cuts off. He can’t bring himself to say Celia and their baby would have died in his arms. He doesn’t have to. The feeling is there, angering everyone who loves her and warning those in attendance that their hides are also on the line.
“It wouldn’t have ended well,” Aric finishes gruffly.
“I get it,” I say. “Except, Tye has a point.” My leg muscles ache from running, and I was seconds from collapsing. Funny how the fear of dying a miserable death can give you a second wind. “There could be more of those things that attacked Celia. There could be thousands, and you saw how hard they are to kill.”
Gemini scans the literal army of weres at his disposal. “Would you be able to sense them?” he asks. “You did that creature.”
I glance at my feet when he motions to the nasty remains. My shoes remain miraculously in place, although they’ve seen better days. “I don’t know. I saw that thing when he was just a waiter. I didn’t sense anything different about him and dismissed him as a Lesser witch. It was only when he appeared to vanish and stalk toward Celia that I sensed something wrong about him.”