by Linsey Hall
“But I was wrong,” Mathias said. “She’s helping us. Never done us wrong. I can ignore what she is.”
Aidan shook him. “Ignore? You should be praising what she is. What she is is the person who was able to find Amara when no one else could. Not even your woman Mordaca could find her. But Cass did. And now she’s wearing that fucking collar to save the girl.”
I’d never heard Aidan swear so much. And I sure as hell had never had a man defend me so valiantly before.
“I get it,” Mathias said.
“You’d better.” Aidan shook him one more time and put him down. He looked at me. “You want me to kill him? He tells anyone about you, and I’ll do it.”
Holy shit, Aidan was like a rabid dog. Gone was the sophisticated, powerful millionaire, and in his place was a powerful beast. The ferocity in his gaze was so like his griffin side.
“Don’t kill him!” I grabbed Aidan’s bicep, then thought better of shaking him. I petted his arm instead, trying to calm him. “He’s on our side.”
“I am,” Mathias said. “I knew what I was walking into when I brought her back here. I’ve seen how you look at her.”
Like he’d kill to protect me?
Wow.
“We need her help,” Mathias said. “And she’s had plenty of opportunity to hurt us and hasn’t. She had good reason and a perfect opportunity to kill me ten minutes ago, and she didn’t. I shouldn’t have panicked. I’m sorry.”
I believed his apology this time. “I believe him, Aidan. Let him go.”
Aidan nodded. “Keep it in mind, Mathias. There’s nothing I wouldn’t do to protect her.”
Time felt like it slowed. I knew he cared for me. But this was really serious.
“We’re fighting tonight,” Aidan told Mathias. “At sundown. Be here thirty minutes before.”
Mathias nodded.
Aidan’s gaze met my own. My heart fluttered. “Come on, Cass. Let’s go in.”
He put his arm around my shoulder, supporting me. The collar’s effects hit me suddenly, my adrenaline having drained away. I sagged against him and let him lead me inside.
Nix and Del stayed outside, presumably to stare down Mathias.
“I do believe him,” I said. “At least until we finish this with Amara and the Heartstone.”
“I do too. With the same conditions.” We reached the bedroom. He turned to face me and cupped my face in his hands.
The look he gave me flashed between ferocity and tenderness, as if he was having a hard time switching back from protector mode.
I leaned up and kissed him, putting everything I had into it. My head spun.
After a moment, I realized that it was exhaustion as well as the skill of his kiss. My knees sagged.
Aidan caught me. “All right. Let’s get you into bed for a rest.”
“Will you hold me?”
“Better believe it.”
A few hours later, the sound of voices outside woke me. I rolled over and looked up at Aidan. His eyes were open. He didn’t look like he’d slept.
But he’d stuck around to hold me.
“I think Mathias has returned,” I said.
A feminine voice sounded from outside.
Claire?
A masculine voice that wasn’t Mathias’s answered.
Connor?
“Holy crap.” I leapt out of Aidan’s arms and headed out of the bedroom. He followed.
When I walked out into the living room, I stopped dead in my tracks at the sight of Claire and Connor walking into the house. Claire was dressed in her fighting leathers, her short sword strapped to her back. Connor was dressed in his usual jeans and T-shirt, but he too was armed with a sword, as well as a satchel that I had a feeling contained potion bombs he’d made. Being a Hearth Witch wasn’t all cookies and coffee.
Surprise was etched all over Nix’s face as she offered them a soda. They hadn’t caught sight of me yet, but Mathias had. He strode over. I could feel the heat of Aidan standing at my back.
“What the hell are they doing here?” I hissed.
“I’m sorry, but they insisted on coming.” He kept his voice low.
“How could they insist from all the way over in Oregon?”
He winced. “I went over to chat with them.”
My brows shot up.
“I didn’t tell them what you are, but I wanted to ask about you. Get a feel for where you came from. I believe you’re not a bad person, but I had to see what your roots were like to make sure.”
Aidan basically growled from behind me.
“So you talked to my friends?”
“Yeah. Nix and Del are too close to you to be reliable.”
That meant he hadn’t smelled them. Which wasn’t a surprise. They’d always been more skilled with their magic than me. They didn’t usually smell like anything other than regular, nonthreatening magic.
“So I guess they said I was fine?” I knew they had.
“Yeah. I didn’t tell them what you were, just asked questions. Said you’d been around five years, been nothing but a friend to them. But then they wanted to know how your job was doing. I said it’d turned out tough. They insisted on coming along to help out.”
“And you let them?” I tried not to yell the words like I wanted to. Instead, they came out as a strangled demand.
His yellow eyes softened. “You should take help where you can get it, Cass. It was too risky for me to get any backup from the Alpha Council, not when they’re so sensitive to what a FireSoul signature smells like. Especially since we’ll be fighting and you’ll be using your magic. And as long as you stick to your Mirror Mage powers, there’s no reason for your friends to suspect anything. And even if they did, I doubt they’d turn you in.”
I could almost feel Aidan relax behind me. Mathias’s concern for my wellbeing had clearly helped sway Aidan.
And Mathias was right. I knew he was right. Help was a good thing. And Claire and Connor wouldn’t turn me in if they knew. But I hated to risk them knowing. I liked things the way they were. It was safer. For all of us.
Particularly since knowing meant battles.
But things were changing.
“Cass!” Claire’s voice carried across the room. “How’re you feeling?”
My hand lifted to my collar unconsciously.
Claire’s eyes flared. “We’ll get that damned thing off of you.”
Warmth filled my chest and my eyes smarted. I blinked back the tears and went to her. She met me halfway, wrapping me up in a hug.
“Hey, bud.” Connor strolled over, a can of Irn Bru in his hand. He wrapped an arm around me and his sister. “I second Claire’s vow. We’ll lay down the law on those asshats who put you in that thing.”
“Thanks, guys.” It was good to have my friends here. Really good. I just had to see to it that they were protected.
Two hours later, I waved a temporary goodbye to everyone but Aidan, who stood by my side at the front door of his father’s old home. The sun had set twenty minutes ago and Del, Nix, Claire, Connor, and Mathias were headed out to take up position at our chosen battle location on the west side of Aidan’s property.
Mathias’s recon had confirmed that seven demons and the two wolf Shifters were camped outside the protective spell barrier on the east side of Aidan’s property. The shifters couldn’t figure out how to get in, but it wasn’t going to matter.
We were bringing the fight to them. But on our terms.
“I’ll be right back,” I told Aidan.
“Okay. We’ll leave in fifteen minutes. Give them enough time to get situated in the trees.”
“I know the plan, tour guide.” But I grinned and punched him playfully on the shoulder, then headed back to the room I was borrowing.
We’d spent an hour hanging out in the living room, consolidating our plan—to use my tracking collar as bait to draw them to an area where our guys were hidden in the trees and then blast the crap out of them—but I’d spent the last hour resting
up in fox form. As a result, I felt pretty good. Eighty percent, easy. I could kick some serious ass at eighty percent.
When I entered the bedroom, I went straight to my bag and pulled out my daggers and their thigh sheaths. Lefty and Righty felt good in my hands. As comforting as a teddy bear. I wasn’t planning to use them tonight—I’d be fully embracing my magic—but I couldn’t begin to imagine going into battle without them.
I strapped them on, tugged on my leather jacket, then went into the living room. Aidan stood at the door but turned to face me at the sound of my footsteps.
“Ready to go bait the trap?” I asked.
“Yeah.” He approached me, putting one hand on my waist and the other behind my neck. “You feeling all right?”
“Good,” I said. “Ready to blast some demons.”
“You’ll do great.” He bent to press a kiss to my lips. I leaned into him, relishing his strength and warmth. His kiss was chaste—one of connection rather than passion—but I didn’t want it to end.
When he reluctantly pulled away, my face tried to follow his like a heat-seeking missile, but he was too tall.
“Can’t leave those guys hanging out in the trees too long,” he said.
“Fine. Then you’d better get to shifting, because I need a chariot.”
He quirked a brow. “A chariot of fire?”
I laughed. I only vaguely recognized the reference, but I was pretty sure it veered into dad-joke territory. “Sure. I’ll be throwing fire, so we’ll call you my chariot of fire.”
He grinned, then turned and headed outside. I followed, stepping outside just as the gray light of his magic enveloped him. It pulsed over me, the scent of evergreen and the sounds of waves wrapping around my senses.
A second later, the enormous griffin stood in front of me. I repressed a shiver, surprised that he still had the ability to scare me. He was beautiful, with a gleaming golden coat and sweeping wings, but my eye was invariably drawn to his wicked claws and deadly beak.
I swallowed hard, trying to remember that this wasn’t some wild griffin straight out of fairy tale nightmares.
When his black gaze met mine, the fear subsided. This was Aidan.
He bent his front knees so that I could climb on. I gripped his warm fur and scrambled onto his broad back, settling just behind his wings. His magic crashed over me, evergreen, chocolate, crashing waves.
But the overwhelming part was the sense I got of his mind. Or aura? I didn’t know what the hell it was, but it was a connection, similar to the one we’d had last time I’d ridden on his back.
I was awed by a sense of his bravery. Commitment. Loyalty. Honor. Like last time, it felt like riding on the back of a superhero. Captain America, not Iron Man. The kind of super hero who did good because he was purely good.
Oh, boy. I had it baaad.
I shook the thought away and leaned toward his perked ears to say, “Let’s go kick some ass.”
The party wouldn’t start until I arrived and my collar drew the bad guys to us.
Aidan crouched low, then launched himself into the air. The ground fell away beneath us as the wind tore at my hair and clothes. I wanted to throw out my arms like I was on a rollercoaster, but for once in my life, good sense prevailed. I hung on tight as Aidan soared over the trees.
The cool wind blew clouds over the moon, casting the night in shadow. I reached for my power, loosing my magic so that it could seek Aidan’s. I mirrored his heightened Shifter vision, letting my eyes adjust. They absorbed every little bit of light that seeped through the clouds until the night became more than shadow. I could see the leaves on the trees and a rabbit coming out of its burrow.
My skin prickled as we neared the border of his lands where the protective spells ended. When we flew over the line, it only increased, as if warning people away.
I squinted into the big oaks, searching for my friends. The moon peeked out from behind the clouds, giving me just enough light to see a bit of color. A flash of steel caught my eye—Claire with her sword. Then a hint of blue—Del in her phantom form. Gold from the left—Mathias’s hair. I couldn’t find Nix or Connor, but I knew they were there.
I called on my dragon sense, envisioning the Heartstone. If one of the Shifters had it on her person—which she probably would, since it was too valuable to let out of her sight—I could use my treasure radar to track their progress. I closed my eyes and focused on the Heartstone, feeling the tug at my middle.
It was near.
They were coming, skirting around the protections from the north. If Nix and Del were right, eight of them. Seven of us.
But we were much stronger magically.
Aidan hovered slightly above the trees, his wings steadily beating the night air. Rustling sounded from the north, like twigs breaking under booted feet.
A flash of movement to my left. I turned my head, catching sight of eight demons streaming into the bit of woods we’d marked as our own. More than we’d expected, but not more than we could handle. Perhaps that was what the wolf Shifter had been looking for back when Del and Nix had done recon—more backup. The demons were all big and gray—shadow demons as we’d thought. Each wore an identical silver charm around their neck. I frowned.
Behind them, the two wolf Shifters ran in their human form. Their white-blonde hair glinted in the moonlight. One had a small bag strapped to her back. I could feel the tug of the Heartstone. That was my goal. And killing both those bitches so this collar could come off.
My eye caught on the identical silver charms hanging around their necks, glinting against their black shirts.
My skin prickled.
None of them looked up, so I was still hidden.
Just as the demons ran under the trees that hid my friends, a bolt of fire flew from a particularly large oak. Claire with Fire Mage powers. The orange glow lit up the night as it plowed into a demon. He screamed, dropping to the ground and rolling in the cool grass.
The battle exploded, a dozen things all happening at once. My vantage point gave me the perfect view. Del dropped from the trees and streaked toward the demons, her form glinting blue in the moonlight. She swirled her blade like a master, going corporeal long enough to land a blow that took a demon’s arm.
Spears flew from the trees, piercing one demon like a pincushion. Conjured by Nix, I had no doubt. Mathias dropped from the tree, shifting to lion form as he fell. He landed on the ground with a thud, his huge paws sinking white claws into the dirt. With a roar, he charged the demons. He caught one and tore it to shreds. Connor hurled potion bombs, nailing a demon in an explosion of green smoke and acid that ate his skin.
There were still four demons and two Shifters. I called upon my magic, ignoring the sickening feeling of the collar, and mirrored Aidan’s ability with flame. Warmth enveloped my arm as I shot fire from my hand.
It streaked through the trees, a huge orange bullet headed straight for one of the demons.
Direct hit.
The demon dropped, engulfed in blazing orange.
I’d been in my share of fights, but nothing was quite as badass as flying through the air on a griffin’s back while shooting fire out of my fingertips.
Most of my friends were finishing their kills or moving on to new targets. Mathias was charging the wolf Shifters, who’d held back. This would be over in seconds. We could have handled three times this number of demons, no problem.
I shot another jet of flame at a demon who guarded the wolf Shifters.
The women’s gazes followed the blazing trail up to where Aidan and I hovered in the air.
One of the wolf Shifters said something, but I could barely make out the sound of her voice. The other one touched the charm around her neck. Her lips moved.
Dread settled over me a second before the world went deadly silent. Every muscle in my body froze solid. My comrades on the ground didn’t move an inch. Worse, Aidan froze as well, his beating wings halting in midair.
We were statues.
Aidan and I plummeted, no longer held aloft by his wings. My heart jumped into my throat as we fell. We crashed into the ground, Aidan’s stiff form driving him deep into the dirt. I rolled off his back, frozen solid.
Terror raced through me as I tried to look around, but even my pupils were frozen in place. I strained to break the magic’s foul hold, but every muscle in my body was dead still. The Shifters had somehow gotten ahold of a super rare freezing charm. That was what they’d been looking for, not extra help. They’d wanted to ensure the battle would go their way. Once they located me in the collar, they’d used it.
Boots appeared in front of my face. I could just barely make out the glinting white-blonde hair above me. Behind them, a demon’s body twitched.
The silver charms around their necks had made them immune, of course. My heart pounded in my ears as I strained to see them. Thank magic the charm hadn’t frozen my heart muscles. But then, they thought Amara would be wearing the collar and they wanted her alive.
“Just take her,” one of the Shifters said. “We’re out of time.”
The other bent down and roughly gripped my arm, then threw a small stone to the ground. Glittering silver smoke whooshed up around us, and the ether sucked me in.
13
I collapsed to the ground a second later. Pain shot through my skull as it cracked on something hard. I went temporarily blind while hands roughly tugged my arms behind my back and wrapped thick rope around them. My ability to move had returned, but it wasn’t doing me much good in this state.
As my vision slowly cleared, I lowered my eyelids and kept my body limp as I tried to get my bearings. It was night here, wherever we were, and the moon shined upon tumbled stone ruins.
I’d hit my head on stone stairs. I blinked as my gaze traveled up them. The huge, ornate library building I’d seen when I’d spied with Nix and Del. The one with the ghostly prostitutes. Maybe they would help me.
No, of course not. They couldn’t make contact with living things beyond talking.
I was in this on my own.
A boot nudged my middle. I lay still, my panicked mind hamster-wheeling for escape plans.