by Alisa Woods
Daniel punched the button for the elevator, and they waited an interminable time for the car to arrive. Zoe was crawling out of her skin—she could barely see the swimming walls around her, much less any security that might be barreling down the hallway after them. Her nerves were hyped like crazy.
The long ride up to the fiftieth floor was even more nerve-racking—Zoe was convinced that at any moment, the car would come to a screeching halt and trap them somewhere in the middle of the building until security could arrest them. Or at least try to. Between them, they had a hell of a lot of magical firepower.
On the way, Daniel checked in with them again. “Is he on the move? Have we been detected?”
Zoe was keeping a constant watch so she would’ve said something if Skylar missed it. Declan Hunter was moving, but it was just a small pacing back and forth all centered around the same small location on the top floor.
“Nope,” Skylar said. “He’s still there.”
Troy squeezed Zoe’s hand in a reassuring way, and it did help, but the ride was still agonizing. Finally, they made it to the top, and the door slid open.
The penthouse floor had luxurious carpeting and glass walls that made the entire thing look high-tech. There was only a single frosted-glass door etched with the symbol for Serafin Genetics. The overhead lighting had been turned down to half strength to conserve energy, but the motion detectors must have sensed them because they were starting to flicker on.
Daniel grimaced. “Let’s move fast. These lights are stealing our surprise.” He pushed open the frosted glass door, revealing a reception area inside, but their group barely made it into the room before two tactical-gear-clad guards burst out of the interior frosted-glass door to the main office. They raise their weapons, but Daniel and Kaden let fly their blue orbs, which splashed against the guards and the walls, knocking the guards back and torching everything they touched. The magic dissipated on contact, but it nearly set the walls on fire and left behind horrible burns on the men, who were moaning and rolling on the ground. Daniel and Kaden rushed them and punched them in the face, knocking them out.
Zoe decided that was probably a mercy with the burn wounds they had.
Troy was swearing under his breath. To Daniel, he said, “Can we bring her out of her trance now?” His voice was tight.
Daniel gave a nod. Skylar passed her hand over Zoe’s face, and it disrupted the magical spell, but she still had to fight to let go of the vibrating magical web. The Wolf Hunter was on the other side of the frosted-glass door his men had barged through.
“You okay?” Troy asked.
She nodded then tipped her head to the door. “He’s in there.”
Troy turned to Daniel. “How about if I pull back with Zoe and Skylar now? You guys go ahead?”
Daniel shook his head. Even before Zoe’s objection could reach her mouth, he was saying, “We stick to the plan. Everyone stays together. Let’s move.” He was conjuring a new ball of magic and creeping toward the door with Kaden.
Troy seem to be grinding his teeth, but he held his weapon in front of him and followed after Noah and Owen, with Troy keeping his body between the advancing guard of wolves and Zoe and Skylar behind. Which was somewhat ridiculous, given that Zoe and Skylar were the most powerful ones in their group.
Daniel and Kaden busted through the door, and the whole group of them advanced through a dimly lit field of cubicles toward a set of large double doors in the far wall. Even though she was out of the spell, Skylar seemed to know exactly where to go—she kept her finger pointing, like a human GPS, and Daniel kept looking over his shoulder for guidance. They were quiet, but once again, the motion detectors were turning on the lights as they weaved past the cubicles.
When they reached the door, Daniel hesitated, a dark look on his face. All four of them had fresh balls of energy ready to fire, but they weren’t immediately storming the room—and Zoe could guess why. There had to be more guards, and the door formed a pinch point where the Wolf Hunter could have his men pick them off one by one. Troy held his hand up to keep Zoe and Skylar from moving forward, even though she had no plan to do so.
Daniel motioned them all away from the door. Standing back, he and Kaden prepared two balls of energy each. Daniel counted down with his fingers… three, two, one… then they blasted the door simultaneously with all their magical energy. The blast had such concussive force that it threw them all back into the cubicle walls they were braced against. The door itself withstood the blast, but it was charred like crazy, and portions of the wall were catching on fire.
“Let’s not burn down the place, boys.” Skylar waved her hand toward the wall with a large sweeping motion, and the fire quenched. Still smoking, the door must have been weakened. Daniel motioned them to either side, lining the wall, then he and Kaden charged the door, launching simultaneous kicks that knocked it open. They jerked back behind the wall, and it was a good thing—a tremendous volley of gunfire sounded throughout the office, and the flimsy cubicle walls that were in direct line with the door popped with a hundred gunshots, torn shreds jumping into the air.
Then all four of them—Daniel, Kaden, Noah and Owen—charged the doorway at once, sending blasts of blue energy ahead of them. They followed the energy in, conjuring new blasts as they went, but Zoe didn’t hear any more shots being fired. In fact, all she could see through the doorway was a glistening, pulsing energy shield of some kind.
“Zoe,” Daniel called, “you better get in here.”
Troy scowled, but this was no time for her to hesitate. She strode toward the door with Troy by her side and Skylar trailing behind. When she stepped through, she saw the room was basically a laboratory—only it was stocked with even better equipment than her own lab. Ostensibly, this was Serafin Genetics equipment, but it looked like it had been tricked out to be the Wolf Hunter’s own private genetics Batcave, complete with computers, a medical bay, racks of glassware, hood, sequencers… and worst of all, some kind of medical torture chair in the middle. And strapped to it was her grandfather, the mayor—Billy Wilding. Standing next to him, a gun in one hand, stood a thirtyish man with black hair and dark blue eyes—clearly, Declan Hunter. The Wolf Hunter. The same man who had kidnapped the mayor from the River family estate. He held the gun to the mayor’s head, but the mayor appeared to be unconscious. Worse, the scintillating blue energy shield Zoe had glimpsed from the door surrounded them in a ten-foot bubble that encompassed the mayor in his chair and the Wolf Hunter.
Outside the bubble were a half dozen of his men, all burned and lying on the floor. Not moving.
“Zoe Wilding,” the Wolf Hunter said. “I should’ve known there was more to you than a defective daughter of a Wilding son. But I can’t thank you enough for helping me find our mutual ancestor.”
Zoe’s heart was pounding. Troy had taken a defensive position in front of her, partially blocking her view of the Wolf Hunter. She gently squeezed his arm and moved in front of him, trying to communicate with her eyes that he needed to stand back and let her take care of this.
“Oh no,” the Wolf Hunter said, “don’t come any closer. I hadn’t quite figured out how to conjure a magical shield yet, so I have you to thank for that as well, Zoe. I see it protected you from my small assault before. But let me promise you, the mayor is not going to survive this if you come any closer.”
“There’s no way out of this for you, Declan,” Zoe said.
He smirked. “I wouldn’t be so sure about that. Time is on my side… or at least, it’s definitely not on yours.”
Scowls were exchanged around the group, especially by Daniel. “He’s called for backup,” he said, not trying to keep it quiet, because there was no point.
“Exactly.” The grin on Declan Hunter’s face made Zoe’s stomach clench. “The police, my private militia, and probably half of the news reporters in the city are on their way to cover this by now. My way out of this is clear, Zoe,” he sneered. “And I’m going to enjoy seeing all of you arreste
d for assaulting me and my people on my property.”
Zoe’s mind was whirling, trying to figure out how to break through the shield Declan had raised. An ordinary magical blast might do it—after all, Declan’s blast had burned through her shield. But hers been a hastily constructed, out of sheer panic—she’d been caught off guard, and even as she had formed it, she had felt the weakness of it. She knew she could do better when she focused, and Declan had been apparently preparing for them from the moment they arrived in the building.
Besides, she could feel the strength of it. She wasn’t in the spell anymore, but the connection between them pulsed across magical space and vibrated through her. And the magic of the shield was stronger than anything she’d ever felt.
Even if she could break through, she would only burn the mayor as well as Declan. He’d probably already taken the mayor’s DNA, but Zoe didn’t want him dead, regardless. He was, after all, her grandfather, for better or worse. And while he might not have been the greatest of wolves or leaders or alphas… he didn’t deserve to die.
Declan Hunter, on the other hand, most certainly did.
“You seem to be neglecting the fact that you’re holding the mayor hostage,” Zoe said, just to keep him talking while she thought this through.
“The mayor will be an unfortunate casualty long before any rescue attempt can reach us.” The glitter in Declan’s eyes was madness spelled out—Zoe had no doubt he would kill the mayor and conjure some lie about it. Maybe he would say he had been trying to save the mayor from the rampaging team of wolves who attacked him. As long as the mayor was in human form, that story would bear out—no one would believe the mayor was a secret wolf.
A white wolf.
“I guess you could try to kill the mayor,” Zoe said, carefully. “But I’m not quite sure how you think you’ll manage it.”
“A white wolf is hard to kill,” Declan said with a cruel smile. “But a bullet to the head should do the trick.”
Zoe grimaced. Next to her, Troy was moving his finger to the trigger of his gun, no doubt thinking the same thing would be true for Declan Hunter. Only the shield was bulletproof—if it could withstand a magical blast, it would stop a bullet, even if she could also walk through it if she were moving slowly enough. Magic was strange that way. She would have to get inside the shield before she could use a bullet or magic to end Declan Hunter’s life.
Zoe held up her hands like she was giving up. She meant it to be an innocent move, but Declan wasn’t fooled.
He pressed the gun harder against the mayor’s head. “Don’t even think about it,” he snarled. “He’ll be dead before you can try.”
She shrugged. “You can kill the mayor. What I can’t figure out is how you’re going to reach all the wolves. You know, with the serum you’re preparing.”
The grin returned to Declan’s face. He seemed to enjoy this little pandering she was doing to buy time. “I should’ve known you’d be the smartest one of them all, Zoe. And that you would’ve had the data to put it all together—I only figured that part out recently.”
“How did you get hold of Agent Smith’s data?” Zoe asked, casually.
Skylar eased off to her side, giving her a small nod for keeping Declan talking. Troy was agitated but remaining still, keeping a gun trained on Declan, even if that was useless. The other four white wolves each had blue balls of energy ready to go, but they were holding back, watching her, waiting for some kind of signal. She could’ve told them not to waste their time—their magic wouldn’t be able to penetrate the shield Declan had raised.
Declan waved off her question about Agent Smith’s data. “Bribes in the right places are remarkably effective. And if I know anything about the government, it’s that they always keep more than one copy. Even the most paranoid among them.”
Zoe nodded. That made sense. Agent Smith wouldn’t have left his precious data unprotected. Even Zoe had made a backup once she had received the original hard drives from Grace.
“Which still leaves the question of how?” she asked. “I’m assuming you want to reach as many wolves as possible.”
“The air, the water… the mechanism doesn’t matter. Maybe I’ll build an infectious disease with all the wonderful equipment Serafin Genetics possesses. It’s like a playground in here—but you would know all about that, wouldn’t you, Zoe?”
If only she could of use some of that equipment to harness something that would pass through the shield—smoke, an aerosolized poison, an infectious disease that would have him scrambling for a cure. But she didn’t come prepared for genetic warfare. All she had was magic. Her unstable magic. And minutes, probably less, to penetrate an impenetrable magical shield and somehow kill Declan Hunter but not the mayor.
A small moaning sound distracted them all—the mayor rocked his head back and forth, eyes still squeezed tight. He was strapped to the chair, but if he woke up… suddenly, they would have someone inside Declan’s shield. Someone who was more powerful than any of them.
That shifted the entire playing field.
“Mr. Mayor?” Zoe called quickly. “It’s Zoe Wilding.”
“Shut up!” Declan shouted at her, but his eyes had gone wide, and he was casting around, looking for something. Probably something to sedate the mayor again.
“I don’t think the mayor’s going to be very happy about being strapped to a chair,” Zoe said, picking up the pace with her voice. “Mr. Mayor, it’s time to wake up, sir,” she called again.
Declan cursed and look more desperately around him. Zoe was running out of time—if the mayor would just wake up, he might be able to do something—but if he didn’t act fast, Declan would either tranq him again or just shoot him outright.
“Zoe,” Troy said, softly. She almost told him not to distract her, but she caught the pointed look he was sending her. “You remember that day in the field?” he asked.
Holy shit.
Zoe’s eyes went wide. Her magic. Her rage. When it had unleashed, it had been more powerful than anything she’d ever seen. She flicked a look around the group, and everyone knew exactly what Troy was talking about. It might be enough to blast through Declan’s shield… but the mayor was still at risk…
Declan was still hunting for a tranquilizer.
She had only seconds to make her choice.
The mayor blinked open his eyes and squinted through the shield at her.
That was all she needed. She reached down deep inside, remembering every last video the Wolf Hunter had recorded, every torture session, every wolf he had injured or killed. He would repeat all of it on a citywide basis if he could. Her hatred of that idea outstripped anything she’d ever felt—more than her loathing of white wolves, more than the damage her grandfather had wreaked in her family, more than anything she could imagine. The destruction of that many wolves was an abomination. Her wolf responded, combining forces with her inner witch to summon a power so strong it was like opening up a volcano.
She opened her eyes and stared straight at the mayor, but her words were for everyone else… except Declan. “Y’all better duck.”
A surge of energy rocketed up from the depths of her being and out through her hands. A circular sheet of magical fire blasted out from her, so powerful it cut through everything in its path, whiting out her vision and sending her flying backward against the wall. The stun left her sliding limply to the floor. It took her a second to shake her head and recover, and only then could she take in what had happened.
What she had unleashed.
The room was circumscribed with a burn line three feet in the air and a foot tall. Everything below the line had been spared—which thankfully included Troy and all her friends, who were likewise on the floor, recovering from the shock. Troy was scrambling over to her on hands and knees. Skylar was on the ground, and Daniel was crawling to reach her, but they were both moving, as were Noah and Owen and Kaden. Even the mayor in his chair had been below the burn line—and a blue shield had formed at some poin
t to protect him. She wasn’t sure for a second if she’d conjured the shield as well, but his wide-eyed look and small grin told her he had defended himself against her onslaught.
The Wolf Hunter hadn’t been so lucky.
Her blast had obliterated his shield… and taken off his head in the process. His body lay slumped on the floor with the head rolled away.
Nausea welled up in Zoe’s stomach, curling her over just as Troy reached her side. “Oh my God, Zoe, are you all right?” The concern in his voice reached inside her and soothed the fear and shock and horror at what she’d done.
She nodded, not trying to speak through the sickness. The mayor’s shield was gone now—Noah was quickly cutting through the straps that held him to the chair, liberating him. When he was free, he climbed out and stood over Declan’s fallen body. Her grandfather’s face was tormented, but Zoe had nothing but relief taking hold of her. She sagged against Troy’s chest—his arms were already wrapped around her, holding her tight.
“It’s okay, now,” he whispered. “You did it. You did it.” He kept saying the words over and over, stroking her hair and trying to reassure her.
But she knew just what she had done—she’d killed a man.
And saved a thousand others from losing their wolves and possibly their lives.
She nodded and swallowed down the sickness still lingering at the back of her throat, then used his support to climb to her feet. Her head was buzzing—she wasn’t sure if it was a lingering backlash from the blast or just a kind of shock. Troy’s arms stayed around her, holding her up, and she let him.
With Troy at her side, Zoe shuffled over to where the mayor was looking down at Declan’s charred body. No matter what kind of superhealing Declan might’ve had, there was no recovering for him.