I held up my knife, and the three shifters came to a stop in front of me. They didn’t come any closer, but two of them broke away and started circling me. My gaze darted back and forth, trying to keep an eye on all three of them at once.
A blond man in the front edged a bit closer. “Come on, sweetheart, put the knife down before you hurt yourself. ”
Excuse me?
I shifted my feet and leaned forward a bit. Finally, I let loose the magic burning in my veins. It blossomed around my hand and licked at my fingers.
“Oh, look. The little mage wants to play,” came the female wolf shifter’s voice from behind my shoulder.
Several yards away, Kael and Tobias were in a snarling, teeth-gnashing brawl. I could hardly make sense of the jaguar and the wolf engaged in what I was certain would be a battle to the death. I wanted to help Kael, but at that moment, the trio of wolf shifters closed in.
I spun and let a ball of the magic-infused energy roll from my fingertips. It crashed into one of the males and sent him careening backward. He landed hard and didn’t get back up. Regret flashed through me as I pivoted away from him to lock eyes with the blond male. I didn’t want to kill anyone, even if they were working for the dark mage. The male rushed at me, a feral growl humming up his throat as he closed in. At the same time, the female came at my right side. I stretched out my magic-wreathed hand and sent a blast of magic at her. She tried to dodge it, but it caught her in the side, and she tilted with a pained cry.
A body slammed into me, and my back hit the ground. I struggled against the large male and tried to buck him off. I brought up my hand with the knife, but he grabbed my wrist, fingers squeezing so tight I half-expected my bones to break.
The other three shifters walked over, even the one who had been shot, though he was limping. Kael roared in the background. I desperately wanted to see if he was all right, but I was blocked by a wall of shifters now crouched around me. As they peered down at me, I stopped struggling. Their eyes were bright with victory, triumphant smiles on their faces.
I would not be defeated. Not after all of this time. Not before I got to the mage.
I closed my eyes as the shifters laughed. They probably thought they had already won. I didn’t want to kill anyone, but I forced that moral part of me down. The deep-rooted magic inside of me and the ancient being tethered to me was begging to be let out.
And I set her free.
My eyes flashed open. Heat burst from my hand as I lifted my hips to tilt the blond shifter off of me. He screamed. The fumes of burning flesh accosted my nostrils. My fist came into contact with his face, and then the other three fell on me and tried to pin me down.
I struggled against their hold. One of them snarled, and in the next moment, a wolf’s jaws clamped around my upper arm. Pain ripped through my muscles as I attempted to jerk away. Without another thought, I took my knife and plunged it into the wolf’s neck.
Blood sprayed, and the wolf jerked away with a strangled yelp. His legs kicked at the ground as he fell to his side. In the next moment, he grew still, his light gray fur darkening.
Light flashed before me as a fist connected with my face. In my shock, my knife fell from my hand. The male and female shifters hauled me to my feet. Across from us, Tobias, in wolf form, had Kael down, his jaws snapping toward Kael’s neck.
I may have defeated one of the shifters, but I wouldn’t be able to save myself from the others in time to rescue Kael.
Chapter 24
Kael .
The sight of him in danger had me exploding. I jerked away from the woman’s hold and wheeled toward her. There was no hesitation as I raised my hand and sent a volley of magic straight at her chest.
She was dead before she hit the ground.
The last man standing backed away. Tobias let out a sudden yelp. The man glanced at his leader, then back to me. His jaw clenched, then he shifted into a wolf. I planted my feet and braced myself for the attack. The wolf dodged past me, and I pivoted to find his long strides carrying him quickly away.
Coward .
I raised my hand, the ancient, ruthless part of me ready to end him before he took another step. But instead, I pulled in a deep breath and lowered my hand. Hitting someone in the back was not something I would do, no matter how much the magic inside of me wanted it.
Behind me, the forest grew silent, and I turned, half-afraid of what I would find.
Kael had Tobias in his jaws. He dropped the black wolf, who then fell limply to the ground. Kael loped over, his yellow eyes looking me up and down. He tilted his head.
“I’m all right,” I said.
It wasn’t an exact truth. Blood from the wolf’s bite was soaking the sleeve of my jacket, and my head was ringing.
Kael strode to my bag and nudged it. I took the hint and pulled out the spare set of clothes we’d bought a couple days ago. I turned around while he shifted and got dressed.
“Livvie, I don’t care.”
My brow furrowed. “What?”
Kael stepped in front of me. “About what Tobias told you. I don’t care that you’re a magic-wielder.”
That made me way happier than it should have. I shouldn’t care what Kael thought of me one way or another, but I did.
The shifter pulled some bandaging out of my bag and pushed up the sleeve of my jacket. He started winding the bandage around my arm, and I barely held back a wince.
“You’re a good fighter,” he said as he finished.
“I wasn’t trying to be. I didn’t want to hurt anyone.”
Much less kill three people .
I shoved the thought back. I wouldn’t think about it.
Kael nodded. “I know you didn’t.” His gaze swept over my face. “You got a cut on your cheek.”
I hadn’t even realized. It must have happened while I was struggling against the shifters. Kael reached up to touch the cut under my eye. His hand lingered on my cheek, his rough, warm fingertips sending a heated flash down my body.
Then his hand jerked back, and I gasped.
The ground shook, and the fingers of a sudden chill traced across my skin. Dark magic rippled through the air. It tugged at the key and beckoned me forward like a confident, sneering villain. I grabbed my bag and knife and started through the forest, leaving the bodies of the wolf shifters in our wake.
Silently, we stepped around the dark, damp trunks of the trees. Fog billowed in, wrapping around our ankles and cloaking our way. My skin pebbled with the growing cold. After a while, Kael paused and squinted at the fog. I peered around as well, and my gaze fell on an unusual tree.
The trunk was contorted into the shape of an old man, the face and beard formed with twisted, ancient bark. Two warped knots formed eyes that appeared to be staring at me. I pulled my gaze from the unnerving tree as Kael started forward again.
At first, the key led my way through the trees, but as the fog thickened, everything began to look the same. Trees and fog and silent, bare branches. I tried to lead the way, but after an hour, I found myself facing the old man tree again. I led the way again, confident that this time I would get us closer to the mage. My heart sank when, once again, I was facing the familiar tree.
There was no denying it. We were lost.
“Let me give it a try,” Kael said.
I followed his wide back through the forest. How would he know where to go? Could he sense the dark magic permeating the air, too? Could he smell it?