Kaden huffed out a breath. “Enough,” he said under his breath. “This ends now.” He looked over at Ethan, and then at Wesley, who both nodded. Finally, he turned his gaze on me, and I nodded as well. I was ready, my blood singing in my veins, eager for battle. We'd come here for this purpose, and I was going to see it through to the end.
Kaden raised his head and looked back at the rest of the shifters. “For freedom,” he called out, and the shifters surged forward, echoing his war cry.
Some shifted as they ran, while others stayed in human form. I watched as the combined force of our allied packs charged into battle. On my right, Wesley became a huge wolf, his crab armor coming out to protect him, and several of the other packs began preemptively employing their pack abilities as well. The enemy packs rushed forward a heartbeat later, with a smaller surge of shifters. The two groups met with a clash of teeth and claws and shouts, and then it was utter chaos.
I followed Kaden, the thrill of battle running through me, and leaped at a Scorpio shifter. I avoided his poison tail and shot moon magic at him. He fell over with a whimper. Kaden, now a wolf, growled as he sank his teeth into a Leo's side. The Leo yelped and tried to get away, but Kaden shook him like a dog and the Leo went slack. I smiled grimly as I shot two more beams of moonlight out in quick succession, each finding their target.
Each side fought viciously, but we had a clear advantage, overwhelming the enemy packs in sheer manpower alone. For a moment, everything looked to be going our way. This is easy, I thought. Almost too easy.
As if Evanora herself had heard my words, she tapped her staff against the ground again. It shouldn't have made a noise that cut through the thick of battle, but it did, and the resulting beam of light was overwhelming. I raised my hand against it, trying not to close my eyes in case someone tried to take advantage of the moment to attack me. But nothing came. Everyone seemed to be just as shocked by the beam of light.
When I lowered my hand, the first thing I noticed was the utter stillness. The fighting had paused, and shifters were looking around at each other as if confused.
I turned to Kaden with a question in my eyes. What the fuck is going on? I planned to ask, but before I could, the shifters collectively shook themselves out of it. To my horror, a Libra pack member turned and started attacking Stella. She moved away reflexively, looking around as if to make sure everyone was seeing what was happening, as if she couldn't believe it with her own eyes.
As quickly as she'd been attacked, our allies all started fighting with each other. Those who were still in human form shifted, and friends began turning on one another, trying to take each other down like they were worst enemies. Only the Ophiuchus pack seemed to be spared from the frenzy that had taken over all the other shifters around us.
Ethan suddenly charged at Kaden, who dodged out of the way and shouted, “What the hell are you doing?”
A growl sounded to my left, and potent fear made my hackles rise. Wesley snarled at me, preparing to lunge for my throat at any moment. His wolf eyes were wild, staring at me like he'd never seen me before.
“Wesley?” I asked, holding my hands out in front of me. “It's me, it's your sister.”
There was no flicker of recognition in his blue eyes. He surged forward and I rolled out of the way, unwilling to try and defend myself against Wesley. He had never so much as raised a hand to me in jest. Why was he attacking me now?
“Stop,” I begged, but it didn't do any good. Wesley whipped around and attacked me again. There was no hesitation. If I let him catch me, I knew he wouldn't hesitate to kill me.
“Please,” I said, dodging another attack. “Don't do this! Fight against whatever it is the Sun Witches have done to you! This isn't you!”
But Wesley either didn't hear me or didn't care. My heart broke as he attacked again. This wasn't supposed to be happening. He'd promised to have my back always.
The Sun Witches must be using their mind control magic, I realized. The same kind of command that Celeste had done to me must now be gripping all these shifters' minds. But how could Evanora do it on such a huge scale, spreading her magic across so many shifters?
CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE
The Ophiuchus pack all gathered together, our backs to each other, trying to stay alive as our friends and allies attacked us. Even though we were immune, there were so many more of them than there were of us. Each shifter would be overwhelmed in minutes.
"Wesley!" I tried again, but he didn't so much as twitch at the sound of his name or the obvious pain in my voice. He moved, lightning-fast, and the breath was knocked from me. He loomed over me, lips drawn back in a snarl, and snapped at my neck. I tried to roll out from under him, but before I could, Wesley pinned me in place with one giant paw.
Shit, I thought, feeling a cold rush go through me. This really isn't the way I thought I'd die.
Before Wesley could lower his teeth to my neck, a blur of reddish fur crashed into him. I blinked and looked on in awe as Jordan knocked Wesley out and turned back to me. He snarled, as if he wanted to attack as well, but he didn't move any closer.
I held my hands up. “Jordan, if you give even half a fuck about me, stop!”
Jordan's teeth snapped, and I could imagine him saying, yeah right, as he slowly advanced toward me. I gritted my teeth. My other brother attacking me too now. This one wasn't quite as much of a shock, at least. Jordan trying to kill me was nothing new, after all.
But then he paused, about a foot away from me, and shook his head. He looked confused, as if he was listening to some tiny voice inside him that told me to stop.
He can't kill me because of the mate bond, I thought, and an idea quickly formed in my head. It was stupid, half-cocked, and it might not even work, but I had to try at least before Jordan could break through whatever was holding him back. Idiots, I thought about the Sun Witches. Your magic is conflicting.
I reached for the invisible cord that existed between me and Jordan at all times. I hadn't thought about the mate bond in weeks. It was hardly noticeable anymore, but when I turned my attention to it, it thrummed to life. I brushed past Larkin's dampener spell, delving into it and tugging hard on the bond between us.
Jordan shook his head harder, letting out a whine. I paused and looked down at my chest. My mother had given me this gift to help protect against the Sun Witches' spells. Could it work?
I slowly took the necklace off, the battle still raging on around us, but it seemed no one wanted to mess with Jordan enough to attack me. I crossed the last bit of space between us, and Jordan snarled a warning, but he didn't move. I held the necklace out in front of me like an offering. His eyes caught on it, and something flashed through him, something strangely human.
I put a hand on top of his head and rubbed his fur a little. He whined as if he wanted to pull away but couldn't. I felt him fighting it, his powerful muscles trembling with the effort not to attack me. I'd have to act quickly if I wanted him to break free of whatever this was. I slipped the necklace over his head, and he jerked violently like he'd been stuck. The struggle left his eyes, and when he looked at me, I saw recognition in them.
Jordan shifted back immediately and touched the moonstone necklace around his neck with obvious relief. “Thank you."