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Mulan pointed at Zara. “No, I stay and help fight guardian.”

“Calming Conn is going to help me more than anything else. Zara won’t kill me until I tell her where the demon wolves are. Please, Mulan. Go check on Conn.”

Mumbling to herself more viciously, Mulan stalked back to the house.

I turned to Zara again. “Okay. Now where were we?”

“You are the strangest magickal I’ve ever met. Your demon abandoned you, yet you sent your other champion to check on him. How much more foolish could you be?”

When The Dagda chuckled, I turned and glared at him. Finally, I looked back at Zara. “I’m not foolish—I’munconventional.”

Zara stared at me, green eyes still glowing. I felt the power radiating from her. “I can read your intentions as if they were my own thoughts. I know you think you can capture me. Even now, your personal guardian hovers nearby ready to swoop down and rescue you at the last minute.”

“I admit that Rasmus and I have our own arrangement, but it’s none of yer business what that entails.”

“Give me the wolves and I’ll wake him up for you. I know that’s what you secretly want. It’s the wish of your soul to have the man you love back. Of all females, Icompletelyunderstand that longing. It would delight me to grant you that wish.”

I sighed heavily at the lost opportunity. “That’s a very, very tempting offer, but I can’t take it. Those wolves are two young women, and they are not commodities to be traded by those more powerful than they are.”

“You are so naïve,” Zara said.

“Maybe,” I admitted.

She gathered energy in her palm and threw it at me. It hit me in the chest and lifted me into the air. My body got dragged over one of the lawn chairs as I flew backwards.

A winged creature landed in front of me just as the female guardian threw a second energy ball my way.

“No,” I yelled, but I was too late to stop him. Rasmus took the hit and flew past me. He hit the wall of the house hard.

The Dagda grabbed Zara’s arms and begged her to reconsider her actions. While Zara was distracted, I rolled to my feet and rushed to where Rasmus fell. I rolled him over to see if he was still alive.

Rasmus groaned, opened his eyes, and lifted his hands up. He blinked hard as he looked at me. “What happened, Aran? Why am I fighting Zara? Orlin should be here to stop her. You have his feather. Didn’t you call him?”

Figuring her guardian energy had done what Zara had emotionally wanted to do, I put my hand over his mouth. “Don’t say anything to anyone until we talk about what’s going on. Keep it to yerself.”

“I can sense that Zara intends to kill you.”

“I already know that,” I said, glancing at her pushing The Dagda’s hands off her arms. “But help is coming soon.”

“What help?” Rasmus demanded. “Are you talking about Orlin?”

“I don’t know who it is,” I said with a smirk. “That’s the beauty of it. I don’t know... and Zara doesn’t either.”

I left him there and jogged back to Zara. I felt something crunch against my leg. I reached into my pocket and pulled out pieces of the glass syringe. The tissues I used to cushion it were wet, which meant my backup plan was gone.

My sigh of disappointment was loud. The Dagda stared at me, blinking at what I held in my hand.

Zara looked between us and laughed. Then I saw her form another energy ball in her hand. She lifted it with a smile and started to throw it. A tranquilizer dart hit her in the neck and she gasped in shock as her hand rose to feel it. A second dart hit her arm on the other side.

Conn and Mulan came rushing out of the house at that moment. We all watched as Zara’s eyes widened and then closed as she tumbled forward to the ground. Her wings pulled in and disappeared into her back.

The Dagda stared down at her and shook his head. “What a shame,” he said.

Rasmus limped to my side with Conn all but carrying him.

I looked around to locate the mysterious help I’d asked Ben to find me. My new boss dropped from my neighbor’s tree and vaulted over the fence with a long-range tranquilizer rifle slung over his shoulder.

I smiled at him. “Thank ya for the assist.”