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What had he told me about a sorcerer’s power the night of the Samhain Ball?

The stronger the magic we cast, the less we can control who that magic touches.

Memnon can’t control his power. Not when it consumes him like this.

Eislyn watches him wondrously. “You are just as vicious as I remember,” she says.

She blinks, then after a moment, she raises her hand to Memnon’s magic, which holds her like a vise.

She murmurs something to the indigo magic, and to my shock, it loosens its hold on her. A set of wings unfurl at her back.

“I don’t think so, Eislyn,” Memnon says, using his power to barricade the exits.

She turns in midair. “We will speak again, warlord. But not tonight.” She flicks her wrist, dropping her arm down, and it’s as though she dragged the light down with her. The room fills with darkness.

“Eislyn!” Memnon bellows.

Snap, snap, snap.

Fuck. There are definitely enemies in Memnon’s clutches, but there are plenty of shifters trapped in the plumes of his power as well. As the bodies hit the floor, I force my power out, beating back the darkness.

Slowly it lifts, revealing a room full of bespelled supernaturals and an angry sorcerer but no Eislyn.

Memnon roars at her absence, and through our bond, I can feel more of the sorcerer’s bloodthirsty power slip its leash.

Now it’s swirling around the supernaturals above us. To my horror, I make out Kane, his face expressionless as he hangs there in Memnon’s magic. My eyes move over the trapped supernaturals until I see Irene, the Marin Pack beta, floating in the air. I even see Cara, sweet Cara, who must’ve felt compelled to come and save other shifters from a fate she escaped.

I’m the only one at this point besides Memnon himself who hasn’t been swept up in his power. And given how much magic the sorcerer is drawing on, that could change at any moment.

“Memnon!” I shout. “Please, release the captives!”

He doesn’t release them. He doesn’t even register that he’s heard me.

Snap, snap.

Two more supernaturals fall, these two old men in suits.

“Memnon!” I cry out desperately.

When he turns to me, his eyes burn like embers, and his hair has lifted up and around his face. He takes me in, though his eyes appear unseeing.

For you, mate, he says.All this is for you.

It’s not for me. You’re hurting our allies, my friends!

He stares back at me.

Snap.

Another body falls, this one a middle-aged woman in a magenta dress. So far the deaths have all been auction guests, but it’s only a matter of time before my mate kills someone truly innocent.

You wanted to stop these terrible people,he says.We are stopping them.

Memnon, please.A tear slips down my cheek as I start toward him.I’m begging you!

They cannot hurt you, my queen. I will not let them. No one will hurt you ever again. Our fates will not be repeated.He turns away from me.

Snap, snap, snap, snap?—