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They were powerful in their own right, but beings had come along who’d totally eclipsed that might and they’d almost perished right there on their own home turf of the Maven Coven, all because they’d found themselves at the mercy of more powerful beings.

I wouldn’t allow that to happen again. Not to them. And certainly not to me.

And what I was doing, what I’d spent years doing in this lab that I’d created twenty minutes from campus, had been geared toward that goal.

Something like that befalling us had become even more of a possibility with the hybrid experiments that had been taking place in the shadows for the last few years, something that had harmed Nyx greatly. Those behind it, Chimera Circle, were creating beings of great power that threatened to destabilize the balance of the supernatural world, that proved dangerous to us all, if they were able to control their creations, as was their endgame.

The fact that the Guardian Movement had been unable to put down Chimera Circle was beyond disturbing. Yes, they’d located, raided, and stopped several experiment facilities and arrested many involved. But they hadn’t been able to actually bring down Chimera itself, nor its leaders, because they operated out of pocket dimensions and had multi-pronged security procedures in place that made it near-impossible for them to be found.

The hell I was going to put my safety and wellbeing in the hands of others.

I took control. I owned it. And I certainly didn’t cower behind others for protection.

Speaking of cowering, thanks to Ariana’s foolish misstep during her party, I could now extend my experiments with a very precious new ingredient.

I strode to the long, stone table in the far corner of the space that was covered with my alchemy equipment and apparatus—beakers, goblets, chalices, vials, and burners, all pieced together intricately with the shimmering rose-gold tubing I’d fabricated.

I picked up the vial of my magic that I’d prepared earlier, then conjured the vial of her silver magic that I’d hidden. I stared at it as I levitated it.

I hadn’t really taken it to blackmail her. I had no intention of outing her little spell to anyone. It had actually impressed me. Especially considering her usual head-in-the-sand stance, her wasting her immense power away, and being an ungrateful bitch about it.

I’d merely needed access to her magic for my own purposes.

Not that it hadn’t helped that she’d believed the blackmail aspect.

It had been the nudge that she’d needed all this time.

And the opportunity that I’d needed to finally pull her to me before it was too late.

Before she was lost to me.

Lost to us all.

Focus!

I extracted two droplets of her power and added them to my magic, which I’d spelled to specifically withstand the force of hers, similarly to how I was able to nullify her power when we got carnal.

I watched with bated breath as the silver solution reacted with mine.

The rose-gold liquid brightened and essentially formed a wall against hers as it fought to penetrate it and overwhelm it.

Promising.

Very promising.

But then it began to bubble.

Her silver magic sparked, miniature lightning bolts shooting out throughout the container, driving into my magic.

It ramped up until it fucking exploded, hers completely obliterating mine.

The beaker shattered, glass and solution spraying everywhere.

I quickly extracted her magic with a sweep of my hand and returned it to the vial containing more, then I hid it away again.

“Fuck!” I yelled, slamming my fist down on the stone table.

I’d really thought I’d had it then, that I’d managed to find a counter to her power, a fucking shield against it.