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His eyes rolled back in his head, and he fell to his side with a sickening thud. Then Logan’s presence blipped out of my head.

The other alphas and Acheron’s shifters exploded back from Logan and slammed into the wall behind them, each one slipping down into a heap on the floor. None of them stood.

“No, no, no,” I repeated, falling back a step, shaking my head, unable to believe what had just happened. Power drained from me.

Acheron sagged against the metal tube that held Riley, panting as though the balefire had weakened him. He tugged on the lid, trying to undo it with his gnarled hands, but his hands weren’t functioning properly.

“Come, my children,” he rasped, waving to his slowly stirring followers.

Two wolves bounded toward him, ready to sacrifice themselves to return him to strength, a rapturous light in their eyes as they disappeared. More of his shifters stirred.

My chance was now.

I crouched again, pressing my hands onto the ground once more. Primal strength surged through me, and I fixed Acheron in my mind. Lore swirled in my thoughts, and colors shot through my mind. The chamber shook asenergy entered me from the earth that surrounded the chamber.

Olivia cried out as she climbed to her feet, and I glanced toward her. She steadied herself on the door frame, her face twisted in horror as she took in Logan’s lifeless body on the ground. Two red foxes, a panther, and a polar bear lumbered to their feet.

But I couldn’t focus on her, on them, right now.

Marcus climbed to his paws, and his cat eyes landed on Acheron. He sprinted across the room and leaped into the air, landing on Acheron’s back, his giant paw knocking the mage to the side.

He changed to his human form and leaned down into the snarling mage’s face. “Where is my sister?”

Acheron’s face twisted into a cruel mask. “Devouring your bitch of a sister was made easier because I knew it would hurt you. She screamed for her son as I consumed her, and I made him watch as she disappeared into me.”

Marcus lifted a hand to strike Acheron, but he thought better of it. Instead, the cat shifter’s face twisted in pain before straightening once more. “Where is her son?”

“You will never know. Never know. Never know,” Acheron sing-songed. His mouth moved in other syllables, making him look as though he’d been dubbed over.

“Shit!” I screamed. “Get out of the way. He’s casting a spell!”

Marcus scrambled away, allowing every bit of rage and sorrow to rush through me all at once. I pressed myhands to the smooth floor, reached out to the earth around us, circling the whole room.

The magic warding of the Conclave danced in my thoughts, and the enchanted magnolia tree bloomed in my head, forever a reminder of the multimorph and what the multimorph must give to keep her shifters safe. If it killed me, I would send the mage far away, locked away, in a box like he’d locked me.

Gritting my teeth, I sent all of the energy toward Acheron, and a pulse of light launched from me and wrapped around the evil mage. Shrieks of terror split my mind, and I smiled as he faded from view.

Then he disappeared.

I turned to face the other shifters, the ones who had helped Acheron. I gathered another burst of primal energy and sent them all to the place Acheron had gone.

The silence after turned heavy, and I avoided looking at my mate, dead on the floor.

Olivia gasped. “Where’d they all go?”

Marcus cursed. “Now he’ll never tell me where my nephew is.”

“We’ll find your nephew. I’m sure of it,” I sighed, panting as I sank to the concrete floor. “As for Acheron and the others, I locked them all in warded boxes far away.”

“Forever?” she breathed. “Like we never have to see his ugly face again?”

“I don’t know,” I whispered. “I’m not sure. It’s not like I’ve ever done that before. Maybe we should ask Dr.Wise what she knows about the making of the Conclave.”

Marcus stopped beside Logan. “He gave his life for you.”

“No,” I moaned, the sound single syllable transformed into a wail. “No, no, no. It wasn’t supposed to be this way. We’re supposed to live forever.”

“Shit. Shit. Shit, Logan. I knew you were going to get yourself killed.” Olivia’s feet pattered across the concrete, and she dropped to the ground beside Logan. Her voice caught in a sob, and Jasper crouched beside her, offering his arms. Olivia turned into him, wetting his shoulder with her tears.