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I stepped in front of him, rage and protective instinct boiling under my skin. The goblin child gripped my leg like a barnacle, his tiny claws digging into my boot.

“Are you involved with these human traffickers or not?” I demanded.

Apophis rolled his eyes.

“Doesn’t matter, does it? I pay them to keep the cabin up and my trinkets safe. The rest is immaterial.” He leveled a glare at me. “You destroyed my cabin, and broke my mirror.”

He held up the broken shards, fury building in his gaze.

“You all have beef with her?” Apophis asked the werewolves. “Kill her and I’ll be the patron of your pack.”

Every werewolf responded by immediately shifting into wolf form, nearly salivating at the prospect. Not that I blamed them; gods never involved themselves in anyone’s doing these days. To have one protect your pack? Invaluable.

“Try me,” I snarled, my magick soaking through my skin and surrounding me in a red glow. I tried to put on as tough a face as I could to scare them off, but a god’s offer was likely too good to resist.

They’d attack, and I’d probably kill many of them, but it wouldn’t be enough. I’d be overrun quickly.

I felt it building again—the same red energy that had broken the sky open when Xavier tried to drag me back. Only now, it wasn’t grief or trauma or helplessness feeding it.

It was fury.

Real, cleanwrath.

The wolves paused. Their noses twitched. They felt it too.

“Get on with it. I’m bored,” Apophis declared, then stepped back and crossed his arms over his chest, grinning as he settled in to watch the show.

“What a dick,” I grumbled.

“Ass,” chirped the goblin child from behind me.

I barked a laugh even as I stared down the literal muzzles of death.

The wolves growled, advancing slowly. No one wanted to strike first, or be the first to get hit with my power.

“I’m not the girl you remember,” I said, my voice darkening. “I’m not even Juniper anymore.” Wrath awakened in my veins. “I’m what comes after the last straw. You don’t have to do this. I can talk to Pride, who works for Hades. Apophis won’t harm you.”

The wolves hesitated.

The air snapped. Flames danced at my fingertips. Apophis took a step back, whistling low. “Ah. Nowthat’sfamiliar.”

Kabe in his wolf form barked.

The order was clear: attack.

But the pack didn’t move.

Because they knew..

Even Lust, unconscious, radiated danger. Even the child looked at me with awe now instead of fear.

“I will not warn you again,” I said, stepping forward, fire licking my heels. “Leave. Or burn.”

“Kill her or I’ll kill every last one of you!” Apophis raged, impatient.

Kabe lunged at the exact moment I screamed in rage.

Lust’s eyes opened with a snap, glowing gold and red with my magick. He held his hand up and twisted it. Kabe’s body danced in midair and an audible crack snapped across the clearing. He dropped, and so did Lust. I bent down and gathered him in my arms, my gaze promising murder to the next wolf that tried.