Page 10 of A Twist of Luck (Shifter City Fated Mates #2)

CHAPTER 10

EMME

T here’d been no thoughts when I lunged, just an overwhelming need to destroy the threat to my pack. My wolf had complete control, and even as I screamed and cried in the back of my mind for Kellan, her focus remained on the target. Fangs sank into skin, and blood filled my mouth. I must have taken the witch by surprise to land a direct hit to her shoulder, and I took advantage of that by tearing into her flesh, with its hint of death and decay.

Witch tasted disgusting, but I didn’t stop as a frenzy took over.

I growled and shook my prey, tearing through muscle and cracking bone. There was a rumbling roar from nearby, and I smelled Slade a heartbeat before his huge form appeared behind the witch. He hadn’t shifted to his dragon, but he didn’t need to as he gripped the witch’s head with both hands, their span completely covering her skull.

“Release,” he commanded me in a guttural rasp, his blazing gaze locked on mine.

Obeying, because Slade had my beast in a metaphorical hold, I relaxed my jaw and fell to the ground, my paws catching on the shattered glass from the blown-out car windows. Sensing Slade wanted more space, I backed up until my tail hit the side of the car, the sulfuric release of magic choking all fresh air around us. But it didn’t appear to bother Slade.

When a magical avalanche of energy exploded from the witch, he simply tensed his forearms and crushed her skull in his bare hands.

In. His. Bare. Hands.

It took a single breath of time for him to kill her.

My beast stilled, staring up at her alpha, and she had no sense at all to fear him. Nope, she wanted to rub against his leg and mark him with her scent. Down, girl . Not the freaking time.

“Omega!”

The snap of Finley’s voice had my gaze jerking from Slade and past Hunter, who stood behind the dragon, ready to back him in whatever way needed. Finley was beside me, near the back of the vehicle, and there was no sign of Kellan except one leg flung from the open door.

A mournful howl rocked through my chest and poured from my jaws. No! Nooooooo! Please, goddess, no. He couldn’t be dead.

I refused to believe it.

The witch had just knocked him out because that blast was meant for me, and the Rogers pack didn’t want me dead. There was no way she’d use a killing blast.

Right? Right!?

Pushing forward, I got the top half of my wolf into the car, sniffing along Kellan’s unconscious form. When I picked up the steady thrum of his heartbeat, my entire body shuddered. He was still alive, thank mercy, but his scent… it was tainted with the sulfuric magic. What did that bitch do to him?

“Jewels,” Hunter bellowed, and I peered from the car to find the blond witch and Warrick racing toward us, their SUV awkwardly parked with both doors open.

Jewels ground to a halt beside the dead witch on the ground. “Matilda,” she gulped, her expression morphing from shock to horror to fury in a span of five seconds. “Oh, I’m glad you killed her, even if her coven is going to shit a brick.”

Slade didn’t even lift an eyebrow; I’d never seen a less worried shifter in my life. “Check on Kellan,” he ordered her, voice harder than the witch’s expression. “He was hit with magic when she attacked, and he hasn’t regained consciousness. His scent is tainted with sulfur.”

She obeyed Slade like he had a hold over her too, moving toward the open door. My beast reacted defensively, rumbles and growls ripping from my chest as I bared my teeth at her. I’d already chowed down on one witchy bitch today and had no issue making it two.

Even if they did taste dried up and gross.

Jewels eyed me closely, and I was aware that half my white fur was speckled in the blood of the other witch, but she didn’t flinch. “Stand down, Omega,” she said as a tingle of her magic reached me, “I’m the only one who has a chance of helping him through a magical attack.”

That wasn’t completely true. I’d seen Mom help her pack recover from a magical attack, but as I wasn’t bonded to Kellan and couldn’t use my strength to bolster his, I had to step aside.

I backed up, keeping my piercing gaze firmly locked on her. Hunter clearly trusted her enough to bring her along, which was the only reason I wasn’t attacking now. But if she made one move to do anything other than assess or help Kellan, I’d fucking end her.

She kept her dark eyes locked on me for at least thirty seconds, and I swore there was a white glow behind her irises. Freaky bitch.

When she finally turned her attention to Kellan, she ran her hands over the top of his chest, slowing over his sternum, before moving forward again. The scent of her magic was subtle, and I had no idea if it was due to her being stronger or older than the other witch.

“She hit him with a simple knockout and containment spell,” Jewels finally said, which should have been good news, but her expression wasn’t giving happy feelings.

Her brow furrowed as she turned to where Hunter waited impatiently by the open door.

“What aren’t you telling us?” he said in a low, forceful tone.

Her worried expression didn’t ease, and I was forced to pace round and round in my small section of the car. “The spell wasn’t designed for Kellan,” she finally said with a heavy sigh. “Which means it’s reacting erratically inside him, especially as he’s a powerful alpha. Two powerful foreign magics do not like to mix.”

She returned her gaze to Kellan, and my wolf shuddered on the spot as panic almost took me down. “What else?” Finley asked from outside the car. I couldn’t see him from my spot trapped in here, but I heard him just fine. “Tell us how we can fix it.”

His usual angry, bear-like rasp was tinged with the same panic I felt. The very thought that Kellan was hurt or…. worse. Nope . Finley and I weren’t capable of dealing with this, but for our Golden Boy we’d figure out how to keep it together.

“This spell was keyed to the witch you just killed,” Jewels added somberly. “It’s a simple spell to remove, if you were the one who cast it. Its sole purpose was to keep a shifter unconscious during transport.”

Translation: it was designed to keep me unconscious until I was delivered to the Rogers pack. A pack of alphas too chickenshit to even be here and fight their own battles.

Hunter gripped the frame of the door, crushing the dinged metal in his hands. “Are you telling me that with this witch dead, there’s nothing we can do to help Kellan? That he’ll remain in this unconscious state forever?”

Jewels eyes were shiny as she swallowed roughly, and while I wanted to cover my ears for whatever she said next, in this form, I was forced to hear the bad news.

“No,” she whispered, shaking her head roughly. “He won’t remain like this forever.”

Hunter released the car and his left hand shot out to wrap around her throat. It wasn’t my claiming hand, and it wasn’t in the sexy, dominant way he usual acted with me. This hold was brutal and cruel, his expression unyielding as his eyes flashed gold. “What. Do. You. Mean. Jewels?” Each word was dragged out through his gritted teeth, his jaw already elongating into his wolf.

“Eve—eventu—” she coughed, unable to speak around his crushing grip. Hunter flexed his fingers, relieving just enough pressure for her to spit it out. “Eventually the spell will kill him. The… they’re not des—” Another cough “…designed for long-term use.”

Hunter dragged her from the car until she dangled before him, looking even more tiny and doll-like in his massive grip. “Unacceptable. You will figure out how to fix him or I will destroy you, your bloodline, and anyone your family has interacted with in the last century. Do you understand? I will wipe you from existence, as if you were never here at all.”

Even though Jewels was clearly a powerful witch, pure panic lined her face as she struggled against his hold. To no avail. “O-okay. I’ll figure it out.”

Slade and Finley stepped in on either side of Hunter, and the three of them were visibly intimidating as they faced off against Jewels. I almost felt sorry for the witch, while still feeling relief that she had an extra incentive to give the task of saving Kellan her entire focus.

I refused to believe that this attack, which had been meant for me, was the end for Kellan. Na?ve or not, I would not accept that fate.

Why did he put himself between me and the attack? I fucking hated that. I hated anyone standing between me and danger.

This was my fault… well, my stupid mother’s fault. Which I’d inherited.

These alphas didn’t deserve to be hurt because they were unlucky enough to be scent matched to me. I’d tried to warn them, and if they’d have just let me go when I first came into their lives, none of this would have happened to them.

As if he’d heard that thought, Hunter’s dark and gold-flecked gaze snapped toward me. That alpha-laden stare held my wolf in thrall, both sides of me terrified and excited by the ferality he exuded. “Kellan needs you now, Omega. Don’t even fucking think of running because the shit has hit the fan.”

My wolf shook again, fury and pain driving my body to the brink. To the brink of what, I had no idea. Sanity, exhaustion, pain, panic.

In my wolf form, there was no way for me to tell Hunter that if I had to run to save them, there was nothing that would stop me. For the first time, my need to escape wasn’t about saving myself, and I found that saving my pack was an even stronger driving force.

These alphas deserved to be protected.

Slade, in one of his weirdly intuitive moments, figured out exactly where my head was at. “She thinks it’s her fault,” he said, as he watched me closely. “She wants to run to protect us from other magic and the dangers this Rogers Pack might bring into our lives.”

I couldn’t for the life of me understand why he made that sound like the stupidest choice ever. Two of four alphas had been attacked in only the few weeks I’d known them.

Because of me.

“She will not run. She will not leave Kellan when he’s hurt and needs her.” Hunter said it so matter-of-factly, and there they went again, knowing me better than anyone else ever had.

Jewels let out a gasping cough as Hunter finally released her; he enjoyed making his point in a manner that left no room for interpretation. His dominance didn’t allow for space to negotiate or misunderstand.

I’d never really had his fury directed my way, and I wondered how he’d act if I got on his bad side. Would I be the exception to his usual brutal means of achieving his end desires?

Or would it be even worse for me?

“This isn’t your fault, little omega.” The familiar drawl of my nickname from Hunter eased my panic. “The witch will figure out how to heal him, and we will be a completed quintet once more.”

Warrick, who had wisely remained on the periphery, was hesitant as he said, “The council is ready for our updates when we return. The Rogers pack and any witch working with them will pay for this.”

Hunter acknowledged that with a single nod, before he glanced around the street. We weren’t on a main road, but there were a few curious faces visible in the nearby houses. Word would spread quickly—the Reeve’s pack was worldwide famous, and no amount of Slade’s digital erasing would completely kill this story.

“We need clothes for Emmeline,” Finley said to Jewels as she scrambled from the car.

While his aim was no doubt to avoid seeing me naked, it was considerate of him to think of me at all. Jewels’ face remained pale, and a twitch in the corner of her eye indicated that she wasn’t happy.

With a wave of her hand, the scattered remains of my torn clothes were repaired, looking clean and new as they folded themselves neatly on the seat. I’d wait until we were on the plane to get dressed, mostly because I had no more paper for my period. The blood was less potent when I was in my beast form.

Moving closer to Kellan, I gently licked across his cheeks as I whimpered. I wished he was the one who had shifted and destroyed his clothes, and I was the one unconscious.

My life wasn’t worth shit compared to that alpha—the world needed more Kellans.

I needed my Kellan.

This might not directly be her fault, but at their core, all witches were cut from the same cloth, so I had no sympathy for Jewels. She better figure out how to heal Kellan, or Hunter would be the least of her problems.