Page 66 of Ascendant King

I growled, stepping forward, and she laughed, the expression turning into a sneer. The silver magic on the ground wrapped around my paw, yanking me forward until I collapsed, yelping in pain.

“I will crush him. I will crushyou.” Lynn’s words turned into an enormous echo as the wards themselves dropped down, piercing her flesh. For a second, she was still, but then she rose,grinning sharply. Cade’s magic fell away from her, although the bloody gouges remained on her cheeks.

She threw one hand to the side, wearing the wards like wings, and they swept all the wolves off their feet, throwing them back into the trees. She moved her injured arm but cut the motion off, screaming in pain.

Orange magic lanced forward, wrapping around the wards that protected her. She hissed, turning to where Isaac stood, his hands outstretched, sweat on his brow.

I got to my feet, tearing at her magic with my mouth before I leapt forward, the wards surrounding her burning my paws as I bore her to the ground. But I could tear at them. I coulddo this. As soon as I exposed her neck, Cade’s black magic met with Isaac’s orange, and then Lily’s pink joined them, and soon, Lynn was a rainbow of power.

She screamed again, her silver magic sliding wildly in the air. As she clawed at her neck, I heard her gasping for breath, but the combined tattoos wouldn’t give her any air.

She mouthed, “No!” and the wards echoed with it. But as she drew more magic from the wards, they shook, shivering.

They hit her, piercing her skin, and she gaped, her eyes going wide as blood flowed down her white dress. The mages withdrew their magic, and she collapsed, gasping gurgling breaths, blood dripping down her chin. The wolves whined, circling close.

Jay, in his strange, small, nearly fox-like form, hid behind Isaac, whimpering uncertainly.

“Lynn, save yourself. Withdraw from the wards.” Cade’s voice was cold. “Give over the power.”

Lynn laughed, her blood spraying the dark soil. She opened her mouth, but her life left her body, and she fell slack into the dirt.

For a second, the world was silent. Then, Cade stepped over her, his hands raised as he approached the wards.

He slammed his hands into them, angry black lines searing themselves into the invisible air. Spikes of power lanced away from his hands.

“IamHouse Bartlett. You will not keep me out.”

At his words, the wards shattered into a thousand pieces.

Chapter

Twenty-Two

The wards collapsed, landing with a trembling crash, invisible glass shards bouncing on the ground. I danced back, away from the danger, bumping into other nervous wolves. When it was done, I growled, stalking closer to Lynn’s body. She was dead—the wards had sliced through her, torn into her intestines and bowels.

Cade turned, staring down at the body. Black magic flowed back up his skin, lines of ink draping themselves across his exposed skin. “She was drawing magic from the wards, as she assumed she had a right to. When she overdrew from it, the wards themselves came with the magic she needed.”

Lynn had literally drawn the wards into her chest. I had perceived it as the magic piercing her, but in reality, it was almost the opposite. The wards had split open a hole in her chest, bursting it from the inside out.

“We should be clear.” Cade strode forward, his boots cracking over the shattered wards. I trailed behind him, waiting for the pain of hitting the wards, but when it didn’t come, I trotted in front. On the other side, I turned.

The pack behind me stared. For most wolves, that would have been a harsh introduction to magic. Most wolves spenttheir lives crossing the street to stay away from mages, and now they’d gotten a front-row seat to one of the most powerful mages in America facing down someone equally as strong.

I growled, a sharp command that had my pack following.

We slid through the forest silently, moving more slowly than we had when crossing dryad territory. I had forgotten how liberating the Bartlett forest felt. This was what it was supposed to feel like running in a forest with a pack at my back.

The last time I’d run these woods, the House Bartlett consorts had been with me, each of them hesitant and uncertain about running together, about being more than a consort. I had run at the front, as the alpha, but none of us could voice that.

It had been the first time that I hadwantedto be an alpha.

Now, with my pack, I felt as though I was coming to show the Bartlett consorts what could be and who they could be.

No one challenged us. There were no traps, no magical nets or groups of consorts waiting for us. We moved through the woods without opposition. Instead of lulling us into complacency, it increased the tension. The rustle of a startled rabbit fleeing made the entire pack still, growling at nothing.

I noted the wolves who’d fled House Bartlett were bunched together toward the back, circling the mages protectively. They’d left behind the rest of the consorts when they’d fled with Nia’s and Rhys’s help—what were they coming back to?

Part of my mind twisted, imagining the worst-case scenario: the consorts fully drained of all magic, their bodies the husks we’d seen at the dealer’s house earlier.