Page 23 of Dragon’s Golden Mate (Shifter Nation: Enchanted Over Forty #2)

The battle was over instantly. The last of the orbs from the young witches blasted against the wall and fizzled out.

Gavin and his bandmates stopped in their tracks, looking around with alarm.

Cassandra no longer had a hold over them.

The light from the portal was gone, and Lucille launched a globe of warm yellow to hover over their heads and illuminate the scene.

Though the pain of fighting against her family was gone, a new pain had lodged itself in Maeve’s breast. Still in her wolf, she leaped down into the basement to see Kendrick’s ragged, destroyed body lying on the dusty stone floor.

No. No, no, no. Parts of him had been completely peeled away, leaving gaping wounds. His wings looked more like long, clawlike appendages from his back. Blood pooled around his belly and tail. His mossy green was turning a dull, bruised shade of brown.

“I think he’s going to be okay.” Beck had changed back into his human form. He moved along his uncle, assessing the damage and sucking in his breath when he saw a particularly painful wound.

“It was incredible.” Griffin had made his way down now, too.

“He grabbed Cassandra and flew straight into the portal. I thought he was a goner, and I think that’s what he intended.

He was going to sacrifice himself for everyone else.

But then the gargoyles grabbed a hold of him. They pulled him out.”

Lilith limped slightly as she carefully lowered herself into the basement. “The portal must not affect them the same way. They’re not flesh and blood.” She carefully bent down to touch her finger to the top of the dog-like creature’s head.

It sat back and scrutinized her, unsure. The cat, however, had made up its mind. It butted its stone head against her leg. When Lilith moved her fingers down its back, it lifted its hind end in the air and flicked its tail.

Kendrick. Maeve gently put a paw on Kendrick’s forearm. The other dragons were in awe over Kendrick’s feat and how the gargoyles had rescued him, but all she could see was a dragon who looked as though he were dying.

Maeve. His voice wasn’t very strong in her mind, but it was still there.

“This won’t be an easy thing to come back from,” Beck said gently, seeming to address both Maeve and Kendrick. “I think he pushed the limit on just how close a shifter can get to death without actually dying.”

Why would you do a thing like that?

In return, she got a message not from Kendrick but from one of the gargoyles.

The perspective was from behind, as though she were one of the creatures as it latched onto his leg and dragged him back to reality.

Maeve saw Cassandra’s body exploding into a million pieces.

She felt the relief that the gargoyle had experienced, as well as a fear that dissolved just as their enemy had.

They’d been terrified of Cassandra, but they’d risked their lives to help save Kendrick.

Not knowing how to share her own thoughts without using the words, Maeve locked eyes with the hawk. She blinked slowly as she bowed her head. Thank you.

“Maeve?” Amanda called to her from above. “You might want to see this.”

Ewan had joined his clanmates now. “Go. We’ll take care of him.”

Beck gave her a boost out of the hole.

Maeve longed to keep her wolf so that she could keep a line of communication open with Kendrick, but she had to be able to talk to the others, as well. She put her wolf away and felt the ache of her human bones as they returned. It’d been a long, hard fight. She dusted her hands and looked around.

The church had paid the price for the battle. She and Kendrick had chosen not to fight the gargoyles when they’d first attacked, knowing that they couldn’t do much without hurting the building. That suddenly felt like a long time ago, even though it’d only been a few days.

In the light from Lucille’s magic, she could see just how the battle had devastated the interior of the cathedral.

Hunks of plaster and lathe had been taken out of the walls.

Scorch marks, mostly circular, burned into anything that hadn’t fallen apart on impact.

A chunk had come out of one of the columns, although it was still holding for the moment.

Many of the pews were splintered and dinged, and a few of them were broken completely in half.

She recognized the one where Lilith had fallen.

It’d smashed into pieces and even pressed down into the floor beneath it.

The floor was covered in dust and debris, and more dust still hung in the air.

“What injuries do we have?” she asked Amanda, knowing that the energy healer would be able to help.

“Not many,” her niece told her. “Some cuts and bruises, and maybe some bruised egos to go along with them.”

That sent a small amount of relief through Maeve’s shoulders. It meant that they’d taken her words to heart when she’d asked them not to hurt the young witches and shifters.

“And they’re all right…otherwise?” she asked, wondering if any of the bitterness and anger she’d seen in her young coven members remained.

“I believe so. Come and talk to them. You really need to.” Amanda brought her up onto the altar.

Leather Jacket and Chain were sitting on the steps that led up to the pulpit. Fresh pink scars showed on their cheeks and hands, but they were completely able-bodied as they leaped to their feet.

“Listen, lady. I’m really sorry,” Leather Jacket said. “I’ve never done anything like that before, and I don’t know why I did.”

“Same,” Chain agreed, skimming a hand over his bald head. “That was wicked weird. Were we all on something?”

“Not that I’m aware of,” Maeve said cautiously.

“You were under the control of a woman named Cassandra. She was using your music to control you and others.” Her stomach clamped as she briefly wondered how many other people had been at the concert and if Cassandra had been able to make them do anything out there in the rest of Salem.

At the very least, the threat was gone now.

“Wait.” Leather Jacket’s brow crinkled as he looked at his friend. “Is that the chick who said she was going to be our manager?”

“Yeah,” Chain nodded. “She was going to get us a lot of gigs. Where did she go? Wasn’t she just here?”

“You won’t be hearing from her ever again,” Maeve promised them.

Seeing the slightly bewildered looks on their faces, she truly felt sorry for the boys.

They’d not only fallen under Cassandra’s literal spell, but they’d also fallen for the lies she’d told them.

They thought their band had been on the verge of making it big.

“Damn, okay.” Leather Jacket scuffed his feet on the carpet. Then he stuck out his hand. “I really am sorry.”

She shook it, and then she held it in both of hers. “You are absolutely forgiven, even though you have nothing to be forgiven for. Please, what’s your name?”

“Walt,” he replied.

Definitely much tamer than the moniker she’d given him in her mind. Maeve turned to the one with the shaved head and reached her hands out toward him. “And you?”

“Cornelius,” he replied, a slight flush of pink coming to his cheek. “But everyone calls me Chain.”

“It’s nice to officially meet you. Maybe we should have you over for dinner sometime.” They were young men who wanted to look harsh and scary to the rest of the world, but Maeve could see in their faces that they were really just little boys.

“Yeah, that’d be great!” Chain rubbed his belly.

“Gavin, too, right?” Walt asked, not leaving out his friend.

“Of course.” Maeve moved over to where Gavin and Nia were sitting together. Their arms were wrapped around each other, and they looked completely distraught as they lifted their eyes to her.

“Oh, Maeve,” Nia sniffed. “I’m so sorry. I only remember bits and pieces. It’s like my body was just acting all on its own.”

“Me, too,” Gavin added, still clinging tightly to Nia. “Don’t be mad at her for what I did. I asked her to come to the concert. I—I don’t really know how, but I know something happened there, and that’s why we’re here.”

Calmly, gently, Maeve once again explained how Cassandra had taken over their minds. “She was already very smart, and she made herself powerful on top of that. It sounds good, but she didn’t know how to use it without taking advantage of other people.”

“But, but she made us—” Nia was cut off by her own tears. “I didn’t want to fight you!”

“I know, dear. Hush. It’s all right.” Maeve put her arms around Nia. She wasn’t her daughter, but she easily could’ve been. She was a young woman in need of guidance and love, and Maeve was honored that she got to bring some of that into her life. “Everything is going to be okay now, I promise.”

Nia lifted her shirt and wiped her nose on it, not having anything else at hand. “I don’t get it, though. I don’t have that kind of power.”

“Maybe we do.” Colette had her back against the pulpit.

She opened her hand, easily casting a bright white sphere.

Everyone flinched slightly as she bounced it up into the air, but Colette was confident.

A band of light kept the sphere attached to her palm, and it brought the orb back down with the tiniest jerk of her hand.

She kept bouncing it up and back, like a magical game of paddleball.

“Yeah, that’s what I wanted you to see,” Amanda said quietly. “There’s a chance they might all still have whatever powers Cassandra had given them.”

“Even without the portal? And without her?” Maeve couldn’t believe what she was seeing. As young as Colette was, she shouldn’t be showing this much talent. Some of the older witches were able to tap into alternative talents, like Lucille’s ability to launch those blobs of goo.

She gestured for Colette to get up. “If you’re not too tired, maybe you can show me what you can do.”