Page 44 of Magical Mayhem (Stonewick Magical Midlife Witch Academy #7)

The fire broke free.

It ripped out of me with a scream I couldn’t hold back, a torrent of light and heat that surged across the courtyard. The ground cracked and split, and rivers of molten lava crawled outward in glowing veins. The air itself shuddered, sparks flaring in a storm of embers.

Malore staggered, his shadow-form shrieking as the fire wrapped around him. It wasn’t just flame.

It was memory.

The Flame Ward burned more than flesh; it stole pieces of him, clawing into his stormlight, dragging fragments out.

I saw them…flickers of his past, spilling into the fire like ashes.

Malore walking the Keeper tree line in Shadowick, younger, his eyes fierce with hunger.

Malore whispering into Gideon’s ear, his voice twisting with promises and lies.

Malore turned his back on Stonewick, laughing as the curse spread.

The fire devoured each vision, searing them away. He roared, clawing at his own face, his form flickering as if it could unravel under the weight of what it lost.

But the fire didn’t stop.

It circled the fighting wolves. The flames spiraled like a crown of embers, trapping them in a ring of heat. Every snap of her jaws, every rake of his claws, sent sparks flying higher.

The earth itself ignited, the stones glowing as though magma flowed beneath. The courtyard became a furnace, the Academy looming behind us like a fortress against the inferno.

And still, the fire poured out of me.

“Maeve!”

Keegan’s voice snapped me back, dragging me from the roar.

He was at my side, gripping the railing of the steps, his gaze wild with strain. His body trembled, sweat pouring down his face. His claws had already begun to sprout, his jaw lengthening, his veins burning dark beneath his skin.

He was fighting the shift.

“Keegan,” I gasped, reaching for him even as fire still blazed from my palms.

“I can’t.” His voice broke into a growl. His spine arched, his body shuddering as the wolf clawed at him from within.

“Resist it!” I begged, my throat raw. “You’re too weak. Your body can’t take another shift right now. Please, don’t!”

Sacrifice.

His gaze locked with mine, fierce and agonized. “If I don’t… he’ll kill her.”

The Silver Wolf howled, her cry echoing across the battlefield. Malore slammed her into the ground, his claws driving toward her throat. My fire surged higher, searing his shadow-flesh, but still he pressed down.

Keegan staggered forward, his body convulsing, the wolf tearing at him. His hazel eyes flickered gold, then dark, then hazel again. His breath came in ragged growls.

“Keegan, listen to me!” I shouted, forcing my fire to flare brighter, trying to drag Malore’s attention back. “You don’t have to fight this alone. Not now. Resist for me. Please.”

His claws dug into the stone steps, cracking them, his chest heaving with the effort. “I—can’t…”

The Flame Ward flared in me again, so hot it nearly blinded me. I staggered, sparks raining from my hair, my skin glowing like embers. I pressed a hand to his chest, the fire sparking where I touched him.

“Then let me hold it with you,” I whispered. “Let me share it. Don’t let it take you.”

His eyes locked on mine, a flicker of clarity breaking through the haze. His body still trembled, the shift clawing at him, but for that heartbeat, he didn’t move.

Behind us, the wolves clashed again. The Silver Wolf surged back to her feet, her fangs sinking into Malore’s shoulder. He roared, his body smoking where the fire had already burned him, his memories still unraveling in sparks. He swiped his claws, raking her side, but she did not falter.

The fire circled them tighter, the ground itself glowing beneath their paws.

My body burned, my chest heaving, every nerve screaming with heat.

The Flame Ward wasn’t content to be wielded. It wanted to consume, to devour, to end. And if I let it, it wouldn’t stop with Malore. It would take Keegan, my father, the Academy, and everything.

I clenched my teeth, forcing the flames to narrow, to tighten only around Malore. The effort tore through me, searing my veins, but I held.

“Maeve…” Keegan’s voice rasped, low and desperate. “You’ll burn yourself alive.”

“Then I burn,” I whispered. “But not before he does.”

Malore’s shadowed face twisted, his stormlight flickering, his voice a roar of fury and fear. “You cannot end me, girl! Fire fades! Shadow is eternal!”

The Silver Wolf lunged again, her jaws tearing into his throat. My fire blazed brighter, searing deeper into his storm-flesh, stealing more memories, unraveling more of him.

And for the first time, I saw fear in his eyes.

But I also saw an opportunity.

His gaze flicked past me. Past the Silver Wolf. Past the flames.

To Keegan.

And before I could stop him, Malore surged, breaking through the fire, his claws lashing out, not at me, not at her, but at the man trembling on the steps, caught between wolf and man.

“NO!” I screamed, fire bursting wild again.

Keegan staggered, his body shuddering, the shift tearing at him with violent force. He was too weak, too drained. If Malore struck him now…

The Silver Wolf moved first.

With a howl that split the storm, she hurled herself across the courtyard, silver light blazing. She slammed into Malore’s side, knocking his claws wide, dragging him down in a spray of sparks and smoke.

The ground cracked under their weight, fire and shadow exploding outward.

I shielded my face, my body trembling, my veins blazing with the Flame Ward’s fury.

And when I looked up, they were still locked in battle with her silver light against his shadows and my fire circling them both.

Beside me, Keegan collapsed to his knees, his body still fighting, still trembling. His hazel eyes flicked gold, then hazel again, his voice a broken whisper.

“Maeve…”

I gripped his shoulders, the fire still blazing around us, my heart pounding as though it would crack my ribs.

The battle wasn’t over.

Not by a long shot.

But the Flame Ward still burned in me, hotter and brighter, and I knew it would demand more before the night was through.

The courtyard burned like a forge, the earth split and glowing with the Flame Ward’s fury.

Malore’s roars rattled the stones as he clashed with the Silver Wolf, her silver glow blazing, her fangs sunk deep into his smoking form.

My fire circled them both, searing deeper, stealing fragments of him, but it wasn’t enough.

Because he wasn’t aiming at me anymore.

His gaze kept flicking past me, toward the steps where Keegan knelt, his body convulsing as the wolf clawed from within. His hazel eyes flashed gold, his jaw lengthening, his claws half-formed. The curse tugged at him, feeding on his weakness, and Malore knew it.

Every time his shadows darkened, he turned toward Keegan. Every lunge angled closer to him.

“No,” I hissed, forcing the flames higher, but Malore broke through again, his claws stretching, his shadow-body surging toward the steps.

And then…

“Not my daughter’s mate, you don’t.”

The voice was rough, steady, and so achingly familiar.

“Dad!”

Frank barreled through the chaos, torch in one hand, his other arm glowing faintly with the remnants of the bulldog curse that had dogged him for years.

He wasn’t shifting, not fully, but the strength was still there, in the set of his shoulders, in the stubborn bend of his jaw.

He didn’t hesitate. He flung himself straight into Malore’s path, the torch blazing as he drove it into the shadow’s chest. The fire hissed, Malore roaring as smoke exploded from the wound, his form buckling back.

“Get away from my family!” my father bellowed.

“I am your family,” Malore roared.

“Never,” my dad whispered as the Silver Wolf struck again, tearing into Malore’s leg, dragging him down.

My fire wrapped tighter, flames roaring higher.

For a breath, it looked like we had him surrounded, pressed on all sides.

But Malore’s shadows surged again, a gale blasting outward, flinging my father back, snapping the Wolf’s grip, scattering my fire into sparks. He rose, massive and snarling, his eyes locked on Keegan.

I stumbled, catching myself, my chest blazing with heat. “Dad, stay back!”

But he didn’t. He staggered to his feet, torch still in hand, his face set. “I didn’t raise you to do this alone, Maeve. We fight together.”

Tears stung my eyes, but I forced my fire forward again, my veins screaming. “Then stand with me, but don’t let him near Keegan!”

The Silver Wolf growled, her silver light blazing as she circled Malore again. My father planted himself at her side, his torch raised like a sword. Together, they pressed him back, step by step.

And still Malore’s gaze cut toward the steps. Toward Keegan, trembling, caught between man and wolf, his hazel eyes fighting against gold.

“Maeve,” Keegan rasped, his voice breaking. “Don’t let him…”

Malore lunged.

The courtyard shattered under the impact, his claws slicing through fire, through silver light, through torch flame. He struck straight for Keegan, his shadowed body blazing with fury.

I screamed, pouring every ember of the Flame Ward into one last surge.

Fire exploded from the ground, a torrent of molten light that wrapped around him, burning his storm-flesh, searing his memories, igniting the very air.

The Silver Wolf lunged with me, her jaws tearing, my father’s torch slamming down in one final strike.

For a moment, Malore faltered.

And then the skies changed.

The storm above cracked open, not with lightning, not with shadow, but with light.

I looked up, breath frozen, as the clouds split into ribbons of gold and white. Shadows shrieked, recoiling, scattering like ash in the wind. The skies themselves were answering, but not to me.

Across the courtyard, clusters of midlife witches had gathered. They stood shoulder to shoulder, their hands linked, their eyes glowing with something I couldn’t name.

Their wands blazed, their charms burned, but it wasn’t spells they were crafting. It was something older, something deeper.

Their voices rose in unison, not a chant, not a spell, but a song. A song that thrummed with memory, with loss, with defiance.

And the skies lit brighter.

Shifters joined, and the shadows screamed louder.

Malore staggered, his eyes wide, his form flickering under the onslaught.

I felt my body heat, the Flame Ward roaring higher, answering the light above, my veins molten, my heart pounding like a drum. The fire wanted to join that song, to blaze with it, to consume everything in its path.

But I didn’t understand what the witches had done.

And as the skies blazed and the shadows scattered, Malore’s roar split the air one last time.

He lunged straight at Keegan.