Page 182 of Magical Moonbeam

Fast.

So fast, I didn’t see the moment he left my side, only the blur of his body cutting through the air and slamming into Gideon with a force that cracked the stone beneath their feet.

The impact sent out a wave of air, snapping nearby torches and shaking dust from the high arches.

They hit the floor hard. Rolled.

And then thefight began.

It wasn’t clean.

It wasn’t choreographed.

It wasfuryunleashed.

Keegan roared, low and primal, as he drove his shoulder into Gideon’s chest, pinning him to the ground for a heartbeat before Gideon’s magic flared, dark and searing. A blast of energy cracked the floor like a lightning strike and sent Keegan flying back, but he twisted midair, landed in a crouch, and surged forward again without hesitation.

Gideon laughed.

“You always were the dog,” he spat, circling now, slow and deliberate. “Chained to whatever cause made you feel noble.”

Keegan didn’t answer.

He didn’tneedto.

He threw a punch, solid, fast, knuckles glowing faintly with runes carved into his skin. It connected with Gideon’s jaw, and the sound of it echoed through the corridor like thunder off canyon walls.

Gideon staggered.

But not far.

He recovered, sliding back like oil across glass, and sent a volley of shadow-blades toward Keegan. They spun like razors, sharp and hungry.

Keegan ducked one, twisted past the next, then caught the third, letting it shatter in a spray of sparks and shadow.

The moment he was in close, he drove a boot into Gideon’s ribs, grabbed him by the collar, andthrewhim against a pillar.

Stone cracked. Dust exploded.

Gideon dropped to one knee, teeth bared, blood at the corner of his mouth.

“You’re stronger than I remember,” he growled.

Keegan spat, eyes glowing now with that faint amber hue that always came when his shifter blood surged. “You don’t rememberanythingright. That’s why you keep losing.”

Gideon snarled and flung both hands wide.

The airripped.

Magic poured out, a cyclone of dark energy twisting upward into the ceiling, slamming into the protective wards Stella and Ardetia had raised.

Nova shouted from behind me, anchoring the shield with a counter-spell just in time to keep it from collapsing on top of us.

But Keegan didn’t flinch.

He ranthroughthe cyclone.

The moment he broke through, his body shifted, not fully into his wolf form, but enough. His hands gleamed with clawed magic, his jaw lengthened just slightly, and his eyes were all predator.