Page 186 of Magical Moonbeam

And I didn’t know if it was fear or love or grief blooming in my throat, but I knew in that moment that no one, not even Gideon, had ever seen me like Keegan did.

Then he turned andleapt.

Straight into Gideon again, slamming him into the far wall. They tore into each other with claw and blade, teeth and fury. Sparks burst from every clash of power. The entire hall trembled with the force of it.

Gideon struck him across the snout with a burst of red light, knocking Keegan back for half a heartbeat, but Keegan recovered, jaws snapping, dragging Gideon down again.

They were fire and night, fury and will, colliding in a dance that could only end one way.

“Maeve.”

The voice behind me startled me from the trance.

Stella’s eyes flicked toward the fight, and her face went pale. “He’s trying to end it here. He wants this to be the moment we break.”

“He doesn’t know us very well,” I whispered.

But even as I said it, the floor behind Stella cracked.

A web of dark magic spread across the stone.

And a second presence began to rise.

A new shadow.

Familiar—

But not Gideon.

Not exactly.

I turned toward it as the light began to die around us, realization freezing my blood.

“Oh no,” I breathed. “There’s more.”

Chapter Forty-Four

The clash of magic and force thundered through the broken corridor as Keegan lunged again.

He was massive now, towering, his black wolf form crackling with power, paws hitting stone like hammers with each movement. His fur shimmered with silvery threads of magic, remnants of the Moonbeam clinging to him like the night itself hadn’t yet let go. His eyes glowed gold and bright, alive with something ancient and wild, something Gideon would never understand.

Gideon stood to face him, cloak ragged and burned, shadow clinging to his shoulders like armor. He bled from his side where Keegan’s claws had caught him earlier, but he stood tall, twisted power pooling around him like ink across water. His fingers sparked with magic—too sharp, too thin, like it had been peeled from something unnatural.

Keegan growled, the low rumble vibrating through the cracked stone. His muscles coiled as he prowled in a slow circle, breath steaming in the cold air. He was focused. Pure. A predator who had stopped thinking and started knowing.

And Gideon, he was finally afraid.

He masked it well, of course. With a smirk. With a tilt of his head and a careless flick of his hand that sent a gust of shadow slicing toward the wolf.

But Keegan dodged with ease. He ducked low and, in one fluid motion, launched into the air, landing on Gideon with a roar that wasn’t just fury. It was protection. Purpose. Love.

They rolled in a burst of dust and light, Gideon snarling, trying to strike with his magic, but Keegan was on top of him, snapping, tearing, raking across Gideon’s shoulder. Blood hit the floor in splatters, and the walls flared with residual energy.

Gideon vanished in a shimmer of shadow, only to reappear ten feet away, panting, holding one arm with the other.

“I didn’t think the mutt had it in him,” he spat.

Keegan growled again and took a step forward.