Page 38 of Pack Rage (The Splintered Bond #4)

Chapter 37

Using his Magic

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F lor was all I could focus on, though doing that was more difficult than it should be. My gaze wanted to slide off her, so I knew she was hidden under a spell. No one around even glanced her way, though she was a marvel.

My brave mate, squaring off against the hag who’d already managed to trap or trick every one of us, including Grigor. From what I could tell, no one besides me had heard what she’d revealed to Flor about her wolf.

She’d eaten it, devoured her own wolf’s magic to feed her witch side. This was the evil the pack Alphas had warned against, and for a moment, I wanted nothing to do with it.

But my mate’s eyes glowed with her own inner magic as she whirled and fought, avoiding Elina’s strikes, taunting her. She drew blood, and the magic the witch had used to keep everyone from realizing what was taking place in the middle of the ring wobbled and fell. The other shifters backed away, leaving the two females fighting and me standing with Glen, not too far from Lily’s shrouded form. I couldn’t see Margarette or Bradley’s body, and I hoped she had found a place far from the center of the battle. Luke and Finn stood only a few steps away from Aidan, who was shouting something at Ivan.

All eyes were fixed on the fight between the witch and Flor. My heart raced with fear for her, but the battle gave me time to focus on Glen, who had just woken in my arms. When his blue eyes met mine, I didn’t bother asking him what had happened. I needed to know what was going on now.

“How do I help you?” I whispered, trying not to attract the attention of the closest Enforcers.

“She’s… pulling,” he croaked. I understood. It was what had happened to me, when she’d clawed me in the Mansion. It had taken magic to close off the bond, Luke’s bite along with Grigor’s power.

Magic. Moonblessed. Was there any difference?

I stared up at the moon for an instant, not expecting an answer, not certain what I was looking for. The moon shone down with the same light that I wore in my eyes now, though, and that realization was answer enough.

I’d hated magic my whole life, assumed it was unnatural and wrong, and the way Elina was using it on Glen was truly evil. But the only way to fight it was to accept that I had magic as well, and use it. Resolved, I turned Glen in my arms and nudged his tangled hair aside. Then I set my teeth around the back of his neck, directly over the bloody claw marks Elina had made, and bit down, sending a plea to Grigor for help in directing my intent, as well as a prayer to the moon.

His blood was hot and salty on my tongue, and I could almost taste the tainted magic Elina had left in him. I tried to remember what it had felt like when Luke bit me to stop the drain from the witch, picturing it in my own mind like a fountain being cut off.

Elina cursed aloud, stumbling just enough for Flor to land another hit, with her sword this time. Elina screamed louder, and the Enforcers around me surged forward. Glen struggled against me.

“Can you stand?” I asked, allowing my claws to extend past my fingertips, but not daring to fully change.

“Stand? I’m alive. If you want, I can fly.” It sounded like a movie quote, but there was no way he was teasing me right now. He was in pain, and we were in danger. No shifter would choose this moment to joke. Then he grinned at me and added, “Mate.”

Almost no shifter.

“You fucker,” I grumbled as I let go, just in time to launch myself forward and smack a gun out of an Enforcer’s hands before he could fire it. Beside me, Glen did the same, though he moved more slowly, still weakened. I wanted to tell him to stay behind me, but there was no behind: we were surrounded. At least one fool of a guard was using his gun like some sort of action movie villain, aiming at us, but hitting the guards closest to us as I ducked and weaved to avoid the shots. Soon, the stench of silver blanketed the air, small particles of it in the dust and gunpowder making it hard to breathe, panicking everyone.

“Stop shooting!” someone yelled.

The asshole didn’t stop, and his next bullet traced a line of fire across my bicep. I roared, my wolf side bursting free, and transformed into the half-man, half-beast form Flor had seen once before at Northern. Only this time, I could feel that I was far larger, and I towered over the males around me on my oddly shaped wolf legs. I was a larger target, but I could see farther. Maybe I could get Glen to Luke and Finn, and tear a hole in the spell that blocked us from our power, and Grigor from us all.

But now I could see that where they fought was no safer. Aidan and his Enforcers were battling them a hundred feet from the center of the ring, using swords and claws, though the bullets seemed to have stopped for now. Before I could plan anything else, before I could even see if the screech of a woman from the fight was Elina, or Margarette, or someone else, the crowd crashed like a wave over me, carrying Glen off to one side, and me directly toward the silver-toothed General Ivan.

“You,” I snarled, shaking the males who had dragged me to him off like water after a swim in my lake.

“Yes, me,” he replied, his gaze filled with wonder and avarice. He now held a rapier in one hand, though his other hand was hidden behind his back. I assumed he had some additional weapon there, torn from the nightmares of every decent shifter. “Shift before I kill you. I want to wear your fur as a coat.”

I didn’t bother replying. He’d been concealing a wand, one that was now pointing directly at my head. This wasn’t the wand he’d used before, but its twin. Dark wood that seemed to draw the light of the surrounding air and smother it.

I ducked the first blast of red sparks that poured from the end when he waved it at me, knowing what would happen if I let myself be hit. I’d felt so helpless, back at Northern, when he’d surprised me with it. Helpless, motionless, unable to go to my mate and protect her. Ivan didn’t expect me to move as quickly as I did, and he was sloppy at first, allowing one of my arms to swipe him, tearing long, jagged claw marks into his side.

But he was a seasoned warrior, learning quickly from his mistake. The next round of sparks landed on my left leg, and the entire limb blazed with fire before going numb. Shit. I wasn’t going to be able to dodge any more of that evil fire balanced on one leg; it was hard enough to avoid the magical round that was now whistling toward me. But my arms were long, and I moved as gracefully as I could, managing to rip into his shoulder this time.

Though he twisted his head and tore a chunk out of my arm with those fucking silver teeth of his before he staggered back. Neither one of us took a moment to breathe, but fought on. He was a bloody mess, but I was losing the fight to the magic. One arm numb now, one leg, and the side of my face.

Shifters massed behind me, and I could hear Glen screaming for his mother, Luke howling Finn’s name, and Flor… I couldn’t hear her, but I felt her, in our bond, still fighting.

Then I heard her voice. Shift, Bearman. A whisper, there and gone. Slightly impatient, like a thump on my head.

Of course. Shifting into my wolf could heal normal wounds. Maybe it would heal me now, enough to fight.

I transformed instantly, my wolf roaring to be set free, and the numb places burned as the sensation returned to my limbs.

“Perfect,” Ivan said with a wild grin, lifting the sword.

No. The wand and the sword, in one hand. What was he doing?

He dove forward, the sword’s blade lit up with a swirl of the red magic, like a snake’s tongue licking out from the point and wrapping around me, around my enormous wolf form. The magic scorched my fur, burning straight to the skin, like chains of silver. This time, I wasn’t numbed, but held motionless, feeling every bit of the agony the red fire caused. I bellowed, trying to break free, but struggling against it just seemed to make the invisible chains tighter.

“Brand!” Flor’s desperate cry as my lungs filled with liquid fire, as my vision hazed red with blood, forced me to struggle on, fighting to stay on my feet. Fighting, and failing.

I fell to my side, tied with magic, as Ivan leaned down, his lips brushing my ear. “I’ve always wanted an Alpha coat,” he murmured. His breath foul in my nostrils, he slid his open mouth down to the base of my throat and set his silver teeth over the very place where Flor’s mark lay.

Directly ahead of me, Luke was fighting to get closer, raging and battling the shifters who held him back, uncertain what to do with him, whether he was friend or foe. He was my friend. My brother, and I felt a deep surge of gratitude that I’d let him into my heart. All of them, even Grigor.

Especially my wildflower.

But now, it was time to let those bonds go.

I had just long enough to reach deep into my soul, to close off the bonds that connected me to the others, to her, so they wouldn’t feel this pain.

Then Ivan opened his jaw wide, and began to skin me alive.