Page 106 of Shifters Unifying

“They found us,” I wheezed and glanced at him. “I need you. Link with me.”

He reached for his head, panting. “I’m not sure I can. The cave’s spinning.” He rolled to his side and retched, the watery vomit making little rivulets in the dirt floor.

But I didn’t budge.

“Just shift back and forth until I can syphon off of your energy,” I commanded.

A puff of wind, a breeze, and a gust followed as Marcus had to be changing from one form to the next in rapid succession. I kept building, thread on thread, layer upon layer.

He shifted back to his human self and grabbed my ankle. A rush of new energy exploded into me, and the latticework came together, faster than before.

The shadow mages continued their onslaught, striking the shield and destroying themselves against it. Their suicide mission kept on, breaking small holes in the exterior layer of our defense.

“How long can you hold that?” Marcus asked, climbing to his feet and swaying as though the room still spun. He pressed his hand to the rock wall to steady himself.

“I don’t know.” Beads of sweat broke out on my upper lip, and my heart pounded in my ears. “As long as I have to.”

“What’s that mean?”

“I have to keep adding interior layers as fast as they break down the outer one.” Nine took the place of the six, and the muscles in my shoulders burned.

“So not forever.”

“Until I run out of strength. Or they do.”Unsustainable.They were using me against myself. They didn’t care how many of them died. They only had to wait until I lost strength, lost focus and slipped up. “Let’s hope there’s not a back way in. I sure as hell can’t maintain two of these.”

“Then we have to change the equation.” His head swiveled on his neck. “We made it to the cave.”

“Let’s hope the relic trove is still at the rear. How far back?”

“Not far.” He stumbled toward the rear of the cave. “What are we looking for?”

“Cubed. Shaped. Rock,” I panted, still on my knees directly in front of the cave opening.

He disappeared, hugging the wall for support.

One figure rose from the ground, its red eyes staring into mine.

You’ll never make it.Acheron’s wheedling voice leached into my mind.You will die. Logan will die. And I will devour them all.

No. Get out of my head.But I dropped to my knees and cried out as another layer of magic broke lose.Logan will live. I can’t live without him.

Marcus shuffled back toward the front of the cave, leaning against the rocks and lugging a cubed stone about eighteen inches by eighteen inches. “Is this it? Doesn’t look like anything, but straight lines and corners aren’t natural.”

“Fuck if I know,” I rasped.

More shadows slammed into our shield.

Glowing crimson orbs burned in my thoughts.You will lose.

More hateful threats echoed in my head, and I braced against the onslaught of despair which threatened. My shoulders slumped.

Marcus pushed off the wall and struggled to cross the space between us. With a grunt, he dropped the stone behind me. He shoved it against my bottom. “Sit on that.”

When it connected with my skin, the stone brightened until it glimmered like a crystal, and Marcus staggered back and slid down the rock. “Fuck.”

“What is it?”

“It’s syphoning more energy through me.” He shook on the floor, and his wounds opened wider, blackened pieces of him pealed back from the gashes, and fell to the ground. Blood spilled from him and stained the dirt beneath his writhing body.