Page 12

12

VANESSA

“ I need you to count down from ten for me,” I said calmly, pulling one of my vials and a bit of gauze from my fanny pack as I knelt next to a wolf sprawled on ground, blood pooling below it. “You can do it in your head.”

How else were they going to do it? It wasn’t like I could communicate with shifters when they were in their animal form. I didn’t even know if they were able to speak to each other, but I imagined they had some sort of wordless telepathy.

The counting was the only way I could think to distract him as I pulled a silver bullet out of the wound in his side. We’d been so lucky so far that no one had ever used that type of ammo against us—at least that I knew of—and I figured the only reason for that was because the brothers employed so many shifters who wouldn’t be able to use anything the bullets touched and would be weakened in its presence. Now, I wasn’t surprised they were using it. The brothers were on high alert, and most of the shifters they’d enthralled had been removed.

Which was why I had brought so many things to counteract silver poisoning. At least I’d brought things I’d guessed would counteract it. It wasn’t like there was a manual, and when I asked the shifters what would help, they’d said their best method for fighting off such poisoning was to remove the source of the poison.

Different shifters had different weaknesses. Wolves were the only ones susceptible to silver, but along with coyotes, bears, and moose, they were also weakened if iron got into their bloodstream. I had no idea how they dealt with anemia, or how they could eat so much read meat, but I chalked it up to magical shenanigans. Eagles were susceptible to electricity and deathly allergic to waterthyme while moose had a wolfsbane-like reaction to English yew.

In fact, it seemed the only shifters with no known weaknesses were alligators. I’d heard a lot of different theories as to why from our little merry group of rebels, but my theory was that alligators had evolved out of their weaknesses. They were, after all, ancient creatures. It was a shame we didn’t have any in our group because from what I heard, they were twice the size of a regular alligator and incredibly difficult to damage. Most of them liked to live in places much warmer than where we were, though, which made sense since they were reptiles.

“Focus on breathing and counting for me, okay?” I urged softly, despite the cacophony around us. One moment we’d all been standing around the bus, watching security try to fix our blown tire, the next an explosion had rocked the courtyard, and chaos erupted. Despite my sudden magical prowess with plants, I didn’t jump into the battle. Chris and I had retreated, both of us armed with full med-kits to run triage as best we could.

Chris had been a champ when he’d come to me and asked to learn whatever he could, and I had tried to teach him everything I could about what herbs and concoctions to use in which situation, and how to stop the flow of blood until a shifter could heal. I’d also showed him all the little tricks I’d learned about how to clean wounds so the injury could heal faster. He was a great student, and I wouldn’t mind if he chose to continue learning once everything was settled. It would be nice if there was more than one herbalist in our group.

In our pack.

Once people started going down, we’d split up to cover more ground. I didn’t regret it, but I did hope Chris was all right. He didn’t have an animal form to protect him, or even mysterious plant powers that worked of their own accord.

I couldn’t risk the distraction of worrying about him, though, so I took that out of my mind and focused on removing the bullet from the side of a giant wolf. Pulling out a long pair of tweezers, I carefully inserted them into the wound and felt around for something solid. The shifter whined, but to their credit, they didn’t move a muscle. That was truly impressive. Or maybe the silver had paralyzed him. Either way, I knew the longer the bullet was in, the worse it would be, so I went a bit faster than I was comfortable with.

Thankfully, after a minute or two, I got it out. I threw the offending piece of silver as far away as I could before returning my attention to the wound. I pulled a vial of black liquid out of my pack. It looked exceptionally magical, perhaps even villainous, but it was only powdered charcoal mixed with witch hazel, distilled water, crushed ibuprofen and powdered willow bark. It was a double whammy of absorption and reducing inflammation.

Unfortunately, I would have to find out if it worked in real time.

The wolf jerked as I poured some of the liquid into the wound, and I didn’t blame him one bit, not even when one of his claws nicked my arm. Instead of freaking out, I gently laid my hands on his side and tried to envision calm and healing seeping into him.

“You’re gonna be okay, friend. I need you to picture all that icky poison draining right out of you. Pouring out like when a cup tips over. Can you visualize that in your mind for me?”

Although I was flying blind, I tried to sound as confident as I could. Maybe it was a magic thing, maybe it was just invoking the placebo effect, but I figured if I sounded like I knew what I was doing, it would help more than hinder.

“When you’re ready, I’d like you to try to sit up on your belly so all this badness can drain from your side. Do you think you can do that? I’ll be here to help.”

Another whine, but it seemed to be an affirmative. It took at least a full minute or two, but eventually the wolf groaned, then struggled onto his side. The mixture I poured into the wound began to dribble out, but I swore it had a new metallic shine to it. Maybe that was my own brain seeing what it wanted to see, but after another moment, I could feel the wound closing up even through the dense layer of his coat.

“See? You should be feeling better already. Give yourself some time, then get out of here,” I advised as I reached into my pouch and took out some deadnettle balm. I dabbed it around the wound, then smeared the rest on a bit of gauze and placed it over the jagged hole once I was sure it was done with the majority of the leaking. The deadnettle would soothe and help heal, as I had learned with Leo all that time ago, and the gauze would help to soak up anything the wound wanted to discharge as it healed from the inside out. I didn’t secure it, because I wanted it to fall off once the wolf was up and moving, as his body would take it from there. “I need to go help others, but be safe.”

I gave him one last pat on the side, still trying to exude healing, calm, and comfort, before I was on my feet and running again.

I kept my eyes peeled for anyone in need of medical attention, but it seemed we were doing a great job of staying scattered and having most of the security chase us rather than engaging in direct combat. We’d fight if it came down to it, but for the most part our job was to keep as many of the guards running around far away from the manor. And we were doing a great job if I did say so myself.

A sharp yelp somewhere to the left of me had me turning my head, and I saw a wolf shifter caught between three furious members of the security team. I still didn’t really have a handle on my powers or even know how to activate them, so I couldn’t just charge in. Instead, I reached into the bag Chris had thrown me when everything went to shit and pulled out a smoke bomb.

My softball training came in handy as the smoke bomb hit one of the guards right in his back. Smoke filled the space between the trio, and the wolf darted away in the confusion. It seemed even without my plants I still had a trick or two up my sleeve.

I continued to move, helping where I could, but trying my best to stay out of direct danger. If Leo could see me, I was sure he’d be proud of how well I was doing in a support position. Truthfully, I didn’t really want to be a brawler. I had only done what I had at the auction because I truly had been afraid I was about to lose the love of my life.

I fell into the rhythm of battle, scanning for the injured or someone who was in a pinch, aiding however I could, then moving on. It was a balance of quick efficiency and making sure everyone got the care they needed. However, after I threw a smoke grenade at a tight cluster of enthralled shifters about to surround a couple of our own, another explosion rocked the grounds, nearly knocking me off my feet.

That could not be good.

I whipped around to face the massive estate, sure that was where the blast had come from. Sure enough, a wolf sailed through the window and went flying through the air, his body limp. I raced toward him like I was going to catch him or something—what a ridiculous thought—but two eagle shifters beat me to it, swooping in and grabbing one of his front legs to slow his momentum so he didn’t hit the ground with an overwhelming force.

I got to his side as fast as I could, gasping in horror at the blood covering him. The deep but thin lacerations all over his body made it look like he’d been whipped with a cat-of-nine-tails.

“I’ve got you. I’ve got you,” I said, aiming for that soothing timber again, but not quite getting it. Almost instantly, the wolf began to shrink until a battered and bleeding Jason lay in front of me.

“Give me whatever potions you have,” he insisted, pain evident in every syllable he uttered. “They need you in there way more than I do.”

They needed me in the mansion? I wasn’t supposed to go in there. I didn’t reply however, and instead focused on treating his wounds. We were incredibly vulnerable sitting out in the open, two fleshy bodies and no animal form. Thankfully, the eagle shifters wheeled back down, flying in tight circles around our heads. Okay, it looked like we had guards.

I did my best to patch him up, giving him a vial of invigorating tea while quickly disinfecting his wounds. I didn’t have the heart to tell him that nothing I made was technically a potion, they were all simple herbal remedies I had learned through reading and my time volunteering at the animal clinic. The clarification wasn’t really necessary at the moment.

As I dabbed some of the deadnettle balm onto his wounds, I caught a guard approaching us, a bright yellow light forming in his hand. Oh, they had magic? I supposed that made sense, but I’d kind of forgotten there were lesser-magic users in the warlocks’ ranks.

While Jason and I were too weak to be a threat, it didn’t mean I was going to let the guard mow us down. I pulled two smoke bombs out of my bag, throwing one directly at our attacker’s middle, then the other one a few paces in front of him. It had the effect I hoped for. Smoke burst all around him, and the eagle shifters shrieked as they dived into the cloud.

Huh, even without strange plant magic, I was still a capable member of the team. It made me feel better about myself and less like I was a monster who could burst out of my skin at any moment.

When I turned my attention back to Jason’s wounds, he grabbed my hand and gave me a serious look.

“Go. They need you in there. I’ll get to safety out here, I promise, and I’ll help anyone else who needs to get out.”

“But I?—”

“Look, I know we still have the second cavalry, and I know Leo wanted you out here, but I saw what you did the other night. We would all be dead without you. It doesn’t make sense to have our heaviest hitter hide on the outskirts when you could be saving lives in there.”

He had a point, and my mind was desperately screaming that if my friends needed help, then I had a responsibility to join them. It was wrong to stay safe when they were all risking their lives. Still, I hesitated. Not only because I was scared of what I might do, but I was worried about breaking my promise to Leo. I liked to think my promises meant something, and I didn’t always break them all willy-nilly.

It was like Jason was in my mind, though, like he knew the exact reason for my trepidation.

“I don’t know what you are, but it doesn’t matter. What I do know is that your mate is in there, and he needs you.”

Well, I had no desire to argue with that logic.

Taking a deep breath, I nodded at Jason, and then I was off, racing into the very place I wasn’t supposed to go into. And I wasn’t alone, either. From the corner of my eye I saw almost two dozen dark shapes erupting from the septic truck we’d procured through America’s family. It turned out having allies who had three mechanic shops in their family circle was a far greater resource than we could ever imagine.

They were the second cavalry Jason had been talking about, and I decided to follow them to make sure I got to the battle as fast as possible. I could have gone through the broken window Jason had come out of, but that didn’t exactly seem like a safe course of action. And considering I still didn’t know if I would be able to use my plant abilities or not, it was better to be safe than sorry.

Granted, if I really wanted to be safe, I shouldn’t be going into the thick of it, but if I was honest with myself, it had always been rather inevitable. Hopefully, Leo would understand.

My lungs burned as I ran, quickly falling behind the second wave as they sped across the grounds on four feet. I kept a sharp eye out and threw smoke bombs in case they needed cover. I didn’t want to fall too far behind because that would definitely make me easier to pick off. I wanted to be toward the middle of the rush if I could.

Keyword, if .

When I made it into the manor behind a pair of coyote shifters, I expected to find all hell breaking loose. Instead, the foyer looked as neat as one could expect, as if it was ready for a magazine photoshoot or Harper’s Bazaar. For a moment, I was so perplexed I wondered if I had been transported to some other giant mansion, but then I heard a howl from far away and what sounded like a wall splintering apart.

I was definitely in the right area.

Off I went, following the scratch marks on the floor and the doors knocked off their hinges. A very small part of me felt a bit sad for all the damage we were doing to such a historical landmark, but most of me couldn’t be fucked to care. Really, the house was a testament to the insanity of wealth. It had been passed from generation to generation, and while multiple owners had added multimillion-dollar additions to the building, it was still as gauche as ever.

Although, I certainly wouldn’t mind having all that land for chickens, miniature goats, and gardens, as well as the giant glass conservatory I’d spotted on the maps. However, no amount of growing space was worth it if it meant a single shifter had to become a mindless slave.

The sounds of battle grew louder and louder, and a strange energy shimmered under my skin. For a moment, I thought I was about to experience the same wave of power I had at the auction, but as I sprinted, I realized it wasn’t my power I was feeling, but someone else’s entirely. I didn’t have to guess who that was. That had to be the brother who had sworn fealty to Bacchus.

When I’d first heard that, I was confused, as I had assumed Bacchus was the god of wine and partying. Apparently, though, he also had domains over agriculture and fertility. Also, it was the very fact that he was an actual spirit that magic users could get in touch with. It definitely made me wonder how many myths could be real—yet another thing I could tackle once the brothers were gone and Leo’s pack was safe.

Safe was about the last thing we were at the moment.

I rushed through the door where I heard all the fighting. Holy crap, it was massive. I had expected it to be large, but not two floors large, with stairs on both sides going to a sizeable landing. Man, some people really had too much money.

I couldn’t really focus on the abject capitalism because it truly was a cacophony around me, like the gala but five times over, with plants covering almost every surface as well as a miniature tornado whipping around the center. Lightning struck down from the crystal chandelier above.

Had we somehow left the most powerful brothers for last? It made sense they would have survived the longest, but man, we were a lot less lucky than I thought.

I took one last moment to observe before I searched for Leo. It was nearly impossible to find him in the throng, and I feared the worst. A truly inhuman bellow drew my attention to a giant, horse-like creature standing on his hind legs. A second later, his full weight cracked down on the chest of a man on the floor.

Wait, it wasn’t a horse. It was a moose . Chiga. I had known he was a massive creature, but it was entirely different seeing it in person.

I knew from my various animal shenanigans throughout my life that moose were giant creatures, often standing anywhere from five to seven feet at their shoulders, but Chiga was at least nine feet tall without taking into account the huge antlers atop his head. Leo wasn’t kidding about him being a force to reckon with.

Finally, I saw a flash of that familiar coat behind the gargantuan moose. Leo was lunging for one of the brothers, but the warlock had summoned a hazy shield around himself. If there was one trick I really hated from those guys, it was that.

Thankfully, my love was holding his own, so I switched my focus and looked for anyone needing my help. Unfortunately, quite a few people were in grievous states.

Time to see if my support skills could hold up in much closer quarters.

I ran to the closest shifter—a coyote I was pretty sure would come up to my waist. I’d gotten used to the fact that all shifters were larger versions of their wild animal counterparts, but it still threw me for a loop. However, even at their greater size, I was still able to grab his legs and haul him over to the door, swinging it partially closed to use as cover.

My mind crept into that almost meditative state as I did what I could to stabilize the coyote so his body could begin the healing process. I hoped most of them would have the good sense to retreat rather than push their injured bodies and end up dying, but I also recognized that if one of them wanted to fight, it would be a waste of time trying to stop them. We all had our choices to make, and in the end, I needed to respect theirs.

A gust of wind blew the both of us forward. I grabbed the edge of the door to stay in place, but the coyote slid several yards down the hall. Before either of us could react to the sudden movement, the air reversed directions and I was being sucked into the battle.

It was a strange sensation whirling through the air like that. My back hit the solid couch, my breath rushing out of my lungs from the impact. I sat there, more than a little stunned at the sudden game of tug-of-war over my body, but then a perfect replica of a miniature tornado skipped up on an ottoman that looked like it cost more than my entire cabin. I blinked in surprise as it launched itself right out the already broken window.

Fighting warlocks was absolutely wild.

Not wanting to encounter more shrunken versions of terrible weather phenomena, I scrambled to my feet, hoping to spot the closest fighter who needed my help. The coyote was too far away now, so all I could do was hope they would be okay while I helped someone else. Now that I was pretty much in the heart of the battle, I could see nearly a dozen or so of our people strewn across the floor or pinned in very uncomfortable positions. What would they have done if the second cavalry hadn’t arrived when they had?

I didn’t like that thought, so instead of entertaining it, I rushed to the injured wolf nearest me. I figured since he was still in his animal form, he couldn’t be too hurt. When shifters were low on energy or too injured, they reverted back to their human forms.

I fell into a rhythm: triage, treat, and get them mobile enough so they could get themselves out of direct danger. The outer courtyard wasn’t exactly the safest place for the injured, but it was way better than the middle of a battleground with two extremely pissed-off warlocks.

Things grew a little blurry after that. I was so intensely focused on whoever I was helping, I didn’t realize how completely drained I was until I stood up from helping an eagle shifter and nearly fell on my face. Why was I sweating so much? Why did it feel like I had just run a marathon?

It wasn’t all that different from the way I’d felt after I killed Alric. Except I wasn’t using my plant powers, and that might have been a one-time thing, anyway. So, what the hell was going on? It was almost like healing people had been steadily sapping my energy.

But that was impossible, because I wasn’t actually healing them. As far as I knew that was the stuff of fantasy books. I was just using what homeopathic medicine and herbalist strategies I happened to know.

I tottered again, and my feet got tangled together, and it really seemed like I was about to face plant this time. But then an absolutely wretched-smelling wolf bounded up, turning at the last moment so I could catch his fur and slump over his back.

God, he smelled disgusting.

The stench overwhelmed me, but then my vision cleared enough to see it was Ricky below me. God, I was so happy to see him, I didn’t even care how he smelled.

“Hey.” I grinned slightly. That was all I got out before the marble below our feet fractured and dozens of vines shot up like a water spigot.

It felt like going quite literally from zero to one hundred as I was blasted upward, my body feeling like it had been hit with a dozen paintballs at once. The air was driven from my lungs when my back slammed into the ceiling, and once more my vision went a little fuzzy. God, I’d have to see a doctor when this was over. Did my insurance cover life-and-death battles with malevolent magical colonizers?

“Ugh!” I groaned, and Ricky echoed the sound. But that discomfort began to shift into outright pain as I realized the vines were still pushing, trying to drill through our skin.

There was a special kind of horror that came with something trying to burrow its way into one’s body, and the fact that it was something I loved so much didn’t help. I gritted my teeth, and that churning energy within me made itself known. I was no longer drained. Instead, a simmering something filled me. It spilled out into the world all around me, painting every surface in colors only my mind could see.

Once that energy touched those vines, it was like baking soda touching vinegar. Everything was fizzing, reacting, and that burning anger inside me ordered those vines to put. Us. Down!

They did.

It wasn’t exactly the smoothest landing, but that didn’t matter. What mattered was that Ricky and I were on the ground. The plants writhed around us as if they weren’t sure what they should do. Well, if they needed orders, I was more than happy to give them. Did I understand that by doing so I would likely to be drawn into battle? Yes. But it was time. I had helped the injured for as long as I could, but the way the plants were running wild told me they needed to be reined in before the brothers got the upper hand. I knew personally just how pervasive and powerful foliage could be.

“Go,” I said, feeling along the spiderweb of sensation for the heart of where they were coming from. I’d lost sight of the brother, but I was certain I would sense him.

Sure enough, after a beat or two, my magic pulsed somewhere across the oversized room, almost like a powerful heartbeat pushing shock waves through the air. That was my target.

There was an inherent foolhardiness to taking on someone who had been communing with and manipulating plants for most of their life when I’d only done it once, but all I could do was hope the stress of fighting off nearly three dozen shifters had been enough to weaken him a bit.

Once I had him anchored in my mind’s eye, I let every plant my energy had bled through surge toward him.

I didn’t tell the plants to shred this time. Going for the kill would be an error. There was no way he wouldn’t find a way to stop them before they could eviscerate him. Instead, I channeled all my thoughts into binding him, wrapping him up until he couldn’t move. Would he be able to get out? Certainly. But not before he was surrounded by shifters and unable to get his momentum back.

Hopefully, the other brother and his mini tornadoes didn’t interfere.

“What’s going on here?” Ricky said—at least, that was how I interpreted the howl from Ricky. That was certainly how it sounded as all the plants around us surged away from us and started growing again. I didn’t answer him, of course, as I didn’t actually know how accurate my translation was, but I did take off in the direction of the vines.

They moved like a snake and like a wave, leaves fluttering this way and that. The plants were faster than me, pushing aside or moving past combatants in much more agile ways than I could. Hopefully, Frederick couldn’t sense my interference and would be just as surprised as Ricky was by the sudden change in energy.

I felt them reach my target before I saw them, having thrown myself to the side to avoid a lightning strike that lanced down from the ceiling. It hadn’t been aiming for me, but that didn’t make it any less terrifying.

Once I righted myself, I decided it would be best to stick to the perimeter of the room. Hunching over, I moved as fast as I could until Frederick was in my sights.

He wasn’t floating for once, but he was red in the face as hundreds of plants wrapped around him tightly. My mind flashed to the gala. It had been horrific. Terrifying.

But this? This situation was entirely different.

“What are you doing? I said attack!”

Unfortunately, the plants I hadn’t sent were still entirely under his thrall. They surged up over the vines, wrapping down into them with the intent to tear.

That wouldn’t do at all.

Brow furrowing, I focused on that fizzing, sizzling magic within me and the plants I affected. I let it grow, bloom, even feed back on itself until it was spilling out of me again and across any plant it touched. Across other plants that my plants touched.

Wonder cascaded over me as I gained control over the new plants. It was a mass of organic wonder, and I told it all to squeeze.

For one brief, blissful moment, I could feel Frederick’s bones creak under my control. Could it really be so easy? Was I really about to bring him down? It seemed like it would be even easier than Alric.

I probably should have known better.

Right when I really felt like I had the most solid grip on the brother, his head jerked to me, and his eyes went wide.

“It’s you! You’re doing this!”

Uh oh.

I didn’t reply. I needed to react as quickly as possible. I squeezed my fingers together, my nails biting into my palm as I imagined those plants crushing him with all their strength.

Maybe if Frederick had only been a plant manipulator like me, I would have bested him. Unfortunately, he was a warlock , and that meant he had a whole school of magic spells I would never even know about.

He sent out a burst of that magic, and a blinding, white-hot pain surged through the network of foliage. The next thing I knew, fire blasted out of him, reducing all the plants binding him to ash. It was hot enough that I threw out my arms to shield myself even from this distance. However, that distance shrank rapidly as he practically teleported over to me. He moved so fast through the battle that one moment I blinked and then he was a few feet away from me.

Shit.

I called upon all the plants around me, creating a defensive barrier between the two of us, but he raised his hands and flicked his fingers downward like he was swatting cobwebs out of the air, then all the plants settled to the ground.

“It is you!” The strangest thing was that he looked happy rather than upset. Actually, he looked downright ecstatic. Something definitely wasn’t right.

Was it a trick to disarm me? I didn’t want to take the chance. So, I ignored the broad smile that crossed his features and tried to wrestle back control of the plants. They stirred, shimmering with the same feeling inside me, but before I could issue any order, Frederick shook his head and snapped his fingers, and the plants ignored me again. Clearly, I was outclassed. Not exactly a surprise, but I had hoped that some of the shifters?—

As if they could hear my thoughts, a wolf leaped onto Frederick’s back while a coyote shifter went for his ankle. The warlock whirled, sending the wolf flying away, but that left enough of an opening for the coyote’s teeth to sink into his designer pants. Frederick let out an angry curse before waving his hand. A crackle of green light rippled through the air before the floor beneath the coyote suddenly turned to liquid and it began to sink in.

It didn’t take a genius or a battle strategist to figure out that he was going to make the floor solid again to crush the coyote, so I quickly reached for the plants that had slackened under his control and had them rip the coyote out of the mire, depositing him a few feet away. I tried to press, using the sudden slack in the warlock’s concentration, but I took too long to redirect them after helping the coyote. Frederick moved at an unnatural speed again, and then suddenly, he was in my face. His hot breath fanned across my skin, and every muscle in my body locked up.

Despite my repeat run-ins with the brothers, I’d never actually been so close to one of them. I could see the individual pores on his nose, could smell the sandalwood in his cologne. My heartbeat rushed in my ears as I wondered if I had inadvertently caused my own death.

He looked so thrilled to see me, his eyes traveling up and down my body—not in a lecherous way as that action would usually suggest, but as if he had been reunited with an old friend.

What the fuck was going on?

“You look so familiar,” he said, and to my horror, one of his hands came up to caress my ponytail. “But you can’t be her. That’s impossible.”

Her? What was the man on? I had gotten the distinct impression that most magical folk had some pretty severe resistances to most inebriation, so whatever had him thinking he knew me had to be some really powerful shit.

But he didn’t seem high as he slowly caressed my face. If someone had told me such a thing might happen, I would have told them I’d slap him silly or try to slit his throat with a thorn. But now? I felt a bit paralyzed. The entire situation was so unexpected that my brain couldn’t quite figure out what to do about it.

“I watched you burn. I know I did, my little plant pet. So stubborn. All you had to do was?—”

He didn’t get the chance to finish his sentence, because a howl came from incredibly close by, and a shadow moved in the corner of my eye. That was the only warning I had before Leo leaped onto Frederick, snapping his jaws closed around the warlock’s arm that had been touching me.

As soon as he landed, he began to shake his head in that way predators did to rip off full limbs. Although I was still more confused than anything else, I banished the strange shock that had come over me and latched on to every single plant that would listen around me. They all surged as one, the vines sporting massive thorns that could impale a man.

I had to admit, I agreed with their idea.

I sent them racing forward, and they reached Frederick right as he grabbed one of Leo’s ears, his hand crackling with a deadly, green energy. I couldn’t let whatever he was brewing go right into my mate’s head, so without so much as a beat of hesitance, I ran him through.

Although I was several feet away, I could still feel the force of the plants as they pushed through Frederick’s chest and lifted him up, up, up off the ground. He let out a gurgling scream. It was truly horrific in a way I would have thought I’d gotten over since the auction, but I clearly hadn’t.

I didn’t ease the pressure. I wasn’t stupid enough to think that impaling him once would take down a warlock who had spent his life taking advantage of every other type of magic user and shifter in existence for his own gain.

Thankfully, I wasn’t alone. Leo jumped up, scaling the pillar of thorny vines until he was at the warlock’s feet. Sparing what little power and control I had left, I made a platform of leaves and vines so Leo could be face to face with one of the men who had tried to destroy his pack. And although I didn’t want to watch, I kept my gaze steady as my mate let out a truly pained and feral howl before opening his jaw wide enough to encompass Frederick’s head from the top of his skull to the bottom of his chin.

And then he bit down.

It was horrible. It was bloody. My stomach flipped at least a dozen times, and bile rose in my throat, but I pushed it down. Frederick was dead, and I could feel all the plants I wasn’t controlling in the room go still, as if they were confused and waiting for direction.

“No! You can’t! You can’t do this!”

Right. The battle wasn’t over yet. Tearing my gaze away from Frederick, I let his body drop to the floor as I looked for his brother. Sure enough, the last surviving son was beginning to rise up through the floor, his face pale and full of horror.

If he was anyone else, I might have felt bad for him, but all I could think of was whether his victims wore that same expression before he ripped their lives, their ability to consent, and their very minds away.

Raising my hands over my head, I sent all the plants toward him, the green wave quickly snatching him up. But like Frederick, he didn’t make it easy. He sent out blasts of magic, trying to knock them away. I gritted my teeth, my feet beginning to slide off the floor as I was dragged along with it. I still didn’t understand the symbiotic relationship I had with plants, but I knew I was losing this particular tug-of-war.

“Leo!” I cried, but he was already on it. Him and pretty much every shifter still capable of battle. The tide had most definitely shifted as they all raced up to the warlock. The eagle shifters flew directly to him, slashing and biting at his face before wheeling off and turning around to do it again. The coyotes raced up the leaves that were unfurling for them, while many of the wolves used the furniture to leap up and bite at the man’s dangling feet. For once, we were dealing with a brother who couldn’t summon shield bubbles to surround himself.

However, he was still very capable of summoning lightning.

It began to crack down in earnest, setting fires in half the places it struck. The shifters had to go from attack to defense, and I worried that Millicent would get the good sense to go for me. I didn’t have the reaction time the others did, and with all my concentration on keeping him held, I didn’t think I could magically protect myself either. If only I was powerful enough to yank him down to the ground, or if any of us could physically reach up to him to do so. He wasn’t planning to stay and fight. His intent was to escape. And if he did, there was a chance he could start the cycle all over again somewhere else.

If only…

Chiga slowly clopped into my line of sight, his dark eyes determinedly raised towards the warlock. He definitely looked worse for wear, with several bald patches along his hide and a wound down the side of his neck that was bleeding sluggishly, but that didn’t stop him from gracefully lifting his head and slowly enclosing his long, arboreal teeth around the warlock’s ankle and yanking him downward.

I felt the give in the plants as Chiga’s immense strength immediately brought the enemy closer with one yank. Millicent screamed bloody murder and extended his hand downward as if he were going to blast the moose shifter.

But that bastard of a warlock didn’t realize how completely outnumbered he was, because as soon as he focused on Chiga, I was able to squeeze the plants tighter, and all the shifters surged at him again. I was pretty sure he realized it a hair after I did, because as his hand crackled with malevolent, crimson energy, the two eagle shifters still left in the room went for his eyes.

He changed his aim to the birds, who pinwheeled up out of the very hole in the roof he was trying to escape through. But that distraction was his final mistake, as both Leo and Ricky managed to get to his arms while America finally scrambled up high enough to be even with his face. Three sets of teeth all tore into Millicent at once, and in a rain of blood, it was over.

I finally let go of the strange magic I still didn’t understand, but my heart continued to thunder in my chest.

I couldn’t believe it.

It was finally over.

There would be no more shifters enthralled. No more kidnappings. No more senseless murder. For the first time in God knew how long, the people I’d grown to love would have peace.

“Leo,” I breathed, swaying slightly, and my lover bounded over to me, shifting into his human form a few paces away. I embraced the rush of steam and let it swallow me, opening up my arms. Sure enough, Leo’s strong limbs wrapped around me, practically crushing me to his chest with a hug.

“We did it,” he whispered, and I could hear the wonder in his ragged voice.

“We did,” I confirmed. “Let’s go home.”

“Yeah, let’s.”