Caged, page 29
Liam stormed closer, and his energy rolled out like the blast from a load of TNT. My skin sizzled where his power touched me, and based on the reactions of some of the others, I knew I wasn’t the only one.
Stephen met his eyes and stepped forward, just enough to make a show of putting himself between the angry alpha and his would-be pack. Stephen began to shift, a partial shift that was more a show of power than anything else. His hands grew longer, sprouting wicked black claws, and his eyes slid to the copper of his wolf form.
His energy rolled outward as well, adding a second suffocating layer to the power already choking me. It touched Liam, and the alpha rolled his shoulders, his own hands beginning to shift.
“Liam,” I said a hint of panic crawling into my voice as I followed him a few steps. “Don’t do this. This is what Kristine wants. She’s been working to erode your control for days, knowing you would eventually be in a situation exactly like this.”
Liam didn’t look at me, but he snarled an answer. “You think her purpose is to tear my pack apart? You think she wanted me to watch Stephen try to leave, try to take with him the people I’ve promised my protection to?”
“For all that’s worth,” Stephen countered.
Liam snarled and his skin rippled as his beast coiled inside him, ready to leap out.
“She wants you to shift in the heat of anger,” I said, trying to keep my voice calm. “You are alpha, she’s can’t force you to shift as long as you have access to the strength of your pack. But if you shift willingly, it would be nothing for her to trap you that way.” I took another step. “You are our best hope at changing the shifters back. If you’re trapped too, then what will happen?”
“Liam don’t,” Brenna begged. “Listen to Shade.” She pulled out of St. John’s arms and stepped around Stephen, moving closer to her brother with her hands out, trying to calm him down. “You’re too close to the edge. Kristine could change you. Shade’s right, as much as I think Stephen could lead his own pack, he doesn’t have the power to help the others. We need you. And if you’re trapped too, we’ll need another alpha.”
Her voice rose an octave in panic. “You know what that means. If you have to ask another alpha for help, it means admitting you’re not strong enough to serve your pack. You’ll have to give us up. Any alpha you ask for help could take us all away, absorb us into their pack. And they will.”
I stiffened. I hadn’t considered that. If that were true, then this was what Kristine had been waiting for. Stephen was leaving, taking Brenna with him. This would be Liam’s breaking moment.
“She’s here,” I whispered.
“Liam, please,” Brenna continued, her voice thickening. “You don’t know what it’s like to be trapped. I don’t want that for you.” She took another step. “You have to calm down.”
I opened my third eye. It was easy now that I wasn’t fighting it—as so many bad ideas are. This time I didn’t bother concentrating to keep the view small, there was no time.
My breath left me on a gasp as the first thing I saw with my sight open was Brenna.
Or rather…Kristine.
Chapter 26
“That’s not Brenna!”
I screamed the words louder than I’d meant to, every syllable spurred on by the panic rising inside me. We’d been so close to his office when Stephen had appeared out of the stairwell. Liam had gone to meet him, put himself between Stephen and the front doors, but I was still in the hallway that connected his office to the main room. Even from this distance I could feel his aura. It burned so hot it felt like it would melt my words before they reached him, but when his gold eyes burned white-hot, I knew he’d heard me. He stared at Kristine as if he could sear away her Brenna disguise with no more than the force of his anger.
Kristine gritted her teeth and dropped the glamour. She shrank a few inches and her blonde hair shortened to hug her scalp. Her blue eyes flashed as she threw out her hand, her lips moving on a spell I couldn’t hear. But I didn’t need to hear it to know what she was doing. I opened my mouth to shout a warning, but I was too late.
Blake wasn’t.
Liam’s second-in-command shot in front of his alpha with speed that surprised even me. One second he was standing at his alpha’s side, the next he was in front of him, taking the brunt of Kristine’s spell. His feet had left the ground when he dove in front of Liam, and when he hit the ground, it was on all fours. He landed on his feet, but his body sagged, his head bowed. Spittle flew from his mouth as he struggled to breathe. It reminded me of the transformation Liam had put Emma through earlier.
“Mongrel!” Kristine snarled.
Sonar’s lips peeled back from her teeth, revealing glistening white fangs as she shot forward. Her jaws closed around the kitchen witch’s hand, and she shook her head as if she’d rip the limb from her body. Bones crunched, and blood flowed between Sonar’s teeth, staining her fur. Kristine shrieked, a sound that was as much fury as it was pain.
“Take the pack out the back door and stay with them!” Stephen shouted.
I didn’t take my eyes off Kristine, but I saw Emma out of my peripheral vision. In that moment, I caught a glimpse of the woman I’d met before. No anger, no resentment. Just a cop who’d seen the worst of humanity and had made it her job to handle it. She shouted to the crowd she and Stephen had brought down the stairs, one arm held out toward the back of the building, the other waving to gesture them to hurry.
“The fox is running away!” Peasblossom shouted.
I blinked at a flash of movement heading for the stairway. The door swung closed behind St. John as the fox shifter disappeared.
“Never mind him,” I told her. “Grab my phone and get in the pouch. Call Andy, find out where he is.”
A snarl made me whip around. Liam was staring at Kristine, his eyes solid gold, the veins in his temples bulging. He took a step toward her.
“Don’t shift!” Edwin shouted.
The magic I’d been calling paused as I snapped my mouth shut on the same warning. My eyes widened as Edwin charged around the elevator, heading straight for Kristine. There was no time for questions. Edwin hurled himself at Kristine, trying to grapple her while Sonar still held her hand in her jaws.
Kristine’s face contorted in pain as she fought to free her hand from Sonar’s mouth. She raised her free hand, but Edwin grabbed it and shoved it to her side before banding his arms around her and squeezing with all his strength. He was trying to control her movement, steal her air so she couldn’t cast.
I never got the chance to tell him that wouldn’t work.
Kristine shut her eyes and let her body go still. In any other moment, I might have watched in awe as she retreated into herself, away from the blood and pain, away from the sound. I could almost feel a change in the air as she centered herself, retreated to a quiet place in her mind where she had all the time in the world to build her spell.
Sonar felt the magic first. She released Kristine’s hand and staggered back, her head falling, chest jerking as she fought to draw breath that wasn’t there. She shook her head, swayed on all fours. Edwin choked, mouth opening and closing like a fish on land. Kristine held perfectly still, then as soon as his grip loosened, she lurched forward. Instead of moving away she stayed right beside Sonar and Edwin. Watched them with a dead look in her eyes.
“They’re suffocating!” I shouted to Liam. “Get them away from her!”
Liam moved with the speed of someone who had a lot of energy and desperately needed somewhere to focus it. Like a bullet leaving the barrel of a gun, he shot forward, big hands reaching for his gasping pack members. One hand closed in the scruff of Sonar’s neck, the other fisted in the back of Edwin’s shirt. One strong heave sent them all hurtling back toward the large planted area, away from Kristine and her spell.
“Take this, lassie!”
I glanced down at my pouch in time to see Bizbee waving a ring at me. It was a band of silver that shimmered with color when it caught the light, imbued with defensive spells that would protect me from elemental magic.
“Kitchen witches like the classics,” Bizbee said, his beady eyes darting around as if he expected Kristine to turn her focus on him if he stayed out too long. “She’ll go for fire, mark my words.”
I slipped the ring on, trying very, very hard not to think about fire. Nothing hurt like a burn, and I’d had enough of that recently. I put a hand on my chest, remembering the last time I’d had fire turned on me. I heard the echo of a goblin’s voice…
“Excieo!”
Kristine’s second spell shattered the memory. Cold dread burrowed through my stomach as I recognized the incantation. I called my own magic, knowing what I needed to do, and wishing very, very much that I could think of another way. Kristine’s magic coalesced next to her, shimmering into the form of an enormous blue six-legged reptile.
The creature was forty feet long, its snakelike body coiled in a space that was too small for it. Blue scales shimmered like hammered sapphires, and it opened its jaws to reveal a mouth full of teeth as long as my arm. A beithir. A water dragon said to rise out of the sea to swallow lightning. I’d never seen one this close before. Had never wanted to.
Kristine had summoned it with a purpose, and the great beast wasted no time pleasing its master. Its belly expanded, spider webs of white blue light shining between its scales. Wherever this beithir had come from, it had gotten a belly full before arriving here.
I put a hand on the pouch, making sure it was fastened and Peasblossom and Bizbee were safe from what I was about to do.
“Incumbo!”
The beithir’s head swung away from the shifters. Eyes that shimmered like deep sea pearls focused on mine, locked into a staring contest by the writhing bands of purple magic I’d cast at it. My compulsion spell lashed around the beast, assuring that it would look at me. And only me.
I ran.
It’s not easy to run without breaking eye contact with a giant monster about to unleash a billion volts of electricity at you, but with the proper motivation, I can try anything. I headed for the elevator, hoping to put it between me and the dragon at the last second and avoid the worst of the attack.
“What is that?” Stephen shouted.
I hadn’t noticed he was running beside me, and I answered without looking away from that milky white gaze. “Beithir.”
“A what?”
“Dragon!” I yelled.
I wasn’t fast enough. The beithir roared. Its tail snapped in a strange spiral of motion that flowed through its muscles, twisting its body all the way up as if squeezing the lightning from its core. At the end of the twist, it slammed its tail on the ground, and the lightning bolt shot from its open maw.
Strong hands closed around my waist, and then I was off my feet, sailing through the air. I landed hard on a warm, muscled chest a half-second before lightning struck the ground where I’d been. Charred bits of burnt linoleum flew into the air like crusty shrapnel, and I hid my face in Stephen’s chest until the worst of it had fallen to the floor, exploding in black dust.
I scrambled to stand, barely registering Stephen’s shocked expression. He lay on the ground, unaffected by the fact that he’d had a healthy witch land on him a few seconds ago.
“A dragon,” he echoed, his voice little more than a mumble.
“Now is not the time to give into shock,” I told him, unable to help staring at the blackened floor where I’d been standing. “Fight or flee.” I pressed my hand to the back of the elevator, listening for some sign as to what was happening. That had been a big summoning, even Kristine would need to catch her breath after that. And the dragon wouldn’t be able to breathe lightning again any time soon. Not unless Kristine had some way of knowing exactly where to find a beithir who’d feasted on an entire storm.
The shout of a familiar voice made me freeze. “No,” I whispered. I closed my eyes. “No, no, no!”
Stephen frowned at me, but I ignored him to peek around the edge of the elevator. Sure enough, it was Andy. Andy who did not have preternatural strength or speed. Andy the human who was about to get a look at his first dragon.
“He’s going to shoot it, isn’t he?” Stephen asked, leaning around the elevator to watch the FBI agent taking in the scene.
I watched Sam the security guard and Andy raise their weapons. “Yes.”
I hadn’t even finished speaking when the sound of gunfire filled the air. I winced and resisted the urge to clap my hands over my ears. There’d be healing to do after this. Eardrums weren’t made to withstand gunfire in an enclosed space.
Sam had apparently armed Liam as well. They stood with Liam and Andy, and all three of them opened fire on the dragon.
The beithir roared in rage, but before it could turn its attention to the three shooters, Scath let out a feline war cry and took a running jump to land on the dragon’s back. With a ferocious snarl, she clawed at its scales, ripping them off like a seamstress disgusted with inferior sequin work. Blake and Sonar joined her. In unspoken agreement, they concentrated on one area, then moved to another, giving the shooters an exposed body part to aim for. Edwin fell to all fours, shifting beside the small square of plants.
I tore my attention away from the dragon, frantically trying to find Kristine. The kitchen witch still stood near the dragon, but her eyes weren’t on the battle. They were on Liam.
“She’s not trying to get away,” I murmured.
“What?”
I glanced at Stephen. “Kristine. She’s not trying to escape. She’s just staring at Liam.” I stiffened as realization struck. “She’s waiting for him to shift. She’s not going to leave without revenge, she needs him to shift so she can trap him.”
“She can’t trap him if he doesn’t shift first?” Stephen asked.
“No. He’s alpha. He’s not only stronger than the others, he also has the might of his pack. That bond will make it harder for her to—” I smacked my forehead. “Blood and bone, I’m an idiot.”
“What now?”
“The parasite. It’s been affecting Liam, but it soaked through the bond too. It made everyone susceptible.” I shook my head. “Later, I’ll figure that out later.” I looked at Stephen. “Right now, we need to make sure Liam doesn’t sh—” I cut myself off as I looked around the corner of the elevator again. Ice slid down my spine and I called my magic before throwing myself out from behind my cover, sweeping my gaze over the room, every nerve on alert.
Kristine was gone.
Stephen followed me, his aura snapping and crackling like a living thing. He scented the air, then wrinkled his nose. “I can’t smell her. And that dragon smells awful.”
“She’s still here.”
“How can you be sure?”
The beithir roared and twisted its body, trying to dislodge Scath and Edwin from its back. Andy dropped to his knees and Sam handed him something from their pocket. More bullets, apparently, because Andy looked like he was reloading. When he stood, Sam dropped to their knees and did the same thing. Blake remained on all fours on the floor, his body swaying. Blood matted his fur from where the dragon had found its target, but he glared at the giant reptile, muscles tensing as he prepared to spring forward again. Sonar danced around the dragon’s legs, darting in and out, trying to rip the scales off its legs so she could get a solid attack that might maim the beast.
I found Liam standing in front of the beithir. He’d abandoned his gun, whether because he’d run out of ammunition or patience, I didn’t know. His eyes were gold, and I thought the tips of his fingers looked black, as if he’d let his claws part of the way out. Whenever the dragon raised a claw to swipe at one of its attackers, Liam drove his fist into the beast’s body directly under the raised limb. The motion served a dual purpose, costing the dragon a precious inch that let its prey escape the blow, and distracting it from trying again as it writhed to see the man who’d struck it. Liam moved too fast for the beast to follow, weaving from side to side to avoid an attack.
“He’s distracted,” I muttered. “She won’t waste this opportunity.”
“You said she can’t force him to change,” Stephen reminded me.
“She can if she waits for him to grow too weak to fight her. Or if she can injure him badly enough that he has to shift to survive, she can trap him then.” I didn’t think Stephen knew about the parasite, so I didn’t add that there was a very good chance that Liam’s testosterone levels would be high enough that pushing him over the bestial edge wouldn’t be as hard for Kristine as it should have been. She’d already tried once. I didn’t know for certain what the result would have been if Blake hadn’t taken that hit for his alpha.
“Then I’ll just have to make sure she doesn’t get the chance.”
I didn’t try to stop him. If Stephen wanted to finally get behind his alpha, then that was right. I had another job.
“Here goes,” I whispered.
It was too easy to open my third eye. Way too easy. The world shifted around me, and I barely felt any disorientation at all. Every nerve in my body screamed, knowing the spinner was likely waiting for me, thirsting for another chance. But I couldn’t look for her yet, I had to find Kristine…
There. Beside the planter, using a spell of invisibility to keep herself hidden. Kristine was such a small woman, she probably could have hidden even without the spell, but she was taking no chances. She watched the battle with the dragon like a gargoyle watching sinners sneak into a church after most of the loyal penitents had gone home. Waiting.
“Gyrus!”
Magic shot from my outstretched hand, landing at the base of Kristine’s hiding place. Her eyes widened and she parted her lips on a shout that never made it into a spell. My magic flowed upward, taking the form of a scaled, headless body, a beheaded snake with sleek olive-green scales.
The creature didn’t need sight to find its prey, thanks to the specialized scales that detected the electricity given off by living creatures. It seized the kitchen witch, wrapping around her body and pinning her arms tightly to her sides. It wouldn’t stop her from casting another spell, but it would keep her from escaping. Or worse, sneaking up on Liam.
