AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Hands off my mate!” It sounded more like a roar than language, but I’d recognize that voice anywhere.
I scrambled to my feet just in time to see Augustine sweep Mateo aside with a strong burst of magic. Mateo landed on all fours; this time it truly was a roar that he let out, the sound rattling the chandelier hanging from the ceiling. He was in full manticore form, and his lion body was the biggest I’d ever imagined, all raw power and lean muscle. His wings were folded on his back, but his scorpion tail swung menacingly from side to side.
He lunged at the wizard again but was stopped by a forcefield. The sphere of energy glowed around the wizard.
Augustine laughed. “Why, if it isn’t the dragon’s little pet. You think this is your mate? Do you really think you deserve a real woman? Ha!” He formed a ball of electricity in his hands and hurled it at Mateo like a lightning bolt.
Mateo dodged just in time, and it hit the wall behind him, leaving a sizzling hole. The wizard launched several more balls at him, and I screamed. He wasn’t going to get away in time.
But the lightning hit an invisible screen that had manifested right in front of Mateo. The electricity broke up and traveled across the screen in jagged webs. Seth stood at the door, his hand held out toward the lifesaving barrier.
Augustine turned to him, sneering. “If it isn’t Seth, the demon-loving witch who dares to call himself a wizard.”
I inched toward Seth, working out the easiest way to get to him. All I had to do to grant him access to the Magus Scepter’s power was touch him, but the asshole Augustine was between us.
“Tell me, when the dragon gives you an order, do you bend over to receive it?”
When Seth didn’t react to his schoolyard taunts, Augustine snapped his fingers, and his two ifrits appeared at his side.
“Unlike you, Seth, I know how to harness the power of demons without lowering myself to practicing witchcraft and sex magic. Your father must be so disappointed in you.”
As the two ifrits rounded on Seth, I made a break for him, dashing across the room. I was too slow, though, and the wizard caught me.
“Where do you think you’re going, missy?”
I got a strange feeling, like I was having the scepter’s power inside me siphoned out. But I knew how to prevent him from using it now. I squeezed my eyes shut and focused on forming a mental wall, cutting him off from the source of power like I had practiced with Milly.
But his magic was much stronger than Milly’s, and it was like holding back a starving polar bear. Crap. If I couldn’t stop him from accessing the amulet’s power and get my ass over to Seth right now, all this would be for nothing.
Augustine’s hands went around my throat, and he squeezed.
No! I couldn’t fight him if I passed out.
Even as I thought that, the world around me began to dim.
Chapter 30
Mateo
It was the sickening image of the wizard’s hands around Eva’s neck that gave me the extra burst of energy I needed to break the magical bonds holding me down. It was like I instantly had all the power in the world and was invincible. I charged at him, blind with rage.
I swiped at his fragile human form, my claws digging into his weak flesh, and easily flung him against the wall. He landed in a heap, not having had time to protect himself with a spell. I advanced on him, beyond words now, the monster side of me reducing me to growls, grunts, and snarling.
He tried to form another shield around himself, but I moved quickly, my tail stabbing forward with inhuman speed. The tip stabbed into his thigh, paralyzing him with my venom. But a physically paralyzed wizard was not a magically paralyzed one. His magical shield reappeared, and he was once again impervious to my attacks.
Then he uttered a spell, and I braced myself for his attack. But it never came.
Eva shrieked as she was lifted off her feet and carried toward the wizard. I knew I couldn’t let him touch her. Not just because she was mine, but because if he accessed the amulet’s power, we were all doomed.
Seth had just finished taking care of the two ifrits, but he was injured. He was slumped against the doorjamb, a pained look on his face. There were burns all over him, and one side of his face was starting to blister. When he saw what was going on he raised his hand, stopping Eva just feet away from the paralyzed wizard. But Seth had expended a lot of his magic and could not free her entirely from Augustine’s hold.
I approached my friend and picked him up, careful of his burns. Then, I marched toward Eva.
“No!” Augustine hissed.
He reached his other hand out, and my feet were suddenly glued to the floor.
“You might as well give up now,” Eva said to Augustine. “How long can you keep this up? You’re going to run out of energy eventually.”
