Glimmer launched herself from Junie’s shoulders, striking at the remaining jackal’s face with iridescent fangs. The snake wasn’t venomous—not exactly—but her bite delivered a psychic shock that made grown shifters whimper. The jackal shrieked, clawing at his eyes as Glimmer wrapped around his throat.
“Good girl,” Junie breathed.
“Impressive.” Victor’s voice cut through the smoke, far too close. “Your grandmother would be proud.”
Junie spun. Victor was right there—two feet away, having navigated the chaos with preternatural ease. His golden eyes gleamed in the dim light, and his smile was the smile of a cat who’d cornered a particularly interesting mouse.
“Don’t talk about my grandmother.” Junie’s hand closed around a vial of binding potion. Her ace in the hole. Modified for maximum effect over the past two weeks. “You don’t get to mention her.”
“Sentimental.” Victor tilted his head, studying her. “Leo always did have a type.”
He moved faster than she could track.
One moment, he was standing there, smiling that empty smile. The next, his hand was around her throat, lifting her off the ground with casual strength. The binding potion slipped from her fingers, rolling across the floor.
“I could kill you.” Victor’s tone was conversational. “Right here. Right now. But that would be wasteful.” He tightened his grip enough to make breathing difficult. “You’re leverage, Ms.Reed. The witch who tamed the lion. Do you have any idea how much Leo will sacrifice to get you back?”
Junie clawed at his hand, feet kicking uselessly. Black spots danced at the edges of her vision.
“He’ll come for you,” Victor continued. “He’ll make mistakes. And when he does, I’ll take everything he’s built and burn it to the ground. The same way his father did.”
Leo. The thought cut through the panic. I need Leo.
As if summoned by the thought, a roar split the evening air.
The sound was enormous—a lion’s rage compressed into a single thunderous note that shook the windows and rattled the potions on their shelves. Junie felt it in her bones, in her blood, in the ley line humming beneath her feet.
Victor’s smile finally faltered.
The front door didn’t open—it exploded off its hinges.
Leo came through in full shift. Massive. Golden. His mane was dark as old blood, his eyes blazing with fury, his fangs bared in a snarl that promised violence. He was easily twice the size of the jackals, an apex predator in his element, and he looked at Victor the way a god might look at an insect.
Victor dropped Junie.
She hit the floor gasping, lungs burning as they filled with air. Through watering eyes, she watched Leo tear into the remaining jackals with brutal efficiency. One swipe of his massive paw sent a shifter crashing through the display shelves. A snap of his jaws put down another that had recovered from Glimmer’s attack.
He came. He felt I needed him and he came.
Victor backed toward the broken window, his composure finally cracking. “This doesn’t change anything, Castellan. You can’t protect everyone. You can’t?—”
Leo’s roar cut him off. The sound was primal, savage, a declaration of war in the language of predators.
Victor shifted.
THIRTY-FIVE
JUNIE
The jackal was smaller than the lion, but what he lacked in size he made up for in speed and viciousness.
Victor darted in low, snapping at Leo’s exposed flank. Leo pivoted, but not fast enough—jackal teeth scored a line across his ribs, drawing blood that matted the golden fur. Victor danced back before Leo could counter, circling with the patient cruelty of a born predator.
They clashed again—Leo’s massive paw swiping at Victor’s head, Victor dodging with fluid grace and countering with a bite to Leo’s foreleg. The shop around them was reduced to kindling, shelves toppling, potions shattering, the careful order of Junie’s life demolished in moments.
Get up, Junie told herself. He's fighting for you. Move.
The binding potion. Where had it rolled?
