Layla circled it with Murtagh flanking the opposite side, both looking for an opening. Behind us, Tseki's shift rippled through the air. The magic from it made my skin prickle. His body elongated and expanded, scales erupting across his skin in a cascade of emerald green. The transformation was fluid, graceful, nothing like the bone-cracking brutality of the wolves. Within seconds, a serpentine Chinese dragon coiled across the ground between the Thessmark and the retreating forms of Nina and Mom.
He was now thirty feet of scaled muscle and ancient power, too large to take flight in the dense tree line but perfectly positioned as a living wall. His whiskers streamed as he lowered his massive head. His eyes fixed on the creature with predatory focus.
"It's still trying to reach them," Tarja projected, her mental voice tight with rage. "It isn’t afraid of Aidon. All it cares about is the children."
My witch fire erupted in both hands, and teal flames licked up my arms. "We will just have to disabuse it of that fixation."
The creature did something I didn't expect. It split apart into dozens of smaller pieces, escaping Aidon’s shadows. It scattered in every direction before reforming beyond the outer wards' reach.
"No!" Aidon's roar of frustration echoed across the yard as his shadows grasped at empty air.
The creature was whole again but diminished. Smaller. Weaker. But those awful eyes tried to see around Tseki with single-minded hunger. It turned as if to circle, to find another way in, but Layla was on it before it took two steps. Eighthundred pounds of pissed-off shifter slammed into the creature with bone-crushing force. She drove it further from the wards. Her jaws closed around what passed for its shoulder. I heard the sickening crunch of whatever served as its bones breaking. Murtagh hit it from the other side. Their dark fur was rapidly streaked with the creature's strange blood as their fangs tore into gray flesh.
The creature shrieked and twisted with unnatural fluidity. Its talons raked across Layla's flank and sliced furrows open through her black fur. She didn’t relent. The creature staggered under the combined assault but didn't fall. Whatever these things were made of, they were built to take punishment.
Aidon's shadows wrapped around the creature's legs this time and yanked it off balance. It hit the ground hard enough to crack the earth. The impact vibrated through my boots.
The creature thrashed, those black talons digging into dirt as it tried to drag itself toward the house. Toward my children. Jesus, that was disturbing.
"Persistent bastard," Nana snapped as she looked for a vulnerable place to shoot it.
I stepped forward, teal fire blazing hot enough to make the air shimmer. "You won't get them."
The creature's pit eyes met mine, and I felt the weight of its attention. It was hungry, patient, and calculating.
It dissolved again and scattered into the tree line like smoke on the wind. Both wolves gave chase, disappearing into the underbrush. Tseki's serpentine form launched into the air, flying above the trees. His emerald scales flashed between branches. I already knew they wouldn't catch it. Whatever these things were, they could escape in ways we hadn't anticipated.
Aidon stood twenty feet out with his chest heaving and his shadows still writhing around him in barely contained rage.When he looked back at me, his expression nearly broke me. I went to him and wrapped my arms around him. “We survived.”
He sucked in a breath and refused to meet my gaze. “But the Thessmark just showed us exactly how outmatched we are. And they got close enough to confirm what they'd come for. They know the triplets' power is worth the effort.”
CHAPTER 6
Melaina's scream woke me at 2 AM. I was wide awake in an instant because it wasn't her normal hungry cry. The sound carried terror—raw and primal—and within seconds, her siblings joined in a chorus that brought Tarja rocketing onto the bed.
"What—" I started, but she was already moving.
"Get to the nursery. Now." Her mental voice cracked like a whip.
Aidon was out of bed before I managed to get out of it. The babies' cries intensified with each step down the hallway. It might not be their hungry cry, but my breasts didn’t know better. My milk let down, even as my magic flared hot beneath my skin. By the time I burst through the nursery door, all three were screaming.
Thaniel's sparks weren't the usual playful flickers. They arced wildly from his tiny fists, scorching the crib rails and making the air taste like copper and ozone. Melaina's temperature had spiked so high that her sheets were beginning to smoke. And Nyssa's shadows had formed a defensive wall around her crib. They were writhing and snapping like angry serpents.
"Holy shit." Mom appeared in the doorway with Binx at her heels. Her hair was in wild disarray. "What happened?"
"I don't know—" I was already at Melaina's crib, reaching for her through waves of heat that made my skin sting. The moment my hands touched her overheated skin, she latched onto me with desperate strength. Her tiny fingers dug into my shirt.
Aidon scooped up Thaniel, absorbing the electrical discharge with barely a wince while Mom went straight for Nyssa. She had to push through the shadow barrier, which parted reluctantly for her before snapping closed again.
Nina stumbled in, rubbing sleep from her eyes. "Why won’t they stop?"
Mom ran a hand over Nyssa’s back to soothe our purple-eyed baby. "She's terrified."
Tarja leaped onto the changing table, her green eyes blazing. "Someone touched them. Not physically—magically. It was a probe. It pushed through the inner wards and scanned them directly."
My head snapped around, and my gaze narrowed on my familiar. "When?"
"Minutes ago. Maybe less." Binx's mental voice carried an edge of fury I'd never heard from him before. "I can feel it, too. It mapped their power signatures."
