His head ringing, Briggs jumped to his feet, his gaze tearing across the trees looking for Cece. His bear roared with rage when the blast of red light sent her flying into a tree. Before he could go to her, another cold blast of blue washed over him, and he was sent somersaulting across the snow before crashing up against a tree.
He staggered to his feet as a voice said, “My niece’s magic is stronger than we thought.”
Briggs turned, letting his fangs drop and baring them at the dark-haired man in a navy cloak whose body glowed with bright blue light.
“Her protection spell is surprisingly effective, shifter. You should be dead,” the warlock said.
“You’re about to be, warlock,” Briggs growled.
The warlock laughed. “My name is Alistair, and I doubt that very much.”
Briggs glanced at Cece, panic flashing through him when the witch standing before her threw a ball of fire into Cece’s face. “Cecelia! No!”
Cece waved her hands, and green light snuffed out the flames surrounding her. She jumped to her feet, her face unburned and her body glowing bright green.
Another blast of blue light sent Briggs tumbling into the trees, and he snarled with rage as he stood.
“Still alive. Huh. Truly impressive magic for a half-breed,” Alistair said. “I mean that, sincerely. I had no idea she had it in her.”
“I’m going to kill you now,” Briggs snarled.
“Her protection spell might save you from magic, but there are so many other ways to kill you,” Alistair said.
He muttered an incantation, and behind him, a stream of water rose from the river and turned to a long, sharp icicle. Grinning, Alistair waved his hands, and the icicle flew with deadly accuracy toward Briggs, burying itself in his midsection.
Pain lanced through his abdomen, and his bear roared again, demanding to be free. Alistair’s grin faltered when Briggs yanked the icicle out of his stomach, ignoring the blood that flowed down his body, and bared his fangs again. “You’ll have to do better than that, warlock.”
Alistair curled his lip at him. “If you insist.”
As he spoke his incantation, more water rose from the river, turning into deadly spears of ice.
Briggs called for his bear, and the beast surged forward, his bones cracking and fur sprouting from his skin as he shifted. Roaring, he charged toward the warlock as the ice pelted his thick fur. One lodged in his ribs, sending bright pain through him, and he pawed it away, as more ice stabbed into him.
An icicle the size of a baseball bat speared him in the back leg, and his leg went out from under him, sending him tumbling into the snow. Alistair laughed, the blue light surrounding him intensifying as he raised his hands, and a sky full of spears of ice appeared above him.
“Goodbye, shifter,” Alistair said and thrust his hands at Briggs, sending the shards of ice whistling toward Briggs at deadly speed.
“Goddammit!” Alistair screamed when two large pine trees, their trunks creaking and groaning, bent sideways in front of Briggs, their thick branches stopping the barrage of ice from piercing Briggs’s body. Unable to take the strain, the trunks snapped in half with the sound of a gunshot, and the ground shook when the trees fell to the ground, sending a cloud of pine needles and snow into the air.
Briggs looked to his right. Cece had one hand pointed toward the blond witch, her mouth moving as she chanted an incantation, and her other hand pointed toward him. The splitting of her magic had weakened it, and his bear howled with rage when the witch threw another fireball that knocked Cece off her feet.
She popped back up immediately, pointing both hands at the blond witch, and Briggs could have fucking cheered when a thick branch from a pine tree smacked into the blond witch and hurtled her into a tree.
He turned to the warlock, growling deep in his chest as he stalked toward him. A hint of fear flashed across Alistair’s face before he said, “Enough. You’re boring me.”
He spoke another incantation, and a huge wave of water from the river washed over Briggs. It lifted him, twisting and turning him in dizzying circles until his head spun, and he had no fucking idea which way was up. He caught a glimpse of the river below him and sucked in a deep breath as he was thrown into it. Muffled silence enveloped him, and the cold water helped clear the dizziness. He swam for the surface with powerful strokes of his thick paws, snarling in surprise when his head slammed into hard ice. He scraped his claws across the ice as the current carried him down the river, panic seeping into his veins when he realized the warlock had frozen over the entire river.
He swam against the current until he could wedge his body into the nest of branches under the water, so the current couldn’t carry him away. He slammed his paws repeatedly against the ice as the seconds ticked by. Bubbles escaped his nose as the air leaked from his burning lungs.
He gave up trying to break the ice, conserving his breath and strength as much as he could. Another minute passed, and his lungs screaming, his bear whined in sorrow.
It’s okay, buddy, he soothed. It’s okay. I love you.
His bear retreated with another quiet whine, and Briggs shifted to his human form. The icy water flowed over his skin, blood from his stab wounds twirling and twisting in the water, as black roses bloomed in his vision and a harsh thudding sounded above him. He squinted at the polar bear standing on the ice, slamming his paws into the ice over and over.
Cece’s face rose in his mind as his body slipped from the branches. He grasped for the thickest branch with one hand, willing his frozen fingers to grip the slippery branch. His mate needed him. He couldn’t leave her.
A terrific crack above him sent huge chunks of ice floating past him in the water. He stared blankly at the familiar hand that plunged into the water and grabbed him by the forearm. He was yanked forward, his head smacking against the edge of the ice, and the branches scraping his legs as he was dragged out through a ragged hole in the ice.
