“Alistair, you have to stop,” Werner said, his voice full of sorrow.
“You’re either with us or against us, Dad,” Alistair said. “Help us kill her. Take your revenge for Andrew’s death.”
“I can’t do that,” Werner said.
Pain flooded Alistair’s face before it hardened, and he gave his father a cold-eyed stare. “Then you leave me no choice.”
A blast of blue light hit Werner in the chest, and he flew backward, smashing into the large rock by the river. He bounced to his feet, his hands glowing red as a fireball formed between them. “Don’t do this, son.”
Alistair laughed, the sound full of bitter insanity. “Walk away, Dad. Let Mom and me finish this.”
His voice soft and full of pain, Werner said, “You know I can’t let you kill her.”
Without another word, he threw the fireball at Alistair. Alistair dodged it and, his lips moving fast, raised a sheet of ice from the river and threw it at his father. Werner blasted it with flame, and the ice melted with a sizzling hiss, sending water raining into the snow between them.
Alistair snarled at him before sending a beam of blue light directly at Werner. Werner met it with a beam of red light, and as the two warlocks battled, Briggs staggered to his feet.
“Cece,” he said. “Dad, I need to get to my mate.”
“You can’t help her, Briggs,” Alex said.
He gripped his father’s arm, panic flooding through him when he saw Cece sitting on the ground, her lips moving and the green glow that surrounded her growing fainter by the second as the blond witch stood over her, the fiery red light from her hands growing closer and closer to breaking the barrier spell around his mate.
“I don’t have time to explain, but I can help. But only if I can get close enough to Cece to touch her,” he said. “Please trust me, Dad.”
His dad studied him before nodding. “All right. I’ll distract the witch and give you time to get to your mate.”
“You can’t,” Briggs said. “She’s using dark magic, and if she hits you with a spell, it’ll kill you.”
His father grinned at him. “I guess your clever human mate didn’t tell you that she did a protection spell on both your mother and me.”
Briggs stared at him in surprise. “What?”
His father clapped him on the back. “Let’s save your mate, my boy.”
He shifted to his polar bear form and ran toward Cece and her grandmother. Briggs tested his weight on his leg, and while it was still bleeding and sore as fuck, his healing had kicked in enough that it held his weight.
He stared at Cece, his heart swelling at how fucking brave his mate was, and called for his bear.
CHAPTER 42
Dazed from the sudden attack, Cece didn’t react when the witch threw the fireball in her face. The fire engulfing Cece’s face was ice cold, thanks to her protection spell, but it didn’t stop her brain’s immediate panic that they were on fucking fire. With her magic a hot pulse in her veins, she waved her hands and said, “Dark magic, go away. Return to where you came today. My mind, body, soul are free, as I will, so mote it be.”
The flames died out, and she stared at her grandmother. Adora’s blue eyes were bright with madness, and she glared at Cece when she said, “Hello, grandmother.”
“Don’t call me that, dirt witch!” Adora snapped. “My son is dead because of you.”
“My father is dead because of you,” Cece said. “You murdered him.”
“Lies,” Adora hissed.
Cece glanced at Briggs, her magic pulsing bright when she saw him staring down the blond warlock. A blast of Adora’s magic hit her, and while she managed to stay on her feet, she could feel her protection spell weakening around her.
“Don’t worry about the shifter,” Adora said. “He’ll be dead soon.”
She suddenly ducked, narrowly avoiding being hit by the pine tree branch, before scowling at Cece. “Your magic may be stronger than I thought, but you’re no match for me. You and the shifter will die today.”
“Don’t be so fucking sure about that,” Cece spat, sweeping her hands in the air.
