“I don’t care what he has.” Wyatt’s expression went sharp. “We have two dragons. We have wolves and lions and bears. We have witches who’ve been preparing for a fight.” His hand cupped her cheek. “We have you.”
“Me?”
“Your candles. Your truth magic.” His gaze held hers, fierce and certain. “You’re the weapon that can strip his disguise. And once he’s exposed, Aero and Delos will burn him out of existence.”
She wanted to believe him. God, she wanted to believe him so badly, it ached.
“What if it doesn’t work? What if my candles can’t?—”
“Then we find another way.” He kissed her forehead. Hard. A promise. “But we don’t wait for him to make the next move. We take the fight to him.”
TWENTY-EIGHT
NARLA
They made it back to the cabin.
Wyatt dressed in silence, his movements sharp and economical. The predator energy hadn’t faded—if anything, seeing her threatened had amplified it. He radiated danger in a way that should have frightened her.
Instead, she found it obscenely attractive.
Not the time,she reminded herself. But her body didn’t seem to care about timing.
He caught her watching as he pulled on his shirt. One eyebrow rose.
“Later.” His voice dropped, rough with promise. “When this is over, I’m going to take you apart piece by piece. But right now?—”
“Right now we have calls to make.”
“Yeah.” He closed the distance between them. Cupped her face in his hands. Kissed her slow and deep, a counterpoint to the violence they’d just survived. “We do.”
The calls went out in rapid succession.
Theo answered on the first ring. “I heard. Beck’s wolves found constructs near the eastern boundary thirty minutes ago.”
“How many?”
“At least a dozen. They pulled back before we could engage.”
Wyatt’s expression went hard. “He’s testing our perimeter.”
“That’s my read too.” A pause. “War council?”
“Tonight. Wolf Moon Brewery. Everyone.”
The next call was to Aero. The dragon elder listened without interruption as Wyatt described the attack.
“Constructs require significant energy to create and maintain.” Aero’s voice was thoughtful. “If he’s deploying them openly, he’s confident he has enough power to sustain a prolonged assault.”
“Or he’s desperate.”
“Perhaps. Either way, this confirms our timeline has accelerated. Delos and I will finalize our preparations today.”
“Can you do it? The dragon fire thing?”
A pause. When Aero spoke again, there was something cold and ancient in his voice. “We were created to destroy Devourers. It’s in our blood. Yes, Sheriff. We can do it.”
Junie was next. She answered with the sound of bubbling potions in the background.
