Page 57 of Binding His Fated Mates

Dazed, I sprang back to my feet and staggered sideways.

The creature reared back with one impossibly long arm, preparing to strike me again.

Lee let out a snarling rasp and sprang at the creature, driving it to the ground. He darted forward, his jaws going right for the creature’s neck.

The creature reached up with both arms and legs, spiderlike, and rolled them over until Lee was under it.

“Lee!” Daniel shouted, his eyes widening.

He started incanting another spell, his gaze locked on the monster Lee was struggling with.

My twin attempted to throw the monster off him, but it barely moved at all. It had him pinned firmly in place—which meant these fuckers were strong.

And then I saw that there was something wrong with its torso.

It was moving.

Or, no. It was opening.

Revulsion tore through me. Because what in the Alien fuck was that?

A tentacle emerged from the monster’s torso, going right for Lee’s chest at sickening speed.

Daniel finished his spell and more of that vivid green light shot out of his palms.

It blasted into the creature, sending it sailing across the clearing. It hit one of the massive old-growth trees with a sickening crunch.

The monstrosity on the opposite side of the clearing took advantage of our momentary distraction to launch itself forward.

Again, it ignored me, going directly for the warlock. Its chest was already open, and three tentacles had snaked out from it. They had—grotesquely—suckers on the end of them. Like a squid.

I sprang between the creature and my mate. My only thought was no, not him.

A surge of power burst through me, and then a flash of pale light—bluish white to my wolf eyes—erupted, dazzlingly bright in the darkened clearing, momentarily blinding me.

The creature hit the barrier and then recoiled, that faceless head snapping back as it wheeled away immediately. It let out another squealing-metal sound. Acrid smoke rose from its body.

It scrambled on all fours to get away from the glowing shield I’d instinctively conjured.

Lee recovered, climbing to his feet.

Behind him, the creature Daniel had blasted shot back to its feet as well. Smoke rose in curls from its body.

Lee, Daniel, and I were all breathing hard, but we were all under the protection of my shield. Safe, for the moment.

Then it popped like a soap bubble.

Well, fuck.

Beside me, Lee collapsed into his human form. “Daniel, conjure light!”

Daniel obeyed instantly, incanting his spell to conjure an illuminated sphere in his hand, just as the monsters sprinted forward across the clearing.

The creatures immediately recoiled from the light. There was more of that strange metallic squealing noise—which might’ve been sounds of pain they were making, actually—and more smoke rose from their bodies.

“Oh!” Daniel said, his eyes widening with surprise. “They don’t like light! I can work with that!”

Then he spoke a few words in Latin and the light in his palms bloomed into the size of a beach ball, dazzlingly bright, and floated overhead, bathing the clearing in illumination.