Page 74 of Binding His Fated Mates

“It’s a misdirection spell,” Daniel said, barely even slowing down. “No one will notice us.”

An otherworldly wrongness was palpable before we even reached the front door—that crawling, cold pressure against my skin, signaling that something was deeply wrong.

The Mara were already here.

I was about to kick in the door when Daniel shot me an amused glance and shook his head minutely. “You don’t need to do that. You’ve got me.”

I stepped back to give him room.

Daniel cast another spell, twisting his forefinger and middle finger in the air, in a gesture that mimicked a key in a lock. The door opened with a click and swung inward.

I led the way inside.

If the Mara attacked anyone, it would be me this time. Not Lee and sure as shit not Daniel.

Never Daniel.

The house was small and single-story. We passed through a darkened living room, then into a narrow hallway that led to a bedroom at the back of the house. The wrongness was most intense from that direction.

I surged forward, raising my weapon.

When I burst into the bedroom, the Mara were already there. One of them was on top of Jensen, who was convulsing, as if gripped in a seizure. The other was standing guard at the foot of the bed.

The Mara closest to me bolted forward, its torso moving again to unleash those obscene tentacles. It reached out with its elongated arms, preparing to grab me and hold me steady.

I slashed at it with the blessed iron.

The creature moved quickly, but I’d caught it by surprise and it didn’t react fast enough. My blade cut a thin line into the skin of its torso that hissed and smoldered.

The Mara batted my weapon out of the way and then surged forward again, impossibly fast, crashing into me.

I hit the wall behind me hard enough to knock the breath out of my body.

Daniel and Lee piled into the room behind me.

Lee darted forward and slashed at the Mara, slicing off one of the creature’s tentacles before it could touch me.

Then Daniel raised his hand and flooded the room with dazzlingly bright white light. I barely managed to screw my eyes shut and turn away before it blinded me.

A metallic shriek erupted from all around us. The earsplitting sound of tearing metal. The room filled with acrid smoke—the smell of burning flesh.

Then glass shattered. The bedroom window, most likely. It was followed by the thud of something large and heavy hitting the ground outside.

One of them—the one that had been feeding on Jensen—was running.

Daniel dimmed his light spell enough that it was just south of painful to look at.

“Lee, go!” I shouted, blinking against the brightness. “I’ve got the other one!”

Lee nodded sharply and vaulted through the broken window without hesitation, hitting the ground running, the blessed iron blade clutched in his fist. The Mara that had fled through the bedroom window was a flickering gray shape streaking across the backyard, heading for the tree line.

The other creature used our momentary distraction to launch itself at me. The collision drove me backward, out the door, and into the hallway wall. Plaster cracked and dust rained down from the ceiling. The Mara was on me instantly, its spindly limbs wrapping around my body with impossible strength, its open torso pressing toward my chest. The tentacles snaked out, suckers seeking contact with my skin. Black smoke was pouring off its flesh, and I fought not to gag as I tried to fend off its attack.

It was strong, its grip on me like iron, pinning me in place.

Then I felt the tentacles make contact with my skin, striking without warning.

It was like having all the warmth ripped out of my body at high speed through a straw. My vision dimmed. My strength bled away from my muscles. And for one sickening instant of absolute clarity, I understood what Jensen had been experiencing before we’d interrupted the Mara. It had been draining him dry, just like it was doing to me now.