Page 38 of Autumn L.A.W

Then Cal was there again. Fully, completely Cal, but broken and fighting to stay conscious.

The black cloud boiled upward, shapeless and furious, hovering above the wreckage as it oriented itself.

Lioness sobbed once, sharp and ugly, then pressed her forehead to Cal’s. “You’re back,” she whispered. “You’re back.”

His hand twitched, fingers curling weakly around her sleeve.

Behind her, Rayna’s voice cut through the chaos. “Okay. New plan. Everybody get very calm. Very fast.”

The entity drifted closer, sensing power, sensing prey.

Sahara’s voice was steady. But loud. “We lead it!”

“Into the…?” Crystal asked.

“Yes,” Sahara snapped. “That was always the point of it coming.”

Lioness didn’t look away from Cal. She closed her eyes and began to chant.

Magic surged through her, bright and burning and furious with passion. She mimicked lifting the foundation. The pressure pinning Cal eased just enough for her to grab hold of him. She had to yank him out of there with everything she had.

“This will hurt,” she murmured against his temple.

He managed a broken laugh. “Figures.”

Leaning over him, with her arms under his armpits, she pulled.

Stone groaned. The mansion tipped, just enough… Pain ripped through him, brutal and unforgiving, but then he was sliding free, dragged clear of the house and into her arms.

She collapsed with him onto the grass, shaking, breath tearing in and out of her lungs. She wrapped herself around him without thinking, anchoring him to the world.

“I’ve got you,” she whispered. “I’ve got you.”

As soon as she’d assessed his safety, she said, “I thought you’d had it. I was waiting for your legs to curl under the foundation of Dorothy’s Kansas farmhouse.”

“I was facing the wrong way,” he said, panting.

Suddenly Chad appeared on the mansion’s doorstep. “Come and get me,” he yelled toward the dark entity.

Lioness glanced over at the sisters of her heart. The witches moved as one, retreating toward the mansion, power flaring bright and deliberate. The black cloud followed them up the steps, hungry and confident, and it crossed the threshold.

Lioness hoped it didn’t pay attention to the round oriental rug that the witches would stand behind in a half circle.

The moment it crossed over the fringed edge, the pentagram beneath the rug ignited, lines blazing. The trap snapped shut with a sound Lioness felt more than heard.

The mansion shuddered, then went still. It awaited instructions.

Lioness stayed where she was, one hand pressed flat to Cal’s chest, feeling his heart pound beneath her palm.

She looked up at the house. At the glow from the trap. At the end of something ancient and cruel.

“What happens now?” Cal asked, hoarsely.

She smiled, tired, fierce and utterly unafraid. “Now we finish it. On our turf.”

And for the first time that day, Cal believed the monster had made a very poor choice.

CHAPTER 10