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SERENA
My push struck Karessa mid-flank, sending her spinning wildly across the chamber. Her arms and legs flailed out. Her sleek wolf body looked almost like the detached rotor of a helicopter as it sailed into the opposite wall.
Rather than crumple, she actually hit the ground running. One of her legs looked wrong, and her gait was off, but she was still sprinting forward with incredible speed.
Move!
I jumped to one side, just in time to avoid her next leap. I felt the rush of air as she whizzed by, landing on her bad leg and letting her body flop to the ground to stop her forward momentum.
“Enough!” I yelled, trying to regain my composure. “Karessa, this is stupid!”
I was talking to a wolf. An actual wolf. In the back of my head, a little voice laughed at the absurdity of the statement.
“We came for Broderick’s totem,” I said. “That’s all. Give it to him, and everything will be—”
Something hit me, hard from behind. It knocked the air from lungs. Slammed me face-first into the hard rock floor.
“UNNNFFF!”
Agony flared. It traveled up through my forearms, emanating from my wrists. If I hadn’t gotten my hands out in front of me at the last moment, half the teeth in my mouth would already b
e scattered across the floor.
Another wolf landed over my head; a big grey one, all muscle and sinew. I recognized it immediately as Christophe, the guy Damien had pounded back in the alley.
“That’s the second time you’ve blindsided me,” I grunted from the floor. “The second time you’ve hit from behind.”
I could see the wolf was hurt too, and pretty badly. It was leaning to one side. And not just from our collision.
I rose, first to my knees, then to my feet. I knew I’d have to dig deep to push again. But I was angry. And my telekinesis was always easier when I was angry…
The wolf that was Christophe snarled, and I shoved it as hard as I could. It flew backwards, end over end, its eyes registering pure unbridled shock as it was lifted into the air and sent hurtling into the hard rock wall. It crumpled behind the last row of bookcases, out of sight, out of mind.
“SERENA!”
Damien’s voice roared through the vault. In the end, it was his yell that saved my life.
I turned, saw, and ducked… just in time to avoid the twin rows of Karessa’s razor-sharp teeth. She sailed past me, grazing my chin. I felt another stab of pain there, and dropped to one knee to keep from falling over.
But Karessa had overcompensated. She hadn’t counted on not hitting me, and so she sailed into one of the three crumbling columns that fed archways to the ceiling. Dust sifted down from overhead, and new cracks formed. I watched as she shuddered to a halt against the ancient pillar, half covered with gravel and stone.
I was beyond dizzy now — I was drained. My vision was already blurry and I could taste blood high up in the back of nose. Even so, I sighed in relief. Because standing on either side of me, I could just make out the reassuring forms of Broderick and Damien.
Thank God.
Contentment flowed through me. I felt safe. I felt—
“Stay down Karessa,” Broderick called loudly. “It’s over.”
My sexy Scandinavian was human again. He stood to my right, magnificently naked, all chest and arms and powerful core. His expression was almost sad. Reluctant, even. But he was still fully and completely in command.
From the rubble on the other side of the chamber, Karessa rose despite the order. She too was naked. I felt taken back a little bit by her natural beauty, from her stunning green eyes to the long curls of thick red hair that flowed down over her breasts. But her mouth ruined it quickly, as she curled it into an ugly frown.
“You’ve destroyed everything,” she said sourly. “And for what? For her?”
She sneered in my direction. I wanted to snap back at her, but instead I just brushed myself off.
“She’s not one of us, you know,” said Karessa. “And she’ll never be. You won’t ever make her, Broderick, even if she asks. You don’t have the courage. You don’t have the balls.”
