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Magic sawed through the cords fastening the chandelier to the ceiling, and it immediately came crashing down. Only the woman closest to me had time to leap out of the way. The other five Spellbinders screamed as the gold-and-crystal monstrosity smashed them to the floor. Moments later, they fell ominously silent.
The sixth Spellbinder let out a choked cry of her own when she realized her companions were dead. Rage flashed in her eyes, and she summoned what looked like every bit of Radiant energy she could channel. Rather than sending it toward me in a physical attack, however, she simply held onto it as she began running at me. Obviously intending some crazy suicidal spell that would kill us both.
My eyes widened and I retreated a few steps toward the secret passageway, not wanting to back into the Spellbinders still blasting at Kayleigh’s barrier.
The Radiant blade I’d cast to bring down the chandelier had expended a lot of my remaining energy. The odds of me being able to survive a suicidal supernova were just about zero…In mortal form, at least.
I allowed myself one quick, deep breath to prepare my mind for tapping into Shadow magic. While Radiant energy contained both Shadow and Solar magic, channeling each of the three magic types felt like using completely different muscles. And Shadow magic had always been more Kayleigh’s forte than mine…
But I didn’t havetimefor self-doubt.
Glittery black Shadow magic surged into my bones as I reached out and yanked with all my remaining strength. I forced all orderly human ways of thinking as far beneath my psyche as possible, allowing the feral nature of my inner wolf to claim center stage. Blinding energy flared, sweeping across my body and swiftly rearranging human flesh and bone. No sooner did I change into a charcoal gray wolf who howled out a warning than the sixth Spellbinder crashed into me. She let out a howl of her own and released a magical maelstrom.
Quicksilver energy consumed her body before turning its mindless hunger in my direction. As a human, I would never have withstood its fury unshielded. As a Shadow Wolf, it was another story entirely. In this form, I could not actively manipulate magic myself; rather Iwasa creature of pure magic.
But withstanding that metaphysical onslaught came with a price. Excruciating pain washed across every particle of my being. My howl meant to intimidate became a series of bloodcurdling yips. Uncontrollable convulsions wracked my wolf form as it absorbed an amount of magic no physical being was meant to endure. Instinct from a life spent working with Radiant energy told me this wouldn’t be enough. Iwasn’ta pure Shadow Wolf. Icouldn’tsimply absorb that huge amount of magic and brush it aside; not withoutdoing somethingwith the energy incinerating me from within.
And so I did the only other thing I could think of: shifted back to human form to actively channel the inferno.
My canine yips morphed into feminine screams as agony increased tenfold. I forced myself to ignore the pain and begin shaping the energy into a defensive spell to protect my sister and her husband, only to cry out for another reason when my gaze flashed over to check on them. The remaining two Spellbinders I’d been forced to ignore managed to shatter the last layers of Kayleigh’s shield. Her body convulsed from the backlash that hit her full-force, and Maddox immediately shifted into Shadow Wolf form to step between his wife and the Spellbinders threatening them from their front.
Which meant he completely missed the traitors who struck from behind.
Belinda and Logan exchanged grim looks and nodded to each other before aiming the guns they held at my sister and brother-in-law. And I knew damned well those weren’tleadbullets in their weapons. Just like I knew Spellbound silver bullets fired from point-blank range would certainly be fatal.
“Maddox, behind you!” I screamed, reshaping my half-formed shield into blunt hammers of magic that pulverized the last two Spellbinders standing. He responded in an instant, whirling toward the unexpected threats posed by his two most trusted guardians, but it was too late. Belinda and Logan fired, the acrid scent of magically-augmented gunpowder filled the air, and both silver bullets hit their marks. Maddox’s wolf form dropped to the ground as blood began flowing from the wound blasted into black fur, white muscle, and vulnerable heart. He died almost instantly, something I could feel through the powerful bond that connected him to Kayleigh and then through my oath of allegiance to her.
“Maddox!” Connor screamed from where he must have shifted back to human form a few feet away, followed quickly by Finn grunting out, “Oh, fuck!” The two ran toward their fallen cousin and my sister, but it almost seemed like the impossibly fast shifters were moving in slow motion. Shea, on the other hand, only had eyes for me. He immediately darted toward my side, sensing what was coming before my muddled brain could process the inevitable.
For the moment it took Shea to reach me, I held out hope for my sister. The bodyguard’s bulletdidstrike directly above Kayleigh’s heart as intended, but no Beacon left themselves completely unshielded, even in the face of magical depletion. My sister had just enough time to shoot me a fierce look of mingled heartbreak and desperation, calling out, “Too late to the ball, Big Sis, but remember what happens when the clock strikes twelve…”
“Kayleigh, no!” I screamed, trying to throw myself forward but stopped by the immovable force of Shea shielding my body with his. Just an instant before Kayleigh’s strength ran out, her personal shield evaporated, and the bullet pierced her chest. Dark crimson bubbled from the hole in her formerly pristine gown and her body fell to the floor less than a foot away from the dead wolf who’d tried to place himself between her and danger. Only to be reminded that the most insidious forms of danger could come from those you trusted.
The reality of why Shea had shielded my body with his own hit me when the last threads of magic binding the St. Louis Shadow Wolves to their Packleader and Beacon disintegrated, which was when magical hellreallybroke loose.
* * *
Ava
Chaos started with the two traitors who had inexplicably murdered those they had sworn to protect. Belinda and Logan dropped to all fours and let out ear-piercing howls. As with any Shadow shifter below Packleader strength, they lost control over their inner wolves now that the tether to their Beacon had snapped. They turned their snarling muzzles and sharp fangs toward the two nearest targets: Finn and Connor. The brothers shifted into wolf form to meet their opponents on more equal footing.
That was all I had time to consciously recognize before the magical backlash of Kayleigh’s death swept through the shattered spell connecting me to her as Understudy. Convulsions racked my body as I screamed in renewed anguish and rising grief over seeing my sister murdered right in front of me. Shea wrapped me tighter in his sheltering embrace, murmuring words of comfort that barely registered through the haze of pain and rage. It was a mark of just how strong all three Donnelly cousins were that the untethering barely affected them. That and the fact they each had strong enough goals to focus them for the moment. For Finn and Connor: killing the traitors who had murdered Maddox and Kayleigh. For Shea: helping me keep my sanity after the sudden untethering. Because preventing complete annihilation from sweeping through Donnelly Manor depended on me getting my shit togetherrealfreaking fast.
To echo this fact, screams broke out from the rest of the Manor as untethered Shadow Wolves began losing control of their human selves and attacking other guests—or each other. Something we could clearly hear with nobody left to maintain the sound-dampening spell.
Shea recognized the moment when I pushed past the backlash and grief enough to work out just how screwed we were. His hands were unbearably tender upon my arms as he pulled me closer, leaning down to murmur in my ear, “You know what we have to do.”
For me, there was no question. I’d magically vowed to serve should Kayleigh fall.
Dampness running down my cheeks momentarily distracted me. I furiously wiped away the tears, surprised to discover I’d been crying. Then my gaze settled upon the broken body of my sister lying mere feet away and surprise faded. Someone—some nameless group that included Spellbinders and traitorous Shadow Wolves—hadmurderedmy baby sister. They’d also planned to put my back against the wall and force me to bond with the Shadow Wolf oftheirchoosing, knowing I couldn’t stand idly by and watch my sister’s city burn. Unfortunately for them, they’d failed to keep the three Donnelly cousins away from my side. As much as I resented being forced to bind myself toanyoneagainst my wishes, far better it be these three that I trusted than some traitor waiting in the wings.
Especially now that my focus must shift to protecting my two vulnerable nieces.
Which was the moment I realized I’d be bonding all of them, especially since Maddox had named all three as potential successors. Not completely unheard of among both Shadow and Solar Shifter packs. I could sense we were going to needallof our combined strength to weather the coming storm.
Connor and Finn, who had just shifted back to human form, stalked toward us. Covered in the blood and fur of their dispatched enemies—the traitors who had murdered our loved ones. My inner wolf heartily approved.
I nodded toward his brothers. “We’re all in this together, Shea.”
