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I bared my teeth in a feral smile. “Yes, let’s. She doesn’t knowwealready know what she’s done.”
Shea nodded. “Connor and I will find Brittany if she’s still inside the house and buy the two of you time. Finn, guard Ava while she tries to wake up anyone Brittany may have spelled to sleep. We’re going to need every single body we can get if there are multiple Spellbinders waiting to attack.”
“Sounds like a plan,” Finn agreed, releasing Ava with an oddly wistful expression.
“Dropping the Radiant Seal now. Let’s go!”
Shea and I had to leap into action so that our little Beacon couldn’t run past us straight into danger. Not that she didn’t try anyway. Proving yet again that she was mostdefinitelygoing to keep the three of us on our toes.
Provided, of course, that we all survived the coming storm…
* * *
Ava
Rage seethed along every inch of my body as I stalked down the hall in the wake of Shea and Connor’s long-legged strides. My initial gratitude that magically bugging Victoria Blythe’s phone had finally paid off had been blasted away by the knowledge that Alexander was on the way to capture my best friend and nieces. And that they’d planted yet another traitor among us to delay our arrival to protect Rory and Sorsha.
I’d already written Alexander off as the sadistic killer of my sister and brother-in-law who just happened to share blood with us rather than thinking of him as my long-lost uncle. The bastard could rot in hell as far as I was concerned. A place I would quickly send him once we managed to catch back up with him.
Radiant energy suddenly flared and I yelled, “Duck!” as I instinctively did the same. All three men immediately dropped to the floor. Good thing, because a seething line of fire whooshed above our heads before fading when it failed to hit a body.
So much for getting the drop on Brittany.
I glanced around the two bodies ahead of me, trying to see where the attack had initiated. The angle was wrong for it to have come from the staircase ahead and to the right, which meant it must have originated from either the dining room to the left or from the living room on the same side farther down the hall. I sniffed the air, trying to use my Shifter senses to figure out which room Brittany must be launching her attack from. But my sense of smell was far too weak as a human, and there were far too many food smells in the air.
Shea glanced over his shoulder and met my gaze. “We’ll buy you time to deal with Brittany. We must be swift.”
I nodded in grim determination and watched as he and Connor shifted to wolf form so quickly it made my vision momentarily swim. Finn touched my shoulder from behind. “You got this, Ava.” And then he shed his human shape even more quickly.
Shea and Connor were not hampered by the same physical limitations as I had been. They sniffed the air and growled before running down the hall toward the living room. I waited a moment, summoning the same Radiant lariats I’d used the night before, and then hurried after them. Finn brought up the rear, keeping a watchful eye out for any sneak attacks from behind. Allowing me to focus my full attention ahead.
The sound of snarls and crashes echoed from the living room, causing me to put on another burst of speed. I reached the wide arched doorway separating hall from living room just as glass shattered when a window exploded, thanks to a burst of magic flung from outside the house. The sight of Connor’s wolf form pinning a woman to the floor and snarling angrily revealed that he’d found Brittany. Claw marks lined her arms and face, and she let out pained whimpers that didnotin any way inspire sympathy. She’d taken vows of loyalty to our Pack and then betrayed those oaths. She deserved that pain and more.
At first I couldn’t find Shea, but then he howled from across the room where sliding glass doors offered an alternate exit. Or, in this case, entrance. Something demonstrated when magic blasted against it and glass once again splintered every which way. Including piercing Shea’s midnight black fur and inspiring sharp yips of pain.
I scowled but before I could react further, several figures darted inside the now open doorway. Radiant energy shot from their hands and writhed straight toward Shea’s body. He scrambled out of the way barely in time to avoid whatever spell they’d flung. Anger flared again; this time on Shea's behalf. That helped me channel greater power as I sent my Radiant lariats flinging toward our new opponents. Two managed to dodge out of the way while the third took a hit directly to the face, causing him to drop screaming to his knees. Shea took advantage of his vulnerability to mortally wound the man. The other two Spellbinders spared scarcely a glance at their fallen comrade before surveying the scene.
The moment their eyes met mine, they smiled grimly and summoned magic again.
Connor and Finn snarled when they realized their intention. I glanced to the side and realized Brittany must not have taken kindly to being pinned to the floor, because Connor had ripped her throat out. Leaving him free to join his brother as they leapt into the air between danger and me. They took the first two blasts of power flying through the air. Fortunately, they weren't fatal spells, and their Shifter bodies absorbed the magic far better than my human form would have. Unfortunately, three more Spellbinders darted through the open doorway. My two canine protectors joined their brother to intercept the latest arrivals, leaving me to deal with the two survivors from the first group. Something I was only too willing to handle.
However, I feared that these first two waves of enemies were only the beginning. And our own reinforcements were currently passed out around the room thanks to Brittany's spell. Good thing I knew how to counter it.
Not that my enemies were going to just sit quietly while I did that. I summoned several new lariats and swept them toward my two opponents. Dividing my magic came even easier to me now with my Beacon bond. I used half my focus to continue lashing lariats at my opponents, forcing them to expend energy to shield themselves rather than take direct hits like their dead companion. The other half I used to send magic flowing into the bodies of our sleeping allies.
I didn't need to maintain that spell now that I had cast it, which was a damn good thing since it wouldn't wake them instantaneously. And I needed my full attention on the two Spellbinders trying to incapacitate me.
Their next spells were easily avoided, or so I thought. It took one critical moment to realize those had been lighthearted feints meant to force me backward. Something that allowed them to push forward, since the fight among the other three Spellbinders and my three Shadow Wolves had migrated farther into the room, leaving just enough space for yet another group of Spellbinders to enter.
The sudden sinking sensation that there were undoubtedly far more reinforcements waiting to replenish their numbers than my spell was currently waking of our own had me momentarily pause. We were going to miss our window of opportunity to save the girls if I couldn't come up with a faster way to defeat our enemies. Not that the current fight was giving me much room for brainstorming on the fly. Before despair could fully set in, the sounds of our guardians and two remaining Spellbinders waking hit my ears. That might turn the tide of battle just enough to give me breathing room to think.
And then I realized I could take a play from our enemies’ book.
Time to spread the sleepy-time love. Most casters needed to cast this type of spell slowly and subtly. But those who were extremely powerful—and had access to a Beacon’s tethers to draw energy through—could do it much more quickly.
I gathered as much energy as I could through my tethers to the Pack as a whole, channeling Radiant power into a sleep spell that would target only those who didn’t share ties with our Pack. If any of these enemieswerePack traitors, we could dispatch them one-on-one. I steadied myself and then struck hard and fast.
All around us, opponents suddenly fell to the ground, fast asleep. Some may have gotten injured as they landed, but I didn’t really give a rat’s ass. They’d brought this on themselves.
