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“I know,” Carletta said. She knew what I was saying. “I couldn’t do anything then, but I can do it now.”
Before I could respond, magic grew around us, so powerful, I felt like I was being dunked under water. Carletta’s skin glowed, and the next moment, the delicate, almost fragile frame gave way to the large body of a big polar bear.
She roared loudly, and the power that came with that roar trembled so that the trees shivered right down to their roots.
She attacked the other bears close by, barreling through them with momentum like a juggernaut. She didn’t stop to ask questions, to allow mercy. She didn’t maim, she destroyed.
With her on their team, it was like the pack got a second wind, and they fought the bears so that one by one, they picked them off.
I stared at Carletta, a force to be reckoned with, second in power only to Jameson. She was a sight to behold, and a lump rose in my throat as she gave everything she had to save all those who still lived because she hadn’t been able to save her sister.
When she barreled toward Jameson and Tate—the latter of which was now a fox—Tate turned on her. As small as the fox body was, he bared his teeth and attacked Carletta, biting clean through her skin.
She let out a raspy growl and fell to the ground.
“No!” I shouted.
Jameson’s bear let out a cry and rushed to Carletta, but Tate didn’t let up. He shifted into a dragon. He hadn’t done that until now. His scales were a jade green with black on his wings and tail, and he let out a blast of fire.
Jameson ducked underneath the flames and went for the throat.
He managed to sink his teeth into the scales, but the forest around us caught alight with the fire. The flames ate their way through the trees in record time.
Jameson still clung to Tate’s neck, teeth sunken deep into his scales, and he refused to let go. He shook his head, trying to get to the jugular—or whatever it was when the body was in dragon form.
Tate didn’t seem bothered by the alpha bear hanging onto its neck. It blew more fire, creating a ring of flames that surrounded them.
“I was being nice, leaving you a sister,” Tate said, his voice strange coming from a dragon mouth. “I won’t be so nice again.” He dragged Jameson toward Carletta’s body. “I’ll kill her, too, and you’ll know what it’s like to lose everything.”
Jameson’s fury brought more power, and he yanked his head back, ripping a part of the dragon’s neck out.
Tate let out a human scream from the dragon mouth, and the large, scaled body fell to the ground. It writhed for a second before Tate shifted into human form. He lay on the ground, his neck pissing blood, coughing and sputtering.
His eyes rolled back in his head, and his body convulsed in the last throes of death.
Jameson moved to his sister’s side. Slowly, her body shrunk and changed until she was just a human, her naked body stained with blood. She coughed.
“Stay with me,” Jameson said. “We’re going to be just fine, you and me.” Tears rolled over his cheeks. “Don’t you give up on me, okay? We’ll find something to help.”
The pack members who’d survived came closer, most of them in human form, some still in their animal forms. They were all bruised and bloodied, but they’d won.We’dwon.
“Carletta!” Felix cried out and ran to her. He fell to his knees and half pulled her onto his lap, cradling her head. “You’re not leaving me, do you hear? I’m not letting you get away again. Damn it, I love you!”
“I’m not going anywhere,” Carletta reassured in a hoarse voice.
Felix studied her neck.
“It’s getting better,” he said, relief filling his voice. “You’re healing. Your magic is doing what it should.”
“I told you, you should shift,” Jameson said.
“I told you to get laid,” Carletta said.
Jameson raised his head, and he looked at me. When our eyes locked, I felt him through our bond, and warmth and affection poured from him into me.
Movement behind Jameson caught my eye.
My dad rose behind him, blood all over his chest, his neck, half his face. His eyes were crazed, and he held up the amulet. Power pulsed from it, and there was only one thing I heard when the power reached me.
