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I knew it better than I knew myself, it seemed, and I knew I really was going to be sick.
Because there was no doubt in my mind that those snares belonged to none other than the Shrouded Shriek.
That was also right about when I sensed a presence behind me.
“Your name is stupid,” I said loudly. There was no pretense of being sneaky now. We were well and truly caught, and it turned out Kai was most definitely right. The literal Boogeyman, the man who'd haunted the nightmares of my mothers, was definitely behind me.
Delving within mind, I mentally steadied myself and my magic, trying to prepare for what no one really could.
In truth, I knew good ol’ SS had gotten his name from the unearthly sound he made when casting many of his most destructive magic spells. It was an inhuman miasma of noise and pain—one that his victims never forgot. If he allowed them to live, that is.
Just like I knew it would, that accursed shriek sounded behind me.
I whirled around as fast as I could, throwing out all the magic I'd managed to gather into the best imitation of a wall that I could. Healing magic didn’t really lend itself to protection that much, as they were both from similar schools but completely different subsets, and while this was probably the best shield spell I'd ever cast, it didn’t stand a chance.
The hex cut through like my magic was tissue paper, and it soon slammed me right in the center of my chest. I was lifted off my feet and flung backward, slammed into a tree hard enough to knock the stars out of me.
Except that physical pain hardly registered over the horror going on within me. Suddenly, it felt like all the magic had beenripped out of me, only to be replaced by something inky and slick, something that didn’t belong to me at all.
When I tried to extricate myself, it clung to my soul like glue, completely disabling me. I hadn’t been cut off from my skills since I was a child. I’d drained myself too much a few times, but I’d never been completely severed from my innate abilities. It was like someone had ripped all the oxygen away from me or sucked the water out of all of my cells. I just wasn’tme.
“What did you do?” I gasped, feeling like I wanted to crawl out of my skin.
But then something worse happened.
Something so,somuch worse.
My magic may have been twisted within me, warped and turned into a boiling mass, but I could still sense the many waves and signals going on around me. That meant I was completely and totally aware of the moment my curse on Kai not only broke, but completely vanished like it’d never existed in the first place.
“No!” I cried, eyes going wide as I tried to rapidly recast it. I knew it wouldn’t work, not when I was removed from my power, but I had to try. I couldn’t… he couldn’t… we'd…
I never quite got the thought out because suddenly the Shrouded Shriek was beside me, his gnarled, gray hands, and long, hideous nails reaching for my throat.
So, lurching to my feet again, I did the only thing I could do.
Iran.
Chapter 10
Kai
How was it that we were six experienced soldiers, with all of us serving more than two years, yet somehow we’d managed to all get split up in just ten or so minutes?
I found myself raging internally as I fought, ripping my enemies to shreds with my teeth and my claws, but I let it fuel me instead, adding a viciousness to my fighting that couldn’t be sated. But as I battled with shifter and non-shifter alike, one thought kept running through my mind.
Where was Everton?
Where was Ayla?!
This repeated ad nauseum within me, further arousing my fury. I knew I needed to find her. I couldn’t handle the thought of the healer being split off from us, alone in the middle of danger. She did so much for the people around her. How had we proven to be so incompetent so fast? Something wasn’t clicking.
Kai!
I stopped dead in my tracks, swearing I heard my name. This wasn’t exactly the best course of action to take in the middle of a fight, and in consequence, something huge and furry slammed into my side.
The two of us went rolling across the ground, but the slam of our bodies barely registered in my mind. Instead, I was once more overwhelmed with the presence of my fated mate.
She was here!
