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Chad cries out and drops the blade. It hits the grassy ground, red hot and blazing as if it was just pulled out of a forge. He roars with fury, looking around, and Elara’s gaze follows his.
Their eyes land on the source at the same time.
On a tree branch, perched to the left, is Kira, a ball of fire controlled within her palm.
22
Kade
Kade watches, astounded and relieved, as Kira jumps down and lands silently on the grass.
"Release Laith. Now," she snarls, the ball of fire still raging in her hand.
Kade has no idea how she's been able to hide this kind of power from Elara or himself, but there's no hint of overconfidence in Kira’s tone of voice as she speaks. She's a powerful witch.
Ebony steps forward, her posture just as furious. “No.”
Kira smirks, and Kade figures his calculations have been right. Kira has a lot of power. “Wrong answer.”
With a barely visible flick, Dinah throws her daggers at Chad, the blades glowing with demon power. Kade doesn't question where she got them. He doesn't want to know. All that matters right now is that she's on their side and protecting Elara. The daggers spin through the air, glowing brighter and brighter, impaling in Chad’s hands. He screams and releases Laith, who falls to all fours at his feet.
Chad roars with rage, yanking the demon knives out, one by one. He holds them in his bleeding palms, preparing to slam them in Laith’s exposed back.
Kade never has a chance to react. It’s Elara who shifts into a magnificent gray wolf. She powers forward, uncaring that her ability to shift outside of the full moon isn’t supposed to be possible.
Uncaring of the risk she’s taking as she runs at a demented madman without hesitation.
The shifters are temporarily shocked, Chad staring at the impossibility as Elara barrels straight for him. The shifters didn’t know the extent of Arthurians powers. But they do now. Shit.
With an otherworldly howl, the shifters move as one as they leap forward. Denzel shifts and releases a howl, ordering the Shadowgrace wolves to attack. Animals and humans clash, snarls and cries and slashes and thuds filling the clearing.
Kade’s already running as he shifts. It’s four paws that push into the soft soil and launch his body up like a spring. He clears a wolf battling a cougar. He sidesteps a lion roaring with rage. He stomps on a monstrous snake as it tries to bite a Shadowgrace member.
He only has one goal.
Elara.
She circles Chad as he looks on with more unease than he probably wants to feel. Elara’s the unknown they didn’t plan for.
She’s the threat they underestimated.
"Stay out of this," Elara warns, speaking to Kade in his mind. It comes to her so naturally that it almost knocks Kade off guard. He didn’t know that’s possible, especially considering they don’t belong to the same pack. Their connection is already deeper than he suspected.
He refocuses, knowing has no intention of doing what she asks. "I'm here to fight beside you." Always.
Elara lunges at Chad, aiming for his throat. He steps nimbly to the side, grabs her head and shoves her down and away. Elara doesn’t fight the momentum, instead snapping her jaws around his leg. A piercing screech tears from Chad. He glances around frantically, and Kade realizes what he’s looking for.
The demon knives.
They lie in the grass only a foot away, still glowing with power. Kade growls as he injects another dose of adrenaline through his veins, ready to make the final leap. Chad will never get his hands on those knives.
A blood curdling scream pierces the air. It rises and then rises again, drawn out and agonized. Kade and Elara glance back, registering Ebony’s succumbed to Kira’s fire.
The witch writhes and screeches as flames devour her hair, her clothes, her skin. She collapses, the cries dying as she inevitably is.
“No!” Chad roars.
Kade turns back in time to see Chad reach down and grab hold of Elara’s neck. His rage is evident, and his moves desperate. He puts all his strength and more into wrenching Elara’s clamped jaws from his leg, uncaring of the damage. With a violent yank, a powerful heave, he lifts her wolf body and throws her into a nearby tree trunk.
