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Kate ran a hand through her hair. She looked frustrated but she also looked like she was considering what we’d said.
If there was another way into the palace, a way that might allow us even the tiniest bit of surprise, the risk might be worth it.
“Maybe,” Kate said. “I’d need to talk to the others.”
A flicker of hope replaced the heavy sense of dread that had been sitting in my gut since Xander left. Maybe we could get him out of there.
The floor shook and I had to brace myself against a wall. “What the hell was that?”
The floor shook again and dust fell from the ceiling. All good feelings were gone.
“Please someone tell me we’re on a fault line,” Kate said.
The building shook, this time, the decorations on the walls shifted, falling to the ground. I could hear the crash of bottles and glass and metal instruments in the kitchen. Chairs tumbled to the ground. People screamed. The lights went out.
I was still bracing against the wall, my heart racing. This wasn’t an earthquake. We were under attack.
In the dim light, I made out the figures of the other mages and Shelly as they came down the stairs.
Elias walked into the room, sparks already sizzling on his hands. The hellhound twins walked in behind him, their figures illuminated by David’s lightning.
The hair on my arms stood and I could feel the electricity in the air.
“Someone saw through our wards,” David said.
I turned to him and saw the same electricity dancing across his bare lower arms and down to his fingers.
Both my demons were ready for a fight. I grabbed my knife. I was ready for a fight too. “The question is, do we go to them or do we wait for them to break through?”
“Wait,” Shelly said. “Always let them come to you. By the time they break through, they’ll have used much of their magic already.”
“That’s not going to help us if there’s a hundred shifters out there,” Sam said.
“Then what are we waiting for?” I asked. “We might as well get this over with.”
Shelly pressed her lips together and for a moment, I thought she was going to object. Instead, she lifted her arms. “The ward is going down. Be ready.”
“Fuck me,” one of the mages behind me said. “We didn’t sign up for this shit.”
“I sure hope you can do better than last time you were attacked,” David said. “Didn’t my boys have to dig you out of your house?”
“My boys?” I looked over at David in surprise. You hear about how life-threatening experiences can bond people but hearing David say anything even remotely friendly about his brother and Xander was unexpected.
David laughed. “Unless you’re going to ditch them and let me have you to myself, I guess I have to get used to them.”
I lifted my eyebrows. “You know that won’t happen.”
“Enough with the love fest,” Sam called. “Are we fighting these assholes or what?”
The house shook again and a pink glow blazed so bright it made me wince. A moment later, the light was gone. An explosion sounded and dust and debris filled the air.
I coughed, choking on drywall remains as I blinked into the gaping hole that had once been the front wall of Shelly’s house. When she said she was going to take down the ward, she wasn’t messing around.
My ears were ringing and the shouts around me were muted. The explosion was still reverberating in my head.
As the dust settled, I was able to make out our attackers. Six mages stood in the middle of the parking lot, their arms still raised from their last spell cast. They all looked surprised at the change of events.
Behind them, there was another assembled group. I recognized every face. None of them were shifters. We weren’t facing the queen’s brainwashed zombies, we were being hunted.
