“Really?” Jacque, Crina, and Zara asked at the same time.
Jen rolled her eyes. “I do have some boundaries.”
“You realize Decebel is old enough to be your great, great grandfather, right?”
Jen’s eyes went as wide as saucers. “Never, ever, ever say that again, Jacque. Alpha or not, I will cut you.”
There was a flash of light, and the group resumed watching the battle. Thad slid backward, his body leaning forward even as he attempted to hold himself still, digging his feet into the ground. Despite his efforts, he continued to move backward, the ground giving way and his feet creating parallel trenches in the turf. When he finally came to a stop, he looked as shocked as Jen felt.
“I’m going to assume that wasn’t supposed to be possible, right?” She looked from Jezebel to Cyn.
“Definitely not,” Cyn said.
“Thad hasn’t been right since Myanin.” Jezebel’s voice was tight. Her hands fisted at her sides, and she looked ready to jump in between her mate and the crazy high fae.
Alston raised his hands, but instead of pointing them at Thad, he looked in the direction of where Jen and the other females stood. Before any of them realized what was happening, flames shot from his palms. “No!” Jacque yelled, throwing up her own hands. The flames that should have incinerated them hit an invisible barrier and reverberated back toward their creator.
“Okay, that’s new,” Jen muttered, looking at her best friend.
“Remember, she’s not just a werewolf,” Zara said. “Maybe that’s the sprite magic manifesting in her.”
Jen looked back to Thad to see why djinn boy wasn’t moving. He glared at Alston and appeared to be concentrating hard, but whatever he was trying to do, it wasn’t happening. Alston’s focus remained on their group.
“You are no match for me, little alpha.” The fae stepped toward them.
“Pretty sure she’s proving you wrong.” Jezebel rested a hand on Jacque’s shoulder. White light emerged from the woman’s palm. Apparently, some magic still remained within the dark-witch-turned-white.
Jen pulled two blades from her pants pockets, one in each hand. She spun them and slipped farther into the trees before circling around Alston. Jen saw Crina and Zara look at her, and then Crina whispered to Zara. Wadim’s mate nodded, and they both phased. They stepped up on either side of Jacque, snarling and pawing at the ground.They’re attempting to distract him. A wicked grin spread across Jen’s lips. She continued to move, taking slow, deliberate steps, trying to keep from stepping on anything that might alert him to her presence.
Decebel would totally kill her if he knew what she was planning to do, but she had no idea how long Jacque could hold off the powerful fae, especially since Cyn was siphoning power from Jacque, and Thad seemed to be out of commission. Note to self, do not bring a defective djinn on missions of any kind.
Alston’s fire stopped, only to be replaced with balls of red light. They flew at Jacque with a speed that would have been too fast for the human eye to follow. Even Jen’s wolf’s eyesight had trouble tracking the magic. Jen picked up her pace, placing one foot over the other as she walked sideways, keeping her body flush with Alston’s at all times.
When she was finally directly behind him, Jen moved forward. She had no plan, only one driving thought—kill Alston. His thirst for power would never be satiated. He would always want more. And there was nothing too evil that he wouldn’t do to get it. There was no way she was going to let this man live in the same world as her children or her pack.
Jen’s eyes bounced from Alston to Jacque and then to Cyn, who had taken her hand off the alpha. Perhaps she was worried that if she continued to siphon power from Jacque, Alston would break through the alpha’s defenses. Jen took another step closer and gripped the handles of her knives tightly. Her heart pounded in her chest. As she neared her target, she salivated at the idea of sinking her blades into the back of his neck. It would be better to attack from the front so that she could see the life fade from his eyes, but at this point, beggars couldn’t be choosers.
Suddenly, her eyes snapped back to Jacque when she saw her friend collapse to one knee. Jacque still held her hands out in front of her, but the strain on the alpha’s face made it clear she was wearing out. Alston threw back his head and laughed like the crazy ass psycho he was.
“Like I said, baby alpha,” he sneered, “you are no match for me.”
Crina and Zara both lunged for the high fae, but he shot out his hand, and the she-wolves were tossed aside as if they were nothing more than flies. Jen took off at a run, closing the final few paces between her and the fae. She pushed off with her legs, calling on the powerful muscles of her wolf. Alston must have heard Jen or somehow sensed her presence. He whipped around at the last second and threw a bolt of power straight at her head. She ducked and launched herself into a forward roll. It was a risky move because it meant she had to briefly take her eyes off her opponent. But it was better than taking a bolt of fae magic to the face.
“CYN!” Jacque’s voice bellowed through the surrounding clearing. But Jen couldn’t see what caused the alpha to scream.
Jacque watchedJen tuck her body into a roll. And that was all the opening Alston needed. The fae whipped an arm around and connected with Jen’s stomach. A moment later, Cyn flashed next to Jen, grabbed her, and flashed them away from the high fae. But at the moment, Jacque couldn’t worry about the damage that might have been done to her best friend.
Alston spun around in a circle, his power slamming into Thad again. The magic knocked the djinn back down from where he’d been attempting to stand. Jacque had to make a split-second decision. Unfortunately, whatever power she’d been able to use from her sprite magic was gone. “You still with me, witch?” she asked Jezebel.
“Yep.”
“Can you conjure up some sort of pyrotechnics?”
“I’m a light witch, not a freaking light show at a concert.”
Jacque kept her eyes on Alston. For some reason, he seemed to be dialed in on Thadrick. Perhaps Alston perceived Thadrick to be the biggest threat. She glanced over to where Crina and Zara had landed. The she-wolves were staggering back up to their paws, attempting to clear their heads.
“I need some chaos so I can get close to him and make an attack as my wolf,” Jacque explained. “Can you give me anything? Like seizure-inducing flashes or something?”
