“This is what my family and I have been trying to show humanity for centuries. Shifters are not to be trusted. They are mistakes, evolutionary dead ends, beasts that have no place in a civilized society. All of my so-called crimes have been in the pursuit of the end of their stain on this planet.” Viola leaned forward with a pleading look on her face. “Anyone would do what I’ve done. What are the lives of a few shifters and humans in comparison to the billions of humans that suffer from the very presence of thesethings? The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few. A wise man once said that, and I believe it is true.
“So, back to my original statement. I am calling off the hunt for Maddy Sutton. She is not to be taken, kidnapped, or otherwise brought in.” Viola leaned closer to the camera, the screen filling with her face. Disgust, rage, and madness were evident on every line of her face. “Maddy Sutton is to be brought to me dead.” Viola became unhinged as she finished. “I want her blood to soak into the dirt. I want to see her eviscerated body dropped at my feet. I will double the current reward for anyone who brings me her fucking head.”
She held up a hand, lifting a single finger. “To show her, her filthy mate, and all others who think they can defy me that I am serious. I present you with the following video.”
Her face vanished, replaced by a shot of a familiar location. My pack lands. My own house, in the distance.
“Nico?” Maddy asked, her voice trembling with fear and worry.
“What the fuck, man. What is she gonna do?” Luis asked as he stepped closer to the TV.
I had no words. I couldn’t answer their questions. All I could do was stare at the screen. The video seemed to be taken from some kind of drone. Viola’s voice spoke over the video.
“Everything these creatures know and love will be destroyed.”
“No way,” Sinthy said. “The wards are too strong even with me gone. She’s bluffing.”
Almost as though Viola could hear what Sinthy said, a strange flash and crackle of static appeared on the screen. The flash was so bright that it washed out the video in a blaze of light.
Sinthy gasped and hit her knees. That finally pulled my eyes away from the screen. The witch was on the ground, clutching at her chest. She looked both shocked, confused, and terrified. It sent an icy finger tracing along my spine. I spun back around to check the TV. Part of me was prepared to see a massive smoking crater in the ground with a mushroom cloud ascending into the sky above the charred and dead bodies of my family and friends and what used to be my home. Thankfully, everything still seemed whole.
“Get Maxwell,” Sinthy barked. “Now.”
Not waiting for a second command, Luis and Felipe sprinted out the door toward the stairs.
“Sinthy, what the fuck is happening?” I asked. I’d intended my voice to sound commanding. Instead, it came out in a whine. Panic and fear mixed into my throat as I spoke.
Sinthy was still holding a hand to her chest. “I’m not sure. Whatever she did attacked my wards directly. I’m no longer powering them, but they’re still connected to me. It was like I’d been kicked in the chest. I have no clue what could possibly do that. No weapon of man could hurt those wards. Especially with it pulling energy from your pack lands.” She shook her head helplessly. “I don’t know, Nico.”
On the screen, another strange blast hit the pack lands. Sinthy gasped again and put her hands on the floor, steadying herself even more than she already was. I didn’t think it was possible, but she looked even more scared.
A moment later, Felipe and Luis came in, dragging Maxwell between them. The boy looked terrified, and he should have. All sympathy I had for him had vanished. All I could think about was the attack going on back home. Right then, I was more than ready to stoop to Viola’s level to protect my home and loved ones. I’d skin the kid alive if it meant saving everyone.
I stepped forward and grabbed him by the shirt collar, yanking him close, his body flopping around like a doll.
“What the fuck is your mother doing?” I screamed into his face as I pointed at the TV.
A perplexed expression replaced the confusion on his face. “What? What are you talking about?”
Sinthy stood and pulled him from my grasp. She pressed her face against his, her nose almost touching his.
“Viola. She’s attacking my wards, and it’s fucking working. What in God’s name is she doing? Was this your plan? Have you cast a spell on me that I didn’t notice? What is it? Tell me right goddamned now, or I swear to God, I’ll turn your body inside out. Literally.”
Maxwell turned from Sinthy and looked at the television, wincing. Hedidknow something. It spurred on my fury.
“Talk. Right now, or I’ll let her do exactly what she wants to do to you.”
“Wait, wait,” Maxwell said. “I didn’t know she was going to do anything. All I know is that she was using me to try and create magical weapons. Things that could be used against other witches and warlocks. I think she knew you guys had a witch protecting your pack lands. I swear, I didn’t know she was anywhere near close to having a working prototype. You have to believe me.”
“What the hell is it?” Sinthy asked, shaking him violently again.
He shook his head like he was trying to clear it. “Uh, it’s a cruise missile. She got several on the black market, removed the standard explosive payload, and she and her scientists used me to try and create magical warheads. Things that could break through wards, spells, force fields—basically any kind of magical protection.”
Sinthy groaned again and clutched her hand to her stomach. She looked at me, and I saw the terror in her eyes.
“She hit it again. Nico… it’s bad. These weapons are strong. If it wasn’t for how strong your lands are and the initial spells I wove, the wards would have already come down. They could fall at any moment.”
On the screen, the drone footage swept across the pack lands. My pack ran around the lands, moving in panic and terror. I could only imagine what those flashing explosions must feel like there. The footage panned over to the gates, showing a new horror. Nearly a thousand human anti-shifter activists were pressing forward, getting closer to the gates than they had in weeks—almost like they knew the spells were about to fall. Evenfrom the height of the drone, I could see rifles and pistols being waved in the air.
