I swung and roundhouse kicked her straight in the side, relieved that despite my limited magic training, my fight skills were decent. My hit slammed Jewels into the bedside table, and she landed with a clatter on the floor.
When she got to her feet, I was disappointed to see her shoulder already healing, indicating she still had plenty of power. I had to finish this off soon. My borrowed essences might feel unlimited, but that was far from the truth.
Her next spell, filled with green flames, cracked through my shield to slam against my chest. My heart stuttered for a few beats, and my wolf melted against my skin, her essence easing the irregular arrhythmia, which allowed me to suck in a few deep breaths.
“How?” Jewels screamed, the whites of her eyes almost completely red now. Her expulsion of power was literally bursting blood vessels. “That should have put you into a coma, followed by a slow, drawn-out death. But you’re still fucking here.”
And here I would stay. “You underestimated me because I wasn’t pure enough for you,” I said, letting my loathing for her seep out. “My hybrid nature is what gives me unique strengths that you can’t counter.” I was a perfect blend of two races, both of whom were built from the magic of the moon goddess. A goddess who sided with shiftersandwitches—a fact I’d temporarily forgotten in my hatred of their kind.
“You can’t kill me,” I declared, feeling that truth. “You cannot use magic in the same way against me because of my wolf, at least not until your curse comes to realization.”
Which was why she’d wanted this curse in the first place, to overcome any natural resistance shifters had to magic. Once she controlled their beasts, she’d control everything.
Yeah,not on my fucking watch.
Drawing on my magic and beast once more, I gave the predator side of my soul her full freedom. My wolf knew how to hunt and kill, and I could trust her to lead the way.
We stalked forward, my vision a mix of human and wolf, though I remained in my bipedal form. This felt as close as one could get to shifting without actually changing shape.
When I reached Jewels, she threw up a shield, but I chose not to use magic for my first attack. I hit her with my fist. She wasn’t shielded against a physical attack, and I cracked her cheek hard enough to break bone. Then I slammed into her ribs, followed by her shoulder.
I hit the bitch until she was a mass of cuts and blood, which forced her to put her energy into healing rather than fighting back. Anyspells she did shoot my way were weak and unfocused, my shielding having no issue against them.
End it, my beast said, and I slammed my fists into Jewels’ chest.
I’d been aiming for her heart, but she rolled at the last second and I grazed her ribs. She struck back at me and landed a half decent hit that knocked the breath from me.
Forcing air into my lungs, I moved fast enough to compete with Slade, and this time my hit was true. Right in the center of her chest. Magic exploded down into my fingers, and with the jaws of my beast following, her chest cracked.
I didn’t stop there, sending the full force of my strength into her, only easing up when I held her shredded heart in my hands, its beat slowing until eventually it stopped.
Leaving the witch dead at my feet.
CHAPTER 47
KELLAN
The streets turned into my own personal racetrack once more as I focused on weaving in and out of traffic. Finley remained silent and tense in the passenger seat, clutching the prototype weapon that neither of us had a clue how to use. But we’d figure it out.
Hang on, Shortcake. We’re coming for you, baby.
Finley dialed Hunter and Slade again, but both went straight to voicemail. “They have to be okay,” he said. “I refuse to accept any other option.”
“They’re tough,” I said through gritted teeth, which didn’t hide the shake in my tone. “Slade and Talon could have shifted mid-air and saved them. Their phones were destroyed, but they weren’t.”
Our quintet was too goddess-blessed to be torn apart forever. What Emme did might have felt like she’d ripped through a house made of wet paper, but we could fix it.
Provided we all survived.
No way would the goddess let this be the end of us.
Drifting around a corner, I almost side-swiped a fucking moron who pulled out without checking the road. He flipped me off, but I was already gone, forgetting his existence.
Finley clutched the weapon with one hand and the edge of his seat with the other, looking slightly green. “I never question why you win all the track days,” he murmured. “Unlike family game days, where I know you cheat like the asshole you are.”
I snorted, surprised to feel even an iota of amusement on a day like today. “I never lose when it’s important.”
I took another corner too fast and slightly overcorrected, but it was nothing to get us back on track. When Warrick and Cora’s house came into view, I screeched to a halt out the front, and we were out of the car in a second.
