The security guard nodded, then I heard footsteps beneath the landing. I was so focused on the conversation I didn’t realize the possible ramifications until the door opened and I heard the now invisible guards speak.
“Who the hell are you?”
“Oh, uh, I was trying to find the bathroom.”
That was when I had to grit my teeth. It seemed our good luck had run out, because I instantly recognized that voice as Chiga’s distinctive, impossibly deep timber.
We were definitely made.
“Oh, great!” Millicent said, throwing his hands in the air like he was a Broadway actor. Maybe he was already drunk. It was a shame warlocks couldn’t succumb to alcohol poisoning. Or maybe they could if I tried really,reallyhard, like jamming a wine bottle into his throat and drowning him with it. It was always good to have options. “Another idiot! This is what happens when you take away all of my trained staff! We’re left with these incompetents!”
“We’re trying to protect you, sir.”
“I know that, but it doesn’t mean it sucks any less. Go on, you idiot! I’m sure you’ve got enough brain cells in that giant skull of yours to find the wine rack in the old larder beneath the kitchenand fetch me a bottle. I trust you’re at least literate enough to read the label?”
No way. Were we actually going to get away with it? I thought for sure the moment they saw the hulking giant that was Chiga they would instantly know something was up. But it seemed that taking all the shifters and his enthralled subjects from him had really hampered Millicent and his security detail. Maybe if he wasn’t so whiny, he wouldn’t be distracting the head of his team from a very suspicious situation.
Or maybe this security guard wanted something to happen to his boss. It certainly was an interesting theory, although one I couldn’t explore at the moment.
“I can read,” Chiga said almost uncertainly, and bless him for leaning into Millicent’s assumption of his intelligence. I shouldn’t have been surprised, considering he was a professional mercenary and likely had gotten into some awkward situations a few times in his career, but still, I appreciated it.
“Prove it. Wine now. Chop, chop.”
“Yes, sir.”
I heard Chiga take a step away, and maybe one more step, before a different door on the lower floor burst open and what had to be the very last brother strode in.
“I swear toBacchusthe water quality—” He froze almost instantly, not even finishing his sentence. “Who the fuck is that?”
“What do you mean? Oh, one of the useless buffoons we have keeping the grounds?”
I saw the new brother’s face cloud instantly, and in a flash, he lifted his hand, sending a blast of magic out the door. America and I jumped to our feet. “You’re such a fucking idiot, Millicent.”
It looked like the fight was on.
Gripping the banister, I launched myself over it, shifting into my wolf form in mid-air. It hurt to do it so rapidly, flesh tearing and joints breaking, then reforming, but I figured we could use the steam to help obscure our onslaught.
Because there was most certainly an onslaught. I heard Chiga shift behind me, the unmistakable, haunting bellow of a moose filling up the room like the howl of something entirely alien. I always tended to forget how creepy the giant animals sounded.
But Chiga wasn’t the only one barreling in. Pretty much every door except the one the brother had come through burst off its hinges to let different members of my team in. Within seconds, we were all in the room, attacking the last two members of the warlock bloodline.
I went for the one who had sussed us out. I had hoped to get the drop on him quite literally, however, I never quite touched ground. A moment or two before I was about to land, the potted plant next to Millicent rapidly grew in size. The next thing I knew, two giant leaves wrapped around me and flung me across the room.
Ah, that had to be Frederick, the plant user. If the tricks Ven had pulled at the manor were anything like the plant user in front of me, no wonder she’d thrown Alric for such a loop. There was something particularly uncanny about foliage coming to life and acting like a sentient creature. Like it was breaking all the rules of our world and how it was supposed to work.
I recovered quickly and found my footing, only to have two security guards run in with guns. If I had to guess, those weren’t as benign as the ones I had tangled with at Chadwicke’s manor. Meaning, they most definitely had silver bullets.
That certainly wouldn’t do. While not everyone in my group were wolf shifters, and therefore didn’t have the silver allergy we did, a majority were. I pivoted my attention from Frederick and focused on disarming the new pair, hoping that if anyone elsehad run in from other directions, my allies would choose to do the same.
I leaped at the first one, closing my jaws around his wrist. I bit as hard as I could, appreciating the crunch of bone as I jerked his arm back and forth. If he survived, he would never have use of that hand again.
Good.
He screamed. I let go of his bleeding limb and head-butted him in his chest for all I was worth. He toppled backward and didn’t get up. Old Leo might have taken the time to stop and chomp on his throat right then and there, but I’d learned that I didn’t always have the time to make sure every single enemy I faced had a completely satisfying end. What was important was that he was out of the fight, and I could focus on the brothers.
Oh, and also all of the plants in the room.
Never in my life did I think I would have to have a showdown with some foliage, but that was exactly what was going on. Vines burst from the floor and broke through the windows, trying to grab whoever they could, while the tree and other plants were tripling or even quadrupling in size, their leaves turning into limbs.
