Holding the scepter, Max moved quietly to the top of the stairs and looked down.
It looked like the scepter wasn't strictly necessary to keep control of Javic, because he was still fighting. Gio was getting bashed around by stoneskins. Max tried waving the scepter, but that did nothing. Maybe it needed whatever chant the woman had been doing. Max glanced over at the Black Robe, who was still completely out from Nacio's blow. She wasn't going to be very helpful anytime soon.
Max drew her gun reluctantly. She really hated to shoot Javic, but she was starting to think there was no choice. People were getting hurt down there—members of her family. Her mate. And Javic was by far the biggest threat.
Then Sofia's voice rang out below her. "Stop!"
Max looked around. Her sister stood in the courtyard below, fearlessly facing Javic. Sofia held a gun, but it was lowered.
"I know you," Sofia said to Javic. "And I think you know me."
Max came down the stairs, trying to be quiet, although Gio was still fighting with the stoneskins and some of the other jaguars were skirmishing with cultists, so she could probably have been playing in a marching band without being noticed. She kept her gun up.If Javic makes one move to hurt her—
But he didn't. Actually, he had stopped, staring at Sofia.
At that moment, Gio dispatched the last of the stoneskins with a blow of his massive paw and leaped. He knocked Javic down. The magician sprawled on the cobblestones. His fiery wings flared but did no damage to Gio's stone body.
"Don't hurt him!" Sofia said sharply. "Give me a minute."
Gio moved back, but kept his paw planted in Javic's back. Sofia went down to her knees in front of them.
"Look at me," she said quietly. "What have they done to you?"
Max watched in confusion as Javic looked up at Sofia and the fire died from his eyes. Then abruptly the wings blinked out and he collapsed.
"What's going on?" Max asked.
Sofia looked up. Her eyes glowed. "He's my mate, Max—my mate. I felt it from above. I just didn't understand what I was feeling until I looked him in the face."
Around the courtyard, there was still fighting going on, but the cultists were getting the worst of it. Max reached for Gio and tapped on his shoulder to get his attention. Gio shifted back and took a step away from Javic as Sofia cautiously and uncertainly turned him over.
Groaning, Javic stirred in her lap. Max prepared to raise her gun again, but when Javic opened his eyes, they were perfectly normal.
"You," he said hoarsely, looking up at Sofia. "Who are you?"
"Someone who has been waiting for you her whole life," Sofia said quietly.
Max stepped back. They were lost in each other, a moment that all shifters dreamed of. She smiled a little; it had been very different with Gio, but she still remembered the rapt, overwhelmed feeling when she had first seen him.
Now she took his hand and pulled him with her into a stone-flagged passageway.
"Aren't we going to help your clan?" Gio asked.
"They've got it pretty well in hand." Max tapped the flagstones with her foot. "Do you think you can stonewalk from here?"
"I assume so," Gio said. "Where are we going?"
"Remember the Source that Javic told us about, where their power comes from? What if we attack it while they're busy here?"
Gio smiled. "I like the way you think. But I don't know if we can. From what Javic described, this Source might not be easy to destroy."
"Depends on what you've got in your arsenal." Max tugged on the strap of the leather satchel. "This, my mate, is a demolition device. It's packed with high explosives and a detonator."
Gio lost his smile. "Which you just carried through a firefight. Which you werethrowing aroundwhen I had you on myback."
"It's not just going to blow up!" Max protested indignantly. "That's what the detonator is for."
Gio shook his head, and a rueful smile reappeared. "I can be the voice of reason, perhaps, but I can't argue with your logic. You're right, we should go while they're busy here. Do you want to get backup?"
