At the same time, Marko reached for Kat’s slender hand, the tip of his blade angling toward her palm.
Connor shoved himself upright already knowing it was too late. He and his pack mates weren’t going to be able to reach Kat—or the teens—in time.
***
Davina had been right about one thing at least, Kat thought. Marko had joined her in the protective circle, standing right beside her as the magical energies flared to full life around them, locking them away from everyone and everything else in the clearing. She tried to convince herself that was a good thing, that it meant she’d have a chance to take down Marko at the moment Davina had promised he’d be most vulnerable.
Well,promisedmight be too strong of a word.
Perhapstheorizedwas better.
Or evenstrongly hoped?
Whatever the word might be, she had to believe Davina was right and that she’d be able to use the gifts Marko had ripped from the members of her coven and transferred to her four years ago. And that she’d be able to do it in time to control the power stored in the ley lines around Dallas and turn it against him before he took that control for himself and she never got it back.
But as Marko continued to chant the words of his ritual, the throbbing pain in her head and the fire burning under her skin got worse by the second, the thought that she could ever control any of this seemed like a joke. How was she supposed to consider regaining use of her magic when she could barely even think?
Kat wasn’t sure how, but she knew the exact moment when Connor and the Pack arrived. Not only because growls and gunfire filtered through the protective circle, but because she could actuallyfeelConnor nearby. As she caught sight of wolves on four legs flying through the air, she knew he and his pack mates would fight with everything they had to save her and the kids. Unfortunately, she didn’t know if it would be enough.
She gritted her teeth and fought against the binding spell holding her, doing everything she could to catch even a glimpse of Connor. But while she didn’t see him, she did see witches and warlocks savagely toss other members of the Pack out of the clearing as others went down under one spell or another. Werewolves were tough, but she wasn’t sure how they were all going to survive this. The original plan had depended on her magic to help them, yet here she was, bound inside a protective circle, letting them down.
Then she saw the coven members drag Addy and the other teens to their feet, knives in their hands, and the part of her mind still aware remembered Davina’s warning, that sacrificing them would mark the crescendo of the ritual.
She would need to make her move against Marko soon, but she still had no idea what to do. She was going to fail the kids like she’d failed Connor and his pack mates…like she’d failed the members of her own coven four years ago. And as it had back then, her failure would only lead to anguish and death. More friends and more people who’d trusted her to keep them safe. But this time, the man she loved—her soul mate—would pay the price, too.
Forcing her attention away from the pain ricocheting around her body, she reached out once more to try and get a grip on the magic surging around her like a tidal wave. But no matter how hard she tried, the magic that had always responded to her so easily fluttered away from her grasp.
She kept at it anyway, alternating between forcefully grabbing at the magic and passively letting it come to her on its own. Neither approach worked.
Kat felt tears fill her eyes and slide down her cheeks as the frustration became overwhelming.
“You’re wasting your time,” Marko said in a bored tone. She darted her eyes in the direction of his voice to see him kneeling near her right shoulder, regarding her as if she were nothing more than an irritating chore he had to get done before moving on to better things. “I’ve completely blocked your access to magic until the right time in the ritual. I can’t have you messing up all the work I’ve accomplished over the past four years.”
“Marko, you don’t have to do this.” She bit her lip to stifle a scream as searing pain enveloped her mind and body. “You’re already powerful. You don’t need to hurt those poor kids or Connor and his pack. You’re already the most powerful warlock in the country. If you walk away now, no one will stop you.”
“Walk away?” Marko let out a low, menacing laugh. “Why would I do that and waste all the time and effort I’ve put into this? Why would I be content to simply be the most powerful warlock in the country when I can be so much more?”
Crap, he sounded like a psychopath. Actually, Marko Kemp gave psychopaths a bad name. “What more could you possibly want? What could possibly be worth all this suffering and death?”
“Ultimate power, of course,” he said, his tone suggesting she was stupid. “The only goal in the universe worth pursuing. Once you have that much power, everything else is yours for the taking. And once I have full access to the ley lines, I will have more power than anyone in the history of the world. I will be a god.”
He wasn’t merely a psychopath. He was adelusionalpsychopath.
And talking to him was a waste of time.
A flash of movement caught her eye, and she turned her head to the left in time to see Connor sprinting at the glowing green protective circle, his uniform a scorched mess, his arms showing deep cuts and burns. She opened her mouth to cry out a warning, but it was too late, and she could only watch helplessly as Connor slammed into the protective circle and bounced off like he’d hit a brick wall.
Beside her, Marko chuckled. “Werewolves are so predictably physical. But it doesn’t matter. There’s nothing he or anyone else can do to stop this now.”
She turned back to tell him to go to hell, but he grabbed her hand and lifted the knife he held, ready to slice open her palm. Outside the circle, the witches and warlocks who held the teens captive stared at Marko, transfixed, waiting for a sign from their leader.
Damn it all. This was happening right now, and Kat still had no idea what she was supposed to do to find this hidden wellspring of magical abilities Davina seemed so sure she’d be able to tap into.
Kat was so focused on watching Marko’s coven shove the kids to their knees right outside the circle that she didn’t even feel the knife sliding across the palm of her hand. The blade bit in deep, and blood ran across her hand onto the ground. Marko immediately began chanting again, with more urgency this time.
The pain tearing through her was so extreme now that Kat was sure she’d pass out. She turned her head to look at Connor, watching him slash at the glowing walls of the protection circle with his claws, his face filled with terror and anguish. She wished she could tell him that what he was doing wouldn’t work. But more than anything, she wished she could tell him one more time that she loved him.
Her eyes were still locked on Connor as Marko slit his own palm and pressed the open wound against her own hand. The contact was like touching a live electrical wire, and even within the constraints of the binding spell, her back arched so much that the only things touching the ground were her heels and the back of her head.
