As she lay there spasming, sure it was over, Kat realized that something had drastically changed. While she would definitely still describe the sensations coursing through her as unbelievable agony, it took only moments to recognize that the source of that pain was completely different than it had been only seconds earlier.
It wasn’t Marko stabbing into every cell in her body and making them explode.
It was magic.
Pure, raw, unlimited magic.
She was experiencing the power collected and stored within the ley lines.
Kat didn’t think and pause to evaluate the risk she was taking. She simply reached out and buried her force of will into the middle of all that power.
Then she started praying she’d survive.
There was nothing but the pain, as she felt like she was being sucked down into a whirlpool of burning oil that was thick, viscous, and white-hot. She couldn’t imagine living through this situation for one more second. But then that second turned into two…and then four…and then ten. And she was still alive. At least, she thought she was. Then again, it was also possible that she was already dead, and the agony was so bad that it would keep haunting her into the afterlife.
Kat had no idea how much time passed. It felt like hours. But at some point, the sensation of being burned alive faded away to be replaced by the luxurious feeling of lying out on a sunny beach completely naked.
She was channeling the magic from the ley lines—all of it. The collective living magic of millions upon millions of people, animals, and plants. It was way more power than any human in the history of the world had ever attempted to harness without it killing them. And yet, she was still alive.
At least, she hoped so.
She opened her eyes, her gaze immediately going around the circle from one teen to the next as the witches and warlocks with the knives in their hands moved ever closer to completing the final step of the ritual.
“Prohibere,” Kat whispered under her breath.
She doubted Marko would hear the single word over his chanting, which had only gotten more strident since he’d pressed his palm to hers. She had no idea if such a simple spell as the one she’d just invoked would find its way past the protective circle and actually keep Marko’s coven from killing their captives. Normally, it wouldn’t. Nothing was supposed to get in or out of a protective circle. That was kind of the point of the whole thing. But she was accessing the ley lines, which were outside the circle. So maybe this particular protection circle was unique. She prayed that was the case.
Kat damn near cheered when she realized that all five of the witches and warlocks holding the teens hostage had been frozen solid by her spell. A moment later, Connor’s pack mates charged toward the kids and their captors, only to stop in their tracks, still held at arm’s length by the residual magic coming off the circle.
Marko must have picked up on the disruption of his perfectly planned-out ritual right then because the chanting stopped, and his eyes snapped open. He frowned at his coven, the witches and warlocks still immobilized by her spell, before looking sharply at Kat. Rage and suspicion battled for dominance on his face before the latter won out.
“What did you do?” he demanded angrily.
He glanced down at their still joined hands, as if he thought that was the cause of the sudden hiccup in his mad scheme. Kat didn’t say anything, but she couldn’t control the smile that began to tip up the corners of her mouth.
Eyes wide, Marko tried to shake off her grip, his anger turning first to confusion, then all-out panic. She squeezed his hand more tightly, refusing to let go as she remembered Davina’s words about her having all the control over the lines while Marko would essentially be defenseless.
“What’s wrong?” she whispered, still holding on to the hand he was desperately trying to drag out of her grasp. “I thought you wanted all the power. That you wanted to be a god. Well, what are we waiting for? Let’s see if the ley lines are everything you dreamed they’d be.”
It was only then that Kat felt the familiar connection between her and Marko. She realized now that it had always been there. It was probably how he’d tracked her all over the country. Even now, she didn’t need to reach for it to use it. It simply existed. And when she let herself sink once more into the whirlpool of endless energies welling up from the ley lines, it seemed almost comically easy to allow all that power to pass through her to Marko. All millions and millions of lives’ worth of it.
It was, to say the least, a lot of power.
She felt the heat as all that magic came roaring through her, and she squeezed her eyes tightly closed. A split second later, Marko cried out in pain. She and the warlock were connected by more than merely the touch of their hands now. The sensation of all that magic coursing through her was intoxicating, but it was also terrifying. A part of her recognized that humans were never meant to access this much power. That’s probably why it was almost easy to let the power slip through her fingers. And as her grasp on the magic began to fade, she wondered if it would be better if she never touched this overwhelming, almost intoxicating, level of power again. But could she turn her back on something so precious to her like that, even if she feared she might come to abuse it?
As she slowly floated down to lie on the ground again, she opened her eyes. While she didn’t try to move, she instinctively knew she wasn’t restrained by Marko’s spell any longer. Realizing their hands were still clasped, she turned her head to look at the warlock, only to let out a squeal of disgust when she saw his hand was nothing more than a nasty carbon-crusted skeletal thing now. She let go and quickly looked away, not wanting to see if the rest of him was like that.
Thankfully, Connor appeared at her side at that moment, and she allowed the feel of his strong arms to distract her from thoughts of what she’d just done. She hugged him back tightly, not caring that his tactical vest was rough against her face. She’d stopped Marko from hurting him and everyone else she cared about.
Connor must have held her for nearly a full minute before she finally figured out that the protective circle Marko had put up had collapsed. It was only then that she noticed all the shooting and growling and snarling and fighting had stopped. Instead, moans and groans filled the air, the aftermath of the battle.
“Addy and the others?” she asked softly, pulling back to try and get a look over his shoulder. “Are they okay? What about Jenna?”
Even as she spoke, Kat caught sight of Trevor carrying Jenna out of the clearing in his arms, walking past the other SWAT cops, all of whom seemed pretty beat up, bleeding, and torn, but thankfully, alive. Connor’s sister looked confused, but she seemed okay. And judging by the way she was clinging to Trevor as he spirited her away to safety, she adored being in his arms.
“Trevor promised he’d look after her,” Connor said, following her gaze. “Jenna is shaken up, but fortunately doesn’t remember a single thing after getting grabbed outside our apartment and being forced to ring the doorbell. I hate that she got pulled into this, but at least I don’t have to try and explain about magic and werewolves. I don’t think my sister could handle that. She’s fragile as it is.”
Kat didn’t think his assessment of his sister was necessarily true but decided that right now wasn’t the time to make Connor understand that he needed to stop coddling Jenna. That his sister was much stronger than he seemed to want to give her credit for.
