“Take us to her. Or I won’t be responsible for what he does to ya’ next.”
“I cannot.”
They were going to fail. Caitlin’s heart ached for Mara. For the woman she considered a sister, for the baby, and for Cade. She couldn’t tighten the charm any more or she’d kill the woman, but if they didn’t get an answer, Cade would do the job for her.
If she could only find a question the woman couldn’t fail to answer. “How do we find her?”
“The voice of one who cannot speak and the sight of one who has never seen will find the blood of the stone. Without those, you are doomed to fail, and the elemental will be ours forever.”
Cade shifted back into his human form, grabbed the practitioner by the throat, and slammed her into the wall. “You have my mate and my unborn child, you piece of shit. If you think for one fucking minute I’m not going to kill every practitioner on this entire goddamned planet to get her back, you’re sorely mistaken. Starting with you.”
“I am already dead.” The practitioner started to choke, and though Caitlin dropped the compulsion charm, the woman continued to shake and flail.
“It’s not me!” Caitlin cried when Cade shot her a lethal glare.
“No. Of course not, elemental,” came a man’s voice from behind Caitlin. “I took Kalitha’s life. She served her purpose.”
They all whirled around. Cade dropped the dead practitioner and snarled at the man with his hands glowing white hot.
“What. Purpose?” he growled.
“Distraction and diversion,” the man said. “And once I kill the alpha wolf and break the mating bond, our success will be assured. The elemental and her child are the key to all.”
The practitioner sent the brilliantly white light hurtling towards the four of them, and blinded, Caitlin screamed as chaos surrounded her.
Chapter Twenty-Five
Farren
Tierney bounded into the room at Farren’s side with Eli and Ewan behind them. Next to the window, Regulus sunk his fangs into a tall man’s neck, and the magic swirling around his victim’s hands dimmed as the vampire fed.
Three other practitioners, including the woman from the beach, advanced on the wolves. “I knew you would come,” she said, her voice strangely compelling.
Farren snarled and sprang for the practitioner, her front paws catching the woman in the chest and driving her to the stone floor. Tierney bounded for a second woman, while Eli sent a burst of flame towards the last practitioner standing.
Heavy, velvet draperies caught fire, and Regulus cried out as his coat started to burn. Farren whined, and Ewan directed Eli to douse the vampire with a wave of water. Fire, silver, and sunlight were the easiest ways to kill one of the night walkers, and they needed Regulus if they were going to survive this.
“I am Glenna, you feral bitch,” the practitioner under Farren’s massive paws bit out. “And you are going to die tonight. With the power from the elemental and her child, we will be able to turn your mate into the most powerful weapon the world has ever seen!”
Oh,hellno. Farren’s jaws were only a breath away from Glenna’s throat when the woman whispered a string of words in some ancient Scottish tongue.
The world went soft and quiet, and Farren toppled over with a faint whimper. Why couldn’t she move? Her nose twitched, the scent of magic cloying, but her legs wouldn’t obey her commands, and her tongue lolled out of her mouth.
“Farren!” Eli cried. He blasted Glenna with a strong gale, sending the practitioner tumbling into an old, dark wood table, and knelt at Farren’s side. “Fight,preciosa, please.”
She was trying. God, she was trying with everything she had. Ewan slumped over a leather sofa. Tierney huddled in a corner, and even Regulus appeared frozen, his hand tucked into the pocket of his coat.
“Isla, he is all yours,” Glenna said, and Farren whined, but her warning came too late.
Isla appeared out of nowhere and pressed a knife to Eli’s throat. “Stand up slowly, Eliziam. Fight me, and your mate dies painfully. Do as I say, and I will make her death quick.”
Before Farren could make another sound, someone approached from behind her and snapped a tight, thick collar around her neck. The metal choked her, and she was dragged backwards away from Eli.
“Prepare to meet the sun, nightwalker,” Glenna hissed, and with a flick of her hand, destroyed the entire outside wall of the large space Farren thought might be a dining room.
The sun’s first light poured in, and Regulus screamed. Smoke rose from his skin, from the hand he’d stretched towards Tierney. The first flame licked up his neck, and he fell to his knees.
Another incomprehensible phrase, and whatever spell had been binding them fell away. But it was too late. Tierney had been leashed and fitted with a muzzle, held by a young man with a scar down his right cheek, a tall bloke with blazing purple eyes snapped Ewan’s neck before the boy could even move, and blood welled in a thin line across Eli’s throat.
