A torrent of wind raced upwards. Halfway to Cyra, wind turned to water and spread out. An angry hiss issued from the stream of fire as the water hit it. Steam so thick it looked like fog enveloped Cyra as the water washed over her.
“Wow, Jessie,” Sebastian said. “How’d you devise that?”
“On accident. I found a better way to do”—Jess sent up another spell— “elemental magic. It’s easier to control this way.”
The spell exploded by Cyra’s side. The turbulence of the air rolled her before Jessie sent up a slash of magic to slice into her wing. Cyra chirped, her signal for giving in. She haphazardly flapped her way to the ground before shifting back into her human form.
Jess flared her hands in irritation. “What are you doing? They weren’t looking to get their faces blasted off, they just wanted to see what a legendary phoenix could do.”
Cyra looked at the gash in her right arm and grinned. “They wanted proof of our power, right? I figured blasting off a toe would be good proof.”
Hollace landed farther down the street and walked up.
“Did you see how easily she backed me down this time, Hollace?” Cyra asked him. “Work smarter, not harder. Don’t I always say that?”
“No. Everyone else always says that and you nod,” he replied.
“Yeah, same thing.”
“I thought that was great proof,” Indigo said. Stepping forward, she placed a hand on Cyra’s back to start healing her. “They obviously wanted a show. A missing toe would’ve done it.”
Jess gave the alphas an apologetic shrug. “We train for battle, not for show and tell. Sometimes, they go overboard.”
Fenric stepped back into his place. He was still sweating heavily, but he had his body back under control.
Expectation filled the air. They wanted more. They got their theatrics, and now they wanted this done the shifter way. To lead them, one would need to dominate the strongest of them. That was Drex, but they hadn’t been here for that challenge. They’d need to stand witness to another.
This time, Austin wouldn’t test or bait. This time, Austin would put them down hard and fast.
Finally, Derrick stepped forward, a jaguar. He had strength and power, but his best advantages were in stealth. He was fast and ruthless, Austin had heard. It was an odd choice for the challenge.
Derrick looked straight at Jess.
Cold trickled down Austin’s spine. Drex had mentioned this might be a possibility, but Austin had discounted it. Jess could shift, but she wasn’t a shifter. She wasn’t of the culture. Yes, she could certainly be challenged because she was co-leader, but he hadn’t thought any high-level shifters would bother, just as they didn’t tend to challenge Tristan or the other gargoyles.
His blood felt like it was turning to ice as Derrick walked into the middle of the gathered shifters, his gaze rooted to hers. His challenge was clear. He’d go after Austin’s mate. He’d hurt her, nearly try to kill her.
Ice turned to an inferno as his beast rose up. Red throbbed in his vision, yanking at him to become action. To rush forward and rip that shifter apart for daring to challenge Austin’s prize. His heart. The darkness swirled and sucked at him, trying to pull him under.
“Hey, it’s okay.” Jess’s soft voice cut through the haze. Her hand touched his chest, over his heart. Her other hand flattened against his jaw, gentle. “It’s okay. We knew this day would come eventually, right? I need to prove my worth or whatever. They have every right to challenge me.”
The idea of a male challenging his mate ate at him. It smacked of encroaching on his territory. It wasn’t an unfair fight—well, actually it was because Jess could kill him easily—but it felt like it for some reason.
“Deep breath,” Jess whispered, taking her time with him. She would clearly make Derrick wait all day if she had to. “I got this. Kinda. I mean, I’m very nervous that I’ll accidentally do something terrible, like explode his head or something, but I’ll be okay. You can step in if something goes wrong. I watched you, and now you’ll watch me.”
He cradled her face in his palms. “Do not let him hurt you. Don’t let him even touch you. Defend yourself, okay? Don’t take damage to prove a point. Don’t take any damage at all.”
“Okay.” Her fingers wrapped around his wrists. “I’ll be fine.”
He let go a breath and kissed her soundly. “I hate this,” he murmured, echoing what she’d said when Drex had challenged him.
She smiled, realizing it. “I know.”
He let her go and stood his ground, not shadowing her toward Derrick as he really wanted to.
She stopped ten feet from Derrick, probably because that’s the distance Drex had given Austin the other day. Her nervousness was plain as she fidgeted.
“I just want to give you a moment to think this through,” she told the shifter, worry seeping into her voice. “I do magic, and I am very powerful. I have trained solely for battle, and I’ve trained hard. I do not need to shift to kill you, and accidently killing you is a very real possibility because I am still learning. This is a very dangerous challenge for you. You’ll be dead before anyone realizes I did a killing spell, including me. I won’t be able to heal you from some of the stuff I do,and I do them on accident.I can’t stress that enough. I’ll be desperately tryingto do the safer spells, but if I get nervous…” She shrugged. “Curtains. Do you really want to go through with this?”
