Gigi sighs, glancing at Bellamy.
“That’s enough. For now.”
The combat mage shoulders me back from the table as Bellamy paces around it, hovering her fingers over the bowl. She hesitates.
“You’ve got maybe a few minutes before it loses full potency,” Gigi murmurs.
Her back to us, Bellamy takes a shuddering breath, then dips her fingers into the bowl, coating the tips in my blood. Another shudder runs through her as she raises her hand, eyeing the blood. “Fuck me,” she mutters.
“He’s a powerful asshole,” Gigi says agreeably. “But you don’t need his power. You have more than enough of your own.”
Bellamy’s shoulders stiffen, clearly hearing the reprimand paired with a command in the combat mage’s tone. But she starts circling the table again, tracing over select chalked runes with her blood-tipped fingers. She refreshes the blood each time she passes by the bowl.
To my eye, the blood appears unevenly distributed. But as she circles again and again, the runes begin to glow, seeming to absorb the blood, then dispersing it evenly until the entire pattern is interconnected and glowing dark red.
All at once, all the energy woven through the runes snaps to the center as if suddenly sucked into the knife, leaving the table bare of everything but the small marble bowl.
The runes now edging the knife glow brightly enough that I’m forced to squint. Then they … shift.
It’s so subtle that I almost miss it.
The glow fades.
The knife falls to the table with a clatter.
Bellamy slumps against the couch, pressing a trembling hand to her chest. She’s clearly winded, but hopefully not drained. Because that’s only the first spell we need.
“Fuck,” Gigi mutters, more terrified than impressed. “That knife needs to be destroyed after this … you can destroy it, right?”
“If I can’t … Zaya can.” Bellamy looks at me, as if she needs me — rather desperately — to confirm that.
I nod.
Energy shifts around us as Rath appears at the open front door. He fixes his clearly disapproving gaze over the three of us, then looks at the knife. His nostrils flare.
The essence Bellamy used, including my blood, doesn’t stink, but it’s intense. The scent of burnt grass and seared metal, copper maybe. And something was clearly in the chalk, which Bellamy either spelled herself or found in Ingrid’s supplies. Based on the taste of rosehip oil and rosemary coating the back of my throat, I’m guessing the latter.
“We’re gathering in the house,” Rath says. “The Outcast MC is on lockdown. They’ve called all their members into the main pack house. No one stands between us and whatever army the Cataclysm has backing him.”
“He’s not going to just march up main street,” Bellamy says, pissy as she pushes off the back of the couch and steps up to the table to peer down at the knife. “He’s going to punch a portal onto the front lawn.”
Rath scoffs. “Through the barrier of the intersection point?”
“He’s got a lot anchoring him here,” Bellamy says ominously, flicking her gaze to me. “Five of his offspring. Doesn’t matter how reluctant they are to claim him.”
“Zaya has another theory,” Rath says. “That it’s his bond with Disa, even broken, that anchors him here. But that might not hold anymore with Disa dead.”
I nod. It’s the same reason I was concerned that the knife, etched in Disa’s blood, wouldn’t work on the Cataclysm anymore.
“Come up to the house,” Rath adds. “And bring the fucking knife. If it were up to me, I would have taken it from you already.”
Bellamy whirls on him. “Well, thankfully,” she snaps, “none of it is up to you, brother. Otherwise, our father would already have a matching antler for his fucking wall, and our little sister would be in a cage.”
Rath just narrows his eyes at Bellamy, not allowing her to bait him.
She’s not wrong, but I keep my fucking mouth shut. I’m already surprised that Zaya didn’t toss my ass to the road the moment I took my human form. I don’t want to be outside looking in when the Cataclysm shows.
And Bellamy is right on that front as well. I’ve sensed his approach for hours now, as I’m certain Zaya can. It’s like he’s already looking for a way in. Or maybe the portal takes so much power that he has to build it slowly so as not to drain himself.
