I couldn’t heal him, even if I wanted to. He’s still. Dead.
I flick back to my human form and kneel down beside him, resting my hand over his lifeless heart.
“I didn’t want to do it, little bro. I really didn’t. But I had to. For her.”
I don’t have any more time for regrets. She needs me now. My mate’s in danger. Because when I look back toward the academy, I see the chaos I’ve unleashed.
I’ve ripped our plan to shreds.
I shift right back into my wolf form and charge towards the battle.
Chapter Forty-Five
Beaufort
I search through the turmoil for Briony.
Smoke, magic, flame, shadows spiral everywhere, mixing with the fog, suffocating my lungs, making it hard to see anything at all around me.
Those around me, hidden from my view, grunt. They groan. They moan. It’s clear everyone is fighting for their lives.
But I keep searching.
I duck a fire-bolt, send a stream of shadows toward someone aiming at me, and swipe away another attack; I can’t see Briony or Thorne or Dray or anyone else. I call her name, and I keep moving. Pushing through. Fighting my way.
I can’t let my mother get to her first. Or Bardin. I have to find her. I have to protect her.
I elbow someone in the face. Push another to the ground. Send shadows into another’s gut. Someone hits me, and a stream of hot fire flies right past my ear.
I keep moving, pushing through the smoke and the smog, the mist and the shadows, until I break free, coughing and spluttering onto the academy field.
This was where we were meant to meet. This is where we were meant to go, regroup, and lure my mother.
But there’s no one here.
I’m all alone.
I swing around, calling Briony’s name again, about to rush back into the chaos of battle, when someone steps out onto the field to meet me.
Not my mother.
And not the deputy headmistress.
Kratos.
I groan.
I don’t have time for his bullshit now.
“Fuck off, Kratos,” I say, sending a stream of shadows his way before he has any time to respond.
I’m going to blow him to smithereens. I’m going to send him flying and hurry back to Briony.
To my utter disbelief, he simply bats my shadows away as if they’re nothing but an annoyance.
I growl and shove my hands forward, increasing the force, sending another volley his way.
He cackles with laughter, bats those away too, and comes striding toward me with all the arrogance he’s always possessed.
