“Then the pack will need to be looking for a new leader before dawn,” Wesley snarled. Another flash of power, this time in the form of lightning.
Indigo’s chest rattled. What in the ever loving f—
She released the sound and followed it up with a battle cry before diving in front of Keverin and taking the hit of lightning to her chest. It knocked her back and winded us.
“You threaten my mate, you die,” she thundered, ignoring the sizzling on her flesh.
Keverin let loose a roar that made the trees tremble. Fire blazed toward us with a push from the air elemental, coming at us fast and hard. I implored her to listen to reason and not commit murder. She ignored me and rampaged toward the elementals. There was no stopping her, no putting the brakes on. Power pulsed from her in threatening thunderous waves. The elementals were tiring as she batted their magic away like she was swatting at flies.
She reached Wesley first, his eyes widening as he looked upon her. He recognized his death and tried to back away. Too late. She tore his head from his body, blood sprayed through the air as she simultaneously dived through his chest and pulled his heart out, still warm. “A little overkill,” I muttered.
Keverin launched himself through the air and took the earth elemental to the floor, his teeth tearing into her throat. Ugh, these two were perfectly matched.
“Glad you have now caught on,” Indigo said as she snapped her wings out, the left one taking the water elemental to the floor. Indigo slammed her foot through her chest which caved in and killed her.
“Don’t kill them all, I need to question them,” I instructed.
She eyeballed the final elemental who turned and began sprinting away from us. Indigo snapped her fingers, freezing him in place. “Oh no, I have something special in mind for you. Ask your questions before I eat his soul. He’s tainted with the darkness, this man has a one way ticket to Hell. I’m giving him a mercy.” She said this aloud to terrify the man as I pushed, she allowed me through. I saw the moment he realized he had been attacking the President’s granddaughter. I had no doubt all that awaited him on his return was death, so he was dead either way, but I couldn’t let him utter a word of what he’d witnessed here.
“What is the purpose of the magic delivered through the Datura?” I asked.
He blinked. “The purpose? To allow the one true faction to rule all others.”
“How would that achieve this goal?” He grimaced and I tilted my head. “You aren’t making it out of here alive,” I reminded him. “However, your demise can be drawn out, painful and terrifying. Or it can be a swift death that you don’t feel. The choice is yours.”
He swallowed and glanced at the snarling prehistoric tiger next to me. “Eloise wants complete control as the treaty failed.”
“I’m aware.”
“So she’s looking for a different means to achieve that aim.”
“By poisoning whole towns?”
“That was a test run, we miscalculated.”
“Miscalculated what?”
He trembled like he was struggling. He was trying to move his mouth and it was like he was being strangled. He’d been gagged. Magically. Damn my grandmother.
“We’ve got everything we can,” I said.
Indigo tore through my flesh once more and snapped her hand into his chest. The sound of his ribs cracking made me a little nauseous, but that was nothing compared to the revulsion when she bit into his heart and blood dribbled down my throat. “That’s unsanitary.”
She took her sweet time ingesting the soul. It sat like a lead weight in my gut and then the sheer power of it made my knees collapse.
“Cora?”
Indigo sank beneath my flesh once more and I glanced at Hudson. He’d separated from Keverin and they were both looking at me as I fought with the magic I’d ingested. That was no ordinary elemental. He’d been powered up and the effect was dizzying.
Hudson’s hand grazed down my naked spine. “Are you okay?”
“Peachy,” I breathed, as I focused on drawing in air and releasing it in a steady wave.
“You don’t seem peachy.”
I raised my head and glared at him. “You try eating someone’s souped-up soul and see how it settles inside you.”
He gripped my elbow and pulled me upright. My jeans had torn where they’d been stretched by Indigo and my shirt was ripped down the back. The two halves flapped open and the front had been singed by the hit of elemental magic. I prodded the burnt flesh on my stomach and hissed.
