The air turned to ice. Frost crackled across the grass. The temperature plummeted so fast Gavin’s flames snuffed out and Didi’s magic sputtered.
A foul energy erupted from Esmeralda’s body in a suffocating wave.
Samuel’s wolf reached for me across the mate bond.
The dark magic attack hit Barney first. It drove him to one knee and drained the redness from his eyes, the vampire’s ancient strength straining against a power that was designed to break things far older than him. Gavin went down without a sound, his fire extinguisher rolling away across the grass. The dragon newt’s horns and tail retracted and his eyes glazed over as he lost consciousness.
Didi and Mrs. Chen combined their powers and threw up a barrier, their magic blazing a blue-green in the darkness as they drew on the enchanted herbs the elderly witch held in her hands. It held for three seconds before shattering, sending Didi sprawling and the old witch staggering back with a grunt of pain.
Samuel stepped in front of me when the wave reached us.
He fought it with all the power of an alpha.
My heart twisted as I felt him try to shift and fail. His wolf raged, straining against the pressure holding it back. His musclestrembled.
An unholy snarl ripped from my mate’s throat as he fell to his knees, his fingers curling in grass and dirt, his fury resonating across our bond.
He’d bought me all the time I needed.
I clenched my jaw, raised my hands in front of me, and braced.
The vile magic fed by the convergence and the stolen life force of three healing witches finally hit me.
My wolf stopped it.
Esmeralda’s golden eyes widened when she felt the resistance.
The impact drove me back a step, then two. My boots carved deep furrows in the soft earth as I snarled and leaned into the thick wall of corrupt energy, the power of the ley lines I’d tapped into rattling my teeth and bones.
The forbidden magic of the Black Chalice Rite crawled across my skin like oil as I strained to a stop, probing for my weaknesses, seeking entry through every pore. It found my eyes. My mouth. The cuts on my wrist where the cat’s claws had scored me.
It found nothing it could use.
“Impossible,” Esmeralda snarled. “How?!”
I smiled savagely. “It’s called a backup plan, bitch.”
I planted my feet wide and let my white wolf loose.
30
WHITE OUT
Light exploded from my skin,surprising even me.
This wasn’t the pale glow of my wolf form under a full moon. This was something else entirely. Something ancient and vast that burned through my veins like liquid silver and poured out of me in a blinding wave.
My hair whipped around my face, every strand blazing white. My eyes felt like twin furnaces. The wolf under my skin wasn’t just surfacing. She was expanding, filling every cell and nerve ending with a power that made the ley lines beneath my feet sing in resonance as she drew upon them.
Esmeralda staggered back, her pupils round with an emotion I hadn’t seen in them before.
Fear.
“That’s not possible,” she mumbled. “No wolf has that kind of?—”
I didn’t let her finish.
White wolf power fed by the convergence surged outward in a dazzling shockwave that tore across thelawn. It struck Esmeralda’s corrupt magic like a sledgehammer.
