“Shit,” Malik muttered. “I can’t tell the dogs apart, Joey!”
As I spun around looking for Marcus, a wave of vertigo struck me. I used my bow as a cane to stop my fall.
Marcus and Silas were feral. Blood coated their fur from their muzzles to their paws. Silas threw Marcus into a building, slabs of brick collapsing on top of him.
“Go help Marcus!” I shouted at Malik.
I jerked my head from side to side trying to clear the fog behind my eyes, but that only made it worse. I squeezed my eyes shut and colors danced behind my lids.
I’d never used my magic to this extent before, and now I was paying for—
My sister howled, the panic lacing her call making the blood drain from my face.
My eyes shot open and I lifted my head in time to see Brody’s mate looming down at her. The frightening alpha female was there to help Latoya, who clearly couldn’t stand on her own…
No… The luna was snarling. And flexing her fingers, each claw already stained with blood.
She was going to kill my sister.
Malik appeared out of nowhere, jumping and swinging one of his swords at the luna’s head.
She spun, catching the blade with her huge paw and yanking it out of his hand.
I tried to stand and fell, the stab wound sending jagged pain through me.
Malik pulled his second sword from off his back and swung again, catching the luna in the side. He ducked as she swiped at his head, howling in fury.
I forced myself to my feet, pulling my last arrow from my quiver. I sighed in relief as Malik drove his sword into the luna’s stomach—but relief swiftly burned into fear as the werewolf pushed herself forward onto the knife, mouth open wide, ready to bite off Malik’s head.
I don’t know where I found the strength. Maybe seeing someone I no longer completely hated in danger evoked it. Maybe it surfaced from an aura reserve, like a generator when the power goes out. But I nocked the arrow, said a small prayer, and shot.
The arrow pierced through the luna’s eye until the silver point caught the sun on the other side of her head.
Everything became blurry. My eyelids fluttered. All I wanted to do was rest. I needed sleep. So, I laid down—although I was still standing.
Time slowed, but the wind whistled in my ear as I descended.
I crashed into a pair of muscular arms. They were warm, but sticky and wet.
“Fuck.” It was Marcus. His voice was dripping with anxiety, but the way it rumbled in his chest made me want tocurl up into a ball and sleep forever. “Joanna, tell me you were just masking your power,” he pleaded.
I forced my eyes to open as he sat me down on the ground, propping my back up against his SUV.
He stared at me with narrowed eyes. His chest heaved in a state of panic. He glanced over his shoulder, where a group of rogues were prowling toward us. “Shit,” he uttered. He kissed the top of my forehead before he shifted, his wolf running to challenge the threat.
He tore through the throat of one, but another slashed in his side, eliciting a pained yelp from his maw. A third tried to bite down on his head, but he missed.
My power was sputtering like a dying battery, but I still felt Silas’s viciously. He wasn’t dead. Did Marcus stop fighting him to catch me—
“Silas!” That was my sister’s voice. “Silas, please.”
I realized why Silas’s power was like a blanket of cobwebs on my skin: The wolf was heading straight for me. I pushed myself further into the steel behind my back.
“Silas, what are you doing? The full moon—” Toya attempted to push herself onto her forearms, but they hadn’t healed yet. “We have to wait. It’s too dangerous!”
Silas ignored my sister, shifting into his human form. He stood before me naked, his large frame blocking the sun. Almost every inch of his skin below the neck was covered in scars.
He yanked me to my feet by my arm and scanned my face, wiping blood off my cheek. “Your sister survived it. It’d surprise me if you don’t.”
