“No!” Daniel shouted, throwing his spell as the Algea chucked Lee off it, sending him sailing ten feet through the air.
Lindsey barely scrambled away in time to avoid being snared by Daniel’s enchantment.
A net of green light shot across the clearing and wrapped around the creature like a spider’s web.
I wasn’t sure what the spell did beyond containment, but the Algea screamed—a sound so high and sharp it felt like needles in my ears. It thrashed against the bindings, its form flickering rapidly between solid and translucent, but it wasn’t able to phase away.
“Hunter!” Daniel gasped. He ran to the wolf’s side and grabbed him around the torso, trying to drag him away from the Algea, which was still tearing at his spell. He lost his grip with an anguished grunt and staggered back.
“I’m coming!” Sarah cried as she raced forward to help him with Hunter.
“Shit,” Lacey said succinctly. She shoved her axe into Nathaniel’s hands—he was standing next to her—and moved into position to help Daniel and Sarah drag Hunter to safety.
“It’s not going to hold long!” Daniel shouted.
He was right. The vivid green threads of his spell were already starting to fray as the Algea thrashed against them. The warlock glared up at Nathaniel. “Use the axe! Cut its head off!”
Nathaniel nodded, blurring forward with the impossible speed vampires are capable of, moving to the Algea’s side. He raised the axe over his head.
That’s when I heard Harris shout.
“Sally!”
Nathaniel hesitated for a moment, his gaze flicking to Harris.
My head snapped around. My mate stood in front of the portal, frozen with indecision, staring into the Otherworld.
She was on the ground maybe twenty feet beyond the rift, her body crumpled in a heap. Her skin was deathly pale, her clothes torn and stained with blood. But her chest was moving. Shallow, labored breaths.
She was alive.
I understood what was going to happen next with nightmarish clarity. But I was helpless to stop it.
My mate started moving.
“No!” I gasped, my voice barely human anymore. “Harris, wait—”
He didn’t even slow down. He ran straight for the portal, his gun still in his hand, and dove through the rift into the Otherworld.
Horror bolted through me and I tore after him, my back to the Algea.
The Algea let out a triumphant screech—which meant Daniel’s spell had given way. It bolted forward, past me, going after Harris.
Of course it was. It needed to stop him from stealing its meal. And possibly get another in the bargain.
I fully shifted in mid-run, my paws hitting the ground hard as I launched myself forward, the last of my clothing shredded away by my shift.
I slammed into the Algea just as it reached the edge of the portal, the momentum carrying us both sideways.
We hit the ground in a tangle of fur and claws and horrible, corpse-like flesh.
The Algea twisted beneath me, impossibly flexible, and its claws found my sides, plunging into my flesh like razor blades, slicing inches deep. Pain exploded through me. Then ice burning through my veins as the paralytic venom entered my body.
The wounds were far deeper than last time, and much closer to my heart.
It wouldn’t be long until I couldn’t move.
The monster cackled, a peal of high-pitched inhuman laughter.
