Isaac tucked it into his pocket. “As I thought, he sent us a message where to find your wand and maybe him. If he’s stillalive.”
My heart picked up. “Where?”
Isaac’s posture changed as he got into teacher mode; he leaned forward and whispered as if he was afraid someone might hear. “The Seven Sisters Oak is the largest oak tree on record. It’s fifteen hundred years old, and it’s in Mandeville,Louisiana.”
“So we’re going to Louisiana?” I asked. I’d never been south. Sounded kinda funactually.
“Incoming!” Dominic screamed from the roof and Eva threw her hands out. Yellow magic blasted past me as Eva erected a yellow geometric bubble around us. Spinning around, my stomach sank as I saw druids pouring over the back of Griddish’s fence. They must have been hiding in the house directly behind the reclusive elf’s property.Dammit!
Isaac’s nostrils flared in anger; he tightened his grip on his staff. “Sloane, don’t use your magic,” my druid master told me. “Not until we get the staff. It’s too dangerousunanchored.”
I nodded, noticing Logan’s brows pinch in concern. Beside me, Logan peeled off his shirt and my head reeled back. “What are youdoing?”
He shrugged. “Shifting. They already know what we are. I might as well breathe fire over all of theirasses.”
Okay, that was hot.Logan was in warrior mode. I pulled the Ruger at eye level and prepared for thefight.
Danny and the rest of the pack had run in from the front yard, and were fighting the druids head-on. It all happened so fast. From when Dom had screamed and Eva thrown up her protection bubble to now, only half a minute hadpassed.
“I can’t hold it much longer,” Eva said, and I saw the sweat on her upper lip. The yellow magical dome around us flickered, as red balls of druid fury crashed into it. Logan was nearly fully shifted. Keegan was shifting as well. Isaac’s staff was pulsing, and I had my Ruger out and ready to rock and roll. These assholes were going to dietoday.
“Drop it!” Isaac shouted to Eva. The shield flickered off just as Isaac slammed his staff into the ground and a ten foot sinkhole opened up in the back yard, swallowing half a dozen druids into it. My jaw wentslack.
“Holy shit! You could do that this whole time!” Iscreamed.
“When the Earth is willing,” he answered cryptically, but there was no time for talking. A very large cat’s growl from the roof told me Dom was in his other form, preying over the top of us, deciding who to pounceon.
Don’t pickme.
Isaac’s sinkhole left about six to eight more druids to deal with, one of whom I could see was Steven, the large Irish man that I had come to loathe. He pointed right atme.
“Don’t hurt her. Kill the rest,” he commanded. Fear and fury crashed through me in equal measure. He didn’t want me dead now? I wasn’t sure I liked the sound of that, and neither did Logan. He roared so loudly that the ground shook. His massive black dragon stood before me like aguard.
Chaos broke out in Griddish’s beautiful back yard. Magic was thrown left and right; gunshots rang out, and animals growled and roared. My eyes were on my mate and anyone who dared step near him. My dragon was in heat, and if they hurt a scale on his hide I would eviscerate themall.
Logan poured fire onto the advancing enemy, but these weren’t powerless hunters. They were full-fledged druids. They had shields and red fireballs that caused awful injuries. I just prayed we were all making it out of this onealive.
I’d kept Steven in the corner of my gaze. So when he blinked out of existence, I spun around, ready for him, afraid to give my back to anyone. Just as I thought, he reappeared right before me, intending to take me from behind.Coward.
“Sloane darling, it’s been too long,” he cooed. His size alone was menacing, but knowing he could freaking teleport scared me to my core. He was like a ghost. A ghost who could killme.
“Fuck off and die,” I told him as I pulled the trigger on my gun, aiming for his throat. He blinked out of existence again before my bullet could make its mark. When he reappeared it was nearly on top ofme.
He was so close that my gun arm crumpled as he wrestled it out of my hands. Maybe before I would have waited to see what he was going to do, or for one of the pack to save me, but not now—not after Sophie’s training. I thrust my knee forward into his balls and jumped up high to wedge it in there reallygood.
He fell forward with a grunt, dropping my gun, and wrapped his arms around my legs so that I couldn’t run. It was an awkward position, but I started beating on his back with my fists in the hopes he would let go. My hands came down in powerful punches on his ribs, but he held firm. Everything was going great until he yanked my ankles and I went down so hard and fast on my back that the wind knocked out of me; my head cracked on the lawn. Black stars exploded in front of my vision as I felt him climb on top ofme.
Use everything you have. Never give up.The memory ofSophie’s words of wisdom came to methen.
“You are a very special girl,” he breathed in my ear. Fear saturated my entire body. Having an unwelcome man lie on top of you and call you a girl was creepy as all hell, and my dragon wasn’t havingit.
She bucked against my skin like it was a cage, rattling my bones. Isaac said not to use my power, but the way his hips were unwantedly pressing into my stomach made my fear turn into boiling rage. My vision cleared from the fall and I could see him clearly, staring down at me like I was a treasure to be lockedaway.
“You’re coming with me,” he said, then suddenly his hands locked down on my arms, vise-like.
Oh. Hell.No.
Could he teleport me somewhere with him? Away from Logan and thepack?
