I readied myself to slice into the giant’s back when the board started to lose power.
No!
I had to decide what to do fast. The thing was already sputtering beneath me.
Instead of thinking, I reacted. I jumped, exploding from the dying board, sword held at the ready, and using my momentum, the blade slid into the beast’s back all the way up to the hilt. Using it as a handhold, I gripped it hard with both hands and prepared for the inevitable thrashing that would follow.
A deep roar erupted from the giant’s chest, vibrating his whole body. He spun wildly, grabbing at his back with his massive hands.
But I held on tightly.
My sword quivered, sending pulses of electricity through me and into the beast. They were so strong that I almost let go.Almost.
Without warning, I heard a pop, and some unseen force flung me backward. I flew off the beast’s back as his bodyexplodedinto a thousand pieces, sending guts and shards of purple light outward.
Making sure to keep hold of my sword and not cut off my own head, I crashed into the ankle-deep water, smacking down—hard. The air whooshed from my body and I gasped, trying to pull it back into it.
The beast had detonated as if I’d nuked it in the microwave.
What. The. Fuck?
Cass crept forward, admiring my sword. “What the hell is that thing?”
Honestly, I had no idea. My katana dripped black demon blood, but holy hell was it glorious.
“It did that, right?” I asked my pink furry bestie, as I gestured to the guts surrounding us with my glowing sword.
Cass nodded. “Yes, it did. You did. You both—”
“Evie!” Brock cried out, anguish dripping from the one word as he half ran, half limped over to me.
My gaze connected with the alpha, who was stark naked, not bothering to cover anything. He held a hand to a bleeding ribcage wound, the gashes across it deep and nasty. But his attention was not on the tears in his flesh. His frantic yellow eyes were on me only.
Sabine, naked as well, ran up behind her alpha. She was trying to tend to his wound with some kind of green, leafy paste.
Brock breathed heavily, and I couldn’t tell if it was because of the pain he must be in, or because he was fighting a shift. I had the feeling it was the latter, and that his instincts were urging him to shift because of me.
“Are you okay?” he finally asked, his words not far removed from animal sounds. His pupils vacillated between human and wolf.
Heaving myself up out of the water with a suppressed groan, I stood. I felt like I’d just run a marathon. The water levels seemed to no longer be increasing, but Calista was still out there.
“I’m fine,” I assured. “Where’s the siren?”
“She was looking for the gate,” Brock grunted, “but we ran her off. Then this giant thing came out of nowhere.” He gestured to the blood and guts floating in the murky lake.
I followed his gaze until I sensed eyes on my back. Whirling around with my katana in front of me, I quickly brought it back down when I made out a tuft of purple hair peeking out from behind nearby woods.
“Molly, you can come out now,” I called out to her.
Our new apprentice stepped out hesitantly, a shotgun at her side. “Sorry. I just thought you might need help, but holy shit you were badass!”
The throbbing pain in my back would disagree. I looked down at my katana, still glowing faintly with… purple magic. Magic that I’d somehow activated. Take that, Black family bastards.
I held up the sword. “It was this thing, not me.”
Brock limped toward me, closing the distance between us while still holding his ribs. It took every ounce of my inner strength not to drop my gaze below his belly button to check him out, no matter what the circumstances.
“We should get the baby checked out. That was a hard fall.” He was bleeding heavily, skin pale.
