Brock, Reo, Haru, and most of Brock’s wolves caught up with me. Molly was bringing up the rear when Cass zoomed into sight atop his hoverboard.
Positioning himself in front of me, my alpha charged ahead, running straight toward the sunlight.
‘No way! This is my kill,’I called, running after him.
That vampire asshat almost got Cass, Molly, and me killed the night we tried to capture Calista. I owed the seethe lord some payback.
Brock growled into my mind.‘He attacked on my land. He’s my kill.’
Taking down a seethe lord was ten times harder than killing a regular ol’ vampire. Lords often had centuries of power layered beneath those dusty bones, enough to withstand the sunlight Tianna was throwing at him, which would have been sufficient to kill a newer vamp, but would only stun him for a moment. No doubt it would take both of us to finish off the vamp lord. I wished I hadn’t dropped my katana back there.
Brock’s muscles scrunched up, signaling that he was about to lunge, when Tianna let loose her own battle cry. Damn, was this woman fierce. Her cry was primal, and I responded to it instantly, wanting justice to be served—now.
Her light extinguished, but only for a moment. When it returned, it was brighter than before, setting the seethe lord aflame.
Holy shit!I hadn’t realized she could do that!
Brock and I skidded to a stop, and Reo stepped forward to place the hilt of my katana in my hand.
“Thanks,” I muttered.
Hearing, and especially smelling, a vampire burning alive was decidedly unpleasant, and I wished to end it quickly. Kicking off the ground, I leapt up, squinting against the bright light, and came down sideways. With one swift slice, I released the seethe lord’s head from his body. Tianna’s light fizzled as the head plopped to the ground, all magical flames extinguished.
With a grin, I spun around and met Brock’s wolfish gaze. “That was easier than I tho—”
Something slammed into my back, knocking me forward and stealing my breath as I scrambled not to fall flat on my stomach or impale myself and my baby with my blade. I managed to fall onto my side with the sword next to me when warm, hot magic pressed against my back and I gasped for air.
Brock whimpered, nudging me with his nose. “Fuck! The vampire had a killing curse attached to him.” Tianna’s voice broke through my oxygen-deprived haze. “Whoever kills him will also meet their death.”
Brock’s panicked howl raised goose bumps on my entire body as I prepared to die.
“Evie!” Cass jumped from his hoverboard as I started to see spots. Some of them might have been from Tianna’s lights after we were once more plunged into darkness, but I knew most of them weren’t. I couldn’t breathe. The spell was sucking the oxygen from my body.
“Can you stop it?” Cass begged his new woman.
I focused on Tianna’s boots as they entered my scope of vision. Then yellow and green flashes of magic illuminated the night. They bounced off my skin, hitting the ground, to no avail.
“No.” Tianna sounded utterly horrified.
The baby.
No.
Anger flared inside me. I wasnotgoing out like this. No. Fucking. Way. I was Evie Black. I may have thought I was a dud my entire life, but I wasn’t. I was a badass witch, kitsune hybrid—
Kitsune.
“Shift!” Molly shouted at the same time I had that exact thought.
My kitsune form could maybe heal this. I had to believe that. Struggling to push the panic down, I attempted to calm my mind, and called forth my kitsune. Reo and Haru were bent on their knees behind Brock as if in prayer, but I forced my attention on the shift and on Brock’s burning amber gaze.
‘You can’t die, I’m in love with you,’he said.
I blinked up at him, trying to decide if I was so oxygen deprived that I was hallucinating.
My bones started to crack as consciousness began to leave me. I had to shift before it was too late.
Forcing the image of myself as a kitsune to completely fill my mind, I pictured my thick coat of rust-colored fur, violet eyes, and three tails. I focused on the purple glow of my kitsune magic.
