“No, Evie, no way,” Brock said.
“I have to,” I said reluctantly, while bringing a protective hand across my belly. “If I don’t add my power to theirs, our baby might not have a world to be born into. This fog spread to the entire town overnight. Imagine what it could do if left unchecked.”
“I’ll link my power to yours,” Cass said. “That’ll help.”
I nodded and smiled sadly.
‘Brock, can you lend me some of your power?’I didn’t want to mention out loud that I wanted him to add his alpha power to the mix. That ability was secret.
‘We don’t know how much of it I have left after the earth binding ceremony,’he said.‘Whatever is mine is yours, but don’t you dare let harm come to you or that baby of ours. Promise me you’ll pull back if you feel it will injure either of you.’
‘Of course. I promise I won’t let any harm come to our baby. Ever.’
The demon roared louder than I thought possible, threatening to crush the last speck of fight in any of us as I stepped forward, fists clenched.
Bring it, you fog demon motherfucker.
We were out of time. With one last glance at the three horrendous eyeballs and those gaping jaws wide enough to clamp the bubble in two, I ran for Cho. Brock and Cass were right behind me.
The white light connecting the ten sorcerers flickered, and I knew without a doubt that if I didn’t help the spell would fail; Tianna’s protective bubble would probably fall soon after, exposing us all to the fog demon.
I plastered my hand against Cho’s back, clammy from the effort of sustaining the spell. Purple light shot from my palm and straight into her skin. Brock pressed his hand to my bare waist, and half a second later I felt Cass’ stubby, four-fingered hand as well.
The white, blazing pentagram flared to life as magic coursed through me and into Cho. The flames marking out the five lines of the pentacle surged past their previous levels. I sensed Brock’s magic running through me, the entirety of his pack’s power behind him, and I knew that the earth binding spell hadn’t weakened him at all due to our bond. If anything, it had strengthened him. I wasn’t sure how, but that’s how it felt.
Cho screamed as her body rocked from the increase in power streaming through her. A second later the eight other witches and the one warlock bellowed in joined pain.
When the pain of so much power became unbearable even to me, and I felt my own scream coming up my throat, Tianna’s bubble collapsed.
In the exact same moment, the pentagram sucked the fog demon within its fiery light, trapping it within the five searing lines of magic.
The fog demon shrank to fit the size of the pentagram, becoming the size of a very enraged and dangerous bear.
The demon turned in a frantic circle, trying to escape the trap.
But it couldn’t. It bellowed its defeat, bringing every single one of us, including the policemen, to our knees.
Still, we didn’t break the link. Our power alone was containing one of the greatest threats to ever escape the underworld. Now that I was a part of this spell, I could feel the fog’s sickly demonic magic pressing against the corners of my mind, fighting to get in.
My magic, and Cass’ and Brock’s, and that of every one of his wolves, kept pulsing through me. We couldn’t give up now. If we did, it’d all be over.
I grit my teeth against the demon’s wrath and continued to stream my amassed power into Cho. The baby was still all right, proving that Aunt Bertie was correct. The little nugget was going to be crazy powerful. Now I just had to give it a decent world to live in.
I roared and powered on. The unified battle cries of our team echoed in my ears, blotting out the enraged bellow of the demon fog.
“Give me everything you’ve got on the count of three!” Cho screamed.
The group’s faces set into grim lines of determination.
“One!” Cho roared, and I felt Brock and Cass pulse magic into my back.
“Two!” Cho grew louder, and the beast slammed so hard against the fire wall containing him that it flickered for a split second.
“Three!”
With that I pushed every ounce of magic I had within me.
“Die, motherfucker!” Cass shouted over my shoulder.
