Both males used their advantages, Rage his speed and agility, and Clive the bulk of his body to throw Rage off balance when they collided. But Clive was older. Slower. Eventually, the gray wolf couldn’t keep up with Rage’s relentlessness, and once again, my mate forced the other alpha to his back.
Only this time, Rage hesitated.
“Kill! Kill! Kill!” the Midnight pack chanted.
My stomach clenched.
Rage dove for the gray wolf’s throat, and a faint flicker of blue energy sparked at Clive’s neck. Once again, Rage was hurtled through the air.
“He’s cheating!” I screamed, pointing at Clive, but my words were lost in the roar of the crowd. Whirling to Justice, I growled,‘He’s using magic.’
Justice frowned and then shook his head. “I-I haven’t seen any magic.”
Was I the only one who could see it?
‘I saw it,’Honor said, and I wondered if his time in the spirit world had affected him and given him powers or something.
Rage climbed to his feet, his entire body swaying with the effort.‘It feels … like … I’m being … electrocuted.’
Clive charged toward my mate, his aggression increasing with every step.
Remembering the mage dressed in seafoam-green robes that had been talking to him earlier, I looked at the high mages. Kian and the others watched the fight, but my grandfather wasn’t on stage.‘You said the high mages stayed out of shifter affairs!’ I yelled at my grandfather, hopefully projecting my thoughts into his head. ‘But someone gave Clive magic.’
Rage tried to shake off the effects of the magic, but as he bared his teeth at the other wolf, I could feel my mate’s trepidation.
My body trembled with emotion. Frustration. Betrayal. Rage.
‘What color is the magic?’Grandpa Geoff replied in my mind.
‘Aren’t you watching?’I asked, my chest heaving as the two wolves again locked in battle.
‘I’m… not feeling well.’His voice trembled, and additional concern rolled through me.
As the two wolves bit at one another, my distress increased. Clive swung his head, giving Rage a clear shot at the gray wolf’s throat, but Rage didn’t take it. Instead, my mate went for the wolf’s shoulder—not a killing blow.
The crowd booed.
‘What color?’Grandpa asked again.
Tears pricked at my eyes.‘Blue. Electric blue, but it’s super faint and only at Clive’s throat.’
I told him what I’d seen before the ceremony started, racing through how I’d noticed a mage in a seafoam green robe give Clive something.‘What could they give him to make this happen?’
‘Most likely a protection spell,’Grandpa said.‘Tricky. Depending on how it was cast, there may not be anyone besides you and the high mage who cast it who can see it.’
What?
‘How is that possible?’Did that even matter right now? Maybe … but not nearly as much as my next question.‘What can I do? How do we break it?’
‘You can’t. Not without touching the spell. And you’d need the spellbreaker root.’
‘I have it!’I fumbled with my clutch and then pulled out the canvas bag, relieved that I’d brought it to return to him today. There was a large chunk of the root left.‘Now what?’
‘You’ll have to mix it with your blood and get it directly on the curse.’
Chances of Clive stopping the fight so I could wipe him with the green-glowy concoction: 0.0001%. Maybe even less than that.
The two wolves snapped at each other, both tearing into the other at a furious rate. The red carpet was streaked with crimson—their blood smearing with bits of fur as they rolled, scratching and biting.
