As I flew closer, the air carried the wretched copper tang of blood, the sharp sting of burned magic, and the acrid stench of human gunpowder. The Bizarre’s usual serene nature was eerily silent. The stalls nearest the outer village were broken and abandoned.
I angled my wings, dropping lower until the village came into full view.
Cottages and carved stone burrows lay smashed open. Bodies sprawled in the streets, limbs twisted, torsos cut down the middle or changed to an odd color from whatever venom the human had used.
My squad was already there, dressed and waiting.
I caught sight of them in the center part of the village, holding a defensive line against what had been a retreating human unit.
The humans hadn’t left.
I tucked my wings and dove. I hit the ground hard enough to crack stone, folding into myself as the shift rolled back in a practiced wave. My scales retracted, talons shortening to hands, wings drawing into my spine, and muscle and bone shrinking until I was back in my normal form.
Rage overtook me.
The first thing I saw was Tobias.
My brother-by-mating stood on the front line with the other enforcers, flames coiled around his fists. His black hair, streaked with green lowlights, glinted as he pivoted to shield an opening. His green eyes were narrowed, and his jaw was clenched.
April stood at his side, fangs bared. Her curly brown hair was pulled back, and her brown eyes locked on her target as she drove a vamp-fast punch into a human’s face.
Jesse burned bright to her left, his phoenix flames an efficient deterrent.
Kyle was on Tobias’s right, using his vampiric speed and brutal efficiency to take out a human that tried to strike.
They were struggling with one specific human, avoiding him at all costs. He was a tall figure, slick with what looked like sweat, moving both like a drunk man and a predator. His bare hands glistened wet with something that smoked when it spattered onto the stone.
It was Rune’s venom.
My stomach twisted.
Every time one of my enforcers got close, he snarled and lunged, trying to touch their skin. The air around him stank of corrosive poison.
Behind the enforcers, my spies worked the edges to protect the others. All agents knew how to fight, but it was best for the enforcers and spies to take the brunt of an attack.
Cassie darted in and out with grace, using her pheromones to misdirect human strikes.
Bradley moved in complementary rhythm with her, his pheromones doing the same thing.
Dimitri slid through an attempted strike, catching a human’s gaze and using his compulsion to force the humans to turn on each other.
Rune, my vicious mate, stood in the middle of it all, hair tied up in a practical bun, green strands escaping to frame her furious expression.
She was focused on the DNA-enhanced human, every line of her body tight and ready to strike.
On the flanks, magic cracked and flared.
Kane’s dark purple hair made him easy to find in the chaos, and he stood with one hand braced on the earth, drawing magic from it to call upon barriers and hurl bolt after bolt of compressed magical force into the humans.
Beside him, Sylver moved layered protections around the group with the enchanted dagger that gave her the ability to do so, her blue eyes constantly scanning for any attack that could come their way.
On a high rock outcropping near the edge of the square, Lysa hovered with her tablet, platinum hair braided back, green eyes narrowing as she called out positions, movements, and patterns.
Corin and Slater crouched nearby. Corin’s phantom-gray eyes were distant as he interfaced with the local tech grid, and Slater’s red eyes glowed as he hacked human comms, rerouted drone feeds, and shut down their signals and pleas for backup.
At the edge of the village, under the meager cover of a half-standing wall, Rhyse and Zuko had a human on his knees.
Rhyse’s dark brown hair fell across his face as he leaned in, shadow magic coiling around his shoulders.
