Page 52 of Nightshade

I was set to attack the witch Evie was facing off with, but then I saw a man, hiding halfway behind the house, hand up, chanting as he stared at Altair and Evie’s backs.

Better to let them handle the challenge they could see, and deal with the attack from behind. I dropped my jeans and shifted as I jumped forward, over Evie and Altair, onto the porch, and then right into the witch, snapping my jaws at him as he stopped chanting and fell back, screaming.

That was the problem with bringing magic to a wolf fight. Maybe you could kill some wolves if you got the drop on them, but once they saw you? A single bite would change the course of any magic user’s life.

So I followed the witch down to the ground, planting myself on his chest and picking up one of his hands in my mouth. Slowly, carefully. A clear threat. Do anything, and you’ll either be dead or a wolf.

He went limp beneath me, giving up in an instant.

Behind me, the sounds of fighting only lasted a scant few seconds. After the confrontation where the lead witch had cast a spell at Aleks that had hit Viktor, Aleks had given the whole pack the same talk: when fighting witches, immediately threaten to bite, and if they don’t back down, then bite.

I pulled my jaws off the man’s hand and then tossed my head over my shoulder, back toward the center of the square, trying to tell him to get moving. When he started to get up, I growled. So he rolled onto his hands and knees and crawled his way toward the square, me right behind him.

CHAPTER 26

Altair

Why did this shit keep happening to me?

The ground opened up, and certainly, that was a thing I’d occasionally wished to happen—that I could disappear and just stop dealing with whatever trials were before me.

But why couldn’t that have happened with Ivan or in the witches’ cage, instead of while there was a witch flinging spells at a young girl?

All right, perhaps they were flinging spells at me, but Evie was there at my side, her shoulders bunched up and claws splayed wide in the dirt, snarling and barking.

I only saw a flash of Leo’s face before he was gone, hidden behind the visage of a wolf, running past me over the porch.

Another witch was back there. As I dragged at my legs, trying to pull myself free, the witch in front of us gathered another spell, weaving power through her fingers.

Evie barked and threw herself forward, but the witch’s hand lashed out, and Evie went sailing through the air. She landed on the hard-packed ground with a yelp.

That sound set me free. She’d hurt Evie.

Maybe she meant to hurt me, but I didn’t give a damn, because Evie’s slight body threw up dirt as she skidded through it.

The witches used wolves, just like they’d used me, and I wasn’t going to let them put a hand on her.

Or a spell.

None of it.

A second later, I was running across the square, faster than any human could move. The witch tossed out a spell that crackled above me when she flinched back, setting the dry leaves in a nearby tree aflame.

With a snarl, I grabbed her and yanked her in close.

My fangs tore through her throat and I gulped down her blood, swallow after swallow. It was the first time in ages that I’d drank without hesitation, without a modicum of patience at all.

Life zinged through my limbs, but the taste was . . . off. It wasn’t much better than the rats. I didn’t know if that was the magic, or my fury and fear souring the whole thing.

The witches were bad enough, but had they brought Ivan with them? It was dark, and any moment, he could come out . . .

He wouldn’t. There were only the two witches—this one, and the one Leo had caught. I didn’t see any others.

If Ivan came, he’d come with a small army. He’d always been a fan of overkill.

Above me, the flames went out. The magic fading with her.

With a sick clench to my stomach, I pulled my mouth off the woman. I dropped her, and she fell dead and gray on the ground.