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Knox’s jaw tightened. He clearly thought I was being an insufferable smartass. It was written all over his gorgeous face. "Through the Wards?"

"Yep."

"Impossible."

My temper immediately flared. Who the hell did he think he was? Slamming my hand to my hip, I huffed, "Okay, Dead Guy, I don't know what to tell you. I put one Doc Marten in front of the other and walked right through."

"Don't call me Dead Guy."

"Stop being dead for a hundred years, and we'll revisit it."

A flicker of pure, unadulterated exasperation crossed Knox's face. I almost laughed, but bit the inside of my cheek to stop it. Yes, I was being a brat, but the dude was pushing all my buttons– and I knew he wasn't done.

Without another word, he turned on his heel and marched toward the shimmering, purple geometric patterns pulsing in the air.

"They hit back," I warned, crossing my arms and staying exactly where I was.

Of course, Knox gave me a classic, arrogant Dragon Guardsman look over his shoulder, entirely unconvinced that a barrier could hold someone as powerful.

Who was I to argue? I decided to let him have his moment. I watched as he raised a heavy, armored hand to reach out and touch the translucent line while holding my breath.

And just like that… BAM! CRACKLE!

Sparks exploded violently. Knox didn't go flying back into the dirt like I had, but the concussive force was massive enough to force him to violently jerk his hand back. Oh! And there was smoke curling from his gauntlet.

Naturally, I smirked, leaning against my rock blockade. "Told you."

Knox glared at his hand, then back at me. When he spoke, his voice was so tight that I wondered how he actually got the words out. "You could've been more specific."

"I said they hit back. How much more specific did you need? Do you want a spreadsheet?"

Knox let out a heavy plume of smoke from his nostrils. It was obvious that he was processing the grim reality just as I had. The rules of wherever we were made no sense. I could enter effortlessly, and somehow he'd ended up inside them, but neither of us could leave. And with the Hellmouth doing a lot of burping and hissing around us, I thought standing in the open was an invitation to get dead– for real.

I saw the exact second that he decided to get all Neanderthal on me, and sadly, I couldn’t get my mouth open fast enough.

"Stay behind me," he ordered, his tone shifting into full military command.

I didn't move. "No."

Knox frowned, clearly assuming I simply hadn't grasped the severity of the situation. "I said, 'Stay behind me'."

"And I said no."

Knox stepped closer, towering over me. "You didn't actually say anything."

"I did in my head. Very loudly."

Before he could stop me, I turned and started walking. Strolling right past him, my houndstooth boots kicked up gray ash so it looked like I was leaving him in my dust.

I had made it about ten feet when the pigheaded, overbearing Dragon reached out his large, calloused hand and clamped those large fingers firmly around my wrist.

The instant his skin touched mine, the world turned upside-down, inside-out, and did The Twist as an encore.

I hadn’t been able to Shift, or draw on very much of my Magic since I wandered through the Wards, but my Alicorn Sight wasn't an active spell I had to cast. It was Elemental, a visceral reaction built into my very DNA. Hidden, disguised, or concealed Magic didn't stay hidden for long once my Sight got hold of it. It dragged the truth into the light.

BOOM. BAM. POW.

A blinding, cataclysmic explosion of pastel and sparkling light erupted between us. Knox let out a deafening roar of pure shock. I violently yanked my hand to my chest, and no sooner had I taken a step backward than an ugly, black and red sigil suddenly wrapped around his forearm.