Had the siren brought reinforcements? Or had something snuck through the gate that I was supposed to be guarding? Both prospects had me leery.
The water was deeper here. I was forced to wade, the water level past my ankles and gushed downhill like a river.
“How is she so powerful? This is unheard of for an ordinary siren,” I told Cass. When we’d originally captured her, she’d been a tough mark, but nothing like this.
“Maybe she’s not ordinary,” Cass offered.
That simple yet enlightening comment set off a light bulb in my head, and I stopped dead in my tracks. “Do you think she’s witch bound?” I hissed.
Wide-eyed, Cass screeched to a halt on his board. “That would explain how she’s so powerful.”
I stroked the hilt of the katana, lost in thought. “If she’s tied to a witch, it’d explain how she had enough power to kill Gran, and make it look like an accident.”
Cass’ brows knit together. “Any witches on Gran’s shit list?”
I shrugged. “Not that I know of.”
Then a deep howl rang out, one filled with pain and anguish. It made the hairs on my arms stand up, because somehow I knew it was Brock.
“Brock!” I shouted, breaking into a full-on run. Pushing over turbulent water, I passed through a thicket of trees that opened into a meadow. Or what used to be a meadow. It was now a pond, and in its center was the biggest beast I’d ever seen—a demon giant from the looks of it. He stood over twenty feet tall, with thick, black velvet horns protruding from his forehead.
‘What the hell is that?’ I asked my partner through our mind link.
‘A sulfur giant from the sulfur mines of the underworld,” Cass informed me. “They mostly eat sulfur, but have also been known to snack on small children.’
My heart nearly stopped at his declaration.
‘Let’s kill it.’ I lurched forward, wading into the center of the pond.
The giant had gored Brock, who lay on his side, half in and half out of the water. A few of his pack members appeared to be dead or unconscious, and about half a dozen other ones were biting at the giant’s legs, to no avail.
For a pack to take down a beast in animal form, they needed to be able to reach its jugular. My guess was that they’d arrived as werewolves to investigate the water, and when they’d found the giant demon, wished they’d all come in human form carrying shotguns.
‘I have a plan,’ I told Cass, then quickly rattled it off.
He cursed but accepted it as our only real shot. We couldn’t let this thing reach town; too many children to snack on down there.
I had no idea where the siren was, but I’d deal with her when I could. First, I needed to save my baby daddy.
Cass flew straight at the giant, flapping his wings while he zipped by him on his magical skateboard. The giant’s attention immediately fell to my bestie, as he swiped the air like he was trying to bat at a mosquito. As soon as I confirmed the distraction was working, I waded toward Brock, moving as fast as the water allowed.
The giant demon roared at Cass, shooting red sparks from his mouth.
Holy crap!
Picking up the pace, I holstered my gun in order to grab hold of Brock’s neck scruff. I needed to get him out of the water so he could rest, and his werewolf healing could get to work. The gash on his ribcage was nasty, bleeding freely, coloring the water around him in dark, inky pools.
With a groan, I heaved him back and away from the beast as two of his wolves flanked me, snarling ferociously. I hoped they recognized me, or understood that I was helping their alpha. I couldn’t deal with an attack on both Brock and me. He was heavier than a bag of bricks, but I pushed through it, tugging his body with everything I had. With a final grunt, I pulled him off to the side and collapsed.
‘Stun spell didn’t work. It only pissed him off more!’ Cass barked through our mind link.
Shit.
I stood, still panting and ready for plan B, when Brock’s muzzle clamped down on my pant leg, keeping me from leaving. My gaze met his and I shook my head. “Let me go. We can’t let that thing get into town. It’ll kill innocents. Lots of them.”
He growled and only held onto my pant leg tighter. From his position lying on his side, his grip shouldn’t have been this strong, but he didn’t let go. Even half dying he wanted to protect his baby. Only when Cass yelped did his eyes become conflicted.
Crouching down low I met Brock’s gaze directly. Something dangerous to do to an alpha, when he was in his wolf form, and injured to boot. “Let me go or I’ll never forgive you,” I warned.
I recognized the moment he gave up. A defeated look crossed his face as he relaxed his jaw, collapsing heavily onto the saturated forest ground. Already too much blood surrounded him.
Wasting no time, I charged forward, pulling my Glock out again as I went. The moment I had a clear shot, I popped off three rapid bursts into the beast’s belly.
“Alright, motherfucker, time to go night-night!” I shouted as Cass flew by me on his board. He hopped off, and a second later I hopped on it. I’d ridden the thing before, but it was better suited to Cass’ small stature. It wobbled beneath me—nearly out of the magic Cass had powered it with back at the truck. The charge only lasted so long. I just hoped it would last long enough for me to lop the giant’s head off.
My bullets only served to enrage him further. The giant beast reached out big meaty paws, swiping at me furiously. While trying to remain steady on the board, I crouched and used my ankles to roll left or right and direct it. When I got behind him, I pulled my katana from the sheath looped over my belt. Its faint purple glow was now a shocking fuchsia.
Please cut the shit out of this thing.
I readied myself to slice into the giant’s back when the board started to lose power.
No!
I had to decide what to do fast. The thing was already sputtering beneath me.
Instead of thinking, I reacted. I jumped, exploding from the dying board, sword held at the ready, and using my momentum, the blade slid into the beast’s back all the way up to the hilt. Using it as a handhold, I gripped it hard with both hands and prepared for the inevitable thrashing that would follow.
A deep roar erupted from the giant’s chest, vibrating his whole body. He spun wildly, grabbing at his back with his massive hands.
But I held on tightly.
My sword quivered, sending pulses of electricity through me and into the beast. They were so strong that I almost let go. Almost.
Without warning, I heard a pop, and some unseen force flung me backward. I flew off the beast’s back as his body exploded into a thousand pieces, sending guts and shards of purple light outward.
Making sure to keep hold of my sword and not cut off my own head, I crashed into the ankle-deep water, smacking down—hard. The air whooshed from my body and I gasped, trying to pull it back into it.
The beast had detonated as if I’d nuked it in the microwave.
What. The. Fuck?
Cass crept forward, admiring my sword. “What the hell is that thing?”
Honestly, I had no idea. My katana dripped black demon blood, but holy hell was it glorious.
“It did that, right?” I asked my pink furry bestie, as I gestured to the guts surrounding us with my glowing sword.
Cass nodded. “Yes, it did. You did. You both—”
“Evie!” Brock cried out, anguish dripping from the one word as he half ran, half limped over to me.
My gaze connected with the alpha, who was stark naked, not bothering to cover anything. He held a hand to a bleeding ribcage wound, the gashes across it deep and nasty. But his attention was not on the tears in his flesh. His frantic yellow eyes were on me only.
Sabine, naked as well, ran up behind her alpha. She was trying to tend to his wound with some kind of green, leafy paste.
Brock breathed heavily, and I couldn’t tell if it was because of the pain he must be in, or because he was fighting a shift. I had the feeling it was the latter, and that his instincts were urging him to shift because of me.
“Are you okay?” he finally asked, his words not far removed from animal sounds. His pupils vacillated between human and wolf.
Heaving myself up out of the water with a suppressed groan, I stood. I felt like I’d just run a marathon. The water levels seemed to no longer be increasing, but Calista was still out there.
“I’m fine,” I assured. “Where’s the siren?”
“She was looking for the gate,” Brock grunted, “but we ran her off. Then this giant thing came out of nowhere.” He gestured to the blood and guts floating in the murky lake.
I followed his gaze until I sensed eyes on my back. Whirling around with my katana in front of me, I quickly brought it back down when I made out a tuft of purple hair peeking out from behind nearby woods.
“Molly, you can come out now,” I called out to her.
Our new apprentice stepped out hesitantly, a shotgun at her side. “Sorry. I just thought you might need help, but holy shit you were badass!”
The throbbing pain in my back would disagree. I looked down at my katana, still glowing faintly with… purple magic. Magic that I’d somehow activated. Take that, Black family bastards.
I held up the sword. “It was this thing, not me.”
Brock limped toward me, closing the distance between us while still holding his ribs. It took every ounce of my inner strength not to drop my gaze below his belly button to check him out, no matter what the circumstances.
“We should get the baby checked out. That was a hard fall.” He was bleeding heavily, skin pale.
“Worry about yourself. Your intestines are hanging out. Are you okay?” I moved toward him.
Another one of the wolves had shifted, a female with bright blond hair in a cute pixie cut. She was naked and glaring at me.
“Tell her, Brock,” she snapped. “Tell her why you’re not healing as well as you should.”
My heart hammered in my chest as the alpha swayed. I wanted to reach out a hand to steady him, but he was the alpha of this pack. I wouldn’t do anything to make him appear weak to his wolves. I knew how werewolves thought.
“Shut up, Tatum!” he barked at the pretty blonde without looking away from my gaze.
“What… why aren’t you healing?” My voice quivered.
“It’s nothing. I just need rest.”
“You need her off our land is what you need,” Tatum bit back.
I stepped backward as if she’d slapped me.
Brock spun on the female wolf. “Go home, Tatum! Now.”
Tatum looked cowed at her alpha’s anger. Tucking tail, she turned in the direction of the mansion.
“What did she mean?” I whispered. Was my presence here hurting Brock somehow?
He faced me, pain evident in every one of his features. “When Belinda transferred the cabin to you, it weakened my power. Anyone in my territory that claims to own it and isn’t pack… weakens me.”