I was in the middle of wondering how many vamps could possibly be a part of this attack, my muscles heavy from the continuous effort, when Brock and I finally came face to face with the seethe lord.
He stood in the open field alone, chest heaving, dead eyes wild, fangs fully extended as we obliterated those under his command.
Brock moved in front of me and crouched low, baring his teeth while a deep, dangerous growl rang from his throat. The sound made the little hairs on my arms stand on end. The gray wolf was twice as large as a normal wolf … and twice as deadly.
“Come and meet your death, old man!” I shouted. Black, ashy vampire innards coated my blade, its purple glow seeping through the dust in thin menacing rays. This motherfucker was about to realize what I was capable of.
The seethe lord’s nostrils flared and he met my gaze with boiling rage. “A new dawn is coming,” he declared, his voice barely human as it dripped with a tangible feel of death. “You’re either with us or you’re dead.”
He must have recognized he was outnumbered and overpowered, because he growled, a beastly sound, and then, fast as a jagged strike of lightning, he was gone—zipping through the trees in a cowardly retreat.
“Oh, hell no!” I shouted, sidestepping Brock, and gave chase.
I was one of the fastest sprinters at the Bounty Hunter Academy. I tired out too quickly for long distances, but I could run two hundred meters faster than anyone before collapsing into a heaving heap. Could I run as fast as a vampire? No. But I might cut the distance between us enough to put a bullet in the back of his head.
‘Woman!’ Brock roared through our link before I registered pounding footsteps on my trail. A whole pack of them.
Without answering, I pushed forward. I was too focused on pumping my legs and arms and keeping from slicing myself open with my own katana. I didn’t like loose ends. Loose ends came back to bite you in the ass. I wasn’t going to sleep with one eye open, fearing this undead douchebag was going to suck me dry in my sleep. I wasn’t about to have a baby with a bunch of enemies running around.
There! His body was no more than a blurred streak, but it was just in front of me. I dropped my katana—it would only slow me down to sheath it—and I pulled my Glock.
I fired two shots at the blur, but nothing happened.
That’s when Tianna chose to make her grand entrance. Light exploded, bright as the fucking summer sun, and I shrank back, raising an arm to shield my eyes. Training my vision on the forest floor so as not to blind myself, I used my peripheral vision to figure out what the hell was happening.
Tianna, in all her glory, was holding her hands out before her, sunlight pouring from her palms in distinct rays.
The seethe lord crashed to his knees with a painful hiss, trying to shield his face and eyes.
Brock, Reo, Haru, and most of Brock’s wolves caught up with me. Molly was bringing up the rear when Cass zoomed into sight atop his hoverboard.
Positioning himself in front of me, my alpha charged ahead, running straight toward the sunlight.
‘No way! This is my kill,’ I called, running after him.
That vampire asshat almost got Cass, Molly, and me killed the night we tried to capture Calista. I owed the seethe lord some payback.
Brock growled into my mind. ‘He attacked on my land. He’s my kill.’
Taking down a seethe lord was ten times harder than killing a regular ol’ vampire. Lords often had centuries of power layered beneath those dusty bones, enough to withstand the sunlight Tianna was throwing at him, which would have been sufficient to kill a newer vamp, but would only stun him for a moment. No doubt it would take both of us to finish off the vamp lord. I wished I hadn’t dropped my katana back there.
Brock’s muscles scrunched up, signaling that he was about to lunge, when Tianna let loose her own battle cry. Damn, was this woman fierce. Her cry was primal, and I responded to it instantly, wanting justice to be served—now.
Her light extinguished, but only for a moment. When it returned, it was brighter than before, setting the seethe lord aflame.
Holy shit! I hadn’t realized she could do that!
Brock and I skidded to a stop, and Reo stepped forward to place the hilt of my katana in my hand.
“Thanks,” I muttered.
Hearing, and especially smelling, a vampire burning alive was decidedly unpleasant, and I wished to end it quickly. Kicking off the ground, I leapt up, squinting against the bright light, and came down sideways. With one swift slice, I released the seethe lord’s head from his body. Tianna’s light fizzled as the head plopped to the ground, all magical flames extinguished.
With a grin, I spun around and met Brock’s wolfish gaze. “That was easier than I tho—”
Something slammed into my back, knocking me forward and stealing my breath as I scrambled not to fall flat on my stomach or impale myself and my baby with my blade. I managed to fall onto my side with the sword next to me when warm, hot magic pressed against my back and I gasped for air.
Brock whimpered, nudging me with his nose. “Fuck! The vampire had a killing curse attached to him.” Tianna’s voice broke through my oxygen-deprived haze. “Whoever kills him will also meet their death.”
Brock’s panicked howl raised goose bumps on my entire body as I prepared to die.
“Evie!” Cass jumped from his hoverboard as I started to see spots. Some of them might have been from Tianna’s lights after we were once more plunged into darkness, but I knew most of them weren’t. I couldn’t breathe. The spell was sucking the oxygen from my body.
“Can you stop it?” Cass begged his new woman.
I focused on Tianna’s boots as they entered my scope of vision. Then yellow and green flashes of magic illuminated the night. They bounced off my skin, hitting the ground, to no avail.
“No.” Tianna sounded utterly horrified.
The baby.
No.
Anger flared inside me. I was not going out like this. No. Fucking. Way. I was Evie Black. I may have thought I was a dud my entire life, but I wasn’t. I was a badass witch, kitsune hybrid—
Kitsune.
“Shift!” Molly shouted at the same time I had that exact thought.
My kitsune form could maybe heal this. I had to believe that. Struggling to push the panic down, I attempted to calm my mind, and called forth my kitsune. Reo and Haru were bent on their knees behind Brock as if in prayer, but I forced my attention on the shift and on Brock’s burning amber gaze.
‘You can’t die, I’m in love with you,’ he said.
I blinked up at him, trying to decide if I was so oxygen deprived that I was hallucinating.
My bones started to crack as consciousness began to leave me. I had to shift before it was too late.
Forcing the image of myself as a kitsune to completely fill my mind, I pictured my thick coat of rust-colored fur, violet eyes, and three tails. I focused on the purple glow of my kitsune magic.
Dizziness washed over me as the shift finally took over, making the trees above me spin. Brock nuzzled me, but he was helpless to stop this curse. If Tianna couldn’t save me, and if my kitsune couldn’t … I was gone. And I’d take our unborn baby with me.
7 Dead. Just Kidding.
The moment my body completed its shift to a kitsune, purple healing light shot from my center, encircling my body. When it wrapped around my neck, I dragged in a deep, gasping breath and shuddered as if a huge fucking boulder had been lifted from my chest. Though it hurt to pull in air, my throat and lungs strained to the point of pain, it also felt good.
Sweet relief. I was alive.
Brock sagged against me, nestling his large wolf body next to mine on the ground as all I could do was focus on breathing in and out.
“Another tail!” Molly squealed excitedly.
Dude. Fuck my tails. I almost died.
A small hand stroked my back. Cass. I’d recognize his tiny, four-fingered hands anywhere. I probably nearly gave my bestie a heart attack.
‘Want me to punch her?’ Cass asked, and I chuckled, which as a fox came off as a weird chuffing sound.
‘No. She’s just being Molly.’ I lay there, breathing slowly, just allowing my body to fill up with oxygen.
Brock nuzzled my belly, probably worried about the baby.
‘I’m sure she’s fine,’ I told him.
‘He,’ Brock corrected, and I grinned.
Fucker.
‘I thought I was going to lose you both,’ he said, and all thoughts of him being a fucker whisked away.
‘Me too.’ With a heavy sigh, I rose to my feet, and he followed. I wobbled at first, but then steadied.
He’d said he loved me. Was that only because he thought I was dying? I hadn’t said it back because I was, you know, dying. Oh God, epic fail. If I said it now, it’d be weird. Maybe he hadn’t meant to say it, but fuck if I didn’t really want him to mean it. Because dammit, somewhere along the line I’d fallen in love with him too, as crazy as that sounded. This one night stand that had turned into a pregnancy had now blossomed into love without any input from me.
Tianna crouched down in front of us and looked between Brock, Cass, and me. “Hate to break up the threesome, but I don’t think Evie should shift back just yet. I fear the curse could still be attached to her human form. I’d like to see a witch friend about it first.”
The cracking of bones signaled Brock changing form. Yep. He was about to lose his shit. Me, on the other hand? I was still too in shock that I’d almost died to really focus on the fact that I might be stuck as a fox for a while.
Once Brock was back to being a beautiful naked man, he roared, “What do you mean, attached to her human form?”
Tianna rolled her eyes. “Calm down, baby daddy. It’s just a hunch, but I’d rather be safe than sorry.”
Brock’s jaw twitched at her use of “baby daddy,” but I guessed Tianna wasn’t fond of being yelled at by a huge naked alpha werewolf, so I didn’t blame her.
‘Ask her if she knows Willemena,’ I told Cass.
The furry imp looked up at his woman. “Lover, do you think Willemena Worst could help with this?”
Tianna gave him a smoldering look. “You read my mind, sugar plum.”
Eww.
But I was glad that she thought Willemena could help. Gran trusted the witch, which meant so did I.
“Will she come here?” Brock asked. I knew that me leaving his property wasn’t going to happen right now. The alpha was sure to go into super protective, possessive mode after all that had happened. Besides, I was a fox. Not much I could do to track a killer siren when I was all furry. And I had an ex-boyfriend scheduled to show up tomorrow morning. Fuck!
Tianna shrugged. “For the right price, a witch will go wherever.”
Brock growled low in his throat. “Then have her name her price and tell her it’s done. Evie won’t be leaving my side, and I can’t leave my land after this attack. I have to report it to the werewolf council.”
The werewolf council? Great, that was just what we needed. More attention, and bigwigs breathing down our necks.