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  Keegan stepped beside Eva. “What if that druid brings his boss? That’s right, what if Ardan is on his way and we all die and your mate can’t even shift and fly away? We need to remove the tracker spell. Now!”

  I reached out and let my hand stroke Logan’s arm. “It’s okay. I got myself into this. I need to face the reality of it.” I was a major wuss with pain. Like, bump my foot on the edge of the couch and scream like a dying cat wuss. But I would do what needed to be done to keep the pack safe.

  Logan sighed, resigned. His body moved to the side, opening up room for me to stand just in time to see Danny turn to Eva. “What are you thinking of doing?”

  Eva looked at me sadly and then turned to Danny. “A complete blood eradication spell.”

  I could tell from the way Danny winced, every muscle in his body flinched, that this would hurt like nothing I had ever experienced.

  “Feel free to just knock me out first,” I said nervously, using humor as my fallback, but secretly hoping someone would just hit me over the head and knock me out for reals.

  “You need to be conscious for the spell to work dear.” Her voice held a sadness and I knew she didn’t take pleasure in what was about to happen.

  Logan slipped his hand in mine, glaring at Eva, no doubt wanting to intervene.

  ‘I got this,’ I told him, but his face didn’t change.

  Gear’s falcon gave a soft caw and I frowned. “Can we help Gear? Do you need a scale?”

  Last time, one of Logan’s scales had fixed Nadine right up, so maybe we could patch Gear first and then hit me with the pain of a thousand burning suns.

  Eva was rubbing her hands together to warm them. “Gear will be fine. I’ll heal him next. This must be done now. They’ve been following us ever since we left the club. Gear says they are about twenty minutes behind us. We need to break the spell and get back on the road.”

  I looked around. We were in the field of a heavily-treed rest stop and it was pitch black. It must have been the middle of the night.

  I dropped Logan’s hand and stepped forward. “Do it.” I flinched, balling my hands into fists and tensing every muscle I had.

  Eva looked at me and then at Keegan. “Hold him,” she murmured, and Keegan rushed forward to pull Logan back.

  “Hey, what the hell!” Logan yelled, fighting his friend.

  “I’m sorry,” Eva muttered, and clapped her hands together loudly. When she pulled them apart, there was a yellow glowing geometrical shape between her palms. “I’m going to cleanse every one of your cells of any magical spell. They will all be broken, including the one I put on you to cover your scent.”

  I just nodded, feeling the urge to run. Knowing something was going to hurt and willingly walking into it was against my self-preservation, but I forced myself to stand there. As she held her hands over my head and brought the yellow glowing geometric shape over my face, a white-hot pain seared my skull. A scream tore from my lips and it haunted me to know that it was my own. I didn’t recognize the sound.

  “Hold her!” Eva yelled, and suddenly arms were around me, holding me up, keeping me from falling. My sense of smell told me it was Sophie.

  “You got this,” Sophie said firmly in my ear as her grip around my elbows tightened.

  Eva moved the shape farther down my face towards my neck and the pain intensified. “No, stop!” I screamed, as the searing heat nearly brought me to my knees. A black smoke was coming off of my face, and I had a horrible thought: Was she burning me? I could hear commotion behind me as Logan struggled against Keegan’s hold.

  “Eva!” Logan growled, and I knew his dragon was close to the surface.

  Eva looked like she was in pain herself, her forehead covered in sweat, her hands shaking. “Danny, ground me,” she called out, and Danny rushed up behind her, placing a hand on each of her shoulders. The moment his hands touched her, he winced.

  Blackness was creeping at the edges of my vision as I swayed on my feet.

  “Keep her conscious or it doesn’t work!” Eva yelled to Sophie.

  Sophie shook me. Hard. “Stay awake, buttercup!” she said through gritted teeth.

  My entire head felt like it was being squeezed in a vise, and at the same time like someone had thrown boiling hot water on it. My dragon flared to life then, lending me some of her strength as another wave of pain crash through me. Eva brought the yellow shape to my heart; black smoke was leaking out of my every pore. The burning was causing me to have a full-blown panic attack. Was I going to light on fire?

  “What. The. Hell. Is. This?” I said between labored breaths as the black smoke left my skin and floated towards the sky.

  Eva moved the geometrical shape down to my abdomen and I whimpered, sagging against Sophie’s chest, pain exploding in my belly. I couldn’t take any more. I couldn’t. This pain was as if every single cell in my body had been cut in half, electrocuted, and then burned.

  Eva’s face contorted in agony. “This,” she said with great effort, “is black magic.”

  My stomach dropped. I knew it. I knew I shouldn’t have trusted Jeanine. I had been scared and didn’t think things through.

  Keegan’s growl from behind me pulled my attention away from the pain for a half a second. “They’re here!” he shouted.

  Eva paled. “I’m sorry, Sloane.”

  My eyebrows knitted together in confusion. “For wh—?” Pain like I could never imagine exploded in my legs as Eva rushed the geometric shape down the rest of my body, stopping at my feet. Black smoke puffed up so thick and strong that I couldn’t see … and that’s when I passed out.

  When I came to, there was screaming. A lot of it.

  “Gear!” Nadine yelled as my eyes peeled open and the mother of all aches slammed into my body. I felt like I’d been hit by a truck and then given the flu for good measure.

  “Keegan!” Sophie screamed.

  So much screaming. I let my eyes adjust, and what I saw stole my breath. Chaos had descended on this small rest stop in California. I could hardly process everything at once. Logan was in dragon form, his outstretched wings pinned to the ground like a staked tent. At each wing was a druid holding the metal stake, Keegan crouched before Logan, like a sentinel ready to take on Steven—the Irish druid that I now very much wanted to kill.

  Nadine was fighting a hunter with her left hand, using a dagger to jab and thrust at him, while keeping Gear’s falcon tucked tightly in her right. She was careful not to further injure his wing, but in the process was having a hard time with the bushy-haired hunter.

  My attention was thrown back to Logan when Steven, standing before him, thrust his hands out—Keegan’s wolf was tossed to the side by an unseen force, snarling and growling the entire way. Wind. Hadn’t Logan said he was a wind druid? Keegan landed before a pack of hunters and I could see now that Danny was holding at least a dozen hunters off, while Eva and Jeanine went head to head, throwing yellow magic spells like they were water balloons just off to his side.

  This was what it must be like for people in war zones, I thought sadly. So much going on, so many people getting hurt, that you froze and didn’t even know what to process first. I was frozen. It was too much, I didn’t even know where to look. I could hear Ruben’s bear and Dom’s cat growling but I couldn’t see them. It was pandemonium.

  Sophie’s blond hair suddenly appeared before me, her face swimming into view. She reached out firmly and grabbed each of my arms, hauling me into a standing position. I hadn’t even realized I was sitting down. My body screamed in protest; the aches were bad but it wasn’t the searing pain from before. Aches I could handle.

  Where was Cooper, Dom, Ruben, Roxy? My mind was frazzled and I didn’t know what to do. Apparently, neither did Sophie. “Do something,” she said, and her eyes glowed yellow with the force of her inner coyote.

  As if those words alone spurred me into action, my dragon began to rip from my skin. Do something. Me. She wasn’t asking anyone else, because next to Logan I was the
most powerful person on our team and I needed to pull my shit together and prove it. I would not let anyone die because of my mistakes—my need to run away from everything. Apparently, my need to breathe in dark magic as well.

  Jeanine’s spell had been broken. My dragon could come forth and come forth she did. Faster than ever before, those red pearlescent scales flared along my limbs, and Sophie stepped back with a grin. My bones cracked and my muscles bulked until I was standing on my hind legs, ready to fight.

  Sophie approached me with her harpoon lowered. “I’m riding you,” she stated and I lost sight of her behind my wings.

  What did she just—? A heavy weight crashed down on my back and I groaned. What the hell did she think I was, a circus elephant?

  “They’re going to kill Logan. Fly!” she roared in my ear. Damn, this woman was annoying, but she was right. The Irish druid was throwing red ball after red ball at Logan, and I could feel my own chest searing just watching it. Logan was breathing fire right back at him, but the druid had a shield up and so it was bouncing off and scorching the ground.

  ‘We’re coming!’ I tried to use the newly formed bond. I still hadn’t fully processed this mate thing but in this case the mind speak would be a benefit.

  Logan’s eyes met mine from across the grass. ‘No. Stay safe.’

  I growled, kicking up off the ground, trying to adjust for Sophie’s weight.

  ‘I’m not leaving you. Besides if you die, I die, remember?’

  “Oh shit!” Sophie said from behind my shoulder blades. I tried to move my head to see what she was referring to and she nearly fell as I did. “Who brings a school bus of kids to a rest stop at 3 AM!” she shouted, and that’s when I saw it. A giant yellow school bus was driving quite fast into the rest stop, about to see two dragons fighting men with red magic. Perfect. Really a quite perfect way to end this day, traumatizing the young minds of America.

  “Screw it. Just get me over the top of them.” Sophie kicked my ribs and I whipped my head back to nip her ankle.

  Bitch. I’m not a horse, I thought, and was only sorry I couldn’t tell her so.

  “Sorry,” she muttered.

  I was hovering about three feet off the ground, constantly slipping too far left or too far right because I wasn’t used to a human passenger. I’d also only flown a handful of times and always under the stress of life or death. I pumped my wings to get myself higher, and then I heard Sophie load her harpoon gun. Her voice was low and deadly. “These arrows are tipped with magic. I can probably kill the minions, but the big guy won’t be fazed. We need another plan for him.”

  I nodded, which felt really weird with my big red dragon head that I was pretty sure had spikes on it. I had yet to look in a mirror in this form. So, I needed to lower her in to shoot the druids that had Logan’s wings, and then figure out something special for Steven.

  Here goes nothing.

  I pumped my wings as fast as I could, trying to keep from tipping so I didn’t throw Sophie off. The druids didn’t even notice us until we were right on top of them. I was about twelve feet high when Sophie loosed her first harpoon. It sailed through the air, right at the druid holding Logan’s right wing, and sank skillfully into his neck, shattering his protective shield like it was nothing. Thank you, Eva; spelled arrows were the shit. The injured druid collapsed to the ground, and that’s when mayhem erupted. Steven looked up and I had barely any time to think before a red ball of fire was hurtling at me.

  “Dive!” Sophie yelled and I did. I dove right for him, curving my body so that the red energy ball went over my head and hopefully not into Sophie’s face. I mean, we weren’t best friends, but I didn’t want her killed.

  “Sonofabitch!” Sophie yelled, and I heard another arrow leave her gun. This one stuck in Steven’s foot and he roared, face marred with fury. Within seconds he was gone, blinked out of existence. What the hell? I would never get used to seeing that. Logan’s wings were still harpooned to the ground even though it was no longer manned by the druid, who now lay dead on the green grass. The other druid, who had been at Logan’s left wing, had pulled out a red glowing knife and was walking around behind Logan.

  “I’m out of arrows!” Sophie yelled and I internally cursed.

  ‘Druid coming up behind you with a knife!’ I told Logan.

  He was pulling hard on the harpoons, but they were only serving to tear his leathery wing skin more, which made him flinch and fall forward, losing balance.

  Screw this. I took off flapping like a maniac, feeling that familiar burning in my stomach. I let it heat up, intensify to the point of boiling. I could feel Sophie pinching my back with her thighs to hold on as I struggled to get behind Logan fast enough to take out the druid. The moment I saw him, arm raised with a glowing knife in his hand, the boiling overflowed. With a roar, I streamed fire onto the druid and was surprised to find that it was purple in color and dripping with magic. My aim was a bit off and I scorched part of the ground, and then only half of the druid, but it was enough to make him drop the knife and run backward, rolling to put out the fire.

  “Let me down. I’ll unhook Logan,” Sophie said, and I dropped myself slowly to the ground. The second I landed, Sophie leapt off and ran for Logan’s left wing. I walked like a drunk T-rex to the front of Logan so he could see me better and so I could protect him from Steven, if he came back. As I was waddling in my awkward dragon body to get around the front, I saw someone who made me stop dead. Those eyes. They were just like in my drawing, my dream. The dark-skinned man, those honey-colored eyes—the meditating waterfall druid. He was wearing a white tunic top over grey linen pants, and on his wrists were silver cuffs. In each hand was a staff with a glowing orange crystal at the end.

  Oh shit.

  We were dead. Between Steven and this guy, there was no way we could fight them off.

  The air crackled and Steven appeared before me, but this time he wasn’t alone. This time he was with the most god-awful, scariest man I’d ever seen in my life. He stood at nearly seven feet tall, dark brown hair threaded through with grey, slicked back into a ponytail. His body was such a mass of muscle it looked as if he had eaten Ruben for a snack. But it wasn’t the extreme build that had my dragon legs weakening. This man radiated power. Unseen lines of energy were flicking off of him in waves and I could barely stand to be near him. I had the strangest urge to bow my head in submission.

  He took one greedy look at Logan and I, then turned behind him to look at the oncoming dark-skinned man with the two staffs. My dream man. We were so dead. Three powerful druids. There was no way we would survive this.

  “Isaac!” the big scary man spat, turning to face the oncoming druid, and a tiny thread of hope weaved its way into my heart. The way he said his name was the way I said Sophie’s the night she’d pushed me. They weren’t friends.

  “Ardan,” Isaac acknowledged through gritted teeth. Ardan? As in the guy who’d ripped Logan’s arm off Ardan?

  Holy mother. This Isaac guy must be the one that Eva was taking us to. The good druid. If there was such a thing.

  In a blinding motion, Ardan threw out his arm and a red lightning bolt headed straight for Isaac. But just as quick, he threw up his staffs and the orange balls on top absorbed the lightning. Ardan didn’t let up; the lightning streak wasn’t one short burst, but a long stream of electricity flowing right into Isaac’s staff. Then Isaac brought the tip of the staff into the earth. I saw the red fire brought into the ground and absorbed by the earth. The lighting was reflecting in Isaac’s eyes and they glowed with a reddish hue. It was terrifying.

  “Still using your old tricks. It will take more than that to kill me,” Isaac announced over the crackling of the building lightning.

  With a sonic boom, Ardan clapped his hands together and the lightning broke off. The force of it threw me backward into Logan. He was human now, having been un-staked and wearing a torn pair of pants. When had he shifted? Sophie had torn the base of her t-shirt to create two strips to t
ie around Logan’s injured shoulder, while simultaneously giving us a view of her killer abs. Typical. Then I heard Nadine grunt off to the right, and Sophie ran to help her fight off more hunters. Jesus, how many were there and where was the rest of the pack? I tried not to think of anything too dark. That anyone was … dead.

  I brought my gaze back to the fight before me. The blast didn’t seem to have ruffled Isaac. He was standing like a sentry with his two staffs outstretched, ready for whatever Ardan had to throw at him.

  What caught my attention was Steven. He had slithered away from his boss and was now stalking towards us with a glowing red dagger in his hand.

  ‘Fly off with Sophie. She’ll keep you safe,’ Logan said, as he stepped in front of me holding a gun in one hand and his green glowing blade in the other.

  I started my shift back to human. ‘No way. You die, I die, remember? We stick together.’

  I knew that if he hopped on my back I could fly away and we would both survive, but there was no way we would leave the pack. I couldn’t live with that, and neither could he.

  Logan looked back at me and growled. ‘Don’t make me cage you,’ he warned.

  I was in too much pain to acknowledge that. My body was still recovering from Eva’s little torture session, and I still wasn’t used to shifting. By the time I looked up, Logan had popped off two bullets at Steven’s chest, but Steven dodged one and the other he took in the arm, but he just kept walking quickly at my mate, wearing a maniacal grin. My mate. That word was weird and comforting at the same time.

  When I was finally fully shifted, I glanced up to see Ardan being wrapped in the roots of thick branches that had climbed up from the ground, Isaac standing over him, grinning. But then Ardan poofed away with his little parlor trick and reappeared right behind Isaac. The good druid was ready. He spun around, knocking the tip of his staff into Ardan’s chest, tossing him backward ten feet.

  With a roar, Ardan produced a basketball-sized globe of red fire and chucked it at Isaac. It was traveling at an alarming rate, and Isaac barely dodged it. Part of the ball clipped his shoulder, the rest dissipating when it hit the ground leaving behind a scorched mark in the earth. I noticed one of the crystals on the staff in Isaac’s right hand dimmed as crimson blood seeped from the wound on his arm.