Total pages in book: 80
Estimated words: 75539 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 378(@200wpm)___ 302(@250wpm)___ 252(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 75539 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 378(@200wpm)___ 302(@250wpm)___ 252(@300wpm)
“Where’s Cass?” Blake called out.
No answer. Did he already know his son was safe?
“That was helpful,” Blake said sarcastically. It got a dry chuckle out of me. We continued to hurry down the hall, the cries getting louder.
It didn’t matter in that moment. We entered the gala space and were greeted with a battlefield. Vibrant red mana flew through the air, shifters—a mix of wolves and predatory cats—dodging and ducking and leaping over tables, clawing at people’s faces and biting at their limbs. A vampire zoomed past me, grabbing a wolf shifter by the nape and tossing it across the room like it was made of paper. A sleek black panther snuck up behind her and took a nasty bite out of her thigh. Warrick sparred with a shifter that wielded a curved ivory scythe, cutting through the vines Warr sent whipping toward him from nearby potted plants,
“I don’t see my mom. They must have taken her to safety.”
“Good, let’s go.”
“Wait… Cass!”
Blake took off running. His friend was circled by two shifters, both of them in their human forms with their hands ending in sharp wolf claws. One of them had bloodred eyes that flickered over to me. He pinned his wolf ears back. His face was also more canine than human. His grin turned wicked as he effortlessly dodged a whip of red mana from behind him. Without turning, he flicked out a hand and sent a silver dagger flying through the air, impaling the Marvel’s throat and dropping him dead.
On his jacket was a cracked hourglass with the sand slipping out and forming an infinity symbol underneath it. The same emblem we found on the shifters that went after Blake.
Cassius fell to his knees, eyes shut in fear. Blake slammed into one of the shifters with his shoulder and dropped them both to the floor. I moved to join them, but the red-eyed shifter ignored Blake and Cassius and came running at me. He sent three daggers flying toward my chest. I broke all three of their momentums with quick balls of sand, solid as concrete. The daggers clattered to the floor.
I swung at him, a sand dagger forming in my fist. He laughed and blocked it with a forearm with the sleeve of his reinforced jacket. Another glinting blade appeared in his hand, and he moved to stab me. The pain from the tiger bite burned like wildfire, but I pushed past it, dodging the swing and retaliating with one of my own.
Fuck this.
I dropped the dagger and produced a sword in the same hand. Larger and more complicated items took me more energy to produce, so it wasn’t ideal in the midst of a full-out brawl, but I had to risk getting winded.
The red-eyed man chuckled, kicking aside a broken chair. “You’re full of tricks, aren’t you?”
“What group are you part of?”
Someone feet away gave a death cry. My heart hammered, my lungs burning as if I’d run a mile. It melded with the pain that continued to throb through my arm.
“A group that doesn’t need to answer to you.”
He raised his hand. The daggers were gone. Instead, he held a tiny black pouch. Dragonsbane.
Before I could think to react, a vine came whipping through the air and snatched the pouch out of his hand. The red-eyed shifter looked like he was set to explode with anger, his gaze jerking to my little brother. He blew the guy a kiss before he tossed the Dragonsbane.
A yelp yanked my attention. It had come from Blake. He had shifted, his timber wolf form shielding Cassius as the other wolf rushed toward him. I saw it all happen in slow motion. It was like before. I had to turn back time. Had to intervene.
And then Blake surprised me. He’d been feigning his apprehension. With the wolf in the air, Blake crouched on his haunches and propelled upward. He clamped his jaws around the other shifter’s throat and dropped them both to the ground.
His attacker was dead. Good.
Now, I could focus on mine.
The red-eyed man produced two more daggers in each of his hands. “Just surrender. Make it easier for everyone.”
“What do you mean surrender? What are you after?”
He narrowed his gaze. There was a scar that ran down his top lip. His buzz cut showed more scars around his ears and scalp.
Loud pops started to sound through the room. White-robed Enforcers entered the room through the surrounding doors, wielding staffs that channeled their mana into deadly precision. They launched missiles of mana through the air. The red-eyed shifter, for once in this fight, looked scared.
He didn’t answer my question. He shifted into a massive tawny-red wolf and ran like a bulldozer toward the window to our left.
Oh no, motherfucker.
I forced myself through the increasing exhaustion and channeled the flow of time. I shifted it, creating a dam by sticking my hand into the invisible river of stardust and sand. The wolf moved backward, as did everyone else in the room, landing him back in his spot before he shifted. Time slowed for a brief moment.