Total pages in book: 120
Estimated words: 112089 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 560(@200wpm)___ 448(@250wpm)___ 374(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 112089 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 560(@200wpm)___ 448(@250wpm)___ 374(@300wpm)
Pain crushed her senses for a moment—her energy was not on par for this—before she flung the enemy off. She turned and speared him through the back, and her spine screamed in agony. Straightening again, she kicked, and her hooves made contact with the chest of an enemy behind her.
Fatigue already dragged at her, much too early. The pain hindered her movements.
A gun blasted Niamh’s side, tearing into her flesh. She neighed, painfully pissed off. This battle was going all kinds of pear-shaped.
Ignoring the wound, she charged. Another enemy to her side lowered his gun and aimed for her. There were just too damn many of them. They were everywhere.
She stabbed one enemy with her horn and turned to the guy with the gun at her side, flinging a dying enemy at a live one. The guy with the magical gun kept his composure even as the body was whipping through the air at him. He took aim in close quarters, and his finger turned white as he depressed the trigger.
Niamh braced for impact. She’d withstood one of those blasts, and she could damn well take another.
A spell slammed into him just as he fired. Sebastian had shown up to the party. Thank all that was holy.
The blue-gray blast went high and wide, just missing Niamh’s flank. The body she’d thrown slammed into the enemy next, taking his suddenly lifeless form to the ground.
Sebastian stood on his bluff, straight and tall. Spell after intense spell hit those around her before he moved on to other areas of the battle. The spells scored across bodies and turned one poor sod almost inside out. They came at a blistering pace, as fast as Hollace’s lightning.
Bloody hell, that weird mage could sure sling magic. Niamh had never seen him go all out like this. He didn’t have to hold back for Jessie’s safety now. He could let his violent streak out to play, and he had violence in spades. Niamh was glad he was on their side.
She crashed into the back of an enemy as he lifted his magical blaster-thing at Broken Sue, then yanked her head to get him off her horn and speared another. Kicking, she got two more.
A hole opened up to her left, just in time for her to see Edgar at the edge of the battle. He bit an enemy and ripped with his hands at the same time, severing the carotid artery and disemboweling the man in one go. She’d forgotten about Edgar. Vampires did viciousness in their sleep, even the old, senile ones.
He ran on, and Niamh was surprised to see Nessa follow him with knives in hand, throwing weak spells before stabbing and slashing to take people down. She was using the vampire’s uncanny ability to move through dangerous spaces without being noticed. Smart.
Jessie roared as she descended, ripping at someone and bombarding another with spells. An enemy got a shot off, and the blast punched a large hole through her wing. She squealed with surprised pain. Her body dipped right as the wing let out air before she started to sink toward the ground, flapping frantically to stay in the sky. She’d be healing herself, no doubt, but that took time she clearly didn’t have.
Niamh neighed, shaking her head as she tried to head that way. A wall of enemy blocked her, though. They crowded in, much too close for her to snap out her wings. She’d have to clear space.
Nathanial roared, diving toward Jessie. Gun blasts zipped through the sky all around him. He was forced to weave through to protect his wings, and his speed was greatly slowed.
Over their enemies’ heads, Niamh could see Austin Steele rise onto his hind legs. His mighty roar shook the earth. He crashed through the crowd like a bowling ball through pins, aiming for the spot where Jessie would fall. The hardened ground troops quailed at the sight of his rage. They cowered before him and then met their untimely fate. He bashed in chests and turned heads completely around before bodies fell at his paws.
The other shifters closed ranks, using his forward rush like the point of a wedge. They worked their way to the struggling Jessie, but they were still half a packed battlefield away.
Jessie continued to fall, almost on top of the enemy now, raining down magic to try to keep them at bay. She wasn’t enough. She wouldn’t be able to save herself from this. If she went any lower, the enemy would have what they came for.
“Oh God, Jessie, no,” Sebastian said through his teeth as moisture clouded his vision. He watched the beautiful spectacle that was her animal sink lower and lower, flapping her wings for all she was worth and it not doing any good. The one wing was broken or torn or something. She was tilting madly on that side.