Chapter 19
Jessie
“Do you really want to end up in a cage again, bro?” I asked him, backing into the center of the space.
“Jessie—” Sue frantically hurried to my side.
“Get out of here.” I shoved him away. “He’ll take you out just to get to me. Leave the path clear. Let’s teach this bastard a little humility, shall we?”
I had a beast, too, and she didn’t feel fear.
Those golden eyes locked on mine. The lion circled.
I yanked off my muumuu and tossed it to the side. I shifted and threw up a wall of blistering magic because now I knew how this lion worked. He was used to ending a fight as quickly as possible. Kill shots were his survival mechanism, because when in combat, survival was all that mattered.
Before I finished shifting, he was leaping at me. He hit my wall of magic and a sound like a huge bug zapper rent the air. He grunted even as he flew to the side, a pretty tame response, because that had to hurt like hell.
I pinned him with magic that I was pretty sure he’d eat or scratch through. This spell wasn’t at the top of my power, but I wanted to make a statement. And maybe—just maybe—get a little payback for Aurora.
I landed on him, attacking with claws and teeth and spells, scratching and tearing and ripping at him. I yanked out chunks. I cut him deep. Then, as the last shred of my magic was ripped away, I flew into the air.
He jumped at me like a feral beast, his teeth snapping right next to my toe.
Good God, this guy was powerful. I didn’t think he could jump so high.
I hammered him with spells. He crouched, watching me, handling the pain while he waited for me to get closer. He knew I would.
He was right.
I dove to the side. He launched.
“Olé, fucker,” I tried to say. It came out a jumbled mess, but it didn’t matter because I flung my hand up like a matador.
I wrapped that lion in a spell and then dropped down onto his back like he was my pony.
“Ride, sparkle farts!” I hollered, scratching him anew.
He pivoted, rolled, did some other beautifully graceful thing—I couldn’t tell; I was suddenly slamming against the ground—and then he was on me, trying to return the damage.
I had the wind knocked out of me and reacted in a way I shouldn’t have.
Magic exploded, ballooning in all directions, and I knew the second I’d loosed it that it was a doozy.
This time he did howl. The spell flung him off, and I had a flash of pure panic that I’d done something I couldn’t take back. That I didn’t have a way to stop.
I shifted as quickly as I could. “Oh God, I’m so sorry.”
He lay on his side, panting and bleeding freely. Red puddled under him. I’d paid him back for Aurora and then some.
“Oh no. It’s okay.” I slid into the dirt beside him.
“Jess, no!”
I hadn’t realized Austin was here.
The lion struggled to get up. His eyes still blazed fire and ferocity. He was readying for a last-ditch launch at me. It reminded me of Drex.
“Don’t move, moron,” I called. Fashioning a spell to keep him put, I put my hands on his furry shoulder. “Don’t move, and don’t shift. I’m healing you. Indigo!”
“I’m here, but they won’t let me get closer,” she cried.
“Kick them in the balls. Hurry up! I accidentally went too hard.”
I took deep breaths, assessing the danger. I needed to warn the Elder. I shouldn’t be doing these challenges anymore. I hadn’t trained for mock battles; I’d trained for war. There was a difference with magic like mine.
“Oh God, okay.” I placed my hand over a gaping wound awash with red. He had several others like it. We had to get this stitched up so that he didn’t bleed out.
“I’m here. I’m here.” Indigo slid in beside me. “Cripes, Jessie, what did you do?”
I didn’t even know what spell I’d used to cause this. It wasn’t anything I remembered. A hybrid I’d created randomly.
“We can fix him.” I elevated my voice. “We need hands. We need to apply pressure to some of these wounds.”
“We can do this.” Indigo closed her eyes and lowered her head over Aljoe’s fuzzy head. “This isn’t beyond us.”
I closed my eyes too, using all my energy on healing, thrusting it into him as hard as I could. More bodies crowded around. Other hands glanced off mine as they got into position. Slowly, the wounds stitched together under my palms. His breathing became less labored and less shallow.
“We’ve got it.” Indigo sounded relieved. “He’ll need rest and fluids, but we’re out of the woods.”
I released a sigh and finally opened my eyes. Nina was right across from me, staring at me with an alpha’s customary blank face.
A shiver of unease washed through me. “Sorry,” I said. “I should’ve ended that fight sooner. But look, he’ll be okay. A little harm, no real foul. Mostly. Hopefully he blacked out and won’t remember some parts of it.”
“You could’ve ended that fight sooner?” Her voice was even, giving nothing away.
“Well…you know…I didn’t really need to ride him like a pony. I could’ve just stayed in the air until he said uncle.”
“Yes, about that. Why did you ride him like a pony?”
My face heated. Try as I might, I didn’t have an answer for that one. I’d kinda lost my head in that fight. “It just seemed right in the moment?”
And that wasn’t even close to what I should’ve gone with.
“You locked us out.” Austin was kneeling at Aljoe’s head. Judging by the look in his eyes, I’d just burned up any currency I had with his earlier faux pas. “You created a magical bubble around the battle.”
I frowned. “I did? When? Sue was here. Tristan wasn’t far.”
“About the time you called olé and before you rode him like a pony.” He paused, his gaze sparkling with fear turned into anger. “I tried to break into it when you landed on his back. I knew he’d roll you. He would’ve gone for a kill shot, Jess.”
“Yeah, I know. Well, I didn’t know about the roll move. That was a good one. Kill shots are his jam, though. He’ll want to change that up, because once you know his target, it’s not hard to guess which way he’ll go. After the very fluid maneuvering, I mean.”
The lion shivered under us and tried to rise.
“No.” I pushed down a little harder. “Stay in this form. We can move you to the sidelines. I can sit with you to free up Indigo, since I have to stay here anyway. I had a lie-in this morning, and you will have a lie-down this afternoon. I call that even. For earlier, you know. About not calling me…”
Please don’t be mad.
I would’ve liked to say I was just doing my job, but gesturing like a matador and riding on his back was probably a little excessive. Hindsight. It was hard to be mad at others for their faulty decision-making in the heat of the moment when I did things like that.
Nina looked at Austin, communicating something I couldn’t decipher. Back to me, still a blank face, before down at Aljoe. She put her hand on his neck, comforting him, then got up and moved through the crowd.
I let out a breath. “Is she pissed?” Then I pointed down at Aljoe and raised my eyebrows, asking the same question.
Austin shook his head at me, stood, and walked away. The bonds were a swirl of emotion and no help.
“Crap,” I murmured as Indigo sat back. “Did they seem pissed?”
“Austin was really scared when he was trying to get through the magic to get in to you.” She grimaced at me. “And that usually makes him really angry.”
Yes, it did.
“Dude, but why?” I glanced around at the circle closing us in. All types of creatures were present, looking on quietly. “Can someone help move him to the sidelines, please? He’s out of danger, but we don’t want his wounds tearing open again.”
“Here.” Tristan pushed through the crowd in his purple muumuu. Sue moved in to help, currently nude. He’d obviously shifted at some point. I hadn’t paid attention to any of that.
Aljoe grunted as he tried to sit up.
“No.” I pointed at his face, making him freeze. “What did I say? Stay still. We’re healing you. Moving will hurt, and for what? It’ll just make our job harder. Let them carry you.”
With a huff, he lay back down. Tristan, Sue, and a couple of basajaunak helped. I stood with them, making sure they were gentle.
Niamh hadn’t moved the chairs back even though she’d clearly known Aljoe was being brought over here. She’d pushed the cones forward.
Aurora sat in my chair. She had dirt on her face and blood down her arm and peeping out of the neck of her muumuu. She held up her red cup. “Ulric is grabbing another chair for you.”
“No, it’s fine. I’ll sit on the ground. Healing works better when I touch.”
“Then Ulric is grabbing a chair for himself.”
I waited for Aljoe to be laid on the dried grasses before lowering down next to him. “I could use another glass of low-calorie mimosa, though. Aurora, are you drinking mine?”
“I already drank yours. It was getting warm. I’ll get you another.”
“Since when do you drink on the job?” I put my hand on Aljoe’s leg. They’d positioned him with his stomach toward me and I didn’t want to lean to touch his shoulder.
“My job is done. I took out Alpha Noah from the Greenwich pack.”
Aljoe huffed. His chest expanded for a moment before deflating again.
“Thanks.” Aurora’s lips twisted in pride. “My dad told me to go for someone a little lower in power, but, I mean, I get beat up by you. I figured I could handle Noah and get the job done.”
Clearly, she was talking to Aljoe.
I turned to her, running my hand down his leg to his big paw, and whispered, “Do you think his sister and him are mad?”
“Not a-t’all,” Niamh drew out. “Do ye hear her? How could they be mad when ye rode him around the field like a little horsey?”
I bit my lip. So…yes, then. That was way too far.
Aurora put her fingers on my shoulder and shook her head. “Firstly, he challenged you. He gets whatever comes. You could’ve magically tied him up and had Edgar braid flowers into his hair while talking about his favorite types of doilies. He doesn’t get to be mad at how you handled his challenge.”
His paw moved in my hand. I glanced down at it.