Chapter 24
MALIK
T he force of the blade sinking through my skin and scraping against my ribcage is like a punch … but there’s no pain. The fuzzy outline of Leonora is close enough for me to make out her wide eyes and open mouth.
She releases the hilt and steps back. “Why did you …?”
I tilt my head at her as her form blurs against the dozens of other shadowy bodies standing in the throne room. “You know why.”
The loudest silence I’ve ever heard fills the room. I don’t think anyone is even breathing as Leonora and I stand off.
Thruuuum.
A low rumbling builds, and as I focus my senses, I realize it’s coming from Leonora.
The floor shakes. Tremors undulate across the marble, and several of the blurry forms of my fellow Leos scatter to the edges of the room.
I take the distraction to wrap my hand around the hilt sticking out of my chest. This is a bad idea.
What if it pierced my heart and I bleed out?
I pull, and with a wet, sucking sound, the blade slides free.
Even with my impaired vision, I see the gold light leaking from my chest like sunshine spilling through a crack in a door.
After a second, the light dims, and when I press my fingers to my skin, there’s …
nothing, no blood, no open wound, not even a scar, just smooth skin.
Boom!
Leonora’s blurry form jerks.
Boom, boom, boom, boom, boom …!
Shrinnnnnnng. I open my jaw wide, trying to pop my ears to dispel the sharp ringing.
When I blink, a bit more clarity sharpens my vision.
I blink again. Kat stands behind Leonora, her gun raised, the slide locked back, the magazine empty.
I almost bark a laugh. Rian’s mate isn’t playing around.
Leonora coughs and stumbles back a couple steps, and her hunters come running.
Clad in their customary black with their white porcelain masks in place, about a dozen hunters surround Leonora with their claws out, magic sparking at their fingertips. Several more run at Kat, and my brother jumps and presses his back to hers, the two ready to fight together .
Bodi, Alexandros and Sadie weave their magic, Bodi on offense, Sadie on defense, and Alexandros doing it all as even more hunters and several shifters from around the room charge in to join the fight.
Where is Amri?
My panther answers, “With our beta.”
I look over my shoulder. My vision, while slowly getting better, is still hazy like after swimming in a chlorine pool.
Amri, haloed in soft, fuzzy light, leans over Askari, and she has one gentle hand pressed to his chest, sending healing magic into him, while the other is raised, holding a shield of magic around them.
She’s fucking amazing .
Clink … clink, clink, clink …
The bullets slide out of Leonora’s back and bounce on the floor.
She straightens her spine, her entire body glowing gold, her black hair blowing around her enraged face, her feet leaving the ground as she floats a meter into the air.
“I would rather tear this clan to the ground than let you take my throne!”
I back up, getting closer to my mate and my beta. My heel slips, and I glance down at a dark puddle of … something.
Blood. Askari is still bleeding. There’s too much.
Even with Amri pushing her magic into him, his wounds aren’t closing.
I reach for him, needing to help, but the floor under my feet bucks.
A giant fissure rips up a wall, spreading to the ceiling, sending plaster to the floor.
I brace with my feline balance—as do all the other shifters in the room—against the tremors once more shaking the palace.
My brothers steady their mates as the fighting continues, magic blasting through the air, shields crackling, claws slicing, roars and barks joining the cacophony.
But I stand alone in the chaos. Why aren’t the hunters or other shifters attacking me? I get my answer when I look up. Leonora grins down at me. So, she wants to bring me down herself. But I won’t be leashed again. Never again. It’s defeat her or die.
Leonora’s blood-splattered white clothes whip around her with the force of her magic.
From my left, Bodi grunts, Sadie shouts something, and Alexandros shouts back.
Rian roars as Kat screams. I clench my fists because it sounds like they are losing their battle, but I can’t take my eyes off the real threat—Leonora.
Something crashes on the other side of the room, and dust billows to the ceiling.
The floor buckles again, but I ride it like a wave, never breaking eye contact with Leonora.
She smirks as she floats closer to me. “You are the same scared little cub you’ve always been.
Knowing the truth doesn’t change who you really are, pet.
All Circe has done is given you false hope.
There’s no need for you or your brothers to die here today.
” She reaches a hand down to me, her delicate fingers curling in invitation.
While those fingers have brought me pleasure, it was rarely with my consent, and those same fingers delivered more pain than anything else …
and not just to me, but all the Leos. She says, “Join me, Malik. We can rule the entire Zodiac.”
I bark a laugh at her outstretched arm.
She yanks her arm back at my laughter as she shouts her rage. “Fine!”
Every shifter in the room arches, throwing their heads back in silent pain.
Golden tendrils of magic drift up from the tops of every Leos’ head, and Leonora laughs as the magic of the clan pours into her body.
My brothers and I are untouched—maybe because of Helios’ sun magic in our blood—and Sadie and Kat remain unaffected since Leonora has no domain over witch magic.
But Alexandros … He gasps, clutching his chest, and Bodi and Sadie rush to his side.
One by one, shifters start dropping to their knees, some gasping for air, some crying and holding up their arms to their goddess, begging for mercy.
Askari! He can’t afford to lose any more magic!
I turn my back on my goddess and kneel at my beta’s side, his blood squelching under my knees.
My vision is much clearer now, which allows me to see Askari’s bruised eyes, swollen shut, his too-pale face, his shallow, struggling breaths, the blood slowly dripping from his nose, his raw burnt flesh spasming with agony.
Behind me, I hear the unmistakable sound of a body hitting the floor. Then another. And another. Leonora is draining the Leos. She’s killing our clan. I need to stop her. I need to save Askari. I need to protect my brothers, their mates, my own mate. I …
Amri’s small hand comes to my cheek, Askari’s blood smearing from her palm to my face as she says, “One thing at a time, mate.”
I blink, then open my eyes wide, and after a few more quick blinks, everything comes into full focus.
Amri comes into full focus. Her short blond hair sticks up in every direction, and the edges of her eyes are red as if she’s been trying not to cry.
But her lips are pressed in a determined line.
There’s blood smeared on her chin, her arms, her stomach, her thighs …
The hand she still has pressed to Askari’s chest glows gold with her magic, but it’s fainter now, and even as I watch, it sputters.
Without conscious thought, my power rushes out of me and into her hand that’s still warm against my face. Her eyes go wide, and her pretty mouth opens on a silent gasp. The gold light under her hand brightens, and a few of Askari’s wounds start to heal.
Once again, I reach for my beta, but Bodi’s panicked yell freezes me in place. “Malik!” I’m pulled in two, needing to save both my beta and my brother.
Amri drops her hand and barks at me. “Go.”
In any other circumstance, I’d grin at the command in her voice.
I stand and turn in one fluid motion. Scores of shifters lie sprawled on the ground, some barely breathing, and even Alexandros is on the verge of passing out.
Leonora has somehow caged Sadie and Kat, and she now has a hold of my brothers’ magic, pulling golden strings of power out of them.
Leonora is nothing if not crafty and adaptable, so of course she has figured out how to grab their magic too, despite Helios’ power inside them.
Hand over hand, she yanks the magic of the Zodiac out of my brothers, and while they are fighting her, she is winning.
I need to do something before she’s able to latch on to my magic as well.
My beast snarls at that thought, rushing forward, and I fall into his mind, letting the shift take me.
I land on my paws at a full run, and with a roar, I leap through the air.
My jaws snap around the tendril of Bodi’s magic, pulling it with me as I land on the floor.
I sink back on my haunches, taking one step back, then another.
It’s like a cosmic game of tug-o-war, and I growl as Leonora pulls Bodi and me forward a step.
Inwardly, I groan as I realize she is only using one hand, coiling Bodi’s magic around her arm, then tugging and coiling it again.
Her other hand has a firm grasp on Rian’s magic, syphoning his power faster and faster.
But sweet Rian stumbles over to us and weakly grabs onto Bodi’s tether.
Kat and Sadie shout and pound on the magical cage as my brothers and I struggle to wrestle Bodi’s power from Leonora’s grip. We gain half-a-meter only to lose two.
Panic flutters through my heart. Not again.
I glance at my mate and my dying beta. I should have claimed him.
I should have claimed them both. I look at my brothers, Rian’s pale face and Bodi’s tight grimace.
Leos litter the floor; more have passed out, some are crying, and some are just staring blankly, but none are fighting anymore …
not even the hunters who are not being spared of the magical draining.