Chapter 25
AMRI
I push away my panic and rage at almost losing Malik: first to that dagger to the chest, which ended up not even slowing him down—thank the stars, and then seeing those threads, so fucking similar to our fate bond. My knees are still shaking from trying to process one shocking blow after another.
Malik’s skin is warm as I stand beside him, my lips still tingling from his kiss. He leans into my touch, purring softly, and I wish more than anything that we had the time to process and express everything between us. But that will have to wait.
The room remains in stunned silence, much more crowded than it was a few seconds ago.
Shifters, newcomers all in different phases of their shift, stand around the throne room, attention aimed at Leonora.
And standing in the center of the group is the largest tiger shifter I’ve ever seen.
He’s in full beast form, towering above everyone else, magic pulsing off him in waves.
As I focus on him, I realize it’s not that he’s particularly powerful, it’s that he’s ancient .
I do a double take at the small female standing at the tiger’s side.
Hela?
It’s then I notice that interspersed in the group of shifters stands dozens of witches, their blue light mixing with the gold magic of the Leos.
Wait, not just the Leos. Bear is here, as is Levi and Juliet.
When I make eye contact with Juju, I mouth, ‘What are you doing here?’ But she just winks at me with her wide owl eyes.
Mara is here too, and while I can’t imagine the gentle deer shifter throwing herself into the middle of a fight, she has surprised me before.
And there’s Circe. And Petra, a peregrine shifter and fellow enforcer. And so many more.
Where did they—How—They all just—This is?—
The tiger’s voice reverberates. “Return their magic, Leonora.”
Leonora laughs, narrowing her eyes at him. “Ramesh. How good to see you. I figured you died in that cave of yours long ago. Are you ready to come home?”
The growl that comes from Ramesh is so deep, I feel it in my bones. Malik presses himself closer to me, and my heart skips a beat. The tiger crouches, all coiled muscle and power that makes me want to run and hide even though he’s on our side. He says, “I won’t tell you again.”
Leonora brings her hands up in front of her.
Clap! Every Leo, including the newcomers, skid across the room like they’re being yanked by an invisible chain—all except Ramesh, Malik, Bodi, and Rian.
Bodi wraps his arms around Alexandros, preventing his beta from sliding across the floor to join the others, and horror fills me as all the Leos form a wall in front of Leonora.
A pillar of fire erupts right next to Bodi, and everyone shields their eyes and faces against the light and heat.
Aries grabs Alexandros, ripping the lion shifter right out of Bodi’s arms, and hugs his son to his chest. Alexandros struggles, his mouth moving with his protests, but the roaring of Aries’ flames is too loud to hear him.
The god’s voice booms around the room as he aims his white-hot stare at Leonora.
“I may have loved you once, but I warned you what would happen if you dared touch my son again.”
What? … What!
Leonora laughs, waving a hand at Aries. “Take him. I won’t miss one little shifter cub.”
Bodi bellows, “No!”
Aries sighs. “I warned you, Leonora.” And with that, the god implodes on himself, his flames winking out, taking Alexandros with him.
Bodi screams with the fury of his beast, and Sadie wraps her arms around his waist, saying something to him that I can’t hear. Bodi calms slightly, but rage still blazes in his eyes as he turns back to face Leonora and her wall of Leos.
I gasp as I realize that even Askari is there, standing as a shield for the goddess, his sagging, barely-conscious form being held up by Leonora’s magic, like a broken puppet on magical strings.
This might be the most monstrous thing I’ve ever seen.
Malik’s skin vibrates against mine with a tremble of rage, and I’m right there with him.
The tiger stalks forward a single step, shoulders bunched, head level, eyes trained on his goddess. “You will use your own clan as a shield?”
Leonora weaves quick signs, and the Leos before her crouch, claws out, fangs exposed, tails whipping. Some seem willing with their narrowed eyes and snarls ripping through the room, but most move stiffly with wide, terrified eyes as Leonora says. “They are mine. They serve me !”
The few shifters in the room that aren’t Leos exchange glances filled with disbelief and dread, and that makes me absolutely livid.
Everyone knows the rumors of what Leonora does to her clan.
Everyone has heard whispered tales of her abuse.
But no one ever acted. I hate them. I don’t even want their help.
They can’t show up at the eleventh hour and play hero.
Malik bends down and brushes his cheek against the top of my head, and I realize I was growling. I cut off my noise of rage and refocus on the tiger as he stalks forward another step. As one, the Leos shielding Leonora step forward. This is about to break out into an all-out war.
My beast thumps her tail. “Let’s go!”
There’s a beat of silence as the room takes a breath, and then …
Chaos.
Ramesh leaps, clearing most of the Leos as he spears towards Leonora.
Witch magic flies through the air, attacking, defending, shielding …
Shifters attack shifters, and animalistic sounds of fighting fill the marble room.
Malik disappears, but I only have half-a-second to worry about my mate as a hunter swipes a claw at me.
I grab his half-shifted wrist and snap the bone in his arm.
He screams but keeps lunging at me. His moves are stunted and jerky under Leonora’s control, which makes me feel bad for him, but not enough to pull my punch as I smash the hunter in the face.
Blood spurts out of his nose, his eyes roll back, and his head slumps forward.
He remains propped up by Leonora’s magic, but now that he’s unconscious, his arms just swing limply, trying to land a hit.
I quickly scan the room until I find the long grey hair I’m looking for. I shout, “Hela!” Her attention snaps to me while she fires a magic bolt from her outstretched hand into the leg of a charging bobcat. I yell, “It’s harder for her to control them if they’re unconscious!”
She nods, closes her eyes, and then every witch in the room starts glowing blue. I don’t wait to see what they do. I have my own mission.
With a wash of my Aries magic, I shift, giving myself over to my beast. I shake out of my clothes and boots and sprint across the floor.
I slip in a pool of blood but recover quickly and keep going.
A puma snaps at a rabbit shifter of the Cancer clan as I run through their legs.
I almost pause, not wanting the puma to tear the rabbit apart, but then the rabbit shifter leans her weight on her right leg and kicks out her left.
The force of her kick sends the puma flying across the room.
Huh. Impressive.
I keep running, dipping and dodging, using my smaller size to my advantage.
A jaguar shifter reaches for me like she’s going to grab me around the waist and pick me up like a little dog.
Outrageous. I bite down on her ankle and wrench my body around until I hear a crack.
The Leo grunts in pain, falling to her knees, and with a hard whack of my tail, I knock her out.
I run, scanning the chaos for the shifter I’m looking for.
My wolverine muddies my focus. “Where’s Malik?”
I force her to turn back to our task. “Let him do his thing. We’ll feel it if he needs us.”
I can sense she isn’t happy with me, but she pushes on through the fighting bodies.
A blast of magic throws me off my feet, but it was a glancing blow and I’m quick to get back up and keep running.
From the corner of my eye, Ramesh circles Leonora, his tiger stripes tinged with blue witch magic.
I run, dodging magic and claws while trying to find him .
“There!” My beast points my attention a few meters to our right.
My claws scrabble against the marble floor, my fur now splattered with blood.
As soon as I reach Askari, I shift back to my human form.
My hands are a blur as I weave the signs, pulling up more magic than I need, and slam the sleep spell into the beta.
His body goes completely limp, and I catch him.
As carefully as I can, I haul him over my shoulder and work my way to the edge of the room.
I stumble, nearly dropping Askari, and I turn to see who or what hit me in the back. A black-clad hunter with a cheetah mask snarls at me. They reach for Askari, but before their claws wrap around his legs, I let the beta go, whispering, “Sorry” as he flops to the floor.
“Tear this asshole apart!” I grin at the violence in my beast’s tone, and the hunter pauses, surely seeing the manic glee in my eyes.
The hunter quickly recovers, aiming a smirk of his own at me. “That tattoo doesn’t intimidate me, little female.”
My grin widens. “Yes it does.” His smile slips slightly, his eyes dart to Askari, then back to me, and I shake my head. “Not gonna happen.”
They growl, crouching as their hands turn to paws and magic sparks from their claws. Years as an enforcer has taught me that sometimes it’s prudent to make myself a smaller target, so I mentally tap my beast on her head. “You’re up.”
She barks her excitement as I shift back into my wolverine form. I look up at the hunter now towering over me. They cock their head as if this is the first time they’ve seen a wolverine, and maybe it is. And then they laugh.
My beast thumps her tail. “Oh, this fucker is asking for a beat down. ”
The hunter, laughter still in their voice, points at me. “What’s a little thing like you going to do, huh?” They draw back their leg, aiming to kick me.
Wrong move.
I jump out of the way and clamp my jaws around their calf.
They scream, and a bolt of magic spears from their paw.
I grunt at the impact, wrinkling my nose at the scent of my singed fur, but my Zodiac healing kicks in, and the pain quickly fades.
I gnaw at the hunter’s leg until I hit bone.
They grab me, trying to yank me off, but that only tears my teeth through his flesh.
Once a wolverine latches on, there’s not much that can make them let go.
Askari groans, and as the hunter spins, now trying to fling me off his leg, I catch sight of two more hunters running towards us …
towards Askari. One gets blasted by a flash of blue witch magic.
I lose sight of them as the hunter I’m attached to spins again, but when we come back around, I almost laugh at the hunter that was struck by the witch spell, because they are now sitting wide-eyed on the floor, soft little “meows” coming from their tiny cub body.
But the other hunter pushes through and around the fighting, and they will reach Askari in just a few strides.
I let go.
Scrambling to defend Askari from attacks on two sides, I yowl as a blade sinks into my flank.
The hunter I was just chewing on snarls, dragging his lame leg behind him as he comes towards me, and I limp away, backing up until I hit Askari’s unconscious form.
The other hunter flings a spell at Askari, and I leap to deflect it.
The magic hits my front shoulder, and now I have two bad limbs.
My beast coughs around the pain. “We’re too small to protect him from multiple attacks. ”
In a flash, we switch again, but it takes a second longer than usual as my magic flickers.
I’m running low on power, but I’ve still got the strength of my beast. I rip the blade out of my hip and grip the hilt.
Standing over Askari, I fight off the two hunters, blood trickling down my leg, my shoulder screaming with each movement, my wounds slow to heal with my waning magic.
I take another hit, this spell slicing into the skin of my upper arm, and I nearly drop the blade.
I look at the glinting steel in my hand and smile around the pain. “You know what, I don’t need this.” I aim my grin at the cheetah hunter whose leg has almost completely healed. “You take it.”
With the strength of my beast, I throw the dagger and it sinks into their chest with a thud. Their eyes go wide as they stumble back, fall to a knee, then both, hands holding the hilt as blood weeps from the wound.
“Behind you.” My beast warns, and I spin, claws swiping blindly.
I tear through soft flesh, and the other hunter screams as their tunic shreds and their intestines spill out.
They try to grab their insides, attempting to hold themselves together, but they stagger backwards, hit a wall, and slide down it until they land slumped over.
I have no idea if the Zodiac healing will save either of the hunters, but at the moment, I don’t care.
I glance down at Askari. He’s still unconscious and very pale, and while a few of his wounds have healed, many of them still ooze with blood.
With a quick scan, I check for immediate threats before kneeling.
I weave the healing signs, but my magic sputters and winks out.
With a frustrated huff, I weave the signs again, but before I can place my hands on him, a figure looms over my left shoulder, and another stands before me on the other side of Askari.
I release a snarling growl as I throw myself over Askari’s body, but a gentle hand lands on my upper back.
“Let us help, Enforcer.”
Still using my body as a shield, I glance up and back. A Leo shifter with the high pointed ears of a lynx stares down at me and nods. When I look at the other shifter, she nods as well, saying, “Circe freed a few of us. Will and I are good with healing magic. We owe Askari. Please.”
Slowly, I lift myself off the beta, pushing his sweat and blood-slicked hair off his forehead. I look at the Leos. “Can you get him out of here?”
They both drop to their knees, pressing their already glowing hands to his chest, head, and arms. The lynx shakes his head. “Leonora sealed the throne room. We’re not getting out of here until this is over.”
I hear the fear in his voice and the words he doesn’t say. We might never get out. We might all die here.
I stand, scanning the room, clenching my hands. Not on my watch.