Chapter 26
MALIK
W e aren’t winning, but we’re not losing either. This can’t go on. I’ve been trying to reach Leonora for what feels like hours, though I know it’s only been minutes. I’m trying not to do too much harm to my fellow Leos, but my frustration is growing, and my beast ran out of patience long ago.
I slam a sleeping spell on a charging panther, duck under the swiping claws of a lion, and deliver a punch to his gut which has him doubling over.
A hunter leaps at me in her half-shifted form, and I catch her on my shoulder, throwing her over me, but she manages to sink a short blade into my back right between my shoulder blades.
I grunt with pain, unable to reach the hunting knife.
My beast yowls with more annoyance than pain. “I’m getting tired of being stabbed.”
“Yeah, me too.”
The tickling prick of magic curls down my spine, and a second later the knife pulls from my back and clatters to the ground.
A witch several yards to my right holds her hands in the sign of her spell for a second longer before nodding to me.
Before I’m able to nod my thanks in return, she spins to deflect an attack, weaving her hands with another spell.
A bear roars and barrels through several Leos before rising on his hind legs and roaring again.
I still can’t believe shifters from other clans are here and fighting with us …
for us. An owl flies overhead, dive-bombing shifters, distracting them as an okapi rams them.
An odd pair, for sure, but it seems to be working.
I spy Leonora’s glowing golden form ten meters away.
Several streams of blue magic sling across the room at her, but they all deflect before reaching her.
Ramesh, who was fighting her a second ago, is now trying to shake off several Leos who are clawing and biting his back and flank.
The coven leader, Hela, throws an impressive spell that sends two of the attacking Leos flying off Ramesh before she’s forced to defend herself.
I need to end this … if I can.
Using the newly unlocked power of the Sun magic in my blood, I …
I’m not sure what to call it … It’s not portaling.
Maybe I’m teleporting? Doesn’t matter. In the blink of an eye, I’m right behind Leonora, but I slam into something and am thrown back several yards.
I shake my head, quickly recovering from the hit.
She’s shielded. Nothing is getting through. Witch magic bounces off, sending dangerous spells sling-shotting through the room. But when Zodiac magic hits Leonora’s barrier it is absorbed, feeding her more power. If this keeps up …
Time seems to slow down as I look around the throne room, searching for my family.
Bodi, in his full beast form, leaps through the air, tackling two hunters to the ground, Sadie following in his wake, throwing spells like a wraith of vengeance.
Rian, half shifted, shields a witch, taking a spell on his back, but Kat is close enough to help him heal, and the two quickly dive back into the fight.
Amri, beautiful fierce Amri, sprints away from several shifters hunched against a wall.
As my mate dives back into the fight, I notice the shifters she just left are working on healing someone …
Askari. The Leos working on him block most of my view of my beta, but I’d know that shock of wavy, sand-colored hair anywhere.
The way his arm is outstretched on the floor, fingers limp, makes me want to run to him, scoop him in my arms, and take him somewhere safe.
My beast perks up. “That’s not a bad idea.”
I’m about to rebuke him. We’re not running.
But then I realize what he means, and I shake my head.
“Look.” I direct his attention to the walls, ceiling, and doors where Leonora’s magic seals the room in a steel net.
“It’s a good idea, but I don’t think we’d be able to grab Leonora and take her away from here. We have to find another way.”
Everywhere I look, shifters fight shifters. Witches are panicking, getting confused about who they are supposed to protect and who they are supposed to fight. I can help with that.
I extend my right arm out to the side, palm up.
My left fist presses to my chest, and I extend my pinky.
Lifting my right arm, I touch my middle finger to my thumb and point my hand to the ceiling.
Red glowing strings of magic appear out of the top of most of the Leos’ heads, indicating they are foes.
Green strings of magic spear out of our allies.
I relay what I’ve done to Rian, who tells Kat, and the word quickly spreads amongst the witches.
Even as I watch, Circe moves through the chaos and manages to slip behind a Leo swiping stuttering attacks under Leonora’s control.
The sorceress, my sister—that’s still weird—places her hands on either side of the shifter’s head.
They stiffen as she whispers a few words.
The red light over the Leo’s head turns green.
Good. That’s good.
Leonora spins, narrowing her eyes at me.
I raise a brow in defiance, baiting her.
If I can’t reach her through that shield, I’ll make her come to me.
I cock out a hip and place my hands on my waist as if we are the only two in the room and I have all the time in the world.
Leonora stalks towards me, her grin growing.
Spells continue to rain down on her, but they are all either deflected or absorbed.
Even under these circumstances, I’m overjoyed at the fact that when I mentally reach for my brothers, they’re there. I slide into their minds. “Make your way to me as soon as you can. We need to finish this … together.”
Bodi responds, “On my way, brother.” and his giant black panther starts running my way, shouldering shifters out of his way as Sadie and several of her fellow witches weave spells to clear his path to me.
Rian says, “Coming.” and a blast of magic that’s a mix of his gold and Kat’s blue light tunnels towards me, knocking everyone out of his way.
No questions asked, my brothers come. How could I have ever doubted them?
How could I have ever held hate for them in my heart?
I’m so ashamed, but also filled with such love for my brothers that I lose focus for a moment and almost miss the whip of Leonora’s magic lashing at me.
I snap out my arm, grabbing the whip … no, the leash.
Of course it is. I growl, wrapping the gold chain of magic around my wrist and up my forearm.
With every coil of the leash around my arm, I tug Leonora closer.
She resists, her eyes revealing her uncertainty about what I’m up to.
Bodi—still in beast form—reaches my side, panting with his to ngue out, but he seems unharmed.
Leonora’s attention snaps to him then darts back to me, and she smiles, wickedly amused.
The tension I’m holding on the chain slackens as Leonora stalks towards us, and as Rian comes to stand on my other side, greed fills her expression, and she actually licks her lips.
She’s now less than three yards away as she says, “Now that you know the truth, I have no use for you, pets. Well, that’s not entirely true.
I will take all that delicious power of yours before I toss your drained and broken bodies into the abyss. ”
The abyss. Tartarus. Hell. The empty void where no soul can survive.
Leonora stops an arms-length in front of me, and the barrier around her hums against my skin like thousands of tiny needles. Bodi shifts, coming back to his human form, and the three of us stand against our goddess.
But this isn’t like last year. Yes, we are more powerful now, but we are also not alone in this fight. Vaguely, I notice the sounds of fighting getting quieter as shifters and witches closest to us stop to watch what we are going to do.
Now’s the time.
To my brothers, I say, “Make sure you’re touching me, and don’t let go.”
As I reach for all the magic and power within me, my brothers place their hands on me, placing their trust in me. The flow of my magic feels infinite, and it hits me. My Zodiac magic replenishes with the power of the stars, but Helio’s magic inside me is fueled by the sun.
With a delighted grin, I grow taller, broader …
large enough that when I snap out my arm, I’m able to punch through Leonora’s barrier using a burst of sunlight within my blood.
I wrap my hand around her throat, and with my ey es staring right into hers, I say, “Give back what you have stolen.
" I send my magic through the connection of my hand around her neck.
It seeps inside her, digging deep, spreading, filling her, grabbing hold of every scrap of power it can find.
She bares her fangs at me and growls, but I get right up in her face and growl back. “Now!”