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)
I’d be proud of my team later.
Sebastian followed my gaze. His eyes widened, but he’d noticed too late to react. Austin’s powerful strides had him only a few paces away now.
“Jessie. Oh, God, Jessie!” Sebastian turned and threw up one hell of a shield, larger than he’d ever used with me. He curved it around him but left the back open, probably inviting me in to help.
Austin hit it full on, and the spell seared through his white fur. A shock of intense pain filled the bonds, but I already knew it wouldn’t faze him.
He rose on two legs and roared before slashing at the spell. One giant paw raked across it, and then the other. Sparks flew, and smoke curled up, but still he worked at it, shoving and scratching and cutting through it with his power and perseverance.
“Holy— Oh—oh cr—” Sebastian fed more power into it, hunching down. The bravado of Elliot Graves clearly wasn’t sustainable under this style of attack. “Help!” he screeched, shooting a spell in sheer panic. It wasn’t well aimed, thankfully, and it just slashed across Austin’s side. A line of red appeared, and then blood pooled.
My monster threatened to overwhelm me, sensing trouble to her mate. Red lined my vision before darkness crowded in.
I gritted my teeth, holding on to my logic with everything I had.
“No!” I shoved my magic between Austin and Sebastian, creating a wedge. With all the strength I could muster—not worrying about spell complexity or anything beyond getting them apart—I closed my eyes and forced the wedge wider, pushing Austin back. He railed against me, thinking it was Sebastian fighting him. I let him, thickening the blockade when he clawed it too thin. It wasn’t hurting him, though.
Sebastian knew the magic was mine. I snapped my eyes open in time to see him stagger back and fall onto his butt. He gripped his heart as he watched Austin struggle to get at him.
“Should I run?” Sebastian asked with a quivering voice.
“Austin, it’s fine.” I stepped in front of Sebastian, continuing my magical push. Cyra circled just above us, ready to help.
Head bowed, sweat dripping freely, I forced Austin back a little farther. By God, he was hard to move.
“It was a challenge, Austin,” I said. “Just like with shifters. It was a challenge! I was about to win, damn it. You aren’t supposed to interrupt unless someone calls for your aid. I didn’t call you!”
Austin’s exertions slowed. I felt sudden understanding leak through our bonds. I didn’t know if that was him realizing the magic he railed against was mine or that I hadn’t been in any danger from Sebastian.
He lumbered back a few paces, still on hind legs, before roaring so loudly it felt like the ground was shaking. A moment later, he reduced down to a man. A cut, sweaty man with fire in his eyes. I let my magic drop.
“Today’s challenges are over,” he announced loudly before stepping toward me in a rush and swinging me into his arms.
“Sabby, look, I’m riding a scary unicorn!” Nessa called from above.
Glancing up, I saw Niamh flying past, Nessa on her back.
“Why…” I squinted up at them headed in the direction of Ivy House.
Austin didn’t comment. Instead, he turned and spared a few words for Kace: “Make sure the mage isn’t harmed. Get him back to Ivy House. He’s going to be a little shaken by all of this. Make sure the people here see that but don’t exacerbate matters. He is still incredibly dangerous. You don’t want him going into survival mode and accidentally killing someone.”
“Yes, alpha,” Kace said dutifully, and hurried toward Sebastian.
The way before us opened up quickly, everyone who’d run forward to see the show now giving us a wide berth.
I waited until we were at his Jeep, out of earshot of anyone else, before I spoke. “Did you honestly think he was going to kill me? Is your animal in control or something? Because he was surrounded by your entire territory. All my gargoyles and crew were above us. He would’ve had nowhere to run.”
Austin tucked me into the Jeep, got in the driver’s seat, and started it up without replying.
Gargoyles still flew overhead, but my crew was starting to land, probably ready to get their gear and head home.
“And why the hell was Nessa flying on Niamh?” I asked in utter confusion. “Niamh hates when people ride on her back.”
It wasn’t until he was turning onto the highway that Austin finally spoke. “I didn’t know you intended to challenge him. At first, I thought he’d trapped you in that dome.”
“He didn’t know I intended to challenge him, either. Neither did I. It just didn’t seem right to use magic against that shifter. She was no match for me. But I had to use magic in some way. Sebastian is the only person who can handle it, so I had to force him to challenge me. Or someone did, at any rate. I think it was Mr. Tom who finally pushed him into the dome.”