Then another wolf leapt on her from behind and she whirled to throw it off, incinerating it with her magic.
It didn’t matter. Another formed in its place and her grip on me vanished, allowing me to fall to the ground on my knees.
I stood, two more wolves creeping around the sides of the mausoleum with jewel bright eyes and half-there forms.
It was as if the wolves brought my own animal fury to the surface. I walked towards the coven leader, elongated canines bared as I drew back my lips in a silent snarl.
“I won’t need to die for any of them,” I promised her quietly, feeling cold and not at all forgiving. “I was going to kill you once. I stood outside your home and only Cian was there to save you. Did you know that?”
Surprise flitted across her gaze. “Don’t be arrogant.” She pointed at another of the wolves, causing it to explode in a shower of magic. “You don’t have near the power needed to keep them here long enough to kill me.”
Magic surged in the space between us; the torches flared. She sent cobalt power streaking in my direction and I caught it in my hand, channeling the magic back towards her, though it seared the skin of my palm and filled my nose with the scent of burning flesh.
I ignored it, striding forward as I felt the wound heal.
Another wolf crept out of the shadows, giving me a total of three.
“I can keep doing this!” The witch laughed, incinerating that one too. “You’ll be out of magic soon, and you’ll be at my mercy.”
She sent her magical grip towards me again. This time I felt it and braced myself for the blow, though fear churned in my gut.
Almost on its own, one of the wolves leapt forward, fangs digging into her outstretched arm and causing the woman to shriek in surprise and pain.
Her magic caught me as well, sending me staggering instead of strangling me.
She should’ve been right, but the wolves weren’t draining me like I thought. Sure, every time one of them regenerated it took a bit more from me, but it was so little that I could do this all night.
Could I do more?
Marveling at my own magic and studying the wolf at my side, I barely heard Colette’s triumphant shout, though I felt her magic swell like the tides as she prepared to strike.
“George!” Cian was there, along with Indra in his hellhound shape.
“No,” I said quietly, seeing him look to Colette and take a step forward.
This wasn’t his fight.
He didn’t need to save me. Didn’t he see that? Didn’t he see just what I could do without him?
But I couldn’t stop him, and it was in slow motion that I saw him step forward again, though I lifted my hand as if I could stop him.
Cian stopped, a wolf appearing in front of him and blocking his path.
His eyes widened in shock and he looked to where I held my hand out to him. I was just as surprised.
“Let me pass,” he ordered.
“No,” I said again. Akiva was there as well, and at that thought alone, another wolf appeared to block him from going forward.
The wolves radiated their approval, but that was impossible.
They were not alive.
“I can do this,” I whispered to both of them, the wolves pacing in front of them.
With just barely a thought–just a little push of my magic–I summoned The Moon again.
And again
And again.
Why was it suddenly so easy?
Colette sneered, and released her magic.
I gasped, frightened for my life as I felt the rushing, seeking force that spelled my death surging forward to meet me. I couldn’t do this. I’d been wrong. The wolves were barely mine to control and I had been wrong.
Then suddenly, her magic vanished as if it had hit an invisible barrier.
But my wards were nowhere near that strong.
Low growls met my ears and when I opened my eyes, the area around me was filled with wolves. There were at least ten of them, and I could feel my magic inside each and every one of them.
They all snapped and grinned, waiting for my command.
“What have you done?” The coven leader asked, her eyes going from one wolf to the next.
“What have I…” I looked down at my hands, seeing the lines and runes marching up both my arms.
They tingled, the white, glowing lines seeming to writhe and shimmer.
But the wolves were hungry, and they were impatient. Almost not waiting for my command, I felt rather than saw the Arcana Forms lunge for the old, worn out coven leader.
Perhaps at her full strength she could’ve beaten me, but the spell on the bayou had weakened her.
She killed the first two wolves easily, disintegrating them with her magic only for them to reform at her throat.
The third knocked her to the ground and she screamed, half obscured as the furred, transparent shapes pressed her to the stone eagerly. Ravenously.
I felt it.
I felt when the wolf tore into her throat.
I felt when another grabbed her by the neck and shook her like a ragdoll.
But I didn’t stop them. I couldn’t stop them.
Akiva was staring at me, and I wanted to run and hide from his shocked look.
Colette stopped screaming, but my wolves didn’t abate. They worried at her body, tearing at her corpse with sharp fangs and too-much strength.
“Call them off,” Cian said calmly.
“I can’t,” I whispered, eyes wide. I wanted to. I wanted them to disappear because they weren’t listening and I was afraid.
I hadn’t asked them to do this, had I?
“George, call them off. She’s dead,” Cian said again.
“I can’t!” I gasped again, my heart pounding in my ears. They drew my attention. My focus. My magic. I couldn’t look away from them, nor could I stop feeling everything they did like I was the one doing it. Like I
