“Come.” The voice was a raspy command. “You will come with us.”
“And who the fuck are you?” I glared at him.
“Varga,” Halle said softly. “Shit.”
The varga in human form moved toward us, and the varga in wolf form came with them. I noticed the chains hanging from the men’s fingers. They intended to take the women.
What the fuck?
“You need to leave. Now.” I locked gazes with the nearest one. “You have about one minute before this clearing is crawling with dire wolves.”
A raspy chuckle emanated from the huge varga with the fur that looked like spines. The varga in human form who’d just spoken nodded, his gaze fixed on Spiny Back.
“No one comes to save you,” he said. “No patrol tonight. Wolves will be tired.”
I allowed a wicked smile. “Not my wolves. I guess you forgot to factor in for the anchor being on this hunt. And an anchor has a direct line to her—”
The air crackled and Jasper materialized outside the circle of wolves, and he wasn’t alone. Tor, Leif, and Rune were with him, except… Fuck, Tor and Leif were in human form.
The varga turned their backs on us to focus on Jasper and co.
“You no match for us,” the varga spokesperson said in his stilted way of speaking.
More varga in wolf form entered the clearing, cutting off any escape for the guys, not that they looked like they planned on escaping to get backup.
“Why aren’t you shifting?” Jasper asked Tor.
“We can’t. They mute the use of magic,” Leif said. “We need miasma to shift.”
“You can’t beat us. Not tonight,” the scraggly-haired varga rasped. “Stand down and we may spare you. Fight and you die.”
Jasper’s emerald gaze locked on me, eyes narrowed. “Sorry, Cora, this might hurt a little.”
“What?”
The air around me thickened and then pressed in on me, and then it was as if the oxygen was being sucked from my lungs. What the hell? I glared at Jasper, clutching at my throat. What was he doing?
“What are you doing?” Tor lunged at him and was sent flying backward for his trouble. The varga stood still, stunned, probably thrown by Jasper’s actions. The edges of my vision went black. He was killing me. No. No, he wouldn’t hurt me. He wouldn’t.
He squeezed his eyes closed, jaw tightening, and then the air popped, and I was free, sucking in lungfuls of air, knees hitting dirt.
Tor’s growl battered my eardrums as he rushed Jasper. He passed right through him and staggered to a halt, spinning on his heel to face him with a snarl.
My hands heated and fizzed, power lashing at the ground as it surged up, ready to defend me.
Wait a fucking minute…
Leif’s gaze went from me to Jasper, comprehension dawning on his handsome face.
“Well?” Jasper said. “What the fuck are you waiting for? Shift already.”
Tor’s eyes widened, then his feral face split in a bloodthirsty grin and his wolf burst out of his skin with a roar, landing neatly on all fours, huge, wild, and powerful.
I tore my gaze from Tor to Leif to find him in his crimson wolf form, gunmetal-grays fixed on the varga, lips pulled back in a snarl.
The clearing was an eruption of snarls and growls as all the dire wolves in human form shifted, and then it was seven dire wolves to ten varga. Correction, seven dire wolves and a witch.
The varga attacked, and the wolves countered, furry bodies colliding. Teeth snapped and growls lit up the night. I danced between the fighting beasts, blasting the varga’s hides, knocking them back with my power when their fangs got too close to taking a bite.
No way would I let the wolves be infected by whatever these fuckers carried. I caught sight of Rune facing off with the huge varga with the arctic eyes. They circled one another in silence, as if communicating.
“Get out of there!” Jasper demanded from across the clearing. He was barely visible, so ethereal I could see the forest through him. Whatever he’d done had taken a toll. “Now, Cora. Move.”
I had to help. “You know me better than that.”
“Dammit, you stubborn woman. I can’t help you.”
“You’ve helped enough.”
I blasted a varga in the face. He flew back and hit a tree, slumping to the ground. I caught sight of Leif taking on another varga. They were all black, even though the ones in human form were blond. At least that made it easy to pick them out. Huge black beasts with hunched backs.
Two were down, and Leif took down a third in front of me. He turned his head to look my way.
Get to safety.
“I’m not leaving you guys.”
A dark shape leaped at him. I shot out my hand and hit it with power a moment before it could land on my mate. It twisted in the air and fell to the ground with a whine.
Thanks.
“Still want me to go?”
His attention flicked over my shoulder, body tensing and rippling, ready to launch at me. My back prickled.
Danger behind me.
I spun to see the varga flying through the air, right at me. The world seemed to fall into slow motion as I brought my hands up, power surging into my fingers, ready to be expelled. But it wouldn’t be on time. Fuck.
My heart stuttered as the air at my back rippled.
Jasper’s breath kissed my ear. “Stubborn woman.”
The world shattered and I hit the earth at the edge of the clearing, fight still in full force. Jasper crouched beside me, barely there. His emerald eyes darkened to a mossy green as they raked over me, searching for injury.
“Jasper…” He’d used the final dregs of his energy to save me.
Again.
Howls lit up the air behind me. One of the wolves in the clearing threw back her head and answered.
Jasper looked into my eyes as his form faded away. “Looks like the cavalry has arr—"
He was gone, and my heart…My
