Steve fed his magic towards her in a tendril and she grabbed it, dragging it to Leon, to where she envisioned her own magic joining to his shifting magic. The healer kept feeding magic into him steadily, trying to buffer his organs against what was about to happen.
“Three,” she counted quietly. “Two, one.”
Melody snapped the bond, yanking Steve’s magic hard and slamming it against the broken end inside Leon. His body began to tremor, then shake, then he was full-on convulsing again, only this wasn’t a few decent leaps into the air. This was a violent threshing that threatened to rip his hand from her grip.
Still she held on tightly to them both, the conduit between the two loose strands of magic, until the healer told her what she’d been dreading.
“It’s not working, we’re losing him, either reestablish your bond with him, or in the Goddess’ name, stop his heart. You’re wrecking his body.”
Melody sobbed, slamming her bond back against his, holding it there hard until they fused. Only, once they had, she noticed that Steve’s magic was caught in there as well.
“God you hurt. I mean, he feels awful, but you’re in agony,” Steve said, making her open her eyes.
He looked at her in wonder. “I can feel you. I can distantly feel your familiars, but I can feel you. How the fuck did that happen?”
“I pushed my end of the bond back against his, but I forgot to let yours go, it’s kinda mashed in there at the moment. Which means I might be able to withdraw later and let you bond him fully. It also means that I can’t do any more just now, because bonding two people at once really sucks,” she gasped and looked up at him. “No offence.”
Steve’s face softened as he looked at her. “No, I can feel that you meant that. None taken.”
Oz growled, and Melody’s guilt returned tenfold. Steve leant to the side and threw up.
“Yeah, second thought, that sucks. What the fuck was that?” he asked, when he sat up.
Melody swallowed hard. “Guilt. It makes me queasy.”
He stared at her. “So, when you feel guilty, I throw up instead?”
She waggled her head. “I don’t feel great, so probably alongside me.”
“What about when either of you fuck?” a voice asked from amongst the waiting students.
“Dude,” objected a girl, smacking the back of his head.
“What? It’s a relevant question. If we’ve all got to go through a partial bonding with her to get a shifter, I’m not so sure that’s going to work. She’s got four of the fuckers already, you can’t tell me they’re not all banging her, so what, I get second hand sex? No thanks. Or if someone manages to hex her and she hurts, do I feel it too? Fuck that.”
“Get out,” growled Melody, standing unsteadily. “You don’t deserve any of these people. Get out.”
“What the fuck?”
“He was whipped to the point of death to save my virginity, and you don’t think that’s worth a little nausea or pain to save him? You can’t put up with a little of the pain that I experience every day, for the chance at bonding with an experienced shifter who is going to take your magic to the next level and then some? None of these shifters are weak. They’re all highly trained fighters. But hey, don’t go out of your way to do anything to earn them. We’d hate for you to break a fucking nail,” she was yelling, and the healer was trying to hush her. “Get. The fuck. Out!”
Oz grabbed the hapless guy by the back of his shirt and the seat of his pants and hauled him across the gymnasium floor to the exit, throwing him bodily out the door.
“Don’t let him back in,” he growled to the two new council guards that had turned up.
35. Melody
“Melody …” said a weak voice, and she looked down to see Leon looking up at her.
She collapsed at his side, head bowed over his hand that she hadn’t let go of. “Oh Leon, I’m so sorry. I thought you were dead. We thought you were all dead. Goddess, I’m so sorry.”
“Me l…”
She hiccuped, holding back her tears and her words. If he needed to speak, she needed to listen.
“... have to stop her …” he panted with the effort.
“Ssh, Leon. We’ve got you. We’re going to save you all. Rest, you can tell us more later.”
Leon shuddered again, his eyes closing before snapping open. A pulse of magic surged through him, scales that were diseased and misshapen spread across his arms before disappearing again.
“What the fuck was that?” someone murmured.
“No more, Mel … let … go …” Leon husked.
“Leon, what was that? What happened to you?” Melody gave him a little shake, trying to keep him awake long enough to answer. He wasn’t dying, she was feeding him too much magic for that.
Leon’s eyes flew open revealing slitted pupils and a white iris. His other hand snapped up, wrapping around her neck and choking her. He snarled as his fangs elongated, well past what they should as a mountain lion. Scales peeled away from his body, leaving putrid festering sores.
Whatever was before her, it wasn’t Leon anymore.
Oz lunged forward, breaking the arm that held her throat as he forced Leon prone again.
The pain did something, she could feel it. The magical pulse ended, the scales disappeared leaving small scars on his skin. Looking on in horror, she realised he was covered in them. This wasn’t the first time it had happened.
Leon’s hazel eyes looked up into hers, back to normal, pleading begging. “Kill us, kill all of us. We’re the ones too unstable to hold it. They use us for cannon fodder. We’re dying anyway, so they just speed up the process.”
The magic she’d fed him had done more than restore whatever else was residing in him.
Councillor Argrum pushed her out of the way. “Leon, what have they done? What
