Page 5 of Cursed Magic

If I thought she couldn’t have been hurt worse, boy, had I been wrong.

Her nostrils flared, and her eyes turned glassy with unshed tears before she ran.

Still, it was enough for Xander and Kendric to pick up their pace again. I’d had no doubt they’d obey. It wasn’t like they could help fight with Ryker on their backs, and the best way to protect their alpha was to get him away from here.

I couldn’t think about Briar’s struggle to fight the command, so I refocused on Gage. “Please protect her.”

He nodded and took off after Briar and the others, and suddenly, my lungs could work again.

Half the problem had been fixed, but the harder part of the equation was coming now.

I faced the direction of the attackers and flexed my fingers. The congealed blood on my right hand and fingertips felt sticky and nasty. I preferred that to the warm trickle that continued down my back from the injuries the shadow had given me. Hopefully adrenaline would help numb the agony soon.

I rolled my shoulders, trying to loosen my muscles for the inevitable fight. All that did was send a sharp stabbing sensation coursing down my back as if I’d ripped the skin and muscles further. This was going to be painful, but I had to push all that shit aside to protect my sister and friends.

My wolf howled inside me, not liking the idea of sitting here like a wounded animal. I wanted to shift so I could fight more easily, but with my injuries tearing more just from moving, shifting wasn’t possible. I bit the inside of my cheek as my pulse pounded in my ears, the sound almostlouder than the footsteps coming toward me. The pressure against my body grew more uncomfortable than ever.

A large number of them must be heading my way.

A strange ripple floated through my limbs, similar to what I’d felt in the woods when I’d thought we were being watched. My gaze darted left where the sensation seemed to be coming from, but once again, nothing looked out of the ordinary.

Well…other than shifters looking like shadows to me and remaining completely invisible to everyone else. What sort of magic had the Blackwoods gotten involved with? I hadn’t known a spell like that was even possible.

The footsteps were upon me. The shadows weren’t bothering to be quiet as they swarmed into the clearing.

My heart stopped.

There were at least twenty I could count and only one of me.

Though they didn’t appear to have weapons, I’d learned that their weapons would be invisible until they removed them from whatever was hiding them. Plus, they could use their claws.

Refusing to give up, I looked around and found a decent-sized branch that had fallen from a nearby oak tree. I grabbed it and held it up like a baseball bat.

I’d take as many of these fuckers down as I could before I went down myself.

Two shadows came at me at the same time, and I ran forward, ignoring the torture of the burning pain in my back, and swung the branch at the first one’s head. It lurched away and knocked into the one beside it.

That was the only good news. The other eighteen charged at me as a group.

Adrenaline coursed through my body, easing some ofthe pain. I focused on what was in front of me. I lifted the branch back up, body screaming, and swung at the closest shadow to me. This one ducked and ran right into my stomach. I fell on my back with its entire weight on top of me, trying to suck in a breath to scream. I couldn’t, and I wasn’t sure if it was due to the weight or the torment.

I tried to shove the shadow off, my back feeling as if it were tearing in two. Tears ran down my cheeks as I used every bit of strength I had to push the bastard away. Two more shadows were now beside me, and blades appeared from behind their iridescent forms.

This was it.

The moment my life ended.

Still, I wouldn’t quit. I’d die trying to win, even with the odds stacked against me. I had to keep them from reaching the others.

I managed to throw the shadow on top of me into a tree, but the next two struck in unison.

I tensed, prepared for the inevitable pain, when all of a sudden, they both pulled their knife strike about two inches from my body. Tingles exploded around me, and the uncomfortable pressure that came with the shadows faded away.

What?I blinked several times, trying to comprehend why they weren’t finishing the job. Were they trying to confuse me or playing some sort of cruel game?

More shadows crowded around the two that hadn’t finished me off. The two reared back, and I rolled away, hoping to put some distance between them and me. Agony from the wounds in my back had me damn near tears.

The shadow on my right groaned as I pushed myself up and stood. I planted my feet shoulder-width apart, ready to fight, and the shadows moved toward me, but after twosteps, the front ones stopped moving, and the ones behind them ran into them. Even as their bodies collided, the front pair didn’t get any closer to me.

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