Page 87 of Blood and Magic
I tossed the damned thing to the side and roared, launching myself into the fray. Marta held her hands out to either side, smoky wisps of magic streaking from her fingertips, while Fenris grabbed a pistol and fired at the onlookers. I raced toward the circle but hit an invisible wall at the edge, forcing me back.
“Stupid, arrogant shifter,” Marx said with a cruel laugh. “You think you’re the only ones with magic?”
Limbs shaking and panic racing in my molecules, I shoved to my feet and tried again, pounding against the barrier, throwing my body at it, trying to break through.
“Maeve!” I shouted telepathically. “Maeve, come back to me.”
The sounds of metal doors bursting open nearly distracted me, and thick, heavy boots came closer, breaking Marx’s concentration. He glanced behind me, but I sensed the pack had joined us. Marta continued to chant spells in the background, Pink hauled vampires over his head like they weighed nothing, and Orion tore through them like a juggernaut, like they were nothing. But even once the last vampire had been dismembered, the veil still held firm.
I reached down inside, sensing the tether between me and my mate, and I yanked. I pushed against the magical wall while I tugged Maeve toward my soul. My vision blackened, my head going dizzy, either from blood loss or the weight of my tie to her, but I ignored it. My wolf reached out to her fox, curling around her, coating her with the supernatural protection of pack, covering her in everything that was mine. Kodiak gave me his energy through the bonds, shoving it toward me and through me, into her. She wasn’t officially a member of his family yet, but that didn’t seem to matter, not when my beast had already decided it would have her.
She opened her eyes and gasped, looking at me with that crystal clear gaze. Was she still in there? Was it still her…or had she been perverted by him?
“Mill,” she whimpered.
“I’m here, sweetheart. I’m here.” I threw energy into her. I gave her everything I had, pouring my fury through our bond. I’d never had a mate before. And despite not having officially sealed it with Maeve, something felt different about this. It was bolder, brighter, stronger. I imagined it like a bolt of lightning, a bright shimmering electric string tying my soul to hers, my blood to her blood. I fed it with my entire soul.
“This all could have been avoided if you had just given me what I asked for at the beginning.” Marx circled to stand in my view, his filthy boots blocking her from me, and when I glanced up at him, the scalding power of my hatred overtook my senses. I sent that to Maeve, too. I gave her my forcefulness, my will, my dominance. I turned it all over to her, knowing it would weaken me. But if it saved her, I would die happily. I would give her anything to see her live through this as the shifter she’d been when she entered it.
“Mill,” Orion said, coming to stand next to me. “Mill, we can’t get through to her. We can’t?—”
A cold spray of blood hit us both in the face, halting his words. I blinked and watched as Marx choked, spewing up black liquid, his body convulsing. A hand protruded from his chest, his putrid heart gripped in between claws as it gave two final beats. Maeve yanked it back, ripping the damn thing from his body.
Marx collapsed and dropped to his knees, revealing a menacing, pissed-off female behind him. Her eyes glowed ice blue, her wild dark hair in bloody mats around her head, her canines exposed over red, furious lips as she dropped his putrid heart. Then she gripped the top of his mouth in one hand, curling her fingers under his teeth, before putting a foot on his shoulder. With one terrible yank, she separated the top part of his jaw from the rest of his body and tossed it to the side.
I had one final moment to memorize her in all of her bloodthirsty raging beauty before my consciousness gave out on me.
CHAPTER 27
Maeve
I rolled onto my side and snuggled into Vermillion, resting my head on his chest. We were on the cliff in the woods near my house, the same one I’d taken him to all those weeks ago. The sun had set on the horizon, painting the sky in beautiful peaches and tangerines. The heat of summer coated our skin in a thick blanket of warmth and security. We were safe here together. Nothing could harm us.
“It’s a beautiful day,” I said, wrapping an arm over his stomach while he lazily ran his fingers up and down my spine.
We’d taken each other four times already, but ever the insatiable slut, I wanted more. I’d always want more. My heart kicked as he laughed and kissed the top of my head.
“We could go swimming,” he said. “Would you like that?”
I hummed a noncommittal noise and glanced up at him, resting my chin on his sternum. “I feel like there’s something more important we’re supposed to do.”
“There’s nothing more important than this,” he murmured, leaning down to take my mouth. I sighed into the contact, relishing how soft his lips always were.
“Stay with me, Maeve,” came the sound of a familiar woman on the wind. It sounded like Guin, but that couldn’t be. What the hell was she doing here? She didn’t know about this place. It was mine. Mine and his.
“Goddamn it, Mill,” said a deep baritone. “Don’t do this to me again. You don’t fucking do this to me.”
Fenris?
I furrowed my brow and glanced down at Mill, who shared my look of confusion.
“What is that?” I asked. “Do you hear that?”
He nodded.
Flashes of a bright room and a woman with curly brown hair blurred through my mind, almost like memories trying to yank me out of paradise.
“It sounded like Fenris,” Mill said. He sat up and glanced around.
