Page 27 of The First Trial
‘Fuck me,’ Thorne swore under his breath. He sounded like he was about to vomit.
We didn’t get a chance to process what we’d just witnessed because the beast was already on us. Well, she was already onme. I didn’t know why they kept coming for me first, but as soon as our bodies collided, wickedly sharp claws digging into my side and raking down my chest, I made sure my palm was flat against her thick grey coat and practically screamed the same spell as before.
‘Enervo!’
The magic was more potent and hit her even faster due to the physical contact, throwing her off of me as her entire body wilted beneath the spell. She collapsed into a heap, but I didn’t stick around to see if she was alive. I needed to get to Juniper.
She had taken a spot within the circle that was forming around the shimmer in the time it had taken to deal with the Shifter bitch, and I raced toward her, taking solace in my friends at my back. But we only made it a few steps before a blood-curdling howl cut through the air, followed by another, and another, until a whole chorus of beasts joined in. The sound was eerie and menacing, a prelude to the danger to come.
And what a magnificent danger these beasts posed.
One after one, wolf-like creatures emerged from the shadows, sharp teeth gleaming in the low light of the moon and dripping with drool. Faster than we could have anticipated, Thorne, Enid and I were standing back-to-back, surrounded by bloodthirsty beasts.
Their low growls morphed into vicious snarls, the only warning we got before they attacked.
Three came from the south, heading straight for Thorne. Two came from the East, their sights set firmly on Enid and the blades she wielded threateningly, and the last one aimed straight for me. I would have been insulted that they thought only one was needed to get rid of me, but, naturally, the fucker happened to be the largest, strongest, and most aggressive of the bunch.
Great. Between the three of us, Enid was the only one with any real killing experience, and I got the Alpha.
As teeth and claws slashed at me and my best friends, I cursed the stars that Junie was a part of the spellbound group, because she would have dispatched these assholes in seconds without breaking a sweat.
I screeched the same spell I had used on the other two, and the beast froze mid-jump and slumped to the ground, but he wasn’t completely out of it. This fucker wasstrongbecause he was still snarling, albeit weakly, and clawing at the ground in his attempts to get to me. As I turned to help my friends, I saw his eyes flicker to where the female shifter who had attacked first lay in a heap of fur, and my stomach clenched with guilt. These were people, not animals. And they were scared. They were just trying to protect their own.
I couldn’t expend any more energy on that, though, because they were still coming at us. Thorne had managed to incapacitate two of his attackers, both of whom were lying unconscious at his feet. Enid’s were whining, backing away to lick at bloody wounds that I hoped weren’t infected withwhatever poison she’d been experimenting with lately. I didn’t want them dead.
Both of us rushed to help Thorne with the last assailant, which was proving to be more difficult to deal with than his packmates. He would not stay down, no matter how many times Thorne shouted an incapacitating spell at him. Enid and I joined in, thrusting our hands out and hounding him with spell after spell. He brushed off each one like it was nothing more than a light breeze rustling his thick fur and released an earth-rattling growl.
Damn. I was wrong. Mine might have been the largest of the pack, but this one was the true Alpha.
Just as he was reading to pounce, an angry snarl pulling back his lips to reveal pointed teeth I wanted nowhere near me, power pulsed from the direction of the portal. We froze, wariness keeping us still as we all waited for whatever happened next. Shouts echoed from the courtyard, and when the Shifter gave us one last warning look, he took off towards his downed pack.
Without hesitation, we did the same.
I headed straight for the familiar head of dark green hair, but my steps faltered briefly at the sight that greeted me. We weren’t the first ones to reach her. Instead, a massive man with purple skin and deadly-looking horns had stopped in front of her, then was soon joined by another purple dude, this one even thicker and dangerous-looking than the first. His thorns were longer, the points sharper, and his muscles were so large I feared he could crush my sister like a damn bug.
Deamons.
She looked so tiny and helpless in front of them, but they didn’t do anything other than stand and stare. The first one’s expression almost made me pause, shock and tenderness radiating from him. He was gazing at her adoringly, like he knew her, like he had found the brightest gem and wanted to pluckher up and put her in his pocket. A sick feeling bubbled from the deepest recesses of my soul. Howdarehe think he had any right to her?
When he slowly reached a hand up, aiming for her face, I ran faster.
Oh,hellfucking no.
Thankfully, we reached her in time to block him from laying a single lilac-toned finger on her, but what happened next occurred so fast I was barely able to keep up. The portal sent out a wave of magic that seemed to have two intents. One was to draw those caught in its grasp closer, and the other tried to repel the rest of us. I didn’t let it, forcing myself to stay by Junie’s side and attempt to pull her back.
The curse awoke as soon as I touched her, and blood began streaming from my nose. I ignored it, and the wicked migraine it brought on when I didn’t immediately let go. I would suffer a million times over if it meant I could keep my sister safe.
Tinky-Winky and I shared a look, and, for some inexplicable reason, the bubbling sensation of rage and fear dissipated. I intrinsically felt like I could trust him. For whatever reason, he cared for Junie and was willing to fight to keep her safe. I could see the determination (and was that devotion?) in his eyes. For now, whatever animosity we held toward one another didn’t matter. If he wanted to help, I wasn’t about to turn that away. I didn’t care who or what he was, nor did I care to look too closely at the long, curved horns protruding from his head (or their wickedly sharp points), but I recognised the way he stared at her. There was longing there, awe, and protectiveness as he attempted to shield her from the ongoing battle. It was the look of a man who had just found his reason to live, and while I wanted to pummel the horny bastard for daring to look at my sister that way, I wasn’t about to deny the extra set of helping hands.
Thorne was practically growling at him like those Shifters had growled at us. It was the first time he had ever shown possessiveness over Junie publicly, but even he didn’t dare shove the purple man away. He and Enid attempted to grab hold of Junie as well, but there simply wasn’t room. As she was yanked away from us by the strength of the portal’s call, it was increasingly difficult to hold on. The portal was trying to repel us, and combined with the curse gearing up to toss me away from Junie, it was increasingly difficult to maintain my grasp. And I wasn’t the only one struggling.
To my heart-sinking dismay, our combined efforts simply weren’t enough.
Juniper slipped through our fingers just like all the others and was sucked through the portal, disappearing from this realm in an instant.
It pulsed once, then caved in on itself like a dying star, shutting off any connection I had with the person I loved most in this world.
‘Fuck!’ I screamed into the now-empty space. I wanted to scream her name, but it got stuck in my throat like always, thanks to the damn curse, so I stuck with spewing my own curses instead. A single tear tracked down my cheek because I had no more energy left to hold it back. I breathed easier now that the blood had stopped with Junie’s disappearance, but my lungs didn’t want to work without her here, anyway.
