Page 17 of Sinful Shifters

They're exhausted but still fighters at heart. Standing in front of them, I pitch an idea.

"Instead of throwing small attacks at the shields and peeling off enemies, we throw one brute attack at them together, synchronized." I motion towards them, the four of us, and the remaining army. "All our magic, all our warriors, at once."

"We'll run out of magic if we do that," Constance objects. "Every single one of us could burn out."

Cassandra looks over at her sister Constance. "We'realreadyrunning out of magic."

The battle witch Greta, who's strongest among this at offensive magic, speaks up. "What we're doing now has us on the defense. We don't have enough magical power to keep going—their army will overwhelm us first. The only way to break this siege is to break through. I'm in."

This seems to make the other witches come around us well, though I notice Laurel isn't in their midst. It doesn't seem to matter. Rhea, their new leader, gives her assent.

"We'll do a cooperative chant spell," she says. "I'll make sure everyone knows it. The four of you should get the warriors together and prepare yourselves—we may only get a brief window to bring the attack to them before the shields go back up again. This is a one shot deal."

One shot is all I need when it comes to rescuing my sweet, precious omega.

We get the warriors ready to go. Rhea passes out a spell of brute force to her coven.

Adar readies his flames. Everett summons the rivers. Lucian floats in the air above us, surrounded by whipping winds.

And I call to nature, reaching out to every vine and tree, every living thing that bites or pecks or stings.

Together, we face the battlefield.

And I count down.

"Three..."

"Two..."

"One..."

Chapter14

Rina

She has a plan, I tell myself. Ali wouldn't be here if she didn't have a plan.

Infuriated, Teller informs Klaus, "The potion your brother gave you was a one-time thing. It was made for him, not for Rina, and I don't have any more numbing agent."

I don't know why Eli would need to be numbed. Klaus apparently knows, because he says, "Eli has plenty more of that stuff. He's barely been using it. Go get him, and—"

"He's been kidnapped," Teller says, cutting him off. "Their side has him. I'm working with someone on the inside to get him out, but it may take a while, if it even works at all."

Knowing that there's a traitor in our midst disturbs me. I've thought a lot of unkind things about the pack since they turned their backs on me, but they only ever did that out of fear and pain. They would never sell us out to the enemy—though maybe one of the coven witches would.

A thought that feels traitorous, when I'm relying on my best friend, one of those witches, to get me out of danger.

"The potion isn't necessary," Ali says, cutting off the bickering Teller is aiming in Klaus's direction. "I'm a witch with powerful potions magic. I can make Rina go into heat without violence or pain."

Her offer disturbs me more than anything, because I can't tell if she's fibbing or not. She isn't looking my way or giving any indication that it's false.

Maybe it's part of her plan to buy herself time.

Or maybe itisher plan. I don't like considering it in the least. Ali wouldn't do that to me, knowing it would be against my will—unless, of course, she thought there was no other option.

I hope there's another option. In heat or not, I don't want to mate with Klaus.

"I don't know," Teller says, sounding doubtful. "I've never heard of witch magic doing something like that before. Surely I would have, if it were possible."

---