Page 60 of Sinful Shifters

She's doing her best, and the little witch is skilled. But she's no match for Teller with the wellspring within him. Even the four of us will struggle to take out the vampires, and we're likely to be summoned back toourwellspring because of it.

Even with my connection to the Mountain Pack, its wellspring still has a mind of its own. It should, since it's birthed so many other wellsprings and packs, but there's more to it than that. After having so many sacrifices made for it and so many souls live inside its embrace, it's almost... human.

And like a human, it has a temper. One that will flare to life the more we fight.

Which is why we have to make these precious few moments count, by using so much of our magic that we destroy the army entirely. That way, if and when the wellspring does grab us and draw us back, we won't leave a mess behind for Rina and her loved ones.

I watch as Caterina shifts between her wolf and human form, moving between raking vampires with her claws and teeth to summoning wind and water magic to fight them. She hasn't yet gotten the hang of casting elemental magic with her muzzle, but she's fierce with her hands, and the flames of the Fury Pack dance in her fur in her wolf form. Seeing her now, I'm certain more than ever that she's a legend a dozen times over. None of the stories we ever heard about Fern cast her as this much of a warrior.

I'm so proud of her. And I want to keep her safe forever. As well as let her be free.

Freedom that will come easier if I show her how to truly fight, with all her talent and strength.

Shifting to my human form, I walk over to Caterina, tell her, "Get back," and push her behind me against a tree trunk. "I'm about to summon so much magic that it could kill you. The earth itself will open up beneath us, so be prepared."

She winds her hands around her waist and asks, "Can I help?"

"Of course you can," I tell her, feeling her effortlessly slide into my magic's pool. "Just make sure you don't do anything to uproot this tree. We're going to take the rest of this army down—then get to Teller."

He's attacking the alpha of the River Pack now, going after her and ignoring everything else around him, even Ali. She's in the middle of a pack of fierce warriors who seem willing to defend her to the death. Her bonded threads glow bright around her, brighter than any of the other alphas of the Destiny Packs.

Even still, she's fighting the pack's nature by being its alpha. This wellspring wants to be connected to an alpha with a water-sourced magic, like Everett.

Or an ancient magic channeler like Teller.

We'll have to destroy him before it comes to that. Even if it risks destroying us too.

Summoning my magic, I feel it course through me. Just when I have enough, I keep drawing on more and more, until it nearly spills over inside me. I have to grit my teeth against the influx of power.

That is, until Caterina steps up, channeling a portion of the magic herself. It doubles inside her, our power greater joined, and takes some of the pressure off me.

I use that power to summon armies made of every animal in the area. Our sibling wolves, coyotes, vultures, bears, and moose. I even summon zoo animals as well, bringing them down from the mountains and inward from the cities.

Then I grip every tree in the area and have it rip its roots from the ground. Around us, the forest shivers and shakes, trees walking across the earth and bending their branches. They smother vampires beneath the earth and wallop them into the sky.

Vines snag across the landscape as well, grabbing vampires and smashing them into the earth. Plants rip up from the ground, tear the earth apart, and swallow vampires whole.

Adar's pack members swathe the vampires who survive with flames.

Everett stabs them through the heart with spikes made of ice.

And when they survive even that, Lucian grabs them in fists of air, drags them up into his storm, and pummels them to death.

So much ash surrounds us that it clogs my lungs. And yet, it isn't enough. Because warriors are still going down. The vampires are advancing on River Pack with single-minded determination.

And Teller gets closer to his target by the second.

Once he has the wellspring in his control, it won't matter how much power we draw on.

We'll be evenly matched against the most powerful witch I've ever seen in centuries of life.

So we have to stop him before it comes to that.

Chapter50

Rina

We kill, and kill, and kill. But it isn't enough. Worse, it's hurting us—I can see it and feel it.

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