So Zane was on his own. Okay. Let Chase know that I’m going in right now. Maybe I can do something to break up the spell.
Marian pathed, Chase will want to know exactly where to move in should the spell give way. What’s your location?
He gave the major cross-streets.
Got it. Now, go get ‘em, Mastyr.
Ramping up his battle energy, Zane knew what he needed to do. He levitated, extending himself facedown, then angled to fly straight at an enthralled wraith youth engaged in forging an Invictus bond with one of the female trolls. The wraith was draining some of his blood into what looked like a beer can, probably now empty. It was an inelegant approach, but Zane knew it would get the job done. All the wraith had to do was extract some of the troll’s blood, add it to the can, and blend the both together. Each would take a few sips of the combined blood and the bond would forge quickly. Within moments, the Invictus bond would be complete.
The simplicity of the process had been one reason the number of wraith-pairs continued to advance steadily.
When he got close, he flipped in the air and slammed his feet into the back of the male wraith. The troll flopped sideways, falling to the ground, but the momentum of his strike forced the wraith headlong into a bonded shifter and another wraith.
And the battle was on.
He erected his blue battle shield and let heavy pulses of his hand-frequency fly at the enemy. The already bonded wraith fell, the shifter with him, both dead.
He turned around and saw three incoming wraith-pairs. He gathered his energy and in a new set of quick pulses fired at each of the wraiths in turn.
Red streaks of energy came back at him, swift and heavy. But he wasn’t a mastyr for nothing and his shield held so that the wraith frequencies ricocheted off harmlessly.
The pairs surrounded him, trying to gain the advantage. He spun swiftly as he fought since his back was unprotected.
A wraith went down and as usually happened, the bonded mate fell at the same time.
Managing two pairs was easier, but the street was very open. It was hard to keep from taking a hit with no other Guardsmen to protect his vulnerable backside.
But he moved fast and at times flew straight up, disrupting the enemy’s game plan.
The second wraith went down, his female shifter mate with him. Knowing that Margetta was nearby and that the chaos wind still blew, he battled hard to bring the last pair down.
At the same time, he heard shouting, breaking glass, and loud whoops that had more to do with looting than anything else.
When he dropped the last wraith, he turned toward the wind and a terrible sight met his eyes: At least a dozen wraith pairs headed straight for him and he had no backup in sight.
And Margetta’s wind still kept his Guardsmen at bay.
~
Olivia didn’t want this to be on her, but something had gone wrong at Britchett Falls that she didn’t understand. Where were the rest of the Guardsmen? Zane was strong, but he could hardly battle so many Invictus pairs by himself.
She sensed he’d communicated telepathically with someone, maybe gaining an understanding of the situation. But she hadn’t been privy to the conversation. Though she had a number of powers, intercepting telepathy wasn’t one of them.
As much as she didn’t want to get involved, or even to show herself to Mastyr Zane, she couldn’t remain by and let him perish. She had to turn wolf and do what she could to rescue him. But would she reach him in time? Though her ‘ghost’ was with Zane, her body was still in Barker’s Bend a hundred-and-fifty miles away.
She withdrew from her tracking position so that now she was once more consciously on her porch. She never shifted in public and wasn’t sure if her cloak would hold so she ran through the house to the backyard. Extending her arms, she let her shifting vibration flow. The moon was on the horizon, full and beautiful, and a howl left her throat.
The fur on the back of her hands and on her chest and lower abdomen began to spread, absorbing her clothes and transforming her. The experience of becoming wolf was erotic and thrilling. As her hands became thick padded paws and her shoulders grew in mass, she slowly lowered herself to the lawn.
Already, her nose sniffed out the different scents, separating them like a very fine comb. Because Zane had been at the bar so recently, his grassy scent rose to the forefront.
She could sense him as well, feeling with every shifter bone in her body exactly where he was and that he was still alive; he’d been captured in Britchett Falls and was being moved to a different location. And whoever had him was moving fast.
>
She had to get to Zane, to protect him, to save him if she could.
Once completely transformed, she leaped over the fence of her yard, but didn’t land on the street. Instead, power flowed through her as never before and she remained bounding in the air for at least a half mile.