EMLYN
“Emlyn!”Miloyells.
I ignore that. I have to because I’m facing off against a wolf in full attack mode. I can’t let myself think about the fact that Milo is seeing me with blood streaming from my shoulder, and that that might be breaking his focus. He needs to stay focused on the defensive magic he’s using. I have to trust that he’s going to do that.
All I can do is take out my own enemy.
And my plan is working because Victor stumbles back a pace when he sees me in my human form.
I get it. When he was seeing a wolf, he could forget—even if only just a little bit—about how appealing my body was to him. Even before we were mated, he looked at me. I knew he did. He wanted me.
He’s never had me.
That must make him absolutely crazy.
And then he shifts too, and we’re staring at one another, face to face.
My blood is up and so is his. It feels exactly the way it did on the night of our mating ceremony—except that everything is different now. The blood on his face tonight belongs to a friend of mine, not a beast I’ve helped him to kill. And even though my body still wants him, my mind doesn’t.
This is the break I need.
One of the wolves is still incapacitated on the ground. One of them is tangled up with Nate. I look over at Milo and see that he’s still holding the third.
That leaves me to take out Victor. And I can do it.
I think I can do it.
I close my eyes and reach for the energy of the moon.
It comes to me easily this time. Maybe something about the adrenaline of the fight has made me more susceptible to it. I’ll worry about that later. For now, I let the power flow through me.
I’m not going to use combat magic. When I tried that, I failed.
Instead, I try healing magic.
Because bones that are healing wouldn’t twist and shift. Muscles that are healing wouldn’t stretch and reform.
I heal Victor, keeping him in the purest version of his human body.
The pain in my shoulder lessens, and I can tell I’m healing myself too. But that’s not what matters here.
What matters is that—I’m pretty sure—Victor can’t shift. Not while I’m keeping him whole and human like this.
I run at him, hoping I can manage to fight while still keeping the focus I’ve achieved in my head.
He grimaces and his hands flex, and I can see that he’stryingto shift. He wants to catch me on teeth and claws. I see the moment when he realizes he can’t do it. I see the moment when he understands I must be the one stopping him.
“Bitch!” he screams.
I smile through gritted teeth, leap into the air, and kick out at him with both feet. My strike meets him directly in the chest and knocks him over.
I rebound, land on my feet, and roll backward. I’ve still got Victor in my mind, and I wrap the magic of the moon all around him, layer upon layer.
“What are you doing to me?” he screams.
He jumps to his feet and runs at me.
I dodge out of the way. I’m good at hand-to-hand combat, but he’s both larger and stronger, and if this turns into a fistfight, I won’t be able to maintain the upper hand for very long. I need to keep him on the run until one of my men wins their fight and can come help me.