Page 100 of Ancient Magic

Valen hissed in annoyance. “We have to find out what happened before Kane can escape.”

“I’ll open it.”

The soft voice floated from the main hallway and Valen turned around to discover Peri lifting her arm, the jade bracelet around her wrist already glowing with power.

“Peri—”

“I can do this,” she insisted, her floral scent mixing with tingles of electric magic.

Valen grabbed Gabriel’s elbow and pulled him out of the passageway, giving Peri a clear shot at the door.

“I have no doubt you can do it,” he assured his mate, adding a hint of warning to his voice. “I’d just prefer you open the door without turning our lair into a pile of rubble.”

Peri shrugged. “I make no promises.”

“Wait,” Valen commanded. He would survive the building landing on top of him, but he wasn’t sure that Peri would.

“I’m kidding,” she assured him as she closed her eyes to concentrate on her spell. “Hopefully.”

Next to him, Gabriel shook his head in resignation. “I don’t envy you.”

“It’s an adjustment,” Valen conceded, only to grunt when a sharp elbow was dug into his ribs. “A magnificent adjustment,” he clarified.

Peri clicked her tongue, her eyes still closed as she vibrated with the power that surged through her.

“Stand back and don’t distract me.”

Valen brushed a hasty kiss over her cheek. “Be careful.”

She was already lost in the wild magic that coursed through her blood, and Valen hastily moved to press his back against the far wall. Gabriel was wise enough to join him as bolts of lightning danced from Peri’s slender fingers. The powerful magic sizzled with a white-hot heat, proving it wasn’t just an illusion. And just in case there was any doubt, the ground began to shake and the cement walls cracked from the sheer pressure of the snowballing spell.

Valen felt the hair on his nape rise with an instinctive fear before Peri muttered a word of power and released her magic. With a loud hiss it blasted through the passageway, the lightning weaving together to form a battering ram before it smashed into the door with shocking force.

Valen winched at the painful shriek of ripping metal, but it was impossible to see what happened as a cloud of pulverized cement wafted out of the passageway. It wasn’t until the choking fog faded and the ground at last stopped shaking that Valen and Gabriel tentatively stepped forward to inspect the damage.

The older vampire grunted in disbelief. “Damn.”

Valen slowly smiled, wrapping his arm around Peri as she sagged wearily against him.

“She never fails to amaze,” he murmured, pride in his voice as he took in the steel door that had been blasted off its hinges.

There wasn’t a vampire in the Cabal who could have matched her strength. In fact, there was a very real possibility that only the dragons possessed more raw power.

For a second they admired the devastation in silence. It wasn’t often they were astonished by the power of another creature. Then there was a flicker of movement from inside the safe room and Valen released his hold on Peri to flow forward.

He sensed Gabriel next to him as they reached the end of the passageway, both halting at the mangled door to peer inside. There was no use in risking Peri’s unpredictable magic only to rush into a trap.

He narrowed his eyes against the bright security lights that had been triggered when the door was forced open, sweeping his gaze over the small room that held a wooden chair and table where a laptop was available to keep in contact with the outside world. There were also numerous weapons and a freezer filled with frozen blood, but they were stockpiled behind layers of magic that could only be unlocked with his personal touch.

There was another flutter of movement, and Valen realized there was something or someone cowering beneath the pile of blankets in the corner. Striding forward, he grabbed the covers and tugged them aside, his mouth dropping open in pure shock.

“Shit, Kane,” he rasped, barely recognizing the massive vampire.

The long blond hair had been ripped from his usual braid to hang in clumps around his face. A face that was currently twisted in pain. His leather jacket was missing and the T-shirt that covered his chest had been shredded by whatever weapon had gouged deep wounds into his body. Several of them continued to leak blood down his torso and onto the cement floor.

Kane held up a beefy hand, his expression one of sheer terror. “No, no.”

Valen stared down at him in confusion. He’d assumed that Kane was long gone from the lair. Not hiding in his panic room.

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