Page 112 of Junk Magic

“Can you get out of here?”

The redhead rounded on me, her furious face matching her hair. “I’m not leaving you! Or her!”

“I’m not asking you to. Aki is outside. Find him—”

“I don’t have to find him! He was supposed to take you to the parking lot—”

“—and see if he can get Jen and Chris out.”

“There’s no time!” She looked from me to the rapidly dwindling circle of protection around Jen. “She’s almost out of power. They’ll be on her before—”

“They won’t.”

“How the hell do you know?”

“Because I’m going to stop them.”

She stared at me for a moment, and I braced myself for more arguments that I didn’t have time for. But she surprised me. She turned and ran off toward the entrance without another word.

I didn’t know how she planned to get out of here, but I was confident enough in her by now to know that she’d manage. I’d barely had the thought when Sophie’s body suddenly disappeared, leaving only footprints in the sand as she ran. Two sets of footprints.

So, she and Dimas were accounted for, as were Kimmie and Aki.

Good, I thought, and ran after Caleb.

He’d reached the bottom of the stone benches, but was being ignored. Sebastian was halfway up and doing better, but that was mainly because he and some of his people were throwing the attacking Weres out of the way, not because he was being listened to. And I was pretty sure I knew why.

The small group of people at the bottom of the sweep of seats were familiar to me, as they were to the whole of the Were world. The heads of some of the larger clans, they helped to form the Clan Council which Sebastian was supposed to lead. But many of them had been bucking him at every turn, some in opposition to the alliance with the humans, others not wanting any oversight into their clan’s activities or changes to the ways that things had always been done. It had been an uphill struggle ever since his election.

And now it looked like they had decided to take him down.

Because it was their wolves attacking, with their scents coming to me as clearly as if I was standing beside them. Some of my new powers were fading, but that one was as strong as ever, and it allowed me to link the wolves to their masters with no trouble at all. Especially since most were tied directly to the towering hulk visible above the rest of the group, with the discipline and arrogance to remain in human form despite the carnage all around him.

His wolves shared his egotism, and were utterly ignoring Sebastian’s repeated roars to stand down. Caleb was shouting even louder, projecting his voice magically, making me surprised that he had enough power to spare. I didn’t, and wouldn’t have bothered issuing orders that no one was likely to follow in any case.

I targeted the Clan Council instead.

Of course, I didn’t reach them. A line of massive wolves stood in between us, and snarled and snapped at me as I approached. But they didn’t attack, didn’t bite.

They hadn’t been given orders—yet.

But it wouldn’t be long. Because the man who rounded on me was their master, the same one controlling the attack. And despite not being in wolf form himself, he gave off the same sense of menace, the same towering bulk, and the eyes—

Were wolf eyes, in a human face.

They burned dark gold, brightly enough to cast light shadows onto the beard that flowed down his chest. It was bigger and fuller than Ulmer’s, but had none of the other man’s grizzled appearance. It was truly magnificent, a black cascade with only one, stark ribbon of white running through it, the same one that continued up his temple and into his hair.

It looked like a divine painter had slapped him with a brush, but it was the only divine thing about him.

“If you have any influence on your clan leader, rogue,” he snarled, “tell him to get back before he ends up dead!”

“I thought that was the idea,” I said, only it wasn’t me. I’d been about to correct him, to point out that Sebastian’s title was bardric, as he knew very well. But once again, another voice spoke thorough me, and she didn’t seem to care if she got us killed. Because she was speaking to Whirlwind of Rand, one of the most powerful clan leaders on Earth, without the slavish deference he was accustomed to.

Or any at all.

I’d had a speech worked out, explaining that Jen and Chris were fighting on our side, and pointing out that threatening the Corps’ assets wasn’t likely to end well. I didn’t actually expect that to work on Whirlwind, particularly if he was using the attack as cover for another hit on his rival. But he wasn’t the only council member here.

I didn’t see many of Sebastian’s supporters, but there were plenty of clan leaders who fell in the middle politically and they were already looking appalled.

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