Page 23 of A Dagger of Twisted Starlight

I swung at him, a sand dagger forming in my fist. He laughed and blocked it with a forearm with the sleeve of his reinforced jacket. Another glinting blade appeared in his hand, and he moved to stab me. The pain from the tiger bite burned like wildfire, but I pushed past it, dodging the swing and retaliating with one of my own.

Fuck this.

I dropped the dagger and produced a sword in the same hand. Larger and more complicated items took me more energy to produce, so it wasn’t ideal in the midst of a full-out brawl, but I had to risk getting winded.

The red-eyed man chuckled, kicking aside a broken chair. “You’re full of tricks, aren’t you?”

“What group are you part of?”

Someone feet away gave a death cry. My heart hammered, my lungs burning as if I’d run a mile. It melded with the pain that continued to throb through my arm.

“A group that doesn’t need to answer to you.”

He raised his hand. The daggers were gone. Instead, he held a tiny black pouch. Dragonsbane.

Before I could think to react, a vine came whipping through the air and snatched the pouch out of his hand. The red-eyed shifter looked like he was set to explode with anger,his gaze jerking to my little brother. He blew the guy a kiss before he tossed the Dragonsbane.

A yelp yanked my attention. It had come from Blake. He had shifted, his timber wolf form shielding Cassius as the other wolf rushed toward him. I saw it all happen in slow motion. It was like before. I had to turn back time. Had to intervene.

And then Blake surprised me. He’d been feigning his apprehension. With the wolf in the air, Blake crouched on his haunches and propelled upward. He clamped his jaws around the other shifter’s throat and dropped them both to the ground.

His attacker was dead. Good.

Now, I could focus on mine.

The red-eyed man produced two more daggers in each of his hands. “Just surrender. Make it easier for everyone.”

“What do you mean surrender? What are you after?”

He narrowed his gaze. There was a scar that ran down his top lip. His buzz cut showed more scars around his ears and scalp.

Loud pops started to sound through the room. White-robed Enforcers entered the room through the surrounding doors, wielding staffs that channeled their mana into deadly precision. They launched missiles of mana through the air. The red-eyed shifter, for once in this fight, looked scared.

He didn’t answer my question. He shifted into a massive tawny-red wolf and ran like a bulldozer toward the window to our left.

Oh no, motherfucker.

I forced myself through the increasing exhaustion and channeled the flow of time. I shifted it, creating a dam by sticking my hand into the invisible river of stardust and sand.The wolf moved backward, as did everyone else in the room, landing him back in his spot before he shifted. Time slowed for a brief moment.

But I couldn’t hold it. I couldn’t swing my sword fast enough.

Time found its rhythm again. The man shifted into his wolf form and leapt through the air, crashing through a window and escaping. A resonating howl echoed behind him. Many of the shifters listened to his call, following in his escape. They abandoned their fights and ran, some being caught but many escaping.

I nearly stumbled to my knees but managed to keep my footing. Blake stood over Cassius, helping him up. The Enforcers made quick work of the stragglers that didn’t flee with the red-eyed wolf. The ones that didn’t resist were being held on their knees with their hands tied behind their backs, velvet red mana cutting into their wrists. The ones who did try to attack were dead on the floor, mana wounds riddling their bodies.

Blake took one look at them and shuddered. His skin went a pallid pale, except around his mouth, which was covered in blood. I went over to him, my steps steady but my vision blurred, the oxygen in my lungs working on overtime.

“Are you guys okay?”

Blake nodded. He kept his eyes pinned on me. I knew he must not want to see the multiple holes that the mana projectiles made in their targets.

“Come,” I said, pulling him against me. We were bloodied and bruised and breathless.

Most important of all, we were safe. “The Enforcers can handle it from here. Let’s clean up.”

“Okay,” Blake said, voice shaken. He looked up at me like a blood-covered ghost. Something in his shaken golden gaze made me want to protect him well past my contract’s end date. As I took stock of the death and destruction that surrounded us, all of it seeming to insistently be following Blake, I wondered if we’d even make it to that point in one piece.

Chapter 10

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