Page 78 of Wolf Tamer

I throw a blast of magic at them, drawing from that deep well of fury inside me and hoping, praying, that it will maintain its strength.

It’s enough to knock Emily back and Mae off of me, so I’ll take it. I race to get on my feet, and for the first time, the other witches look frightened of me.

It is a welcomed change.

None of them are trying to get past me, either. Mae stands opposite me, and I glare at her smirking face, ready to teach her a lesson she’ll never forget.

She’s way overdue for some ass-whopping. I’ll make sure she knows better than to fuck with me before the day is out.

Holding out my hand, I keep her gaze, my world zeroed in on her as the rest of her people step through the flickering portal.

“You’re supposed to be looking for your sister,” she throws out at me. I know she’s trying to throw me off my game, and the best way to do it is to bring Carmen’s name into this standoff. “That’s the whole reason you’re here, Tasha. Not wasting your time shacking up with a bloodthirsty killer. What a shame. Using your talents on your back rather than for their intended purpose.”

I’m not listening to another word out of her mouth.

Charging straight forward, I yell out a warning before slamming my fist into her face. There’s no going back now.

My knuckles crash against her teeth, and a second later, her magic has me thrown back, through the doorway, and hitting the floor in the hall with a loud smack. With my head being one of the first things to hit the hardwood, pain dances inside my skull, making me dizzy.

That’s bound to get someone’s attention.

As I roll over and push up onto my knees, a spot a pair of feet in front of me. As I follow them up to legs, a torso, and shaggy long hair, I find it’s Julius smirking down at me.

“Y-You?” I spit out, rubbing the tender spot on my head.

“Were you expecting Prince Charming?” he asks with a cock of his head.

I was expecting Reid so…kind of.

Once the witches file out of the room to meet us on the landing, Julius widens his stance and hunches his shoulders as if he’s prepared to fight.

Maybe I’d been wrong about him being involved in this.

“Witches? How did they get in here? What’s this about?” His questions are rushed in his confusion and all directed to me. Then he spots the big bad traitorous wolf among the coven and gasps. “Emily?”

“Surprise, sweet cheeks,” she says pushing her way to the very front, beside Mae. “Although, this isn’t exactly the welcome home I was hoping for.”

Julius’s lips curls over his sharpened canines. “But clearly the one you deserve.”

He lunges forward, his claws aimed right for Emily’s throat.

As much as I’d love to see him tear her to shreds, it’s impossible to after being sucker punched by a fist wrapped in flames. The attack must’ve singed off my eyebrows because half the skin of my face stings big time. The sharp, pungent scent of burned hair and skin fills my nostrils, and my eyes water.

Luckily, I’m able to snatch the witch’s arm, twist it, and wrench it back at a not so comfortable angle. The fire extinguishes the second I hear the familiar pop of her shoulder dislocating.

“When we get out of this…” Julius starts as he dodges spells and battles with Emily. There are slash marks across her face from his half-shifted hands with elongated, pointed nails. When she snaps her jaws at him, he dances back, and the wild animals inside them both push against their human form. “Then you and Reid are going to tell me everything.”

“If we make it out of here, then you have a deal,” I bark back, ducking low to miss an energy blast and then kicking out to nail my next assailant in the chest.

From the corner of my eye, I see Julius get spun through the air, knocked by some spell I missed. He lands on his feet through with the grace of a feline—don’t tell him that—and immediately his narrowed gaze finds Emily again in the chaos.

Julius bulldozes over the women to get to his goal—the wolf who betrayed the pack, their family. She’s his main focus, and in battle mode, he’s quite a sight to be seen. Even the witches’ magic doesn’t seem able to touch him as he zigzags through their blasts of ice and strong gusts of wind. I can appreciate a fighter, like me. He goes for the kill, no matter what the cost.

Right before he’s on her with his nails splitting open her flesh, Emily pops out of existence right before our eyes. One second she’s there and then next, gone.

I blink, unable to believe what I’ve just see.

She was there and then… not.

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