Page 21 of Reign of the Beast

He climbed out of bed, telling me, “After what happened to Cornelius, I set up an alert.”

“An alert?”

“Yeah. To let me know if any heavy magic of his fell. His magic powers several vital supernatural institutions—pillars, if you will.”

“And that’s what you just felt? One of them has fallen?”

He nodded.

“When a magic-wielder dies, all of their existing magic, any spells that they have conjured, cease to be.”

“It’s not only death that can cause that. He could be alive, but severely incapacitated.” He snapped his fingers twice and the both of us were instantly showered and dressed. “Either way, I need to fix this.”

“What has just fallen?”

His expression was grave as he took a beat, thenrevealed, “The Guardian Compound. The barrier protecting it.”

“Holy hell.”

“I need to head there to see if I can conjure something strong enough in its place.”

“I’ll go with you.”

He nodded and held out his hand, conjuring his magic to teleport us.

The situation was deteriorating quicker than either of us had imagined.

We’d thought we’d have a little more time at our disposal.

More time to bring Mia back into the fold.

More time to complete the Covenant ritual.

Now, though, with the Immortal’s magic already falling, we were out of time.

5

~Jaxon~

“Fuck,” I ground out as my back smacked against the trunk of an old oak tree.

The impact had it shuddering, almost tearing from its tough roots.

Fucking vamps had some major power in their shoves.

Growling, I pushed off it, flashing my claws, my wolf teeth dropping, as I stomped toward the asshole vamp who’d tossed me a hundred feet across my pack lands into the trunk with his super speed.

Three of his buddies had joined him now, all of them snarling at me.

I was pissed that I hadn’t sensed that shithead’s attack in time.

As Alpha of the largest pack in the world, my instincts could be matched.

But there was a hell of a lot going down right now.

My pack was under attack, a brutal territory invasion that had come out of nowhere.

No warning, nothing.

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