Page 338 of Sigils & Spells

“What the fuck, Brandon?” another asked.

“The fire witch is mine, Daniel. She is my mate,” my beautiful dragon hybrid replied, and heat pooled in my belly.

We’d made love and yes, he’d bitten me, but this was the first time Brandon had verbally claimed me. I did not know much about dragon shifters, secretive as they were, but I knew my heart belonged to him for however long he wanted it.

“Always,mo spréach,” he replied as if he’d heard me.

Maybe he did.

I couldn’t be sure how these things worked.

“Fucking shifter mate loyalty bullshit. Seize him, I said,” Stolbright repeated angrily, sending a lightning bolt of power toward Brandon.

“No!” I screamed.

Everything went hazy then. I reached out with my bare hand, catching the heated spell she’d cast in my mate’s direction. Growling, as if I too were a beast, I turned it around and sent it spiraling toward the ground to be fanned out by the mud and muck at our feet.

Chaos erupted as sentinels disagreed over how to proceed, shifting to their animal forms in their heightened emotional state. Brandon’s dragon ripped free from his skin as he battled to keep the more powerful creatures from attacking us. Magnus’s arms elongated into tentacles, and he flung wizards and beasts away when they got too close.

A few wizards who’d traveled with Stolbright and Armstrong began to send shots of magic aimed to hurt my friends.

Fuck that.

Brandon roared, shooting angry red flames in a line to stop the bears and wolves from crossing. There were two enormous thunderbirds who had no problem getting over the wall of fire.

But I trusted him and Magnus and the others to hold their own. My fight was with Stolbright. She approached me with hatred glowing in her eyes.

“I’ve been waiting for you to slip up, McKenna. Just like your snooping father. Well, there are some things better off left buried. Some people, too!” She reached back and aimed a green ball of power at me.

I’d been saving my power for so long, it was a miracle I knew how to use it at all. But I called my fire to me, and felt my body buzz and hum, pulling me off the ground until I floated with the help of bright orange and red flames that seemed to cover my entire body. It was like I stood on stilts made of fire, and when I looked, my arms, too, were elongated by the flames.

“It’s impossible!” Stolbright screamed as I caught her paltry spell in my flaming hands and crushed it, absorbing the magic into my own.

My fierce dragon flew above me, making sure the others stood down as Stolbright continued to try, and best me with her magic. The scout was good, I’d give her that. But I had fury and repressed power on my side.

“What do you know about my father?” I asked in a voice that rumbled with magic.

“Your father is a traitor!”

“Where is he, Stolbright? I demand you bring him here.”

“Ha! You demand? The Council has him now, and he will pay for trespassing on this sacred battleground—”

“Sacred? Is that why the history books lie about what happened here?”

“You don’t know what you are talking about. Your magic is wasted on you. The world is bleeding power, and we are getting weaker, you stupid girl! Can’t you see that? Are you a spy like your father? Want to spread rumor and fear monger like him, yeah?”

“What are you saying? I just want to know who killed my mother! Where is my father?”

Stolbright growled and charged me, green power buzzing along her body, but I was ready, and she was correct.

Her magic was weaker than mine.

I wrapped my hand around her throat, lifting her clean off the floor. She kicked at me, sputtering while I squeezed, and I heard the others shout my name.

I saw Brandon’s eyes widen as he changed back to his human form, but still he kept the others away, trusting me to do what was right. Maybe he overestimated me, I don’t know for sure. But I did know I wanted to kill her right then.

I felt my fire’s hunger for what was hers, its need to feed on her power. Nausea filled me and I released my hold, dropping the foul witch onto the muddy ground. I closed my eyes, screaming loudly as I pulled my magic back inside myself. It was a struggle. Fire like mine did not want to be contained.

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