Page 87 of A Touch of Flame
He took the container from the fridge and using tweezers as Maeve had done, he removed three grains exactly. He added these to the compound and ground away with the pestle.
It didn’t take long. He poured the dry compound into another ceramic bowl, held his breath as he added just enough water, then mixed and drank.
The potion bubbled down his throat.
When it hit his wolf’s stomach, it turned to lightning and spread through his veins. The flame drug had enhanced the potion a hundred-fold.
He lifted his left hand, stunned. He felt a warlock’s killing power forming. Only this time, he was using his wolf’s physical strength as well. He embraced this new ability and turned in the direction of the closed burrow door.
He crossed swiftly and with a powerful kick of his foot, knocked the door flat. It landed flat on the stone floor next to the bed of furs.
Veyda, who was hovering over Maeve and chanting, whipped in his direction. In the same split-second, she fired a red bolt of her own killing power. But it was as though the terrible witch energy moved in slow-motion.
Braden flipped his hand up and a gleaming gold stream shot back and caught the red stream. Sparks flew everywhere.
“So, you’ve used the flame drug. Sorry, but it won’t be enough.”
He didn’t bother to respond. Instead, while keeping his killing energy at full-bore, he moved toward her one careful, determined step at a time.Maeve, you there?
Barely.
We’ll need to do this together. Focus on your wolf, not your witch. You need your physical strength right now to escape the spell and Veyda’s not counting on that. But don’t move until you can leap to your feet and start firing. We can do this together.
I’m with you and I’m feeling it. My wolf wants to howl.
Good.
The whole time, Braden kept inching toward Veyda. Sparks still flew as he kept her distracted. The witch had miscalculated one thing in this equation, his trust in Maeve and that they’d journeyed almost to the point of mating.
He held his power steady and wasn’t surprised to watch Veyda taking a step backward then another. He saw sweat bead on her forehead.
She flicked her right hand in his direction.
The spell touched him, then fell away. Ironically, emerald flame had protected him.
But Veyda fought hard. She increased the stream of her power. This time, he was forced back several steps. Maeve was to the right of them both. He could feel her strength rising.
I’m ready, Braden. Tell me what to do.
She’ll try to use her spell on you again, so keep your wolf in the dominant position. Also, try to stay a step behind me. But when you rise from the furs, get as close to me as you can and start firing.
Say when.
Braden smiled at Veyda. “Time to die, Bitch.”Okay, Maeve, when!
From his peripheral, he watched her jump to her feet, a seamless move combined with wolf precision. She let loose with her fierce killing power at the exact same moment so that now two golden, glimmering streams of power flowed toward Veyda.
The dark witch’s eyes went wide as she started backing up. But the space was small in Maeve’s burrow and the stone wall of the cave stopped her.
Sweat poured down her face as she tried to counter both their killing streams at once. When she lifted her right hand to throw another spell toward Maeve, Braden adjusted the flow of his power and pinned her arm to the wall.
She started to scream. Her arm withered then simply disappeared.
The flow of her power began to ebb. Both he and Maeve moved toward her.
Braden knew they had her now. “You deserve worse than this, Veyda, for all the suffering you’ve caused.”
Unlike her, he had no interest in torture. So, instead of prolonging the moment, he added a boost of wolf power. The flow of his killing stream finished hers off. Without her killing power to protect her, his gold stream broke through to her chest then pierced her all the way through.
