Page 91 of Shadows of the Soul

“Huh.” I wasn’t getting away with that explanation. If I lived through this, I had some explaining to do. I reckoned it was a fifty-fifty chance.

Hudson’s eyes narrowed like he’d figured out my plan to barricade myself in my rooms. “Rebecca,” I mumbled.

“I know,” she whispered.

A white ball of fur shot from behind me. It exploded into a terrifying menace the size of a fully grown lion with snarling teeth, silver eyes and curved ears that were flicked down in warning. Its tail twitched. “Bella?” I knew there was something off about that cat.

Hudson pounced, Bella inserted herself between him and Rebecca. He knocked them into the wall and they went down like a sack of bricks. Rebecca’s head lolled to the side, and the overgrown White Furry Menace was sprawled in a heap of unconscious fur over her. I take it back. Most shifters weren’t a match for vampire steel, except those that predated modern history. My heart twisted. I couldn’t let Rebecca die, not on my watch. Power ripped from me and I cast a net of protection over Rebecca and my cat, saving them from the encroaching shifters that were trying to tear them to shreds. My other power, the one that both ignited my soul and terrified my heart, was easier to reach for without my elemental shroud of magic. Stephen Proctor made a huge mistake when he unwrapped this little gift. I tripped backward and my ass bounced off the edge of the wooden steps. Pain reverberated up my spine and down my legs, making me hiss. A second later, hot breath blew over my face and I was staring into the face of prehistoric nightmares.

“Hey there, your furry majesty,” I whispered.

A snarl worked up his throat, and his fangs elongated. What in the ever loving fu-

“Cora?” Hudson’s voice echoed in my mind, like he was shouting at me from miles away down a long tunnel. My hands skimmed up the giant paws and legs of the beast lurking over me before I buried my hands in the fur on his neck and gazed into his eyes. He was trying to reach me. I stretched out my mind and fought to get past the beast to the man. Maybe, because he wasn’t like a normal shifter, I could reach him.

“Come back to me, I need you,” I aimed at him. It wasn’t a lie. I was alone and terrified. My world was collapsing and everyone that could help me was gone or incapacitated. Ineededhim.

He snapped his teeth at me and growled. I clung tighter to his fur, not willing to believe that anything, including a Satanic priest, could come between us when it mattered the most. It was like staring into the face of death, and I should know, I’d done it enough.

“I’m trying to–” Hudson’s voice cut out, and the beast shook his head. His fur rippled. I released him and shuffled back. A lion tried to muscle past Hudson. He turned and bared his teeth, making the horde of shifters shrink back. They recognized when they were outmatched and out-muscled. I glanced at Rebecca, still out cold under a glowing net of protection. Still safe. I closed my eyes and sent a wave of power out that made the shifters behind Hudson whine. The floor under me creaked. The more power I used, the bigger the target I put on my head. I was like a beacon for the creatures that hunted me.

Someone swept their arms underneath me and lifted. My eyes flew open in time to see the shifters pawing at their heads from the unearthly force I was flooding them with. The door slammed closed and Hudson’s arms tightened around me.

“Can they get in?” he checked.

I shook my head and detached myself from him—a very naked Hudson stood before me.Don’t look, don’t look—too late. He froze, every single muscle stood rigid against his flesh. Oh good, he’d seen the light. Literally.

“What is that?” he asked in wonder. He took a step closer. Who wouldn’t? Heaven was hard to resist. The promise of peace and serenity was a seductive lure that would lead even the strongest into its arms.

“If you plan on living, don’t touch it,” I said, pushing his arm away from the portal.

“That’s not what I asked. Wait, is this what was hiding behind the door, the one you wear the key to around your neck?”

I glanced down, tore the chain off, and dropped it on the kitchen counter. “It’s redundant now.”

A howl of agony ripped through the air. I rushed over to my balcony, threw the doors open, and leaned outside. Hudson was at my back as we surveyed the gardens.

Stephen Proctor stood amongst the black roses, concentric rings of shifters kneeling before him like he was their master. Hudson let loose a growl, drawing Stephen’s gaze to me. He smirked, raised his hand, and snapped his fingers. The shifters closest to him lifted their heads, then exploded. Their blood decorated the air before sinking into the ground. The next ring of shifters tilted their heads in the same manner. Oh shit.

Hudson trembled. I put my hand on his arm as I searched the rows of animals for anyone familiar, for the bobcat that I’d taken under my wing.

“If you go down there, you will be killed,” I warned him.

“He’s murdering my people,” he snapped. I drew in a breath and gazed at the horrific scene below. Why was he killing the shifters he’d fought so hard to control? The ground beneath him rumbled at the same time as the portal behind us stretched. He was fueling the blood magic, squeezing open my portal and preparing for battle. Something big was coming. An echo of chanting sounded from Heaven that made the hairs on my arms stand to attention. They’d felt my power and were coming to obliterate my unnatural presence from the universe. Shifter after shifter fed the ground their blood, and the earth peeled away from Stephen, leaving him standing before a cavernous crater that disappeared into the unknown.

“Maggie,” I whispered as a bobcat came staggering out of the house, down the steps and onto the grounds. Not that her life was worth more than the other shifters. It was that I couldn’t conceive of a world without the little shy girl I’d watched grow into a confident woman. I glanced behind me as the portal breached the roof. Plaster toppled onto the wooden floors. It was too late now. They were coming come hell or high water. The least I could do was save those I love. I loosened the chains, my beast stirred and looked at the scene with interest. She narrowed her gaze on Maggie. She cared about what I cared about.

“Ours,” she confirmed. I redirected our gaze to Stephen Proctor. “Kill.” I gripped the railing and threw myself down to the ground, clearing three stories with ease.

“Fucking hell,” Hudson muttered as he landed beside me. I turned my gaze to him, knowing I was displaying the ethereal eyes of my ancestors. He swallowed but didn’t move back.

“Get the shifters off my property. While they are here, they are vulnerable,” I commanded.

“What are you going to do?”

I grinned and my voice echoed with my beast’s. “I’m going to tear the priest to shreds so he can meet his Lord in Hell.”

I ran toward where Stephen waited. He eyeballed me with a smirk stuck on his stupid face. He thought himself safe on his self-made island.Wrong Stephen, you might have been safe from an elemental, but not from me.

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