Page 14 of Shadowed Radiance

I took a few steadying breaths before reaching through the metaphysical tethers connecting me with the Shadow Wolves to each side. Impressive threads of energy flowed from them into me at my tentative prompting, making my eyes widen. It wasn’t actual Radiant magic, of course, since they weren’t themselves magic-users. But the energy they shared replenished my own physical reserves, granting me the strength to work magic I would not have otherwise been able to use.

Relief flowed through me as I gathered nearby magic to cast a Radiant Seal around the five of us before nodding at Sanai. “You may speak freely. Nobody else can hear.”

Her body relaxed slightly. “I’m afraid we don’t have time to more properly mourn the personal loss the four of you have just endured, because it’s a real shit show out there. Untethered wolves injured dozens of people before you managed to retether the Pack, and I fear there will be at least a few fatalities. The other guardians have confined everyone to the ballroom, and the Pack Spellbinders and Physicians are treating the injured, but…I’m no longer certain justwhowe can trust. Panic is sweeping across the outsiders, not to mention some Pack members. And the human authorities will arrive at any moment. Our time to act without their interference is short.”

I blew out an explosive breath. Sanai was right. We were in the middle of a real shit show. And things were only going to get worse before they even thought about getting better.

Shea broke the grim silence, gesturing to his brothers and me. “Given the sudden and severe circumstances thrust upon us, all three of us have stepped forward to share the duties of Packleader.”

Sanai nodded slowly. “I guessed as much, given how Pack instincts urge me to obey you all equally.”

Finn and Connor exchanged their own significant look before Connor replied, “Technically speaking, yes. All three of us are part of the Packleader-Beacon bond. But Shea is clearly the ideal choice to serve as sacrificial lamb. I mean public figurehead. I mean official Pack spokesperson.”

My lips unexpectedly twitched as Connor, who considered himself the group comedian, couldn’t resist showing that side of himself even now, when we were facing the biggest threat the Pack had seen in five years. Then again, gallows humor was a perfectly valid coping mechanism for many people. Me included.

Shea frowned at Connor. “I thought we were in this together.”

“Of course we are. And obviously, among the Pack all three of us will be recognized as equals. We just think it’d be better for outsiders—especiallyhumanones—to viewyouas the Packleader, and the two of us as more like…”

I couldn’t resist getting in a dig of my own. “Plucky sidekicks?” That earned sideways glances from all three, which in turn had me rolling my eyes. “Executive assistants?” Their low growls indicated they were definitely Not Amused.

Connor cut back in. “More like…Understudies.”

That tempted me to roll my eyes again, but I managed to resist. “You mean Understudies with actual authority?”

Both Finn and Connor winced in evident empathy at the bitterness I hadn’t managed to conceal, while Shea squeezed my shoulder in solidarity again. Sanai, on the other hand, cleared her throat pointedly.

“Right,” I shook my head. “We can work out all of the logistics later. Right now we need a game plan.”

Shea nodded. “Normally I like to divide and conquer, but in this case I think we need to present a united front.”

I pursed my lips and then gave an echoing nod. “What do you have in mind?”

He motioned around our small circle. “All four ofus, accompanied by Sanai and the other guardians, address the crowd in the ballroom before the police arrive. Hopefully we can calm the fears among our own people while sending a strong message to any enemies still present inourseat of power.”

Finn and Connor bared their teeth in wolfie expressions that matched how I felt on the inside. “May I suggest we go withMother Moon have mercy on our enemies because we sure as hell won’t!”I drawled with every bit of that internal fierceness.

Shea’s lips twisted, and his eyes shone with approval. “And here I thought Beacons were supposed to be the diplomatic ones.”

Finn and I exchanged amused glances, because we’d bonded over the feeling that we were the black sheep among our families. Something I was willing to bet neither of us had shared with his other two brothers. And then our amusement faded when we realized there was still a wide gulf between us after that screwed-up accusation he’d made.

I looked away from him and shrugged, “I’m nowhere near the negotiator that myGrandmotheris, but don’t worry. I won’t shame the Pack when we go out there.”

Shea’s suddenly heated glance locked onto mine. “We damned well knowthat, Ava. Neither your sister nor you haveeverbrought shame upon this Pack. You’ve fought for us just as strongly as anyone born into it.”

My cheeks warmed in mingled pleasure and embarrassment over the praise. “Right, then. Sanai said we don’t have much time till the authorities arrive. Let’s move.”

I banished the Radiant Seal without needing to borrow strength through our bond. Releasing spells was always far easier than casting them. Sanai hustled ahead of us to issue new orders to the guardians who’d been waiting patiently near the room’s main entrance. I couldn’t help but glance down at my sister once more, letting out a choked noise despite my best efforts to hold myself together. Shea pulled me into the reassuring warmth of his body and motioned to a tapestry on the wall. As if he and his brothers shared some magical form of triplet communication, Finn and Connor tore it down to respectfully cover Maddox and Kayleigh’s bodies.

The bodies of our enemies—including the two bound to our Pack—they left exactly as they’d fallen. No less than what they deserved in my opinion. Maybe my rage would soften that sentiment later, but for now everything felt entirely too raw.

Shea moved his arm to the small of my back once I composed myself, something I appreciated because I was no shrinking violet. Finn and Connor took positions at my other side and back, and we strode toward the parlor door as the united team we’d been forced to become. Sanai directed a few of the guardians to stay behind to safeguard the room—what the police would now regard as a crime scene—while she and the others formed a protective circle around us as we walked across the hall to the closed ballroom door. The two guardians flanking it bowed their heads in respect to both us as their new leaders and Sanai as their captain before opening the door and ushering us inside.

The scene was even more chaotic than I’d expected.

Nearly everywhere my eyes wandered, the decorations my sister had so painstakingly designed now lay in pools of tattered fabric or shattered glass. A makeshift infirmary had been created at the center of the dance floor, with at least two dozen injured guests being treated for various stages of injury. Several dozen guests, all either humans or Spellbinders, were warily arranged along the walls of the room as far away from any Shifters as they could get. Dozens of Pack members guarded every entrance or exit to the ballroom, with dozens more staring suspiciously at the outsiders casting them equally distrustful glares. Most disturbing of all, though, were the ten amorphous shapes covered in tablecloths in an eerie echo of the tapestry now covering my sister and brother-in-law.

On the one hand, that number could have been so much higher if we hadn’t retethered the pack so quickly. But on the other, those shrouded figures were either Packmates whom we would mourn—or invited guests who it had beenourduty to protect.Or enemies who got what they deserved, declared my bloodthirsty inner wolf.Nota sentiment I could voice out loud when we were hoping toavoida war.

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