Page 20 of Sinful Shifters

Beside me, Lucian whips the wind around himself and throws it at our targets as blades. He feeds my flames where they land, turning embers and sparks into a forest fire that he can control.

"Let's rumble, brother," he declares, baring his teeth in a savage grin. I smirk back at him, throwing more fire towards the vampires, loving the way it dance in his whipping winds.

Thale raises his arms and silently summons his full army. He uses ancient magic from the wellspring to call on every living thing to attack with all its might. Vines shoot from the ground to strangle our enemies, while ravens, hawks, and vultures swoop at them to tear their flesh apart. I hear screams as the trees themselves rip up their foots to march into battle, flames dripping from their upper branches.

As his destruction spreads, Thale declares, "They'll know no mercy for what they've done."

My brother Everett is quieter, almost as if he's doing nothing at all.

But I know him better than that—as patient as the Father of the Oceans is, he's no pacifist. As the battlefield turns into chaos and the witch coven summon their magic defenses, a wall of water grows behind our enemy. It's only when it towers far into the sky, thick and indestructible, that he moves it towards the battlefield from our enemy's rear.

The wall looks like nothing from far away, but it's full of the ocean's relentless and destruction power. It marches forward from every edge of the horizon, impossibly large.

He's pulling on so much magic that his muscles strain with the weight of it, his long hair floating in tendrils behind him, his fingertips glowing white.

The water hits. Teller is only able to throw up a brief protective shield above his head before tens of thousands of gallons of pure force are dumped on him and his allies, flattening every war tent and destroying their precious metal vehicles. Tanks fall to pieces and are swept away, humans screaming as they drown in the riptide.

Even the vampires are washed away, leaving only sputtering flames and mud behind.

Rina is still moving towards us, protected from our attacks as she races onto our side. Ali has stopped and is facing Teller from the other side of the river, their hands raised over their heads as they battle in a silent face-off. Powerful ancient magic courses from her hands, and I worry that she'll burn herself out, just as much as I worry that Teller will flatten her.

None of it matters, though, once Rina is close enough that I can see and smell her. Throwing one last fire attack at our flagging enemies, I shift into wolf form and race towards her.

Don't forget to clean up any stragglers, brother,Lucian says to me, showing me an image from his floating vantage point, of vampires running into the dark shadows now that Teller's protective magic is gone.Some of the bloodsuckers may still have enough werewolf blood in their bellies to day walk. I think a cleansing fire is appropriate.

Oh, I never forget to burn my enemies alive.

True to my word, I take out several vamps on my way to Rina. They scream as my flames find them, even in the surging flood waters of Everett's wrath. But my main focus is on getting toher, and every second that I spend away from her is one too many.

I should've knotted and claimed her when I had the chance. Should've made her beg and whimper until it all fit. She's a beautiful little omega, and she deserves my knot and my protection.

She'll get both now. And anyone who put even the tip of their pinky finger on her will die screaming in pain under the fury of my flames.

Her wolf meets mine in the midst of the battle, safe behind our lines. I shift as she does, and we slide into each other's arms, her soft body curving against my hard angles as I pull her mouth to mine and claims her lips.

She tastes sweet and smoky, and shivers against me, her fingers grabbing onto my arms and holding on. I kiss her lips, her cheeks, her jaw, her eyelids—every inch of her.

Over and over I murmur, "You're safe, Precious. And you're mine."

Those who try to change that will pay.

Chapter17

Rina

Adar's hot breath has barely skimmed my cheek when I'm pulled into another's arms. Lucian sweeps me off my feet, literally and figuratively, the storms of his winds swirling around us. He protects us from attack as he pulls me to him and tastes my mouth.

"How I've missed you, my darling. I'll never let you go again."

Cannonballs head our way, and he destroys them with a whip of his wind. His other hand holds tight to me even as his magic works all around us, whipping our hair around.

I watch the battlefield as I cling onto him, studying the collapsing lines. The human army is retreating now—and vampires are flowing into the power vacuum, some of them daring enough to walk in the daylight. They must have bellies full of werewolf blood; it lets them day walk, and is one of the reasons why they're always attacking us.

Beneath us, two figures draw my alarm. I point them out to Lucian: "Look, over there!

It's what Teller inadvertently revealed to me while I was captured. We have a traitor in our midst. Our Mountain Coven witch Laurel and the First Alpha Eli are sneaking back across the river.

"That isn't good." Lucian alerts Everett, who's standing closest to them. "Brother! Our prisoner is escaping."

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