Page 5 of Sinful Shifters

Klaus scowls at me and steps away, leaving me tied to the tree, his eyes hard and furious.

Then he transforms into a large, vicious red wolf with dark eyes. Leaning his head back to howl, he calls an entire coven of vampires to him—then another coven, and another, until an army at least two hundred strong is at his back.

I watch from my high position, in horror, as he leads them through the spelled shields at the edge of the war camp, straight across the river and into my people's territory.

Two human tanks roll in after him, their cannons freshly polished, prepared for war.

Chapter4

Thale

Human weapons I can deal with. As a cannonball arcs through the air, I draw on the wellspring's magic to augment my abilities and use telekinesis to throw it back. It bounces off the shields of their war camp and slides into the river, which is a damn sight better than hitting us.

Others make it through, here and there, out of my range. As one explodes near the town square and a chorus of pain goes through the pack bonds, I lift my lips and snarl in the direction of the invaders' army.

They've got weapons I've never seen before,Lucian says, using his air powers to float in the air above us, his fur ruffled by the wind.The humans may have signed a treaty, but they didn't stop their research and development. They've been figuring out ways to destroy us this whole time.

No surprise there. Humanity has always been uncomfortable with the werewolves in their midst. You'd think the blood-sucking vampires would frighten them more, but most vamps struggle to fit in with humans, and are easily kept at bay with a little sunlight or a few hedge witch spells.

Werewolves are stronger than that, and worst of all, we fit in among humankind. That makes them uncomfortable—and it drives them to find ways to fight us and drive us into smaller and smaller parcels of land.

More cannonballs fly through the air, this time simultaneously. Lucian grabs them in the jaws of his wind and destroys them, while I snag them from the air with tree branches and vines. But a second wave follows mere seconds after the first, and we struggle to keep up, especially with Adar and Everett tied up in fighting vampires on the ground.

One of the cannonballs pitches dangerously close to the Mating Circle. As it flies through the air, the witches with us raise their arms and chant. Their spell diverts it, and it narrowly misses taking out one of the stone statues that borders the circle.

Alpha Morgan shifts back to human form and stalks over to the coven, his brows drawn together. "Where are our magical protections? Weapons like that shouldn't even make it into our territory, much less that close to our Mating Circle," he barks at them. "What in the world is going wrong?"

Rhea, their defacto leader, steps up to answer him. "The shields are up, and we've been putting them up continuously. I have half our coven on the wards. But they vanish just as quickly as they're created, and when we throw offensive magic at them, it seems to melt just as often as hit."

Frowning, I throw a cannonball across the river and realize that I'm having a similar issue. It melts as it crosses towards their land, sliding down their glowing magical shields like it's nothing, even propelled by my powerful magic.

On this side of the river, there's no problem. The vines I've risen to grab onto vampires and drag them underground work fine. The issue doesn't crop up until they get close to the shields on the other side of the river.

I reach out to Everett.Are you able to use your water magic on their side of the territory?

Not even a little bit,he answers grimly.I can call on the river, but it won't cross their shields. And when I summon water from the other side of their camps, it dissipates the moment it gets close by.

Adar?

He answers,My first attack on their camps was the only one that got through.

Same. Even from above, their well-shielded,Lucian adds.It's as if our magic doesn't even exist.

So we can defend our territory once they've in it, but we can't bring the fight to them.

Which means we're under siege.

Indefinitely

I've never come up against a wall of magic like this before, other than we're in the wellspring. The magic there is ancient, the kind of magic that can't be created or destroyed. There's no way for it to be wielded by a mortal, though, much less a human—those kind of magic bearers died out.

Or so I thought.

If we're dealing with a coven of powerful witches—or worse, if General teller reallyisthe only witch we're up against—then we're in bigger trouble than I realized. Our powers may come from ancient magic, but right now we're weakened. Being made corporeal gave us the ability to interact with Caterina and the pack, but it also defied the wellspring's wishes for us.

If we draw on too much magic, the wellspring very well may grab onto our leashes and summon us back into its embrace. Something I would've once welcomed, especially if we took Caterina with us. But I can't leave her people behind to fight an impossible battle.

We need witches to fight witches.

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