Lucas’s beast eyes flashed as he glared at Galeran. “Nikoolai isn’t part of this misguided mess, noot anymore.”
Galeran’s eyes fell to Lucas. “Nikolai had his chance. I no longer call him son.”
The young man I’d seen swirled through my mind, but as my mouth opened to ask the question, the ground shook.
First, only a minor tremble. Then, again, harder, and chunks of stone fell from the roof.
“You came with friends.” Galeran’s eyes lit up. Power surged both from, and to, him—it was then that I pegged what had been bothering me. The energy linked him not only to Isobel but also to the Bellatis in the room. It had the same unhealthy, slimy feel as the crystals we’d seen.
Bloodpower.
The ground shook again. Mari and Wyatt at work, while Emmanuel, Logan, and Ben took out the guards at the town entrance and let the cavalry through.
The Bellatis stiffened, and Isobel said, “We have to go. Now.”
Galeran regarded me with disgust. “Should have known I couldn’t trust a half-blood female.” He gestured to the tall Bellati closest to the door. “Get the last of the supplies through the gate.”
He and another bolted into the tunnel. Isobel turned to follow. Lucas jumped to intercept, and I called the castle critters down on us. The canids went after the Bellatis in the hall, and added a burst of cautious energy—delay and hassle, don’t attack. The Bellatis would slice them to pieces if they got too close.
Meanwhile, the smaller things that had crept into the room dropped onto the Bellatis around Galeran. A few landed on Isobel, but she sent them scurrying with a look. Her hands began to glow red. “Is this the best you can do?” she hissed. “You are not worthy of our time. I will make mincemeat out of you all.”
From the doorway, Lucas growled, but his eyes flashed. The merest hint of black fog drifted off his fur.
The power of what I sensed between Isobel and Galeran was connected not only to the Bellatis in the room, but well beyond. To the coven? It seemed bigger than that, even. And it cast the first true strands of doubt within me.
I felt the surge of raw energy through Lucas. Galeran did, too—he stiffened, swinging toward him...
I jumped forward.
Slapping at my biting friends, the Bellatis moved to intercept me. But then Talakai swirled amid them, the sword flashing. One Dragon against four Bellatis shouldn’t have been an even match. But Talakai was no ordinary Dragon.
And then Trix, unbidden, leaped into the fray. Snarling, she attached herself to a Bellati’s calf muscle, and chewed. He yelped and reached for his spiral sword. I sent a desperate mental pulse for her to let go, and she did. But my dog had her intended effect—Talakai’s sword sliced clear through the guard, and he dropped like a stone.
Trix spat silver hair and dodged a kick to snap at another.
Meanwhile, Isobel raised her hands and blasted Lucas with red energy, but the black fog rose thick and fast to push it back. Her eyes widened as Lucas stood up, his features altering, his paws becoming hands that reached to wrap around her own.
The ground shook again, and from somewhere in the depths of the castle, shouts rang out. Swords clashed, and something roared. The cavalry had arrived.
Talakai engaged the Bellati between me and my target, clearing a path. I leaped and grabbed Galeran’s arms. There was no fear in him—his eyes were incandescent with rage as he shook off my grip and folded his hands around my face. I flinched as his power crashed through me, striving to shred my brain—
But nothing happened.
Instead, I closed my hands over his, and my power struck like a rattlesnake, surging through him. Galeran’s eyes widened as the tendrils slipped through his life essence, attaching like leeches to his soul.
But repelled by the bloodenergy, my beast refused to drink from him. I had to pull from my own reserves to attack him. And suddenly, Matt was there. Pushing energy to me as I reached into Galeran’s body, and ripped cells apart.
“No,” the insane Bellati hissed. “You cannot be doing this.”
“I most certainly am.” I ignored his heart and reached for his brain.
His rage flooded me as he struggled to pull away. He jerked a hand free from my grasp and drew his spiral sword, stabbing it toward my belly. The razor edges to the spiral sparked as they ran along my armor’s Wyvern scales.
From the doorway, Isobel screeched. I sensed the energy pulse along the web connected to Galeran and the Bellatis—and then also outside the room. She gathered it to her and threw it in a surge of pure power. Eerie crimson light exploded through the room. It caught Lucas off guard, shattering his borrowed black fog.
The force of which sent all of us flying into the furniture. Knocked free from Galeran, I hit the wall hard. Blackness threatened to overcome me as Matt desperately tried to keep the link alive. A flood of critters fled to hide in cracks and crevices, and Trix cowered nearby.
Isobel picked herself up and bolted out the door. Talakai turned his momentum into a roll, coming smoothly to his feet to re-engage the only two Bellatis left standing. Lucas seemed as dazed as me, struggling back upright.
