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  “Do it.”

  Briony held out her arms to the cat, who jumped up to her chest where she held it, petting its fur. “Thank you,” she murmured.

  “You’re quite welcome,” a haughty, feminine voice replied. Vale and Heath had finished their last trip. Katarina, Emmanuel and Christabel arrived, the latter eyeing the space like it was a dive bar she wished she could leave. Reaching into her black trench coat, she pulled out a handful of small bottles.

  For a bizarre moment Sebastian thought she was about to pass out shots of whiskey, but once she threw a bottle to everyone he realized it wasn’t something one could drink and survive.

  It was the real incendie sûr.

  “I know at least three of you are fire elementals, and heat is one of my favorite elements, so I would have brought this anyway,” she said with a shrug.

  Someone who wasn’t Noam or Radburn flexed their energy, their power arcing from a corner of the brewhouse that was hidden by a copper tank filled with fermenting beer.

  Sebastian sensed no one in that area. The warlocks were relying on the same tricks they’d used the night before.

  “Expose them,” he told Briony, nodding to the seemingly empty space.

  Beside his desk, Katarina cursed under her breath. “All hell’s about to break loose,” she muttered, exchanging a glance with Vale.

  Over twenty warlocks appeared, filling up almost every inch of the previously unoccupied space below them.

  Heath whistled low, and Raphael lifted Mary over the desk and placed her behind it. Emmanuel moved to stand beside her.

  “I’ll do you guys more good if they can’t tap into me for power,” he said through gritted teeth.

  Raphael nodded. “Scream,” he whispered. His banshee mate opened her mouth and complied, producing a sound that shot energy like arrows at every warlock below.

  The next second, Sebastian was standing among them, Vale releasing his shoulder to come between Heath and a warlock with blood dripping from his eyes and a bundle of power in his hand.

  That was the problem: all of the warlocks possessed too much power, energy they could use a number of ways the weres couldn’t.

  He reached out with his own gift, hoping he could squelch even a fraction of what his opponents had, what they were currently using against them. He couldn’t decrease their power at all, but somehow knew he could increase the energy, multiplying it.

  He did as much for everyone on his side, feeding his energy into Heath while he poured incendie sûr into the air and separated it into droplets. He helped Raphael, who stood protectively in front of a group of women tourists, navigating the drops to land on unsuspecting warlocks.

  “Now!” Cael shouted, raising his claw-tipped hand.

  Sophia met Sebastian’s eyes and jerked her thumb to the right, telling him that was her side of the room. She pulled a Zippo out of her pocket and lit it, raising a ball of fire from the flame while Sebastian did the same, pulling his fire to his area of the brewhouse.

  After they lit over half a dozen warlocks on fire using the incendie sûr Raphael had thrown at them, the rest of the float caught on. The flames stopped landing where they were meant to go, moving in the direction of innocent humans or soldiers fighting for his pack.

  “Don’t worry. I’m shielding them too,” Briony called when a flame came perilously close to singing the back of a human woman’s neck.

  Even as he kept an eye on his friends, Sebastian kept Radburn and Noam within his sights. The witch fought Harry, her long fingers waving. Whatever she said made Harry’s hair turn whiter than normal, enough for Sebastian to send a sphere of flames the size of a manhole cover in the direction of her head.

  She disappeared into a large piece of equipment, the tips of her hair smoking.

  Although Noam had just vanished, she was still easier to find than Radburn. He seemed to keep away from the fray, moving as if he were made of smoke to speak to his people without coming near any creature who wasn’t a warlock. He even gave the humans wide berth. Coward.

  Only Mary and Emmanuel were immune to the fight, having been left in Sebastian’s office. He had a sneaking suspicion Briony had a shield over the window, considering the spells he saw bouncing off it rebounded back to their senders.

  He’d become deaf to Mary’s screams, which caused blood to pour from the eyes and noses of the warlocks nearest his office. Those same men and women gasped for breath, a few clutching their throats.

  They were drowning. It didn’t matter that they weren’t immersed in water. Kelpies were known for drowning their victims after luring them into a pond, lake or river, but few beings—creatures or humans—witnessed a kelpie using the ace up their sleeve. They could drown anyone, anywhere, in Lake Pontchartrain or in the Sahara desert.

  Despite all the damage inflicted upon the warlocks, it still wasn’t enough. There are just too many of them.

  Christabel screamed hoarsely, her mouth smoking as she staggered away from a grinning warlock with his hands still raised.

  Katarina barely kept her feet as two men throwing spells at her held so much energy he sensed them without meaning to, almost like sensing a nearby explosion of heat. She covered her eyes and whimpered, tears pinked with blood dripping down her chin.

  To his surprise, Briony held her own against the warlocks. She seemed to be a master at shielding and deflecting their blows, both those aimed at her and others. She even blocked something so strong it impacted her shield with a thud so loud, it shook the brewhouse floor beneath them. Noam cursed, and a few feet away her target, Cael, grinned.

  Briony’s abilities shouldn’t have been a shock. After years of being unable to defend herself, she had to have learned how to block what came at her.

  Meanwhile, humans disappeared every few minutes. With their decreasing numbers came less risk for him and his pack. He smiled when he glimpsed Gris-Gris’s tail appear next to one of his better beer tasters before the man vanished.

  A few feet away Sophia produced thin ropes of fire, twisting them above the heads of warlocks until they fastened around their necks like glowing nooses. Aiyanna fought in her panther form, her movements graceful enough to avoid energy blasts without a shield.

  On the opposite side of the space, Cael staggered away from Noam, clutching his face and mouthing a creative set of curses.

  Sebastian continued to feed them all energy, hoping his supply didn’t completely deplete. That didn’t seem to be the case.

  He was causing energy to multiply without giving up his own abilities.

  He could electrocute a warlock or throw a flame at them; although, he didn’t have the same finesse as his twin, couldn’t fathom being able to turn a flame into a rope. Then he’d fix the broken light a moment after he broke it. It confused the hell out of the warlocks, especially given the way he’d transfer energy from one light to someone nowhere near that bulb.

  They didn’t see it coming until they were already burned.

  Maybe his pack could defeat them, no matter their numbers.

  He’d just released a jolt so powerful it threw one man into a wall, bringing three other warlocks down with him, when Heath shouted above the din of the room. It took effort to pull himself from the satisfying heap of smoking warlock, but he dutifully faced one of the Head Soldiers for his pack.

  Heath’s expression was grim. “Stop, or he’ll kill her.”

  Following Heath’s gaze, Sebastian realized Radburn was holding a young human woman by the shoulders. Charlotte was an intern for the brewery who he’d hired because she was vastly overqualified…and he hoped she might hit it off with Harry.

  A gun was pressed against her temple.

  “That’s crude even for you,” Briony cried, her voice shaking. Slight concentration showed Sebastian a hole in the energy protecting the woman…a hole in her shield, undoubtedly carved by Radburn. Charlotte’s life was truly in danger.

  If Sebastian had questioned whet
her Radburn was a coward, now he knew.

  Radburn lifted one shoulder carelessly. His words were aimed at Briony. “It’s the same thing, isn’t it? A bullet to her head, a rare, intricate poison, or a carefully crafted spell? They all kill her. Or,” he lifted the gun, grinning when Charlotte’s shoulders sagged in relief, “I can kill you instead. Before I eliminate the rest of your little pack and your feeble coven.”

  Stricken, Briony looked to Sebastian from across the room. Her eyes shone from unshed tears, and her full lower lip trembled.

  Sebastian would have cut off his own left foot to be standing next to her, to be able to hold her while she shook. All he could do was nod, agreeing with the decision he knew had been made not through calculation, but merely because of who she was.

  It was why he loved her.

  It was also what might kill them both.

  “Free them.” Briony’s voice was strong, her words clear. When she looked at Cael, there was love in her gaze. None of that showed when she glanced back to Radburn. “I want your word.”

  “I’ll even make a blood oath with you,” Radburn promised, holding out his hand. There was deceit in every fiber of the man.

  “No.” Sebastian fought his way through the crowd, ignoring the spells bounding off the shield Briony wrapped around him. Some were stronger than others, almost knocking him off balance. The warlocks were trying really hard to kill him before he reached his mate.

  Unfortunately, the only one of them who seemed able to break Briony’s shields was the man holding the gun.

  “Warlocks aren’t bound by blood oaths,” Briony said disgustedly. “I want a guarantee.”

  Radburn turned the gun at her, and Sebastian saw a small access point through which he could shoot. Damn.

  “I don’t make guarantees.”

  Sebastian moved in front of Briony, blocking her from the bullet the moment Radburn pulled the trigger. If not for her protection, it would have gone through his neck. Instead it bounded off him and straight into the ceiling, bringing cement crumbling down.

  The warlock cocked the gun and raised it again. And Sebastian knew that this time, the bullet could hit him. “You’ll be a fantastic conduit to add to the collection,” Radburn snarled.

  Except when he pulled the trigger, Radburn turned to ash as if he’d accidentally pressed a self-destruct button. Even the bullet fell to the ground as dust.

  A hush fell over the space until murmurs spread, members of the float telling those who couldn’t see what happened. From their reactions, Sebastian guessed this wasn’t a common occurrence among warlocks.

  “Did you do that?” he asked Briony curiously.

  She looked as surprised as everyone else. “I wish.”

  The biggest shock of all was the man who moved into the place where Radburn had been standing. Alexandre looked the same, but the animal parts of Sebastian recognized a significant difference. What it was, he couldn’t put his finger on it quite yet.

  His friend’s change didn’t stop him from running forward to pull him into a hug. “Where’ve you been?” he asked, clapping Alex on the back. “Are you okay?”

  The coincidence hit him like a ton of bricks. “Did you do that to Radburn?”

  Alex nodded, his normally expressive face a stoic mask.

  When someone shot a spell near the hole in Sebastian’s shield, Alex turned a hard stare. More ash wafted through the air.

  Sebastian suspected none of the warlocks would try anything else for the time being.

  “How?” Sebastian gasped. Alex was an earth elemental with his powers bound tight. The only preternatural ability he should have was changing into a wolf at the full moon. Anything beyond that…something isn’t right.

  Vaguely, he noticed the rest of their pack move into a circle around them. He did do a double take when Sophia allowed Heath to stand between her and Alex. Stark fear was apparent in the set of his twin’s face, making Sebastian wonder what she, Heath, and Raphael knew that the rest of them didn’t.

  “It doesn’t matter how I can do it, but that I can,” Alex answered, carefully watching his pack as if he expected someone to jump out and fight him. When no one made a move, his lips thinned. “I’m not here to help you against the float; I’m here to make a deal with you all.”

  Slowly, Raphael stepped forward, his expression inscrutable. “What are the terms?”

  “You tell Leila I’m dead.”

  Raphael’s eyes narrowed dangerously. “Get Mary,” he called over his shoulder.

  Heath complied, bringing both Mary and Emmanuel down from the protection of the office. More than likely, Mary had been unable to hear Alexandre’s quietly uttered words.

  “Repeat your offer,” Raphael commanded, his arm winding around his mate.

  At the sight of Mary, Alexandre paled significantly. “I want the pack to convince your sister I’m dead,” he said. “I can give you whatever paperwork you need to prove it, and I’ll wire the money you’ll need to hold my funeral. Just convince her.”

  “Why?” Mary tilted her chin up, her movement almost identical to the same gesture they’d all witnessed Leila use countless times. “She loves you, and I know how you feel about her. Why leave her like this after she’s already lost so much?”

  “Not even you know what she’s lost,” Sophia muttered under her breath.

  Mary caught her words. “What?” she asked sharply, panic causing her hand to flutter to her chest.

  Alexandre was in front of Sophia so quickly, Sebastian would have sworn he’d transported himself through the air like Heath and Vale could.

  “Say one more word,” he whispered, tilting his head to the side, “and I’ll end you.”

  Heath ran at him with a roar, but Alex only smiled and widened the stance of his legs. Neither made impact; Briony had placed a shield between them and stretched it to ensure distance.

  With a flick of Alex’s finger, the barrier shattered like glass.

  “Keep her happy,” he said, his voice thick, “and we won’t have any problems. Hold up your end of the deal.”

  “And your end?” Sebastian asked.

  Alex offered him a humorless smile. “I’ll keep the warlocks out of the city for a number of months so you can prepare. You have my word. Until that time comes we’ll pose no danger to you.”

  “We’ll?” Mary gasped, the pitch of her voice a nail driving through Sebastian’s skull. “What do you mean, we?”

  Blood dripped from everyone’s ears except Raphael’s.

  “You don’t have the power to make that call,” Noam called from a few yards away. Next to her a tall, thin warlock nodded darkly. “You can’t rejoin us after decades and decide you want to take over. Some of us have been loyal to the float for longer than you’ve been gone.”

  She shot Briony a look of contempt down her sharp nose. “I have no intention to simply leave the coven alone, and I don’t think anyone else here is too keen on letting this pack walk away unscathed.”

  With Radburn and one other warlock dead by Alex’s hand, no one dared back her up. Sebastian suspected Alex could kill them all with a passing thought, and it terrified him.

  He didn’t know the man standing mere feet away, a man he would have died for. The packmate he used to think was by far the kindest among them.

  “Don’t kill her,” Briony cried when Alex’s expression darkened. “My coven has rules in place for traitors like her. Let us bring her to the justice she deserves.”

  The female spat at Briony’s feet. Like that, her black hair was ash falling on her feet.

  “I can do your entire head and neck if you like,” Alex offered.

  Noam cried out, pressing her fingers into the grooves of her now-bald head. From where he’d been standing next to a pale Katarina, Harry stepped forward to take the ex-High Witch’s arm. “I’ll stay with you until you get back to the coven,” he offered. “You know, so you don’t run away.”

 
; She went with him willingly, still clutching her head.

  “Does anyone else have a problem with leaving the city for a while?” Alexandre asked in a booming voice that rebounded off the walls of the room.

  When no one responded, Alex nodded, satisfied. “Good. Now let’s go.”

  The warlocks started to disappear, some by themselves and others in small groups.

  Raphael caught Alex’s arm when the latter turned away.

  “No matter who or what you are, you’re welcome in this pack,” he said through gritted teeth. “I don’t know how your bindings were taken away, but the Elders will work with us. You don’t owe the warlocks anything.”

  Alex’s smile brought no humor. “There’s so much you don’t know.” He leveled his gaze at Mary. “You’ll make sure they keep our agreement?”

  She hesitated, then nodded.

  Before Raphael could intervene, Alex lunged forward and whispered something in her ear that only she could have possibly heard. Mary went still and Alex vanished, another impossibility.

  There are no rules anymore, Sebastian thought dryly. Briony twined her arm around his waist as if she could sense his discomfort.

  With her aura-reading abilities back, she probably did.

  “What the hell just happened?” Cael growled. A serious burn marred half of his face and slurred his words. He hissed impatiently when Aiyanna tried to heal him.

  Murmuring something about crazy-ass weres under her breath, she stepped toward Harry, whose left hand was curled up by his shoulder.

  “Alex is Team Warlock now,” Aiyanna said.

  Strangely enough, Sophia kept quiet. She also kept her distance from Mary, who eyed her speculatively.

  The last of the humans was taken away then, and Sebastian felt a knot behind his shoulders loosen. They’re safe—my people are safe. He closed his eyes, allowing himself a relieved smile.

  A gurgling sound had him opening his eyes wide, his every muscle tensing for another attack.

  Noam was slumped to the floor, dead. Blood pooled around her, pouring from a hole in her neck. Christabel waved at them, her sharp nails glinting silver and red.