A questioning expression came over his features just as I unleashed the full potential of my power. I broke through his binding lasso in a flurry of sparks.
Power seared through me, blazing along my limbs as my body became a blur of death and malice.
I landed on all fours and dodged to the side just as the other sorcerer tried to bind me again, but with my power humming through me, I was too fast.
I whipped around the room as both sorcerers shot spells at me, death curses again and again, and the two wolves finally broke free of my binding spell and leaped at me once more.
My heart pumped steadily, as my fingers proved steady and sure. I threw a potion at the wolves, hitting one. It exploded in a cloud of poison, and I whispered a maximizer spell to expand it until it snagged the other wolf midair.
I vaguely heard the Fire Wolf calling out who was coming at me from which direction as both werewolves fell down in a tangle of seizures.
Three down. Three to go.
I kept moving, the spells from the sorcerers unrelenting as I attempted to get closer to my hunter.
Meanwhile, Star Tattoo Guy finally broke through my binding spell and flicked his wrists. Fire appeared around his hands.
Lovely. This place was about to get really hot.
A snarl came from the Fire Wolf. He’d somehow gotten to his feet despite the tightly bound handcuffs and shackles.
I drew a blade from my pants and whipped it at one of the sorcerers. He ducked at the last moment, but it still nicked the top of his ear just as Star Tattoo Guy charged.
The Fire Wolf leaped into his path and head-butted him.
Nice. Head-butting. I’d have to try that someday.
I threw another potion at one of the sorcerers and cast a binding spell at the same time. Both hit their mark. The sorcerer I’d been aiming at went down, dead before he hit the floor as the other let out a strangled cry and rushed to his side.
Four down. Two to go.
I whipped around just in time to see Star Tattoo Guy grin before sinking his burning hands into the hunter.
My lungs seized, panic blooming through me. No!
The Fire Wolf’s clothes erupted into flames as Star Tattoo Guy let out a victorious laugh.
But his laughter died when the Fire Wolf’s entire body became alight. The demon hunter rose to his full height, scorching flames rising from his entire length before he shouldered Star Tattoo Guy awkwardly to the wall in his bound state. He pinned the half-demon against it as the flames weaving around my hunter shifted from blue, to indigo, then purple, and eventually black.
Star Tattoo Guy wailed in pain as the Fire Wolf grinned through the flames licking his skin. “Haven’t you heard who my mother is?”
Another burst of fire from my hunter had Star Tattoo Guy’s entire body burning. The half-demon squealed as the black flames swallowed him.
My breath came fast, my heart thudding at what I was witnessing just as I lobbed another spell at the remaining sorcerer.
The sorcerer flew back, hitting the wall, but was on his feet just as quickly.
Heat grew at my back, and a quick glance over my shoulder had my eyes widening. The entire room was on fire.
“Tala!” my hunter bellowed. “Get these off me.”
I whipped around just in time to see the sorcerer dart out of the room. Fuck, he’d escaped.
I twirled to the hunter. “But the fire!”
“I can control the flames. They won’t grow past that wall until I tell them to.”
“Oh.” Useful.
“Hurry. With that sorcerer gone, who knows how long we have until he returns with reinforcements.”
I skidded to a stop behind him and studied the glowing blue cuffs.
“Can you cut them?”
I crouched down and whipped a blade from the left side of my belt. I didn’t have Prisha’s magic, so I couldn’t infuse it with extra power, but it was spelled. It could cut through almost anything. “We’ll find out.”
I slipped the knife under the cuff’s binding and wrenched up. A loud crack followed, and my knife jerked in my hand, a shock biting through me, breaking through my calm. My heart hammered.
I cursed. “What the hell are these?”
“Handcuffs crafted specifically for powerful supernaturals.” He didn’t sound particularly enthused about that. “Can you break them or not?”
“Give me a minute.” My mind raced through the catalog of hundreds of spells that I had stored in my long-term memory as the Fire Wolf’s black flames continued to dance along the wall. But like he’d promised, the fire didn’t grow.
It felt as though my heart was going to beat out of my chest, and it only galloped more when I heard my sister’s shout from down the hall again. She sounded panicked now, frantic. Fuck, fuck, fuck. Were they doing something to her?
I tried to concentrate on my breathing again, but my breaths refused to cooperate.
“Well?” the Fire Wolf snapped.
“I’ll need to combine several spells to create enough power to hopefully crack this binding. I haven’t attempted anything like this before. I’ll try.”
“Do it now.” His eyes flashed fire as a flurry of slamming doors sounded from the floor above us, before the beat of running footsteps. “They’re coming. It’s only a matter of time before they’re here.”
My hands shook as I combined the three spells that I thought might crack the glowing blue cuffs. My breathing was no longer controlled, and my heart was racing like a beast. No time. I had no time to do this.
Calling upon the magic deep inside me, I summoned it. An ocean of power responded, and I began whispering two spells, then interwove them with a third. I tugged at my magic more, knowing that I would need all of it to break through the cuffs.
My power sizzled and grew, rising inside me as I coaxed it from every fiber of my being. That’s it. More. More. A little more.
The cuffs began to dissolve. They sizzled and thinned, and I called upon my magic again. I needed just a little bit more.
“Tala! Help me, please, help me!” My sister’s cry cut through my concentration, just as she let out a scream.
Tessa! My eyes whipped up, panic firing through me, and then a hammer of foreign heat and intense magic slammed into me so hard that I flew back.
Fuck! My head cracked against the wall—thankfully not the one on fire—as my magic swirled down inside me, like water draining from a tub. And then, it was gone.
I groaned as any control I’d had dissolved as the hunter’s foreign power pummeled into me again and again.
“Not this again.” The Fire Wolf bowed over, a strained expression twisting his features.
I staggered back up. Fuck a duck. Yep, I’d just pulled on his magic.
Breathe. Calm down. Stop pulling his power.
I forced myself to close my eyes and take deep breaths. Calm. I needed calm.
“Are you okay?” the hunter rasped.
“Just super,” I whispered hoarsely as I crawled back to his side, even though his magic was still hitting me, slamming into me in unrelenting waves. Fuuuuuuuuck, the dude was powerful, and since I was struggling for that calmness that I’d had when I’d been battling the others, it was hitting me at full onslaught.
“Leave me here,” he bit out, a grimace twisting his face. “Get your sister and go.”
My stomach dropped as anger fired through me. “Not happening.”
The sound of running feet reached my ears again, except this time it sounded down the hall, near the stairwell. They were getting closer.