25. Kirsten

Shayna hobbled forward, helping an injured shifter. The man's arm was slung over her shoulder, and he winced in pain as she got him seated.

"He's hurt," Shayna said, her face smeared with blood. "Waylan said to bring him here."

"I've got him," Tinsley said. "Young man, I need you to look away," she addressed the young shifter gently. "This might burn a bit."

He tilted his head away, and when Tinsley placed her hands on his leg, he hissed. A few seconds later, he moaned with relief.

"It's a little better," he said.

"They bit you down to the bone," Tinsley said, clicking her tongue. "It'll take a while for it to heal fully. Let me work and see what I can do."

Shayna turned, running back to the battle.

"Shayna, wait!"

She stopped, looking back at me. "What?"

"How's it going? Is Jace still okay?"

"I don't know," she admitted. "I haven't seen him since the fight started." She shook her head. "I've got to get back to Dustin. I'm sorry."

She vanished around the side of the house, leaving me to wonder if the man I loved was alive or dead. Before I could worry about him any further, a group of men and women were brought to the back porch, all with various injuries. I forgot all about my worry as I called out for bandages and water. Tinsley and Harley were running around, doing what they could. So much hurt, so much pain. This was a small war, and there was already more suffering than I ever wanted to see. This was hell.

Tank stalked back and forth from one corner of the house to the other, fists clenching and unclenching at his sides, watching the battle, ready for anyone who might get through the lines and head toward us. He looked ready to break, casting worried glances back at Tinsley. It was probably all he could do not to tell her to get inside or hide from danger. If he'd tried, Tinsley probably would have told him to go fuck himself.

I was in the middle of wrapping a broken finger when a blood-curdling howl erupted in the distance. It sank deep into my soul, clawing at the magic within me.

"Jace." His name left me in a huff as though I'd been kicked in the stomach.

He was hurt. I could feel it in my bones, could hear it in the high-pitched screech of his howl. Without thinking, I ran toward the woods.

"Kirsten?" Tank shouted. "You can't—"

I threw my hand up, and a gust of magic slammed into Tank. The big man went tumbling backward. I couldn't feel bad about it now; I'd apologize later. Right now, I needed to get to Jace.

A million awful thoughts spun through my head as I pumped my arms, running as fast as I could. How badly was he hurt? Was it Eren or someone else who'd hurt him? Was he already dead?

No!The word reverberated inside my head. Jace wasn't dead. He couldn't be. He was so much stronger than Eren.

Unless there were a lot of them, a nasty little voice in my head said.

"Shut up!" I said to it.

A feral, prowling on the outskirts of the fight, lunged at a massive human form. When he turned, I saw that it was Langston. I cried out, but before the wolf got to him, Waylan jumped in, also in his human form, and shoulder-checked the feral out of the sky. Two more ferals and one of Eren's betas pinned the two men in a circle.

I raised my hands as I ran and sent a wave of lightning at the beasts. The purple streaks angled past Waylan and Langston, crashing into the enemy wolves, throwing them all to the ground.

Langston saw me, and the look in his eyes told me all I needed to know. He wanted to stop me, had to stop me. His friend—his alpha—would want him to, and he would do it. The same look was on Waylan's face when he saw me.

Before either man could apprehend me, a new wave of betas and ferals attacked. Waylan and Langston sent me the same look—run!—then shifted back to their wolf forms.

I didn't even have time to think about how good my shot had been, much less how much my life had changed so drastically in a couple of months. From teacher to warrior witch? So strange.

I ducked under a branch and sprinted into the woods, letting my instincts lead me, my magic tugging me in Jace's direction. Soon, I found him, the sweet smell of running water and the acrid tang of blood hitting my nose. I didn't need shifter senses to notice it.

Jace was in his human form, cradling his leg. It was a bloody mess, blood oozing like crazy from the gash. A dead wolf lay on the ground a few feet from him. A feral, from the look and the size of it.

Jace growled when he saw me. "Why are you here?"

"Not one word," I said, walking over to heal his wound. "You think you can howl like that, and I won't come running?"

He winced in pain as I placed my hands on the wound. "I thought… ouch. I thought Waylan or somebody would come. Oh, fuck, that hurts."

"Sorry to disappoint you," I said, pressing my hands into the injury. The muscle flexed under my fingers. The bite was deep.

"It's not a disappointment, it's—no! Kirsten!"

Before I could look up, a vice-like arm wrapped around my neck, dragging me backward, cutting off my breath. I grabbed at the arm, too surprised to use magic, clawing and digging my fingers in with no effect.

"Don't fucking move, you little bitch," Eren hissed in my ear, and a cold, sharp point of a knife jabbed at my throat.

"That's it," Eren cooed as I stopped struggling. "That's a nice obedient bitch."

"Get your hands off her," Jace growled as he got to his feet. I'd done a decent job of healing his wound, but I hadn't had time to finish. It wasn't bleeding anymore, but he could barely put weight on it.

I should have been terrified, scared beyond belief, but I wasn't. I knew I would be fine. Somehow. My magic sang within me, fed by whatever mystical spell had enveloped me and Jace since he claimed me.

"Stay right there, you stupid, swinging dick," Eren said and jammed the knife a little deeper, drawing a single drop of blood from me. "I don't think she'll be able to heal herself fast enough if I slice this pretty throat of hers."

Jace grimaced, but he stood still, too afraid Eren would make good on his promise. His eyes kept flicking from mine to Eren's face, and I could see every emotion written on his features—fear, shame, worry, anger, panic. I kept myself as calm as possible, waiting for the right moment to end this. All I needed was for him to move that knife. Until then, there was too much risk that whatever I did would cause Eren to flinch and jab an artery in my neck.

"Where the fuck did you find him?" Eren hissed, hot breath and spittle spattering across my ear as he spoke. "My bastard shithead of a brother? Which bitch did dear old dad fuck to create that abomination?"

"He's a better man than you, Eren," Jace said. "If anyone is an abomination, it's you. You can't even command the respect of your pack without fear. I should have seen it decades ago. You were never the rightful alpha."

"Fuck you! He'll never take my place, you hear me? Never." Eren jostled me, moving us back another step. "My dad was losing his mind. I should have asked him if he had any secrets before I killed him."

"Killed?" Jace's face flexed into a mask of confusion. "You…"

I shook my head in disbelief.

"No," Jace said. "Your father was sick. Alpha Miller died of a sickness."

Eren barked out a laugh. "That tough old fucker? Shit, he had another solid fifty years in him. At least. I wasn't gonna wait that long."

Jace shook his head. "No. I saw him at the last mating party before he died. He looked sick. He was dying."

"Yeah, Sherlock, because I was poisoning him. He started making all these comments about how I wasn't the son he thought I'd be, how I wasn't living up to his standards." Eren flexed the arm holding me and moved the knife blade an inch higher, right beneath my ear. "I should have known something was up. One of the last things he said was, ‘I made the wrong choice.' I thought he was talking about my mom. Thought he was saying he should have picked a different mate or something. Now I see it. He was talking about that fucking monster out there," he said, nodding toward the sounds of battle.

"It doesn't matter," Eren went on. "No one in the pack knows about him. As far as they know, I'm an only child. I'm the alpha. Not him."

Eren made his final mistake then. To emphasize his words, he moved the hand holding the knife away, pointing the tip of the blade back toward Jace's house. That was my chance. I sent my magic surging out across my entire body, basically turning myself into a human taser. I dug my fingers into his thigh, letting every bit of electric magic I had flood into his muscles.

Eren let out a strangled cry, and the arm around me spasmed before dropping to the side. But before I could get away, he used whatever strength he had left to swing his arm at my face.

Even wounded and semi-electrocuted, shifter strength was powerful. When his hand hit me, my lip split and my ears rang. I tumbled to the ground, slamming into the hard earth with a thud that sucked the breath from my body.

As I tried to pull in a breath, I heard Jace howling in fury.