The mercenaries spread out in front of the banquet hall, movements unhurried, weapons at the ready. They would be the real danger.

I blasted someone with a spell. He fell away, revealing another enemy mage ready to fire at me. A snow leopard, Layan, flew through the air, tackling the mage and knocking him out of the way. I ran forward, just seeing Kinsella slip past his line of paid fighters. More people poured out of the banquet hall, the building clearly storing everyone who hadn’t gotten potion.

My swear was drowned out by the cacophonous beating of the thunderbird’s wings as Hollace rose into the sky. Cyra came next, then Ivy House’s gargoyle crew, followed by the gargoyles from town, organized and ready for battle.

Niamh jetted out from behind and didn’t waste any time. She pulled in her wings, tucked up her feet, and dove horn first. It hit a woman in the back and punched through. Her scream was short-lived, and Niamh tossed the woman over her back so she could move on to the next enemy.

The first line of mercenaries, nearly to Sebastian, took a knee and brought up their guns.

“Oh no.” I ran harder, straight for him, not knowing what I’d do against actual bullets but not wanting him to take the brunt of this by himself. Kinsella would have to wait.

“No, Jessie.” Sebastian flung out his hand to stop me. A wave of magic materialized in my path. I slammed into it and bounced off, knocked onto my butt. I brushed it off and sprang up as the mercenaries fired, some aiming for Sebastian, some aiming for shifters.

They weren’t actual bullets. Zips of color, like lasers, shot out. Yelps blared through the space. A bear roared, a sound that was half pain, half anger. Sebastian threw up his hands, probably to fortify his shield.

Cyra swooped down out of nowhere in phoenix form. Mouth open, she ingested the zip of color meant for Sebastian. Fire flew out of her rear before she turned, flapping her wings for speed, and dive-bombed the mercenaries, blasting them with fire. Thunder rolled across the plane, and Hollace dove as well.

The mercenaries didn’t so much as flinch. Those who were standing tilted up their guns to aim at him. They fired, but before the light could pierce Hollace, he let out another thunderous roar. Lightning charged the air around him, eating away whatever magic was fired from those guns.

Vampires rushed out from behind the mercenaries, lunging for the shifters. Gargoyles dove out of the sky, grabbing them and pulling them up, digging their claws in before dropping them. A fall like that wouldn’t kill them, but Edgar was waiting down below. He turned from swarm to himself, grabbed a newly splatted vampire, and ripped off its head.

The kneeling mercenaries continued to fire, hitting vampires and shifters, not at all caring who was friendly and who was the enemy. More agonized howls and yelps filled the air as the colorful blasts found their marks.

A few wolves reached the mercenaries, lunging into the crowd. Two of the mercs, a man and a woman, stood and slung their guns over their backs. Knives came out of nowhere, and then they were all action, grappling with the large wolf bodies, their movements lightning fast. The woman plunged a knife into a furry belly, then dragged it across the wolf’s throat.

“No!” I shed my clothes and changed, taking to the sky to get there faster. A zip of magic came for me, one of those lasers. It hit my shield and tried to bleed my magic away, but power boiled in my blood, fueled by the agonized wails all around me. By the vampires reaching the shifters, by Sebastian barely able to fight mages back while defending whomever he could against the mercenaries, by all of this unnecessary violence that Kinsella had forced on us.

I pumped my wings as hard as I could, pushing for speed. Cyra dive-bombed the line again, taking fire and giving it back. Hollace dove, snatching up a person in black in each taloned foot before swooping up, his electric energy taking them out instantly. I was there a moment later, scraping across someone’s face and sending a blast of magic through their line. It exploded, tossing people into the air. But not before two of them got off shots. Their blasts hit Sebastian’s shield and bled through it, striking his body.

A cry of fury shot out of me, slightly garbled by my fangs. Dark rage rose through me. I ripped out a throat with my claws and sent a magical kill shot of a spell, ripping someone apart, before covering the short distance to Sebastian. I grabbed him around the chest and hips, using my clawed feet as another way to hold him, and soared into the sky. I used my healing magic on him right away, cutting out his pain. Anguish in my heart, I lowered him onto the roof of the banquet hall, figuring it was the safest place for him. I set him down gently, splaying my clawed hand over the bleeding wound in his side and taking in his leg. Blood soaked through his shirt and pants. Those wounds would be closed shortly, hopefully before he bled out.

“Mu-scht halllllp odders,” I said, hoping he understood.

He nodded, and a little smile tickled his lips. “Ironheart. You have my allegiance…forever.”

That answered the question of whether he would take the job.

I patted his shoulder and took to the sky. If Austin wanted brutal, I’d give these people brutal.

Thirty-Three

Sebastian waited for the angel of a woman to fly away, vengeance on her mind. He watched her descend on the mercenaries a moment later, swirls of pink and purple magic trailing her, wondrous and beautiful. She was everything his research had said she’d be and then some. Beautiful of mind and body, majestic, and so insanely powerful that he was giddy just thinking about it. She had absolutely no idea the kinds of things she could do with that power. How unstoppable she’d be.

Assuming she didn’t go the way of the others and fall for the wrong man.

The magic could be transferred between Jessie and her mate, when she chose one. From what Sebastian had read, the ability was meant to help the mate protect her. Unfortunately, in the past, the heirs had chosen handsome young douches who’d wanted the power for themselves. They always died, of course, but they usually brought the heir down with them. By then, it was too late to alter the way the magic worked.

This time, though…

The powerhouse of a polar bear shifter crossed the distance to Jessie in a rush of his own power, his ferocity and prowess unmatched. Not even a mythical phoenix could tear him down. The alpha wouldn’t want to try to steal the Ivy House magic. He probably wouldn’t even accept a gift like that from Jessie unless there was no other way.

Ivy House had chosen well in its heir, and the heir had chosen well in her mate. Or soon would. It seemed like they were still dancing around each other, each afraid to fall into the void of hearts and flowers and forever.

Sebastian groaned as he rolled onto his side, not feeling the pain but all too conscious that it was there. He’d let too much of the spear gun leak through, a magical gun intended specifically for harming mages. The guns weren’t powerful enough to pierce his shield unless he was struck by seven at the same time. Or unless he allowed it to happen. He’d hoped someone would remove him from battle, or that he’d get the green light to crawl away.

Being put on the roof hadn’t entered into his plans, though.

On his hands and knees, he crawled toward the back of the building until his wounds had healed enough for him to stand and walk. Jessie’s healing magic was on the case, plus his own fast healing patched him up. Moving so soon probably wasn’t the greatest of ideas, but he couldn’t wait. Very soon, Domino Kinsella would realize he had greatly underestimated the up-and-coming mage, and he’d get out of town. He was a fool, but he knew how to survive. Sebastian had to find him before he snuck away.

At the edge of the roof, Sebastian found a tree close enough to jump to, but that was more of a plan B. If he took the tree route, he’d probably miss the branch, fall, and break his neck. Jessie’s magic wouldn’t be able to save him from that. A couple of moments later, he spotted a trellis with ivy.

After slipping twice, knocking his knee and skinning his ankle, he finally managed to descend onto flat ground. His magical tracker spell pulsed in his middle. Somewhere right. His target was somewhere right.

He’d known it would go down like this the second he’d heard Domino issue that invitation to Jessie. Domino was a useless and disgusting mage who hated shifters more than most. Any idiot could have predicted he would not want to work with Jessie, and sure enough, he’d given offense at every turn. Sebastian had thought the alpha would crack Kinsella’s neck in that first meeting, but it was Jessie who’d reacted, defending her mate. Very cute. Sebastian had put a tracker spell on Kinsella before he’d left the restaurant. Nothing to it.

The pulse grew stronger. The shouts and roars of the battle floated on the light breeze around the side of the building where Domino hid in a cluster of bushes. A peal of thunder drowned out the lessening blasts of the guns. The mercenaries were almost done, and they were the only ones capable of putting up a real fight.

“What kind of an idiot would pick a fight—” Sebastian began, cutting himself off to deflect a spell that burst from the bushes. He tsked. “That won’t work on me, Domino, you should know that. As I was saying, what kind of an idiot would pick a fight with a mage who has a thunderbird and a phoenix at her disposal? Are you that dumb, or just suicidal?”

Another blast of magic erupted from the bushes, the power nothing. He waved it away, and then let the illusion dissolve to reveal his true appearance.

“Is that how you treat an old friend, Domino?”

Domino’s face appeared against the leaves, his eyes rounded, his expression one of utter disbelief.

“Elliot Graves,” he whispered.

Sebastian gave a little bow, acknowledging the name he’d chosen for himself in the magical world. Birth names, Sebastian in this case, were only for friends and family. And for new potential allies, Jessie wasn’t ready to find out that he was Elliot Graves, not after all the hell he’d put her through, but hopefully she’d come around. He was well aware he’d have to eat crow.

He’d come clean to Ivy House, however. He’d visited the room of crystals and offered himself up to it. It could’ve killed him right then, or at any time thereafter. Instead, it had offered him more resources with which to train Jessie. The house had clearly agreed with him—his actions might not be conventional, but they were necessary. His master plan was coming along.