Bound by Magic (The Baine Chronicles #2)(61)

Mika let out an ear-splitting roar as she fell to the ground, and I winced sympathetically – I knew from experience how painful cuts from crescent knife blades could be. But I didn’t have time to stand around – I only had a few moments before Mika’s wound healed itself and she was back on her feet again. Whirling around, I snatched up the chakram pouch, then grabbed one and twirled it briefly around my index finger before flinging one toward the tops of the bars. It cut through the silver-coated bamboo with ease, and I tossed another one toward the bottom of the cage, slicing the bar off at both ends. It toppled outward, landing with a loud clatter on the concrete ground, and the crowd screamed as I jumped through the opening.

Several of the staff rushed toward me, but I used my chakrams to cut them off at the knees – literally. They screamed in pain as the circular blade bit into the flesh of their legs, severing clear through, but I didn’t even give them a second glance – I was already sprinting for Danrian, who was racing for the hidden doorway I knew was located in the wall behind the shifter cages.

“Stop!” I shouted, twirling another chakram around my index finger. “Stop, or I’ll cut your head off, I swear!”

Danrian froze, his eyes wide with fear and loathing as he eyed the spinning metal disk – I knew he had no doubt that I would follow through on my threat.

“How did you get those weapons in here!” he shouted as I advanced on him. “Those shackles are supposed to prevent you from using magic!” He pointed toward the restraints on my wrists, his finger trembling.

“Guess I’ve got a few tricks up my sleeve,” I sneered, grabbing him. Cries and screams echoed off the walls along with the sounds of dozens of stampeding feet, and I knew the humans were all rushing for the exit behind us again. Regardless of what happened to Danrian tonight, the Shifter Royale was finished – nobody was coming back after two incidents like this.

I didn’t have any cuffs of my own on me, so I turned Danrian around and slammed him face first against the wall, twisting one arm behind his back and pushing upward so that he was forced onto his toes. He cried out in pain, but I only pushed harder, the battle fever still surging within me redirected to a new purpose.

“Tell me who the Benefactor is. Now!”

“I can’t do that!” He choked out. “The Benefactor will kill me for sure if I do!”

“If you don’t tell me right now, I’m going to kill you!”

A set of fangs sank into the back of my calf, and I cried out as burning pain ripped through the muscle. Shocked, I twisted away, letting go of Danrian so I could confront my attacker. My blood dripped from Mika’s fangs as she snarled and charged at me again, still crazed from the drugs. My leg was too weak for me to dodge, so I dropped to the ground and rolled to the side, then slashed at her again with my knives. I got her in the side again, and she roared as the wound from last time, which was not fully healed, split open again.

The battle fever pumping hard through my veins allowed me to spring to my feet, and I grabbed Danrian, who had been trying to sidle away, by the arm. “Come on. We’ve got to get out of here!” As much as I wanted to release the shifters from their cages now, I knew they would all just attack us – I needed to get us to safety and wait for the Enforcer’s Guild to show up. They had to be on their way by now. They just had to.

“I’m afraid I’m not going anywhere with you, Miss Baine,” Danrian said smugly as I spun him around. I caught the glint of three darts in his hand as he raised it in the air, and I tried to avoid them, but momentum was on his side. I cried out as the darts jabbed me in the side of the neck, then screamed in agony as the icy hot poison rushed through my veins, stronger and more painful than last time. Fear burst through me, followed by a healthy dose of disgust – I couldn’t believe that I was about to die at the hands of a filthy human like him.

“That dose will definitely kill you if Mika doesn’t.” Danrian’s voice sounded very far away as I sank to the ground. I looked up at him, and it was like I was staring at him from the bottom of a pool – his form wavered, too blurry for me to focus on properly. “You came close to winning, but not close enough. On behalf of the Benefactor, I give you my regards.”

He disappeared then, and the last thing I saw was Mika’s bloody fangs before everything went dark.





19





“Do you think she’s ever going to wake up?”

My mind stirred at the familiar male voice, which sounded distant beyond the black, greasy fog that seemed to surround me. It took me a moment to put a name to the voice – Fenris.

Who was Fenris?

“Of course she’s going to wake up. Do you doubt my healing abilities?” another voice snapped – and this one I recognized instantly; Iannis. My heart warmed at the edge in his voice – he must be concerned for me.

Why was he concerned for me?

“No, it’s just that she was struck with three darts.” Fenris’s voice came again, and this time a picture of a wolf with coarse brown hair floated into my mind. Ah, yes. I remembered him now. “The amount of silver in them would have killed any full-blooded shifter.”

“Sunaya is forged from stronger stuff. She will pull through.”

Huh. He’d used my first name. I’d never heard him use my name before. I kind of liked the way it sounded when he said it – kind of exotic with his musical accent. I wanted him to say it again.