Natural Mage (Magical Mayhem #2)(93)

Another roar, deep and powerful, and a large shape emerged from behind the fountain and lumbered into the mix, a giant bear.

“Work, Penny,” Emery shouted, grabbing a mage who had come out of his stupor and tried to run for it. “If they get away, they’ll try again another day.”

“Why are you rhyming at a time like this?” I blasted a mage making a run for it. He lost use of his legs…because I’d made him leave them behind.

Gagging, I used my rodent zapper on another, and a half-assed spell on one more, trying to get the spells out faster again.

The lion burst into the remaining mages. It swept a large paw across human bodies, opening gashes through their middles. He clamped his teeth on a mage’s shoulder and the side of her throat before ripping her head off, ending the haggard screaming.

The bear roared and stood on its back legs, swiping its claw as someone readied a spell.

The mages broke, sprinting for cover. The wolves were on it. Faster on four legs, and with the added benefit of improved sight in the darkness, they jumped onto the retreating figures, forcing them to the ground and ripping at their vital organs. Screaming and groaning mixed in with the growls and roars. Limbs flailed. Chaos reigned.

I danced from side to side, ready to help. Ready to shoot off another spell. But furry bodies kept obscuring my view. Then, in a matter of minutes, it was all over. The noise died down. The movement slowed.

My panting was unnaturally loud as I stood next to Emery, in the center of a disastrous circle filled with blood, bodies, and keyed-up animals.

My stomach finally gave out and I heaved. It wasn’t the most professional thing to do, admittedly, but I could no longer help it.

“Penny.” Emery wrapped his arms around me rather than holding my hair back, as befitted the situation. “Are you okay?”

“I’m okay.” I wiped my mouth and pushed him so we could back away. “You?”

His breath dusted my face. “Yeah. Got a couple scrapes and bruises, but yeah.”

Waves of magic pushed at me, and I knew by feel that it was the shifters’ magic I was feeling. The space was no longer occupied by a bunch of downed mages and animals. Now it held mages and naked people.

“Uh-huh.” I dropped my forehead to Emery’s shoulder. At least I wasn’t the only one stuck looking unprofessional after a battle.

Someone grunted, and I couldn’t help but look. Steve, previously the lion, stretched in the moonlight before scratching his chest and dropping his hands to his sides in fatigue. “Two back-to-back changes will really take it out of you. Least you could’ve done was leave a few more for us.”

Emery pulled one of his arms from around me and stepped forward, dragging me with him. He reached out to shake. “Thanks a million. We were getting buried. You turned the tide.”

Steve, completely unconcerned with his lack of cover, thrust his hand into Emery’s. “Not at all, mate. We would’ve been here sooner, but we ran into some sort of magical wall. Lost one of ours trying to get through it.”

“Oh no, I’m so sorry!” I said.

“Nah.” Steve waved my sentiments away. “He was an asshole. A real know-it-all. That’s why I sent him first. Don’t tell Trixie, though. She didn’t like him much, either, but he was good in bed, apparently.”

I was pretty sure my face was frozen in a very strange look. I didn’t know where to go from there.

“Anyway.” Steve glanced around the ground and clucked his tongue as more men and women, all equally as unworried about the state of their undress, slowly made their way in our direction. “Red said they stole Reagan’s car and chased you two to this area.”

“How would Red know all of that?” I asked suspiciously.

Steve gestured toward the dog still off to the side, watching from a distance. “He followed you. He might only be a dog, but it gives him the ability to make more changes than the normal shifter without depleting his energy level.”

“But…we were invisible.” I remembered how the shifters outside the bar had sniffed me out the other night. “Ah. He followed our scent trail. But how’d he let you know?”

“Right? I told him, he needs to carry a little doggy fanny pack for a cell phone. He could be Reagan’s sidekick.” Steve boomed out laughter. Red lowered his head and snarled. “Yeah,” Steve said, “he didn’t think that was funny. But he’s got phones stashed around the city. Following and reporting is his job. He has to have a way to report. So when he saw what was going on here, he called me up.”

“And Reagan?”

“Is busy with the vampire. She’s apparently got a thing going with that elder.” Steve wiped his lip with his thumb and shook his head. “I didn’t expect that, I’m not going to lie. No one tells me anything. I mean, I get the sex appeal, but he’s a vampire. You should never trust vampires.” Emery and I nodded knowingly. “They’re questioning the mages. The vampire took all the live ones before Roger could get back to us.”

“They didn’t think this was more important?”

“We don’t work with vampires, love. They do their thing, we do ours.”

“They didn’t tell Reagan,” Emery said softly, his tone even. I couldn’t tell if he was making a judgment or not.