The Council (Darkness #5)(25)

I lost sight of him as Jonas straightened up, too. Then wavered.

“Holy shit,” Charles said, pushing past Tim with Jessie close behind.

I couldn’t move. I couldn’t step forward. Stefan was in a battle for his life. Literally, it had progressed to people trying to kill him. And judging by the outcome, he’d had to kill them first.

“No,” I heard myself say, pushing Tim’s hand away. “This has to end.”

I made it to the throng with numb feet. Tim helped me over the bodies, most breathing, one not. Stefan waited, leaning roughly against the wall. His gaze found mine apologetically. “I didn’t want you to see me like this.”

“Like what?” I asked with a flash of rage. “Tired, barely able to stand, with just one other guy to help you? Where are all the people you brought?”

He shook his head, trying not to let it bow. “They’re healing.”

I stepped up to him quickly, putting my hand against his cheek. “Let’s go. Let’s leave. We don’t need this, Stefan. I’ve been given the green light for mage. That’s all we care about, right? Let’s get out of here.”

He wouldn’t let himself lean into my hand—not with his men around. He gently took my wrist and moved it beside his leg. His fingers entwined with mine. “I’m not confident they won’t come for you, Sasha. There have been whispers…”

Tim spoke up immediately. “We’ll protect her. We have safe houses all over the country. I have a huge network of shifters organized and under my rule. Any of them would house kin.”

“You can’t claim a hundred percent loyalty. None of us can. This place isn’t what it was. The people here have lost touch. Leadership has fallen to the side and those greedy with power have stepped up. I don’t trust the things I hear anymore.”

Tim shifted. “Will you take some of my men?”

Stefan eyed Jonas, resting against the wall with his eyes closed. Jonas said, “Can’t have a bunch of wild animals running around this place. They’d shit all over the floor.”

Ann cracked a smile.

“Take some energy, baby,” I whispered to Stefan.

He shook his head, his eyes delving into mine. My heart banged against my chest, begging to be closer. Wanting to cross that small distance to him. “You’ll need it.”

“I have plenty. Seriously, they’re not after me like they are you.”

“Incoming.” Jonas’ growl almost sounded like a groan. He straightened up from the wall. Blood oozed down his arm.

Four giant guys stalked down the hall with hard eyes and tense muscles. Gazes hit Stefan, and then scanned those around him. Not one made a facial expression, but their complete disregard of more people around their prey didn’t seem to faze them. They’d come to finish off the job.

“No. No way.” I clenched my hands into fists and stepped forward. Tim put his hand out to stop me, but Charles was there first. Only, he escorted me. He was obviously thinking the same way I was. This had to stop.

“Get out of here, Sasha. This doesn’t concern you.” Stefan’s step was off-balance. He tried to hide a wince.

I got a pang in my heart as tears sprang to my eyes. He was so strong, so tough. He was trying to take on all of this so I didn’t have to. He was the love of my life, and if he thought I wouldn’t protect him, like he was trying to protect me, he was daft.

“No, baby. Not anymore. No more Miss Nice Gal. Time to finally make the example Toa trained me to make. Time to show them not to f**k with a human.”

“Atta girl—let those balls fly.” Jonas nodded and let himself sag back against the wall. He’d been there when Toa taught me the more intense spells. He knew the kind of example I was fixing to make.

The large guys had stopped about ten paces away. They waited silently while I stepped to the front of our crew. The shifters filed in at my back, sealing off the wounded. Charles cracked his knuckles as he stepped up to my side.

“A bunch of animals for protection? That right?” The largest guy sporting a bulldog-looking face smirked.

“They don’t know who you are,” Charles whispered.

“Wouldn’t matter if they did.”

I linked with Stefan as I pulled in more magic. With him leveling me out, I filled up to bursting. My skin started to prickle in warning. More power tried to rush into me. The flow battered at my control.

If they thrived on brutality, I’d give them what they wanted.

I mixed the elements in an extremely complex formula. Everything was perfectly balanced. Each element rested precariously beside the other. Once done, I urged the spell out into small, fast moving orbs. With green power, it would appear I sent out shocking balls. Those were amateur.

These were not.

“Wait, can shifters have this kind of magic?” the man on the far right with a busted tooth asked. He studied my face.

“I thought his mage wasn’t due in this corridor for another half-hour?” The guy beside the leader with platinum, spiky hair watched the orbs race toward them with wide, worried eyes.

“It’s green—this is a nothing of a spell,” the leader assured them, already working on the first orb.

But as he worked, his forehead started to wrinkle. His face drained of color. And when the guy to his side said in a furious whisper, “I hear she can work in all different colors!”, the leader had clued in to who I really was.