With Dali at least temporarily contained, I turned my attention to the three shifters still battling Allcot. He had his fingers around one’s neck and was fighting the other two off with his free hand.
I reached down and grabbed the spelled stake Dali had finally dropped, shoved it in the holder on my tool belt, and flipped open the top of the ring I wore on my right index finger. Yellow pixie dust glittered in the artificial light. I dipped my pinky into the substance, dabbed it on the tip of my tongue, blew out a breath, and whispered, “Sleep, little wolves. Sleep.”
The air in front of me turned gold, grew to a large bubble, then whipped around Allcot and the three wolves like a tiny tornado. The two wolves not in Allcot’s grasp ceased to fight, and instead started to back up slowly, appearing confused. Then all at once the two wolves fell over while the other one went limp in Allcot’s embrace.
Allcot stared at me, a scowl on his face. “You couldn’t have done that sooner?”
“No, as a matter of fact, I couldn’t. I’m actually surprised it worked on all three of them. It’s not very potent. And it’s very temporary. We only have—”
Allcot moved so fast to Pandora he was just a blur as he passed me.
“—a minute or so,” I finished and walked over to where the black wolf was still holding Dali by the neck. I knelt down and stared Dali in the eye. “It’s a real shame you turned out to be such a piece of trash. Dax really liked you.”
Dali snarled.
I tsked, shaking my head at him. “You don’t scare me, you know.” My statement was a lie. His dark eyes held so much hatred I actually shuddered. How did such a young soul end up with so much hate inside him? Knowing I didn’t have much time, I pulled zip ties out of my pocket and secured them to his wrists and ankles. I looked at the black shifter. “You can let go now. They’re the magical kind that will keep a shifter from shifting.”
The black shifter let go of Dali’s neck and backed up slowly. Dali thrashed on the floor, clearly trying to shift, but nothing happened. I gave him a cold smile and turned to find Allcot working to free Pandora from her shackles. He had a set of lockpicks but didn’t seem to be making any headway.
Frustrated, he reached up and yanked. The chains didn’t budge. Of course they didn’t. If they could’ve been pulled from the ceiling, Pandora would’ve done it herself.
“Where’s the key?” I asked Dali.
He curled his lip and shook his head. No surprise there. I hadn’t actually been expecting him to answer me. I reached down, yanked his set of keys off his belt loop, and tossed them to Allcot. But just as Allcot caught the keys, I saw Dali glance over at a small table near the door. He quickly averted his gaze as if he didn’t want anyone to know he’d been looking in that direction.
I scooted over to the table, reached into a small bowl, and came up with an old iron key. A slow smile claimed my lips as I walked over to Pandora and freed her. She let out a cry of relief and flung herself into Allcot’s arms.
“Let’s go,” I said, noting that the three shifters I’d knocked out were already stirring.
Allcot pulled Pandora to the window and gestured for me to join them. I shook my head. “I need to make sure Dax and Link are okay first.”
“I have to get her out of here,” Allcot said, looking torn.
“Go.” I glanced at the black wolf. “Leo and I will be fine.” The wolf trotted up to me and bowed his head.
Allcot nodded once, and the pair of them disappeared out the window.
“Ready?” I said to Leo.
In answer, the wolf shot out the door and I followed.
20
The downstairs was pure carnage. Furniture was broken. Blood stained the white tiles. But there wasn’t a shifter in sight. My gut clenched. It was far too quiet both inside and outside the house. Something was very wrong.
I paused at the door, listening.
Nothing. Nothing except the movement upstairs from the shifters we’d just battled.
Leo’s ear twitched, and I knew he’d heard them too.
“Time to go. Whatever’s out there, we’ll deal with it.” Steeling myself, I pulled the door open and followed Leo outside.
“Oh hell,” I muttered.
Leo paused beside me as we both took in the scene. Six wolves plus Bandu had Dax and Link surrounded. Seven on two when everyone was a shifter was terrible odds.
“Welcome to the party, Kilsen,” Bandu said without looking at me. “You’re just in time to see what happens to traitors.”
Link growled and lunged for the pack leader, but Bandu struck out with an electrified rod, zapping Willow’s wolf.
“You fucking piece of shit,” I said, striding off the porch, my dagger in my hand. In that moment, I honestly didn’t care if Bandu could survive my cursed blade. There was no mercy for a piece of shit who would zap a shih tzu, even if he was in wolf form. “Step away from Link, or I’m going to rip your head off.”
Bandu ignored me and stalked up to Dax, his rod aimed at Dax’s head. Dax held his ground, waiting for the precise moment to strike. I’d watched him take down many vampires using the same exact technique. If it’d just been him and Bandu, he likely would’ve been able to subdue the pack leader without even breaking a sweat. But with six other shifters rushing him, the task would’ve been damn near impossible. Instead, Dax met my gaze for one brief second then dropped to the ground and rolled.
I whipped out my sun agate and yelled, “Siste!” The spell was specifically for vampires and would knock them out for hours. On humans and shifters alike, it only worked for a short time.
The six wolves all froze, just as I expected them to. Luckily Link had leaped out of the way. He’d seen me use the agate enough times to know what it meant. But Bandu? He remained unaffected and took off after Dax.
“Damn.” I glanced over at Leo. A sound from the porch drew his attention, and we both turned to see the remaining shifters filing out of the house. He let out a low growl, and darted after Bandu and Dax.
“Link, move it!” I called and took off down the street, heading for Allcot’s BMW, praying he hadn’t left my ass behind. Dax was here, but I had no idea where he’d parked.
My feet had just hit the asphalt when suddenly someone grabbed my hair from behind.
“You’re a troublesome witch, aren’t you, Phoebe Kilsen?” The voice, full of hatred and self-righteousness, was unmistakable.
“And you’re a dirty little wannabe hipster. Anyone ever tell you the girls aren’t really into man buns?”
His grip tightened on my hair, and he yanked my head back. I winced.
“Shut up,” he ordered.
Bandu started to drag me back to the house, but I braced my feet on the ground and reached back, shamelessly grabbing for his crotch. My fingers found a grip, and I squeezed as hard as I could.
He let out a howl so loud I was certain my hearing would never be the same. But worse, he didn’t let go. He just fell to his knees, taking me with him.
“You’ll pay for that, Kilsen,” he wheezed out. “Do that again and I won’t hesitate to snap your neck.”
“You can try,” I said, hatred seeping from my pores. “But I bet you’ll lose that game.” I jerked my head back, clocking him just above his eye.
“Fuck!” he cried, his grip loosening, but he still didn’t let go. It didn’t matter, it was enough. I jabbed an elbow into his gut and then flung myself forward, scrambling to get away from him. I was just about free when his hand clasped around my ankle and jerked me back. I fell face-first on the asphalt and gritted my teeth, praying I didn’t have one hell of a road rash when this was over.
Unwilling to give in, I forced myself to flip over and kicked my free leg out. I’d been aiming for his face, but I missed and got his shoulder instead. It was a lucky blow, because his grip faltered and I was free.
Within seconds I was on my feet, my dagger out. It would do no good to run. Wolves were faster than I was, and it was clear Bandu had no intention of letting me get away.