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“Nadine!” Chloe called after her. “They told us to stay!”
She whirled toward Chloe. “We’re stronger together! I’m not letting my grandmother—or anyone else I love—face our enemy alone.”
“They’re not alone,” Grant said. “Helena, Verla, and Warren have each other. They didn’t want us getting involved.”
“There’s three of them and five Executors,” Nadine cried. “They’re outnumbered, and we need to help.”
“It’s your wedding night, and we’re not letting some stupid Executors ruin it,” Chloe said. “If you want to send someone after them, let us go. You two shouldn’t have to deal with this tonight.”
“I’m not going to stand here when my grandmother is in trouble,” Nadine argued. “Where are they?”
Talia pointed across the landscape, not far from the border of our ward. “Warren spotted the Executors on that outcropping of rock.”
The Executors were gone now, and Nadine frantically searched the landscape. “There!” she cried, pointing to a dim light through the trees. It was close to the border of our ward. That had to be Helena, Verla, and Warren. They were using witch lights to guide themselves through the darkness. I spotted another cluster of lights moving through the trees, guiding the Executors up the mountain.
“The Executors can’t see them from that distance. Your grandma will turn her light off when they reach the border.” I tried to assure Nadine, though I couldn’t be sure. “The Executors won’t know they’re coming.”
Nadine held her breath as her grandmother’s light faded at the edge of the border, then she gasped and pointed in another direction. “There’s movement over there! The Executors are coming in two groups. They’re going to corner them, and Grammy doesn’t know!”
Horror tangled in my gut as the Executors began closing in.
Nadine gathered her skirt in her hands and tossed her heels into the grass. “We have to go after them! They can’t be out there alone. I’m going to help. Anyone who doesn’t want to come is welcome to stay behind, but I’m going after my family.”
I was with Nadine. She was my wife now, and we’d come together as one. Her family was now my family, and I’d do whatever it took to protect it.
“Let’s go,” I said. “These Executors aren’t getting away without bloodshot tonight.”
Chapter Eight
NADINE
A terrible sensation tangled in my gut, telling me to get to Grammy right the fuck now. I hiked my skirt up and ran down the mountain in my bare feet. My friends raced behind me, and our cats scurried ahead of us.
My pulse grew loud in my ears, and sweat dripped from my brow. My dress caught on underbrush and tore, and rocks sliced my feet. It barely registered, because all I could think about was getting to my grandmother and the others before the Executors cornered them.
My magic tingled, indicating I’d crossed the ward boundary. Ahead loomed a steep hill covered in loose rock. I grabbed trees to help me steady my balance as I ran down the hill. I kept running, but then came the sound of tumbling rock behind me.
I whirled around to see Lucas’s silhouette sliding down the steep incline, loose rock tumbling down with him. A loud crack sounded—as if a rock had hit him aside the head—followed by a pained grunt. Lucas caught himself at the bottom of the hill.
I turned to go back for him, but then the sound of screaming voices came in the distance. A loud explosion rocked the forest, and streams of lights shone through the trees up ahead.
“Get their shields down!” Verla shouted.
I hesitated. Lucas was on his feet and conscious, and right now, the others needed magic. I turned away from my husband and sprinted through the trees toward the sound of exploding battle magic. Ahead, the trees cleared enough that I could see Grammy, Verla, and Warren facing off against a dozen Executors. Magic blasted off in every direction, illuminating the scene. Our cats had already reached them, and they were fighting the Executors’ cats. High-pitched meows and low growls filled the air.
A spell caught Professor Warren in the shoulder, but it barely fazed him as he shot a spell back at the Executor who’d hit him. The spell hit the Executor in the chest, and he slumped to the ground.
A shield shimmered around Grammy and Verla. It looked like they were working together to defend Professor Warren as he went in for the kill. Verla lifted her hands to the Executors, but she hesitated, like she didn’t want to hurt the cats who were in the middle of it all. If she cast a spell at the wrong time, it would kill all of them. Odin screeched as one of the other cats slashed its claws across his face. Blood trickled down his black fur.
An Executor aimed a spell at Grammy, but I reached out with my Curse Breaker powers and siphoned his spell for my own. The spell died in his hands, and I used the power to throw a deadly battle orb in his direction. The spell hit him square in the back, and his whole body went limp.
I had almost reached Grammy and had to be less than fifteen yards away when I heard the whizz of a rogue spell flying out of the forest. I only had a split-second warning. I didn’t get a chance to react before the spell hit my ankles and swept my feet out from under me. My body was yanked to the side, and my head smashed against a nearby tree. I landed with a hard thud on the ground. I thought I felt the warmth of blood trickling down the side of my face, but I could hardly process it. The forest seemed to spin around me as I staggered to my feet. Grammy spun to the side to block a spell, but I spotted an Executor behind a tree raise their wand to her.
My voice rang through the forest. “Grammy, behind you!”
Grammy whirled around just in time to deflect the incoming spell. Her eyes turned in the direction of my voice. Her gaze locked on mine, and the color drained from her face. “Nadine, run!”
Grammy threw out her arm, and the shimmering protective shield that had encompassed her projected in my direction. In the blink of an eye, an Executor raised their wand, and a sizzling red battle orb shot toward me. I barely had a moment to process it before it bounced off Grammy’s shield—which protected me—and back in her direction. Verla saw the spell, and she swung her hand out to deflect it, but her shield was cast too late.
