Page 98 of Seas the Reckoning

Our side is much more hodgepodge but also appears to be much more effective.

“We’re within the bounds of the spells. No need to hide your magic now. Let ’em have it!” Grammy Pearl’s voice is magically amplified, calling out to our allies.

“Get off me!” I say to Claude, throwing my head back in a sad attempt at head-butting him. I can’t scramble loose.

Starla is on her knees, her hands digging through the sand in search of the necklace. Piers circles back for another sad attempt to grab her, and she clocks him in the face. He holds what appears to be a broken nose, blood streaming through his fingers.

Councilman Taylor is busying himself with a line of Carolina Beach coven witches who are slinging magic his way.

I let myself go limp again, but this time it’s not to try dropping my weight to throw Claude off balance.

It’s in relief.

Help has arrived in the form of a striped hyena, running full speed in our direction. Jackal leaps, and Claude anticipates an attack to his middle, shifting to throw me in the hyena’s path and shield himself.

Coward.

Jackal twists, landing on his side and using his momentum to slide through the sand. Bringing his teeth to Claude’s ankles. He bites down as he goes by, yanking Claude to his knees.

The warlock tumbles, and I kick him in the face.

“You and Piers can have matching noses!” I say before walloping him again.

I bring my foot back, prepared to kick him a third time, but Claude brings up a hand and grabs my foot.

I yell, falling backward.

“Gotcha!” I twist to see Shanell holding me. The witch is wearing her real face, partially burned after the recent fight with Leon Stone’s experiments.

She must be saving her magic to help us out. I’m proven right as she sends a jet of light into Claude’s eyes. He screeches, reaching for his face.

Jackal barrels into him, making sure he doesn’t get back up.

It’s hard to believe that Shanell is allowing a full-blown battle to go down on the beach when she is in charge of policing the area. Then again, she’s smirking at the fallen warlock, and I haven’t seen her this happy since before we lost Harold.

“Are you going to have to arrest us for this? Are you going to need to arrest yourself? We’re more than disturbing the peace,” I say as I go back to looking for the necklace.

She shrugs.

“Retirement gift to myself.”

There’s no time to ask whether she truly has decided to retire after all, or what she has planned next.

I’m pulled into the arms of my mate. Jackal has his skin on again for the moment, his hands roaming over me.

“Are you all right, love?”

When I nod, he leans forward, planting a kiss on my lips that has me seeing stars. A desperate, hungry kiss. One that is far too quick.

He releases me, letting his fur coat him again.

“We have to find the necklace!” I yell.

The storm and the veritable crowd of supernaturals fighting on the sands seem determined to get in the way. I see Brody and Ginny go by us. The red wolf shifter is guarding her, and she’s got a pan that has to be from the Sea Wench kitchens. She’s swinging it wildly at anyone who gets too close. She’s no fighter, but the two move in tandem, a perfect team.

Jackal lets out an eerie hyena laugh that can only mean death when an elf closes in on us, wielding a set of glowing twin daggers.

I don’t have a chance to find out just what magically imbued elven weapons can do, because the hyena weaves through his strikes and has him by the throat in moments.