Page 23 of Rogue Witch

He bares his teeth.

I bare my teeth.

They all bare their teeth and growl. My wolf lunges at the wolf nearest him. His powerful jaws close around its neck. My stomach lurches at the crunch of bones. The four remaining wolves stalk toward me.

I throw out my hands, palms outward, and shout, “Deflect!”

The wolves are hurled backwards. My wolf pounces on one and makes short work of her. Three remain. The Shadows start toward me.

“Stop!” I shout.

They don’t obey.

“Take them.” I jab my finger at the three wolves, who now circle mine, teeth bared.

Their ferocious growls rumble through the air. My heart pounds. They are planning a joint attack. One eye on the Shadows, the other on the wolves, I take a step back.

Don’t freak out, I tell myself. The last thing my wolf needs is to have to rescue me.

Movement among the trees draws my attention. Another wolf approaches, this one as big as my wolf, its obsidian eyes glaring. Oh God, he’s got to be infected by the Shadows. They’re all infected. Not my wolf. The Reaping pulls in High Potentials from all over the world. What if the other wolves were foreign Academy students? My heart lurches at the thought. The Shadows slow their progress toward me.

What the hell? Did they slow because of my compassion for the pack wolves? The new wolf reaches the pack wolves and they part for him. If the wolves are students infected by Reaping Shadows, does that mean they will be infected when they return to the real world?

My wolf has killed three of them. Does that mean he’s killed three students? Panic sends my heart into an erratic rhythm. What if that’s the case? I can’t let him kill students. But I can’t let them kill him, either. Indecision knots my stomach. The new wolf bares fangs that makes me think of a science fiction movie gone bad. What do I do?

My mind jumbles with the recollection of the earth magic I used in the virtualverse. Maybe—maybe I can get control. I yank up the trembling index finger of my right hand and twirl it in a circle.

“Please,” I beg the nature spirits, “help me.”

Nothing.

I watch the Shadows and turn the circle faster. “Anything—please.”

Nothing.

The other three wolves growl and lower their heads in an attack stance aimed at my wolf.

“Curse you, nature spirits,” I shout, then command, “Raven,” and a giant raven appears above them.

The bird swoops and the wolves scatter—all except my wolf. His head snaps in my direction, his eyes on the Shadows, hovering three feet from me. The bird’s caws make my ears ring. It swoops again, this time grabbing one of the wolves. The animal twists and snaps at the bird, but the crow deftly navigates through the canopy.

“Don’t hurt them,” I call after the bird.

The crow caws and drops the wolf. The Shadows reach me. I take a step back and thrust out a hand in a “stop” gesture. I freeze when one of the Shadows wraps itself around my arm. My heart gallops. I tell myself to move, but I can’t. Through my shirt sleeve the Shadow feels like cool silk caressing my flesh. I want to command it to leave, but the same sense of familiarity I experienced when I saw the Shadows upon my arrival overwhelms me. Then the thing coils up my arm and slips down my shirt. I seize my collar and yank the shirt back in time to see the Shadow disappear into my chest—right above my heart. I can’t breathe. Am I having a heart attack? Is that how infection happens, they got inside of us like some ghostly possession?

Furious barking penetrates the ringing in my ears. The raven dives for my wolf. He’s three feet away, snapping at the raven as if he means to eat the bird. Fuck, that’s an image I don’t need.

“Be gone,” I command the crow.

My chest tightens and a tiny pain pricks as the bird gives one last caw then vanishes. I drop to my knees, breathing hard. A Shadow is inside me. It’s all my fault. I used magic. But how could I not? I couldn’t allow other students to die. Am I sure they were students? Who else is in this hellish place besides students and Shadows?

Something bumps my arm and I start. The wolf is nudging me with his nose. I shake my head. He nudges my arm, the arm the Shadow touched. Well, it didn’t really touch my skin, though the soft caress of fabric felt as if it did. I’m being stupid. The Shadows touched my skin, my chest, the valley between my breasts, and is inside me!

A sudden vision assails me of Blade on his knees, head raised skyward while loosing an eerie shout that sends a shiver down my spine. The vision evaporates and my surrounding’s spin. I drop onto my ass.

I shake my head. What just happened? The knowledge comes to me almost before the thought completes. The blood pact. What was Blade doing on his knees shouting to the heavens? Can a blood pact connection span the gap between the mundane world and the Reaping? The wolf whines. I realize I’m gripping his fur. When had I grabbed him? I let go. He looks at me and waits.

“If a vampire, Fae, and dragon ever ask you to make a blood pact with them, don’t,” I say.