Page 69 of Jacob Michaels is Dead

Three things began to happen simultaneously, but not at the same rate of speed as each other. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Oma walking away, going to the far side of the fenced-in area of the garden, getting herself out of harm’s away. Bloody Bones began walking in an arc towards the other side of the garden so that he would be out of this part of the fight and watch as well. If his wolves could do his work and save him the trouble, that was good enough for him. He just wanted me dead so that he could continue on with his plans to rule over the lands once again. Thirdly, I felt Lucas step a foot away from me, his hand tightening on mine. As the wolves charged us, getting closer and closer, Lucas raised his arm, pointing it directly at the wolves, and I felt a tingle start in my back, move over my shoulder blade, and down my arm.

A fireball shot from Lucas’ palm and flew at the wolves just as they jumped in unison over the fence. Four wolves yipped and fumbled as the wolf on the left side of the pack burst into flames and fell to the ground, motionless. All four of the wolves seemed to be rethinking their tactic as their forward momentum halted so that they could glance at their fallen pack member. I wasn’t going to give them an opportunity to regroup. Like Lucas, I held my hand up angrily and shot a fireball at the wolf on the right. The fire washed over him, and the other three wolves jumped back, yipping and howling.

Before that burning wolf even registered that he was burning alive and had fallen over, Lucas had used my magic once again to send a fireball in the direction of another wolf. More yipping from the remaining two reached my ears as I swiveled to launch a fireball at another wolf—the one I knew to be Jason. He was larger than the other four had been, so I knew that had to be him. As I raised my arm, Lucas’ hand slipped from mine. I hadn’t been paying attention when I had turned to aim at Jason, so I hadn’t realized how loosely Lucas and I were holding onto each other.

As soon as my hand slipped from Lucas’, and our connection to each other—his connection to a source of magic he could use to protect himself—slipped away, the Not Jason wolf jumped. I screamed out in horror as the wolf crashed into Lucas, and the two of them fell to the ground in a heap, the wolf on top of Lucas, its jaws snapping. Screaming out in rage, I turned back, intending to jump on the wolf that had leapt upon Lucas, knocking it away, but then my body was lifted off the ground. A bag of fur with four legs and snapping jaws followed me to the ground.

Jason came to rest on top of me as my back slammed into the hard earth of the garden, landing on all four of his paws. Disoriented and having had the breath knocked from my lungs, all I could do was grab wolf-Jason’s neck and hold his head back as he attempted to snap at my face. Jason’s glowing red eyes glared down at me as fangs snapped, and spittle dripped into my face. My hands couldn’t even fit around his giant wolf neck, so choking him out wasn’t an option. I could see the murderous look in his eyes, even though the eyes I was peering into weren’t human. Lucas was screaming somewhere to my side, but I refused to turn my head to look for him, to see how he was doing, because it would have distracted me from protecting myself. I was no good to Lucas dead.

Wolf-Jason continued to snap his jaws, trying to get closer to my face as I screamed out in fear and rage and did my best to hold him back. While I never considered myself weak, my body wasn’t at its best—and I was fighting a fucking wolf. Hardly any man is a match for a werewolf with human intelligence and preternatural strength. They’d have to be…

Special.

I knew magic.

Fuck, I was dumb.

And so was Jason.

My fear bled into my rage as I stopped screaming. I looked up into wolf-Jason’s eyes angrily as I let my magic pour into my arms, down the length of them, and into my hands.

“Burn!” I growled, right before the fire burst from my palms.

Wolf-Jason was engulfed so quickly that I feared he might fall on me, trapping me beneath him, and sentence me to a fiery death as well. However, I couldn’t even feel any heat from the fire, even as it burned away Jason’s fur, and he leapt away, no longer trapping me beneath him. I watched just long enough to see him topple over onto his side, his legs kicking wildly, going nowhere, as he lay burning.

When I heard Lucas’ screams again, the fury no longer impairing my focus, I leapt up from the ground and spun around, looking for Lucas and the wolf that had jumped on him. Less than a few yards away, Lucas was positioned in the same manner I had been with wolf-Jason on top of me. The last werewolf was standing over him, on all fours, effectively trapping him against the ground, snapping and snarling as Lucas did his best to push the beast’s jaws away.

A few quick steps and my hand was against the side of the wolf as Lucas’ hands stayed around its throat. The wolf had just enough time to glance at me out of the corner of its eye before I felt my magic rolling down my arm once again. Lucas looked up at me from the ground, relief flooding his face as I grinned evilly at the wolf I was about to kill.

“And fuck you, too.” I snapped.

Then the wolf burst into flames.

As I pulled Lucas to his feet, the wolf leaping away to collapse in a fiery ball, the first thing I noticed was the gash on Lucas’ forehead, oozing viscous blood. Now that he had nothing to brace it against, his left arm hung limply at his side. Whether it was broken or dislocated, I had no idea, but something was definitely wrong with it. Fury rolled through me as Lucas stood there, bleeding and broken. I spun so that I could see all five burning heaps of wolf in the garden. With every ounce of energy I had in my body, and with my boyfriend bleeding and broken behind me, I summoned up my magic.

Sometimes, without being told, you just know some things to be true.

I knew that my eyes were glowing red.

Just like the wolves’ eyes had.

Just like Bloody Bones.

Summoning every bit of rage I could, I focused that magic on the four burning heaps in the garden…and commanded my magic to do my bidding. Five different holes opened in the ground, swallowing the burning wolves, pulling them beneath the surface, dragging them down. Though I had no way of knowing for sure if they would end up where I wanted, I knew where I had told my magic to send them. And I hoped that my magic was powerful enough to do it. The holes in the ground were just beginning to fill back up, sealing away the wolves, the light from the fires being snuffed out, when I turned back to Lucas.

“Are you okay?” I asked, my eyes going to his.

Lucas looked…amazed.

“What did you do?” He asked, his good arm moving to cradle his hurt arm.

“Permanently solved a problem.” I shrugged, stepping closer to him.

Lucas gave a brief smile, which was quickly replaced by a wince. I cringed and started to reach out to him. Unfortunately, as my body and arm moved as one, my eyes also moved. Black flashed in my vision, and my eyes were drawn over to the side of the garden fence where Bloody Bones now stood, his gleaming, bony smile and red eyes looking amused.

“Well done.” He said as I stepped towards him, putting my body between him and Lucas. “Though I have to say, I am not shocked.”

“You shouldn’t be,” I said as I felt Lucas’ hand touch my shoulder for support. “You’re next.”