Page 80 of Mage Massacres

“No. I’m not fighting your mate, Palmer.”

Murphy frowned at his brother, but he was already standing in the middle of the yard. The warlock yelped when a bolt of magic stuck into the ground near his foot.

Palmer smirked as Murph whipped his head in Sloane’s direction to glare.

“I’m not fighting you,” he adamantly stated.

She flicked her fingers, tossing droplets of hellfire at him.

“Come on, Murph. You can’t hurt me,” she teased, her clones a line of statues at her side. “It’ll be good practice for you.”

“You won’t get mad?”

“Nope.”

Murphy hesitantly agreed, and Palmer stepped up to join him.

“What are you doing?”

“You’re gonna need a hand, Murph. Thank me later.”

Smoke swirled around all the Sloanes, her voice commanding as she said, “Make a bet with me, Mage.”

Palmer snorted. “What are the stakes?”

“Catch me, and you can choose. But if you don’t, then it’s my choice.”

He groaned, his head falling back as he stared at a floating orb in the sky. “I don’t need the images right now, Love.”

As the smoke cleared, the lights illuminated the yard. Sloane had spread her clones out, mixing herself in the middle of them. They each moved on their own, using her mannerisms as they prepared for the attack.

The brothers threw their magic in staggered intervals, giving her no time between hits. She bobbed and weaved, avoiding every flash of electric yellow.

“You won’t get to her like that,” I yelled.

Palmer got close to tagging one of the Sloanes with a bolt of lightning, but she evaded him at the last second.

Murphy stepped back and watched them as Stone and Vaughn dove into the fray.

The guys tried to toy with her, throwing powerful magic in an attempt to group the clones together. They wanted to pick them off one by one, but their plan wouldn’t work either.

Herding a single Sloane was the equivalent of corralling cats.

She did what she wanted, when she wanted. Rhyme and reason didn’t always matter to her.

Briggs’ wolf galloped over the dewy grass and she danced around him. He snapped and swatted, but he wasn’t as nimble as she was.

I started stalking the clones’ movements while they kept her busy. Some of them were too organized to be our Sloane.

“Far left, Novak.”

The vampire zoomed into the crowd, snatching a clone. She disappeared in his grasp, and he smirked.

“Call to Stone and Briggs, too.”

“The two in the dead center aren’t her either.”

I didn’t care who grabbed them, but we were going to knock her down to seven. And then less.