She was well aware that the moment the defenses were down, they would be under attack. They had to be ready for anything. Cloaked in the stillness of night, the trio completed the incantation. Only one word from Rowan remained.

They had arrived about an hour ago. With Kiera muffling their work with a suppression spell, Rowan, Miles, and Stacy had started unweaving the wards using techniques Rowan learned about in Catherine’s secret collection. The trick was to reverse the magic already at work, not apply new spells. Turn the wards against its own mechanisms and bring it down. Like unlocking a door.

Stacy glanced at Kiera and nodded. She did the same to Miles. They were ready. At last, she met Rowan’s gaze. The green in his eyes darkened as he held her stare and gave a subtle nod. Stacy inhaled deeply, steadying her resolve. “For justice and the future,” she murmured to the dryad.

“For justice and the future,” he whispered back, then spoke the last word of the incantation. Magic rippled through the air, then shattered. The defenses fell like a curtain dropped from a rod. Initially, there seemed to be no reaction, but then the ground shook. The force of the wards breaking nearly rocked her back. Another deep breath, and she stepped past the line onto Victor’s property.

I’m here, motherfucker. Come face me.

Victor felt a great shudder.

It went through the ground, coursed through the walls of his stronghold. The men in the control room issued sounds of alarm as lights flickered and camera feeds were disrupted. Victor held up a hand to calm them. “She’s done what we wanted. Now, we wait.” He swiveled to eye Garth, who stood at the back of the room. “Get the Pack ready. I want her team dead, but bring the girl to me.”

“They’re hungry, Vic. They might not leave her alive.”

“Figure it out,” Victor growled.

Garth narrowed his dark eyes. Then, seeing that arguing was useless, he stomped out of the room.

Victor turned his attention to the screens showing the camera footage over his estate. Everything outside was dark and still. No sign of Stacy or her team anywhere. They had no way of knowing where she was or how many she had with her. Only the force of magic hitting the wards and disabling them.

He’d made them complicated not to keep them out, because he knew she would take them down. Instead, he’d added complexity to the wards so by the time the witch shattered them, her magic would be drained.

You came to my territory, little girl. I will have the upper hand.

Victor checked his watch. Where the hell were the police? John should have sent his men by now to arrest her. A cold realization struck him like a bucket of ice water poured over his head. Maybe John had decided he was done with Victor. The Titan’s hands balled into fists. Turnbower would pay for his lack of devotion. Victor would not hesitate to slaughter his family if that was what it took.

“Well, what are you all waiting for?” Victor barked at the security team. “Find her!” He stalked to the head of security, who stood at a control panel at the front of the room. He grabbed the man by the back of his shirt, slamming him into a table. “You were caught off guard. Why? You promised me the alarms would be perfected, and as soon as the wards were down, we’d see her!”

“Sh-she’s nowhere to be found, s-sir,” the head of security stammered, face reddening.

I warned you about magic. Garth’s voice echoed in Victor’s mind. The werewolf hadn’t actually said it, but Victor imagined he did. It was exactly what he would say if he was still in this room. Victor was glad he wasn’t.

“Find. Her,” the Titan snarled, releasing the man. “It’s not like she can vanish into thin air! Counter the attack with the Pack.”

Victor strode toward the doors, intent on entering his armory. The men stared after him, gawking at his outrage. Victor closed himself into the adjacent room and stood before an open armory. Aside from the armory and what was displayed inside it, the room was empty. It had enough space for him to transform as he pleased.

It was time. Despite the fury roiling within him, Victor couldn’t help but smile at the plated piece waiting for him. It was perfect, exactly as the prototype suggested. Garth had designed it. An entire team had perfected it.

He slipped vials of glowing liquid from his pocket—the extra samples his head of security had obtained. He opened one, downing it quickly. It burned in his throat. He drank another despite knowing he shouldn’t. One dose was risky, and two could be deadly.

The Titan didn’t care. He wanted his full might back.

Victor arched his back as a splitting sensation filled it. Course black fur bristled along his spine, spreading over his back and tearing through his clothes. It sprung up his arms and hands, then his legs, neck, and finally, his face. He felt his features changing, growing longer. Finally, the most painful sensation was of something sharp poking through him from the inside out. He glanced at his hands. They were larger and covered in the same black fur as the rest of his body. Gleaming claws protruded.

Victor didn’t care what Stacy Drake was. Only what he had become.

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

The cover of Kiera’s illusion magic was enough to conceal Stacy and her team as they walked onto the grounds. However, the wards shattering meant those inside Victor’s stronghold would be looking for them. Let them be confused, Stacy thought. The more disorder they could cause, the better.

She noted several cameras on the building’s exterior, especially in a large, fenced-in yard. Deep paw prints in churned mud beyond the fence made her wonder what had been kept in there. Bones licked clean littered the enclosure.

Stacy moved forward with her team, signaling for them to fan out around the stronghold so they could stand at every angle and strike as one with their magic. More wards held over the building itself. Separating meant Kiera could no longer keep them under her invisibility magic. Stacy crouched low in the shadows, hoping no cameras would make her out. She summoned her magic, allowing it to trail along the ground toward the wards.

“Ready?” Rowan asked over the comms. Each person gave their confirmation, then Stacy spoke the signal. Magic rumbled beneath her bones. She called upon it, and it burst forth.

“Now.”

A sphere of white light blasted from her. Vines from the ground for Miles. Trees for Rowan. Shadows from Kiera. With their joined collision, the wards were battered and broken. Stacy straightened, rolling her shoulders. She scanned the fortress for signs of attackers. If the guards inside hadn’t been aware of where she was before, they sure as hell were now.

A low growl sounded behind her. Stacy turned, her shield flaring around her. If not for the illumination, she wouldn’t have seen the werewolf hunched over not three yards away. He was much larger than any she had seen before. Rising on his hind legs, he was double her height, with blazing red eyes and claws that curved so much they nearly penetrated his hand. Or paw? She didn’t know, and she didn’t care.

The look in the wolf’s eyes was distant and crazed. No thoughts existed there. He was made of pure instinct to kill.

“Come at me, motherfucker,” she breathed.

The wolf loosed a ground-shattering snarl and lunged.

Gunshots fired from the front of the house, but Kiera evaded them by stepping into the darkness, becoming shadow. She was one with her surroundings, unseen until she made the deadly strike. The moment those doors opened, she hurtled through, appearing only when she was past them. Her knife was the first thing her prey saw.

An alarmed yelp went out, but Kiera struck one of Victor’s human goons in the chest before he could register what she was. Her shadows rippled around her, enclosing her from the sight of others. She pulled the knife out, soaked in the man’s blood. He dropped like a stone to the floor, his gun clattering. Kiera vanished, leaving the other guards baffled and shouting. One shot, and she was already gone.

She circled the room, taking out one after another. Her blades danced in deadly arcs. In their confusion, the guards fired, but their aim was inaccurate. Only once did Kiera nearly get hit. She hissed as a bullet passed her ear and dropped, cutting across the back of a guard’s legs. He screamed and fell. Kiera put him out of his misery by drawing her knife across his throat.

She knew Stacy wouldn’t be a fan of these methods, that she wanted the guards to have a fair trial instead of instant death. It was this or Kiera got shot, though. They worked for a monster, and she planned to ensure that monster didn’t have a single ally left by the end of this.

“Having a good night?” she crooned into another guard’s ear as she appeared behind him, then stuck her knife into his back. Her shadows encased her as a spray of bullets came in her direction.

A long howl erupted outside. Fuck. Werewolves. Of course. She’d known this and had prepared for it. The wolves would smell the blood of the soldiers she’d killed and come to feast. Good. A distraction while Stacy, Rowan, and Miles did what they needed to.

Kiera was out of guards to kill. She stood among their fallen bodies, the scent of their blood filling her nostrils. She dug in the small satchel slung across her, pulling out the ingredients she’d taken from the Thorn estate kitchen. A few tricks to fuck up a wolf’s sense of smell, she thought before turning and bounding further into the house.

The shadows remained her friend. No one saw her, though anyone looking at the security feeds might have noticed flickers and static and wondered what it was. Let them wonder. The more confused and distracted they were, the better.

Kiera halted inside the next room. It was large and resembled a gym, except instead of workout equipment, it was wide open, and empty. Breathing deeply and collecting herself after the strenuous fight, she spotted figures moving among the shadows. A growl rumbled toward her.

She rolled her eyes. “Come out, dogs. I know you want to play.” She cleaned her blade on her leather pants, then held it up to the dim moonlight cascading through a window high above.

The wolves stalked from the shadows, loosing snarls and growls that made ice shudder down her spine. Kiera vowed not to be afraid. She’d fought worse horrors than this. She counted quickly. Twelve. A whole fucking pack.

“That’s fucking great.” She sighed. Maybe a longer life wasn’t in her future. These wolves were like the ones she had seen when she scouted out this place. Bigger and hungrier. Manufactured with magic and something else. She couldn’t quite place it. Did it matter? She planned to slaughter every one of them.

The wolves surrounded her. One licked his chops. Kiera raised her knife, flashing a wicked smile. The wolf pounced, but Kiera’s blade was already flying from one hand, with a handful of ingredients ground into a potent powder from the other.