Another moan came from the downed warlock as I clamped my lips together to keep from crying out. Fear strummed through me as the warlock fighting the Fire Wolf dodged right as the hunter attempted to pounce on him again.

Another spell exploded from the warlock’s fingertips. I tried to cry out, to warn my hunter, but another wave of horrific, sickly magic coursed through me. It hit me again, then again, and again. It was so dark and twisted that I was gagging on it. I could barely breathe, barely think, as the sheer vileness of the magic pummeled me.

The Fire Wolf’s eyes cut my way again. Fire blazed in his irises as his lips peeled back and he turned toward the warlock baring his razor-sharp canines. The warlock hissed in response, revealing rotten teeth as the stench of putrid breath rolled from his tongue.

Another curse exploded from the warlock, lighting up the dark hallway in brilliant light, but in his wolf form, the Fire Wolf managed to crouch, dodge, and then leap out of the way, all as if it was the same move.

I sucked in a tiny breath of air, just as the warlock on the ground across from me began to twitch. That vile, potent magic continued to bury me, as if filling me up and aching to destroy me.

The Fire Wolf sprang into the air again and in a twist of limbs and acrobatic grace, landed on top of the standing warlock.

He sank his canines into the warlock’s flesh. For a brief moment, I registered the tattoo on the dark sorcerer’s skin.

It was the same tattoo that had been on the man who’d taken Tessa.

With a crunching sound and the ripping twist of his jaws, the Fire Wolf wrenched his head back and decapitated the warlock. Flames abruptly erupted across the Fire Wolf, turning his entire body into an inferno.

I choked. The warlock had set the hunter on fire.

“No!” I croaked barely able to breathe now.

The flaming Fire Wolf advanced on the downed but still alive warlock. His paws were quick and his body agile. In a blurred pounce, the fiery Fire Wolf landed on the dark sorcerer and sank his teeth into his neck—a neck that also sported the tattoo.

The Fire Wolf’s flames set the warlock on fire, pitiful wails rising from the vile creature right before the hunter ripped the warlock’s head off.

I sucked in a deep breath when the vicious dark energy that had been flowing into me abruptly stopped.

Breaths—glorious air—rushed into me. Panting, I gulped in more air and relished the oxygen that flowed into my lungs. Slowly, my head cleared as that horrific pain vanished.

“Fire Wolf,” I croaked.

Another burst of flames erupted from the hunter, the heat and sheer intensity of it making me want to recoil, but I couldn’t move. I still felt too weak, but my mind whirled. The hunter was on fire, yet he didn’t appear hurt, and both warlocks had worn the same tattoo. That meant three supernaturals were possibly linked to my sister’s disappearance.

I rolled onto my back, blinking. WTF. Seriously.

The Fire Wolf appeared above me in human form, having shifted in a blink. I briefly realized that he was naked and no longer burning.

“The fire didn’t hurt you?” Now that the bright spells and curses had stopped being thrown, the hall was dark again. I couldn’t see much past the glow of his eyes or feel anything other than the warmth radiating from his skin, but he seemed uninjured.

“No, that was my fire. Where were you hit? Where?” His fingers traveled across me, moving at lightning speed, poking and prodding, searching for an injury.

But since that foreign darkness was no longer trying to leech my life, the pain was gone.

I inhaled a shuddering breath again. “I don’t think I’m hit.”

His eyebrows drew together in a tight line, but his fingers slowed.

For a moment, I considered telling him that something had happened to me, something I didn’t understand, but in the end, no words came out. He had his secrets. I had mine. All I knew was that my magic had misfired again, and I had no idea how to fix it.

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Chapter 13

“Tala!” he barked.

“I wasn’t hit!” I forced myself to sit up despite the aching pain in my limbs from the fight, but gods, my muscles were tired. “I’m fine.”

“Bullshit you’re fine. You were down.” The fire in his irises increased as he assessed me more, but then his movements slowed. “You’re really not hit?”

“No.”

“But you—” He shook his head. “What the hell happened?”

“Beats me.”

His eyes narrowed. “What did you do?”

My eyebrows shot up. “What did I do? I didn’t do a damn thing. I was completely useless in that fight.” The shame of it still burned through me. This newfound weakness was not something I was used to.

“You weren’t useless. You fought—” He shook his head again. “You fought well. And you used magic.” His brow furrowed as he eyed me suspiciously.

Cheese and Rice. The nine-to-five worker with supposed less than average magic had just unleashed some serious mojo. Just exactly how much of my true potential had I revealed?

Suppressing a groan, I somehow got to my feet.

His hand shot out to steady me when I swayed a little. His skin was as hot as I thought it would be, as if fire still rolled through him. Speaking of fire . . .

“What about you, dude?” I said accusingly. “You were on fire and you’re fine. How the hell do you explain that one?”

His jaw snapped closed and he didn’t reply.

“Oh, I get it. You get to interrogate me, but I don’t get to even question you.”

He waved a finger, and a flare of light appeared around us. It was just enough for me to see the decapitated warlocks and the, um, dangling appendage hanging between the Fire Wolf’s legs.

Mother of all the realms. The man was hung like a horse. A fierce burst of warmth flowed across my cheeks because, holy fuck, the dude’s dick was thick.

Unlike me, the Fire Wolf didn’t seem the least bit perturbed by his nakedness. Instead, he planted his hands on his hips, which basically put his manly bits two feet away from me.

Do not look down. Do not look down.

My gaze dropped.

But his next statement had my attention snapping back up. “You did something to that other warlock. It incapacitated him.”

My eyes popped and any interest in the Fire Wolf’s Johnson vanished. “No, I didn’t. I didn’t do a damn thing. Like I said, I was useless.”

He took a step closer to me, a menacing scowl filling his expression. “Don’t play coy with me. I saw what you did. Not only can you fight, and with magic no less, but you did something to him. You sucked his magic from him.”

What the hell is he talking about?

But then I remembered the feel of the dark magic pummeling my insides and the sensation of malevolent energy filling me. Is that what had happened? Had I actually siphoned the warlock’s magic from him?

But how?

Wrapping my arms around myself, I tried to ward off the chill that revelation provoked. “I don’t know what you mean.”

The hunter’s scowl increased before he leaned down and grabbed his harness and shredded pants. With surprise, I watched as he tugged his pants back on, realizing they’d torn perfectly up the outside seams making them still totally wearable. Same with the chest harness.

“How are your clothes still intact?”

“Quick release. A necessity for wolves.” He waved at the seams of his pants which he’d snapped back together, and then at the buckle on his harness which he reattached around his chest.

Now that his clothing covered his thoroughly impressive male anatomy, I stopped ogling him, but it didn’t stop his very intense gaze on me.