My head shot up and I spotted Marcy standing over the bokor on the other side of the circle. I leapt up and ran toward them. “What happened?” I asked. “Why is she down?”
“She’s weak. The loa took all her strength. But she’s trying to access her wolves. She must have connected to one of them right as you killed it.”
I raised my eyebrows. “Then we need to keep our advantage going. Your spells worked like champs. They forced the loa out and weakened the bokor. That’s more than I’d hoped for.” I turned, glancing at the remaining wolves. There were some who were still rabid and uncontrolled, straining their leashes like they were trying to get out of their skin to get to us. But others had calmed and seemed to be assessing me with intent.
The bokor was grappling for control but was too weak to take over all their minds. I bolted toward the wolves I knew she was puppeteering, striking them down quickly.
She shouted and writhed on the ground in obvious pain.
Marcy called, “I’ll take the wolves on this side—”
“No!” I yelled as Marcy flew backward, arms flailing. Her eyes were wide as her mouth gasped for air.
Something had her by the throat.
It had to be the loa. I dug my hand into the pouch as I ran, withdrawing another spell. I couldn’t remember what color did what, but I knew the word to use. This one was orange and I shouted, “Irrata!” as I threw it down on the ground.
It exploded in a burst around us.
The power of the spell shot me backward and I crashed into a totem pole, luckily not one with a wolf attached. I was back at Marcy’s side in an instant, thick orange smoke lingering in the air. She was rubbing her neck and coughing, still trying to catch her breath.
“Did it work?” I asked. “What spell was that?” I reached down and held my arm out to her.
She took it and I pulled her up. “It was a null,” she said. “And I think it worked better than expected.” She swished the fading orange cloud away with her hand. “I think I underestimated your blood, Wonder Wolf. Those spells are packing some serious power.” She blew her hair out of her eyes. “Honestly, they shouldn’t be working as well as they are against this kind of strength. That loa is fierce. Her magic is so strong, it crackles with energy.”
“Maybe we should’ve brewed more?”
She chuckled. “I did what I could. But we’re lucky—without these, we’d be fresh meat. Where’s Naomi?”
“I tucked her behind the altar. Better question is where is the bokor?”
Marcy glanced around. “I don’t know. She was right here on the ground a second ago.”
I spun in a circle. The wolves had gone eerily quiet too.
“Oh no,” Marcy whispered, tapping my shoulder.
I slowly turned to where she was pointing. The bokor stood twenty feet from us, her remaining wolves surrounding her, calm and at the ready, with the strongest one at the forefront.
Danny.
14
“Nooo!” I wailed, anguish tearing at my throat. “Please, no!” I tried to get to him, but Marcy held my waist firmly, keeping me rooted.
“This may be an illusion,” she murmured close to my ear. “She’s playing with us. He can’t be dead from her usual methods. He’s supernatural, and he wasn’t in the circle before. She just called him in, likely because he’s not completely under her control yet.”
Danny’s wolf was fierce.
He stood shoulders above the other rabid wolves, but his brown coat was already coming off in patches, his muzzle dripping with yellowed saliva.
“He is one of mine now,” the bokor said, her Haitian accent back. The cadence was oddly hypnotic. “And he will do my bidding as I ask it.”
I straightened, my wolf howling. I called out to Danny in my mind, and to my happiness, my Alpha connection was present. It wasn’t as strong as it had been before, but it was still there. “I bet he won’t.”
“We shall see.” She grinned. “Go, my beast!” She set him loose and he launched himself at me without hesitation.
I let him come.