She squeezed her eyes closed, forcing them to make a quick adjustment. She heard the wolves ahead and moved in their direction. The derringer remained in her hand. Not killing power against werecreatures, but still damaging. And she had one bullet left.
She could smell the wolves’ trail, but they had an advantage—they knew the way. Victor had committed the ultimate betrayal by revealing his prince’s sleeping chambers. Ari could only follow, and she’d have to stick close. As the sound of their feet on the tunnel floor began to fade, she broke into a slow jog, trailing one hand along the wall to guide her in the dark. If she missed a turn, she might not find them again before they found the vampires. Somewhere ahead, the prince and his court were sleeping, defenseless. And Andreas was one of them.
She increased her pace again, concentrating all her senses on following the path. She was so attuned to the smell of the wolves, that she failed to register the sudden closeness. She collided with a furry mass. A rear guard. Ari stepped in close, pressed the derringer against his throat, and pulled the trigger. Blood spurted. The wolf grunted and slumped to the floor. Not dead, but down. She stopped long enough to mutter a binding spell to hold him an extra minute or two. She hoped it was enough. With the derringer now useless, she left it on the tunnel floor.
Ari hurried on, arriving at an intersection of four paths. The smell of wolf was all around her. She hesitated, listening, uncertain which route to take. Sounds came from the tunnel behind her. Had the injured wolf recovered so quickly? Was it her team? Or had Sheila returned? She didn’t have time to find out.
Reaching out with her witch magic, Ari picked up nearby energy. Second tunnel on the right. Startled by how close they were, she slipped forward, more cautious now. Another misstep might not turn out as well. She kept her back against the wall, hands searching along the clammy walls.
Ari felt the familiar surge in her blood as her witch fire rejuvenated. Soon it would be strong enough to use. She crept through three more junctions. Only once did she make a false turn. Her senses alerted her quickly, and she corrected but lost precious seconds. She forged ahead, intent on her quarry, aware with every step that pursuers were also closing in from behind.
She began to pick up faint traces of Otherworld power. Not wolf. Vampire. Her witch magic reached out for the trace that led to Andreas.
“There!” The word rang out like a shot from the blackness ahead.
Ari sprinted forward. That single word meant one thing—the two assassins had found the entrance to the sleeping chambers. No! She couldn’t let this happen. Not to Andreas. She put everything she had into a desperate sprint, her magic reaching out before her, witch senses screaming in her ears. Danger. Danger. Her mind formed terrible images of the wolves breaching the chamber door.
Rounding a sharp corner, she braked to a stop. She still had time to stop them. The guy with the Uzi held a flashlight in one hand and was running the other over a rock wall; the gun lay at his feet. A brown wolf guarded his back and immediately charged her. Ari backpedalled, firing a small burst of stuns into the lunging figure. He stumbled. She dodged aside as he crashed against the rocky wall. She sprang toward the man at the end. He grabbed for the Uzi, but her foot got there first, kicking it against the far wall. She body-slammed the assassin, forcing him away from the entrance. Ari whirled, back against the wall, making her body a barrier.
The brown wolf regained his feet and rushed toward her. The gunman crawled toward the Uzi. Pounding feet raced toward them from the tunnels. Ari summoned her magic for a last stand.
An enormous black wolf launched into the room, taking down her wolf attacker. The gunman reached the Uzi and swung it over his body one handed. Her crimson fire caught him as he pulled the trigger. Bullets riddled the wall. Ari saw the surprise on his face before he burst into flames and dropped the discharging weapon.
Ari didn’t see him die. A ricocheting bullet caught her arm and sent her reeling against the wall. As she felt the rock impact on her forehead, the wall opened, and she fell into Andreas’s arms. The vampire