Midnight Truth (Shifter Island #4) - Leia Stone Page 0,58

heavy slammed into my back, and pain exploded through my shoulder blades, blinding agony stealing my vision. I pitched forward with a cry, and another strike exploded on my back.

“Smells like dog,” a catty female said.

I knew that voice.

Jane.

I rolled to the side and spotted the girl with black hair and upturned nose, as well as Julian and a beast of a boy with brown hair. Xavier, I presumed. These three tended to always be together, causing trouble. There was another young man, tall and thin with red hair. I didn’t know his name, but he’d been at the meeting the other night. The dark-haired girl held something in her hand, and the wind picked up behind her, pulling bits of gravel into a small tornado.

Orion’s heir.

I growled and hopped to my feet, ready to lay the smackdown, when she tossed whatever was in her hand right in my face. A puff of white powder clouded my vision, and I coughed, instinctively sucking in a breath.

Crap.

I recognized that taste.

Dread settled into my bones when I realized what it was…

The same powder the selkies had used to disable my power.

“You don’t belong here, mutt,” Julian sneered as two of the other heirs stepped up behind him, sneering down at me with malice in their eyes.

I glanced at Donovan, who was flattened against the door in fear and shock.

“Run,” I whispered. “Get Rage or Honor.”

Sariah was gone, and I had no idea if Reyna was around or with Gramps. Rage was mad at me, but he would still come, right?

‘Rage, I need help,’ I called out to my mate.

‘What’s wrong? I just felt something in my back, but then it was gone.’

I was about to get my ass handed to me. I could still fight one on one, but this ratio was beyond my abilities without my magic. I had no idea if this was a razzing welcome beatdown or if they, like their fathers, intended to kill me. With the shield bond, that could mean the death of Honor, Noble, Justice, and Rage—as well as my own.

Donovan took off around the backside of the atrium, and I hoped he’d be able to get help.

‘Go to the library door. My cousin will let you in.’ I hoped! ‘I’m about to get jumped,’ I told Rage.

‘What!’ His anger flooded through our bond so quickly that I growled.

Jane glanced at Julian with an evil grin. “Let’s make sure she doesn’t even know her name by the time we’re done with her.”

I couldn’t focus on Rage or Donovan. I needed to stay alive.

The wind Jane had called up slammed into me, bringing grit and debris with it. Sharp, hot pain ripped through me as small rocks tore into my skin. I felt my wolf rise to the surface before backing down with a whimper. I couldn’t shift with the powder! Forcing myself upright, despite the pain, I burst forward, arms outstretched, ready to strangle this witch…

A blast of heat surrounded me, and orange and red flames appeared suddenly, drawing close to me. I gasped, terrified that I was going to burn alive. The rocks slashing into my skin became bits of glass under all that heat.

“Hey, man, that’s taking it too far,” one of the kids spoke up. “You’re going to kill her!”

“So what?” the biatch said. “Her grandfather is about to die, and if she’s gone, then spirit power will go to our fathers!”

Oh crap! This was so much worse than I’d thought.

‘Rage!’ I cried out as the ground suddenly opened beneath me and I fell, dropping several feet into a dark hole. My ankle twisted on impact as I crashed to the damp soil.

“I said stop it!” yelled the young man, who I guessed was the master-heir of earth.

Relief washed over me with sudden reprieve, and I panted inside of the dark hole.

“Get the hell out of here, Carson. You’re such a pussy!”

I heard the sound of a fist smacking against bone and then someone—Carson?—scampered away. Looking up, I noted three faces looming over me. Julian looked at Xavier, the boy with dark hair, and said, “I’m going to drown her.”

The moment he said that, panic fully seized me.

He sucked in a sharp breath and glanced away as something crossed his face like maybe he realized this was going too far, but then he gritted his teeth and held out his hands.

‘Honor!’ I called out in my head. As my shields, I knew the boys had to be feeling this because the glass