Midnight Kisses (Shifter Island #1) - Leia Stone Page 0,73
warrior selkie swung his blade. I parried.
Clack. Clack. Clack.
When his pace slowed, I glanced toward my friends to check on them, and my stomach turned with dread. The bear had cornered Kaja, and Nell’s wolf was on his back—but he was big.
Too big for one or two wolves.
Barbie and her clone were locked in a fight with the fox and panther shifters, and props to Mallory #1 and #2, they looked to be holding their own.
The ringing in my ears from the explosion had faded, and the screams filtering in from outside told me that we weren’t the only ones fighting. If the selkie spoke the truth, the entire campus was likely at war.
Focusing on the selkie warrior before me, I considered my options. This was kill or be killed, and I needed to hurry to help Nell and Kaja take down the bear.
Pulling from deep within my core, I let the power of fire fill me. As it coursed down my arms, I dropped one of my swords and slid in close to the warrior, grabbing him by the throat.
His eyes widened. “What…?”
I sent the flames out through my fingers; the fire licked up the side of his face, catching on his hair. The scent of charring flesh turned my stomach, but I wouldn’t quit.
This was war.
A blood-curdling bellow ripped from his throat. Flailing, he dropped his sword, and his arm connected with my chest, the force throwing me backward, away from him.
I landed on my butt with a jarring reverberation. Climbing to my feet, I glared at the vindictive warrior, now set aflame. I’d worked with my water power enough that I could pull the water from the air to quench the fire … but I didn’t.
As he writhed on the floor, I scooped up my other blade and ran to help Kaja and Nell. When I neared, time slowed. The bear swiped at Kaja, his claws raking across her abdomen. As she pitched forward, he rotated… coming back along the same trajectory.
“No!” I screamed.
He hit her with the back of his paw, and my best friend looked like a garish ragdoll as she sailed through the air. Her body hit the wall with a sickening thud, and she crumpled to the ground, blood dripping from the gashes on her stomach, seeping through her clothes.
Rage and heat exploded in my chest; fire blazed from my hands like flamethrowers. Nell’s wolf glanced over her shoulder. Her eyes went wide before she rolled off the bear’s back and scooted away several paces.
The searing pain in my chest expanded, and I let it fill me—welcomed it because this power would destroy that beast.
“Come on!” I screamed at the bear. “Face me!”
The black furry monster turned, and I raised my hands, now covered in live flame all the way up to my shoulders.
He roared, and I flung my hands forward, thrusting my fire magic at him. The fur on his chest ignited, and the flames spread, turning his body into a ball of flames in an instant.
Mallory’s slight frame was a blur to my left, but I kept the majority of my attention on the burning bear.
Reaching back, she chucked her sword. It flew across the room, sliding into the bear’s chest like a knife through butter.
The huge animal keeled over, landing with a thump.
I released the hold on my magic, but the searing pain in my chest continued to swell. Glancing down, I gasped as I saw the skin on my chest was glowing. Tugging at the neckline, I watched as the mark of the flame element burned into my skin, right between my breasts.
What the mage?
“Kaja!”
Nell’s scream ripped me from my thoughts, and I jerked my head up to see Nell holding her sister, my BFF, limp and bleeding out, in her arms.
Chapter 17
The entire campus was littered with bodies. All around us, people lay dead or dying, but I kept my focus on Kaja. Nell and I carried her to the castle, desperate for the best healer, only to discover every healer in the castle ward had been killed in the battle.
Before I could ask Nell what to do, a male voice boomed through the air like a magical PA system. “Anyone with healing abilities, report to the castle. All other students, please lock yourself in your dorm until a teacher comes to check on you.”
Nell magically staunched Kaja’s bleeding abdomen with her water power and then went to work on the small gash on the side of her