A cry of fury shot out of me, slightly garbled by my fangs. Dark rage rose through me. I ripped out a throat with my claws and sent a magical kill shot of a spell, ripping someone apart, before covering the short distance to Sebastian. I grabbed him around the chest and hips, using my clawed feet as another way to hold him, and soared into the sky. I used my healing magic on him right away, cutting out his pain. Anguish in my heart, I lowered him onto the roof of the banquet hall, figuring it was the safest place for him. I set him down gently, splaying my clawed hand over the bleeding wound in his side and taking in his leg. Blood soaked through his shirt and pants. Those wounds would be closed shortly, hopefully before he bled out.
“Mu-scht halllllp odders,” I said, hoping he understood.
He nodded, and a little smile tickled his lips. “Ironheart. You have my allegiance…forever.”
That answered the question of whether he would take the job.
I patted his shoulder and took to the sky. If Austin wanted brutal, I’d give these people brutal.
Thirty-Three
Sebastian waited for the angel of a woman to fly away, vengeance on her mind. He watched her descend on the mercenaries a moment later, swirls of pink and purple magic trailing her, wondrous and beautiful. She was everything his research had said she’d be and then some. Beautiful of mind and body, majestic, and so insanely powerful that he was giddy just thinking about it. She had absolutely no idea the kinds of things she could do with that power. How unstoppable she’d be.
Assuming she didn’t go the way of the others and fall for the wrong man.
The magic could be transferred between Jessie and her mate, when she chose one. From what Sebastian had read, the ability was meant to help the mate protect her. Unfortunately, in the past, the heirs had chosen handsome young douches who’d wanted the power for themselves. They always died, of course, but they usually brought the heir down with them. By then, it was too late to alter the way the magic worked.
This time, though…
The powerhouse of a polar bear shifter crossed the distance to Jessie in a rush of his own power, his ferocity and prowess unmatched. Not even a mythical phoenix could tear him down. The alpha wouldn’t want to try to steal the Ivy House magic. He probably wouldn’t even accept a gift like that from Jessie unless there was no other way.
Ivy House had chosen well in its heir, and the heir had chosen well in her mate. Or soon would. It seemed like they were still dancing around each other, each afraid to fall into the void of hearts and flowers and forever.
Sebastian groaned as he rolled onto his side, not feeling the pain but all too conscious that it was there. He’d let too much of the spear gun leak through, a magical gun intended specifically for harming mages. The guns weren’t powerful enough to pierce his shield unless he was struck by seven at the same time. Or unless he allowed it to happen. He’d hoped someone would remove him from battle, or that he’d get the green light to crawl away.
Being put on the roof hadn’t entered into his plans, though.
On his hands and knees, he crawled toward the back of the building until his wounds had healed enough for him to stand and walk. Jessie’s healing magic was on the case, plus his own fast healing patched him up. Moving so soon probably wasn’t the greatest of ideas, but he couldn’t wait. Very soon, Domino Kinsella would realize he had greatly underestimated the up-and-coming mage, and he’d get out of town. He was a fool, but he knew how to survive. Sebastian had to find him before he snuck away.
At the edge of the roof, Sebastian found a tree close enough to jump to, but that was more of a plan B. If he took the tree route, he’d probably miss the branch, fall, and break his neck. Jessie’s magic wouldn’t be able to save him from that. A couple of moments later, he spotted a trellis with ivy.
After slipping twice, knocking his knee and skinning his ankle, he finally managed to descend onto flat ground. His magical tracker spell pulsed in his middle. Somewhere right. His target was somewhere right.
He’d known it would go down like this the second he’d heard Domino issue that invitation to Jessie. Domino was a useless and disgusting mage who hated shifters more than most. Any idiot could have predicted he would not want to work with Jessie, and sure enough, he’d given offense at every turn. Sebastian had thought the alpha would crack Kinsella’s neck in that first meeting, but it was Jessie who’d reacted, defending her mate. Very cute. Sebastian had put a tracker spell on Kinsella before he’d left the restaurant. Nothing to it.