Jace growls beside me, nudging me behind him as the black mist stretches toward us. Cole places himself in front of us both, his eyes narrow and jaw taut as it creeps closer.

A sudden gust of wind has me turning as Lucien hoovers in the air above us. He spreads his majestic black wings once again, a slight shimmer over them, before he pushes his power out with one nimble move. A wave of power pours from the movement, and toward the oncoming smoke, the dark magic immediately forced back and toward the dark figures.

The cloaked forms open their gaunt black lips, their voices a hollow gravelly sound, as it echoes throughout the room, power seeping through each prolonged syllable. The unknown noise once again flowing throughout the Library. The feeling of the dark magic hums around the area, creeping over my skin like ants as a shiver runs down my spine.

The mutated shifters around the room suddenly freeze, their moves unnervingly still. The largest dark-cloaked figure looms forward and jerks a bony, blackened claw toward us.

“Shit.” Cole mutters beside me.

Jace’s wolf growls, ready to attack, as the mutated shifters turn toward us, their faces dazed and bodies rigid, now under the full control of the cloaked beings.

The spelled beasts suddenly jerk forward, almost a dozen left, rushing toward us all at once.

I brace myself, calling my power to me and reinforcing my body. My runes glisten on my skin, telling me I’m ready. Suddenly I'm surrounded, but not by the beasts.

Jace's wolf stands to my right, Cole to my left, and Lucien behind me, encasing me in their shadows as the creatures approach us.

My brows narrow toward the men around me. Clearly, these men don’t know what I’m truly capable of.

The first mutated shifter reaches us, and Cole takes the grotesque being out with a single punch, launching the beast into the others following behind it. Jace’s wolf rumbles beside me as he looks at Cole.

“Think you can do better?” Cole smirks, a glint in his eye as he challenges the large wolf.

The wolf rumbles again, turning toward the oncoming creatures.

“Largest body count wins,” Cole says before he heads toward two oncoming shifters.

The wolf huffs, narrowing his golden eyes toward Cole. He gives me a slight nudge with his nose before diving on a shifter attacking from my right. He sinks his teeth into the creature’s neck, an instant kill. Then he turns his attention to three more shifters heading our way, a feral look in his eyes as he leaps toward them.

“Seems like the pawns are preoccupied.” Lucien looks to the controlled shifters as they fight Jace and Cole before turning toward the dark chanting figures, a vicious glint in his eyes.

“So, how about we go kill their kings?” He looks at me, a sinister smile tugging at his lips. A dark grin spreads across my own.

It was time to make them pay for what they’ve done to my Library.