Chapter Thirty-Six

The thud of multiple paws encircled Anjeline. She lurched back, pushing closer into Rebel as panting chuckles streamed from the troupe. Their armored backbones rippled, and scraping claws sent sparks across the marble. The alpha touched down on his forelegs, and within two steps, molded into a rising wave of muscle and fur, snapping bone back into form.

Now on either side of Nero, blood-red wolves panted.

Smoke flared under Anjeline’s skin, wavering between altering into an enormous panther and unable to move against his commanding power. This was the force that had imprisoned her. Violated her magic. She’d waited for this moment, to have him before her, and still she could do nothing. Bound. The strain of his mark tugged at her like a thousand horses, but somehow, Rebel’s aura pressing into her essence kept her from being pulled forward.

Nero waved his hand. “The vase.” He glanced from the alpha to the bag.

Feral hunger glowed in multiple amber eyes as the wolves crouched closer. A guttural answer rose from Wulfram’s throat, and he took another step. Something in the cast of his face appeared more youthful than before, his body more roped in burliness, like his wish for rejuvenation had inflated his strength, compelling his viciousness.

The hand on Anjeline’s arm tightened. Rebel’s eyes flashed in alarm, realizing there was but one thing that might save them now. “I can still wish us out of here…” she said.

Anjeline shook her head. “It won’t work, not with his hold on me.”

In the presence of Nero, his power canceled the imprints of any other left on the vessel, unless he allowed it. Even if Rebel wished to vanish from here, Anjeline wouldn’t be able to cast it into being. Piran was still dazed, sprawled on the floor. Rebel muttered something that sounded profane while Anjeline wrestled with different escape plans flashing through her mind. The consequences that might arise if they retaliated. But in each scenario, she knew they weren’t faster than Nero’s sadistic magic. Faster than beasts.

Then Rebel stepped forward.

“Take me,” she told him. “Take all my magic. Just release her.”

“No…” Anjeline rasped. “Don’t you dare.” Her cloak of heat spread around Rebel, and something in her swelled, so painful and protective she swayed under it, feeling like she might set ablaze from how unfettered it was. Now she realized why she’d been so drawn to Rebel from the first moment. It hadn’t been her feelings causing her essence to hum. It was Rebel’s own magic coursing beneath skin, pounding on her rib cage. Fighting itself within her. Solomon, her magic is buried deep for a reason.

And she couldn’t let him see it.

“Enough, Nero. It’s me you want but things have changed. We’re under the impunity of the Sun Court.”

Nero had the gall to chuckle. “Have you forgotten already, Wishmaker? You know I play not by anyone’s rules but mine. And you are still mine.”

“No one owns her.” Rebel pointed her switchblade. “Try it and you’ll see how much of a daughter I am.”

“Child.” He shook his head. “Your adoration for the Jinn will be your death. Love is fleeting. The absence of it will suffocate you just as much as its presence. Learn to live without it, as I have. She’ll never choose you over being free.”

Rebel flinched back.

Heat seethed against Anjeline’s bonds, wanting to rip out his heart. If he ever had one. She would keep a level head, no matter how loud her insides howled for vengeance. She met his eyes, seeing only inhumanity there. “Darkness has devoured your soul.”

“Darkness doesn’t equate to evil, as light doesn’t always equal goodness.”

“Says the man who ripped out hearts.”

Another wave of magic wrapped around Anjeline’s torso, making her helpless to do anything but obey, and she felt energy drain her core. Hands were on her then. She shivered against Rebel’s steadfast aura. As she intertwined her fingers with Rebel’s in that moment, she felt something more monumental than anything else. More than wishes. Than freedom.

“Enough.” A hard fury descended upon Nero’s features as though the stench of their bond crawled over his skin. He peered at the alpha. “The vessel, now.”

“Gladly.” Wulfram rumbled. “And the girl?”

Nero smiled, looking at them as merely an unpleasant task to be done with. “Let’s see how strong their fight is.” His power slightly dimmed. With a simple snap of fingers, the vase could be in his possession, if he desired.

But he had always liked a show.

The Night Guard started forward, eyes glowing in warning. “Ready for a bit of huff and puff?” Wulfram growled and, in one leap, lunged in midair. Muscles rippled, boned-plates unfolded along his spine like a shield, and again, he was a hulking beast, barreling down at them.

With rapid aim, Rebel whipped her switchblade into flight.

It sliced through the air, glinting as it spun toward its goal. Never had Anjeline seen her throw her knives at a living target, so she was almost prouder than Rebel when the blade’s tip sank into Wulfram’s shoulder. He dropped to the floor in a howl, a crimson gash opened down his arm. But in mere seconds—skin knitted back together—and he was up again.

“Cat?” Rebel asked.

“Cat.” Anjeline nodded.

A few lycans blocked the door, while more lunged at them with jaws wide. Heat flashed in Anjeline’s core, channeling her rage into shape-shifting smoke. In a swirl, she altered into the only thing she could, bounding in feline form across wolfish shoulders. She leaped from one face to another, slashing away, intercepting them. Rebel kicked one in the muzzle and punched another in the nether region.

A tidal wave of wolves came, one after the other.

Anjeline’s small claws and teeth were no use. She swirled to smoke, rising into girl again, thinking of nothing else but to use her body as a shield. Hunching over, she wrapped herself around Rebel, covering them as much as she could with her physical form. Fangs and claws scraped, but the moment they pierced her skin, the slashes faded away.

Whatever fog Piran had been in finally lessened. He yanked a pouch from his jacket and hurled it. A shower of powdery stars arched from the pouch, hanging in midair—the lycans advancing—before the powder hit them in a burst. The twin red wolves staggered, and two others were flicked back like bugs, writhing and clasping their flanks. Their contours altered in spasms from human to beast. Within the pandemonium, Anjeline felt Rebel being jerked out from under her. A hand snatched her satchel from her shoulder, nearly ripping it from its socket.

“No!” Rebel cried, but it was too late.

The bag was plucked from her possession. Husky forms galloped away, leaping back through the blown-out windows. A smile pulled at Nero’s mouth while, in his hand, the vase now glistened.

Then he disappeared, taking it with him.

As soon as he vanished, the tether the vessel allowed wretched at Anjeline’s essence. She shuddered, her physical form fading, pulled by the vase’s lure, tugging at her like a rubber band. “No, no, no!” Rebel scrambled, wrapping arms around Anjeline as if she could keep her there. “Take me with you. Take me inside the vase!”

Anjeline shook her head, turning into a smoky haze. “Then we’ll both be trapped, Faddi…” She heard Rebel’s voice in her ear, but the pain was too great. Like she’d been speared in the back, the vase’s pull felt like a hundred knives that she was fighting against. She touched Rebel’s cheek with ghostly fingers, and one last look passed between them.

“I’ll come for you.” Rebel gasped. “Promise.”

Before Anjeline melted into the ether, into a streak of smoke, she said, “You’re my Rebel. If something’s hidden, you’ll find it.” As she drew away, their orbits separated.

And she was gone.