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My sword hit spine and lodged there. But lack of forward momentum was irrelevant, because Liam was already dead.
And as he crumpled to the ground beside me, Mama’s magic oozed out of his body right alongside spurting blood. At first, the spray of bodily fluids was so intense I didn’t even know what was happening. But then, somehow, my mother gathered enough energy to speak.
“Mai. I’m going. I’m almost gone. Kira....”
I immediately understood what my mother was telling me, but I couldn’t seem to breathe sufficiently to do anything about it. Because Mama was right—she was already fading around the edges. The glowing star ball at her center was dimming as her fingers wisped away into the night.
Clods of dirt raining down upon a closed coffin. My father’s tall body beside my own. My newborn sister relentlessly crying....
Mama had willingly ceded her body thirteen years earlier for the sake of my sister. Despite my current pain, I couldn’t be the one responsible for turning that sacrifice into Kira’s untimely death.
So I tore my gaze away from my mother’s spirit. Screamed my sister’s name across the field...
...Or, rather, croaked it. Because my face was wet, I realized, tears streaming down my cheeks and throat choked up too tight to speak normally.
Forcing air into my lungs, I tried one more time. “Kira. I need you up here immediately.”
The tone that emerged was the same one I used to halt homework procrastination. Luckily, this time it had a better than usual effect.
Because the battle below was ending. Without Liam to pull the strings, wolves were pausing, shaking their heads in bemusement, then beginning to shift to their more rational form. Meanwhile, Stephanie had taken advantage of the confusion to pick her way between former combatants, and Crow had already reached my sister’s side.
The latter met my eyes with steady willingness. Then, without even glancing to his alpha for permission, he grabbed Kira’s fox body up like a football and swung her with all his might toward the top of the hill.
Kira must have drunk pints of blood in the preceding moments in order to manage a shift after being drained so thoroughly. But the exhilarating power coursing through her didn’t make her laugh and play the way she usually would have. Instead, her brows furrowed and her eyes widened as she plummeted toward me. My sister had matured in the hours we’d been apart.
She’d matured, but she still possessed the needle-sharp claws bound to tear into me when she landed. I braced myself for the scratches...only Kira didn’t scratch me because she didn’t reach me. Instead, she flew through what remained of Mama’s star ball, and the magic grabbed hold and refused to let loose.
Light embraced the fox that was my sister. For half a second, incorporeal fingers smoothed fur away from wide, dark eyeballs.
Then, Kira regained her humanity, a vibrant glow of health blushing cheeks that had been white and sickly just an hour earlier. And, just like that, Mama was entirely gone.
***
WE’D LOST AND WON ALL in the same moment. And all I wanted was to enfold my only surviving family member into my arms.
Kira, on the other hand, had other thoughts about the matter. “This is so cool!” she hooted, her earlier quietness erupting into joy as she opened her hand to reveal a star ball subtly different from the borrowed one that used to follow her around our apartment. That magical orb had stuck to Kira’s heels but had never obeyed her transformation orders. This one, in contrast, molded in the blink of an eye into the form of a tremendous, curving blade.
“Woo hoo!” she started, then her hoot transitioned into a gurgling “Ergh!”
Because even though we were a sword-wielding family, neither of us had any idea what to do with a scimitar. So it was no surprise that the ax-like widening at the tip of the materialized magic overbalanced my sister. The newly created weapon swung downwards as she fumbled...and nearly lopped off a couple of my fingers as it dropped.
“Oopsie,” Kira finished unapologetically before swiping the weapon sideways and adding serrations to the blade that caused a strange whistling noise. But I’d already lost track of her enthusiasm, the prickling of hairs on the back of my neck proving that a magic-happy teenager was the least of my concern.
“Kira,” I warned. And without another glance at her glowing weapon, I took a long step forward in front of her. My body, I hoped, would be enough to shield my sibling from danger...which came in the form of dozens of shifters now clambering up the side of the hill.
Most were two-legged, which should have been a relief after the animalistic battle that had recently ended. But there was something worse about knowing the rapidly approaching werewolves were in their right minds...and still intent upon a kill.
“They did this to us. Kitsunes.”
Their leader wasn’t an Atwood, but he was someone I recognized. Edward, the older male who had gathered forces from the village to assist Gunner’s strike.
Which meant he was on our side...or should have been. But Edward’s eyes focused on the glowing scimitar in Kira’s hand for one split second before boring into my forehead. “Both of you are kitsunes,” he decided, having apparently understood more of the preceding moments than I would have expected. “You turned brother against brother within our pack.”
It was hard to tell through the grime and wounds of battle, but it appeared that several of Edward’s compatriots had recently fought on the opposite side. Healing scratches marked Liam’s lackeys—no wonder they were ready to tear into me and Kira to prevent similar possession from ever happening again.
“Kira, go,” I ordered, my own star ball taking longer than I would have liked but eventually materializing into my tried and true weapon. It wasn’t a flashy scimitar, but it would get the job done.
Only Kira didn’t move...and no wonder with the scent of ozone popping up behind both of my shoulders. I didn’t even have to look to know two brothers now flanked me—Gunner on the right side, Ransom on the left.
The only surprising part was who spoke first—the older sibling’s voice loud enough to carry easily to the back of the approaching force. His words, however, were about what I expected. “See, little brother. This is why you are unsuited to rule.”