The handle of his door, which had withstood years of abuse, bent under his fingers. «I need to get in there. Now. What sort of magical protection can you give me?»
«Make you quicker, harder to hit. The usual.» Jackson opened his door as well. «Let’s go, and any casters in there, you leave to me.»
The house was situated in a quiet neighborhood, one where any sort of loud, protracted fight would be sure to garner police response. They’d have to hit fast and hard, and keep the carnage to a minimum. If things escalated beyond that, it would be ugly — or one more favor Alec owed McNeely.
His partner slowed as he approached the side of the house and held out one hand, as if testing the air. «Here. Past this point, there’s no hiding us.» He closed his eyes and whispered. Alec couldn’t understand the words, but he recognized them.
With the last syllable, power coursed through him, smashing into the magic that made him a shapeshifter. For one tense moment energy buzzed through him, raising the hair on the back of his neck. It settled with a snap, flooding his limbs with lazy strength. The duration of the spell always varied, but the results were the same. As a shapeshifter, he was fast. Enhanced by magic, he was untouchable.
Now all they had to do was get in. «Around back?»
Jackson nodded and hurried through the invisible barrier toward the back door.
It slammed open to reveal two large men in quiet discussion. One shouted a warning and swung at Jackson, while the other lunged for Alec.
With magic curled around him, the rest of the world moved in slow motion. He pivoted before the meaty fist could connect with his jaw and used the shifter’s own momentum to help him through the still-open door.
Jackson landed two good punches on the other, then shoved him at Alec. «Don’t dawdle,» he called back as he ran through the open doorway and down the long hallway.
A hard slug across the jaw dropped the second man, but by the time he hit the floor the first was back, pissier than before. Alec dispatched him in the same manner, wincing slightly when his knuckles split against a jawbone harder than a slab of marble.
Crashing sounds from deeper within the house led him to a narrow hallway where Jackson was bent over a man on the floor, punching him between terse words. «Don’t — get — back — up.»
The man had been guarding a door, so Alec kicked it in. The shattered wood rebounded against the unfinished wall and smashed into his shoulder as he shoved into the room.
He caught a glimpse of a startled woman with gray hair woven into beaded braids, and then she literally vanished in a pulse of magic that shook the room.
Someone whimpered, and he caught movement out of the corner of his eye.
Carmen. She was huddled in on herself, shaking with terror…and something else. Power.
To his heightened senses, Carmen felt like a wolf. Weak, traumatized, but a shapeshifter, not a human.
She sensed him or smelled him or something. Her body went stiff for a moment, and she scrambled to hide behind a freestanding shelving unit loaded with paint cans.
Jackson stomped in. «The magic’s dissipated, but there’s a hell of an echo in» He stopped and stared at Carmen’s balled-up form. «Shit, is that her?»
«Yes.» Her fear scraped Alec’s nerves as he concentrated on pushing out a wave of comforting energy. «What the fuck was going on here, Holt?»
«I don’t know. Until a minute ago, this room was shielded more than the whole rest of the house.»
She still hadn’t moved. Alec waved Jackson back and sank into a crouch. «Carmen, sweetheart. You’re all right.»
She looked at him and away, a quick glance with no eye contact, making sure he kept his distance. The only visible effect his words had was a slight crinkling between her eyebrows, as if she was trying to discern his meaning.
Jackson leaned down slowly, just enough to speak low words to Alec. «Unless you want to have to kill those guys out there, we’ve got to book. Grab her and let’s go.»
If he did, she was likely to fight him the whole way and hurt herself. «Can you put her to sleep? Like you did for Mac when her instincts went crazy?»
Jackson looked like he was fighting a battle within himself. «I don’t know what they did to her. More magic could hurt, and bad.»
«Fuck.» With no other choice, Alec rose and closed the distance between them, concentrating on maintaining that steady, soothing aura of shapeshifter power. «I’m not going to hurt you, but I need to take you out of here.»
She shifted her weight suddenly and fell over backwards, landing hard on the floor. She still didn’t speak, but she made a terrified noise and swung when he reached for her.
Alec had seen newly changed wolves react the same way. Steeling his heart, he knocked her flailing limbs aside and curled his hand around the back of her neck with just enough pressure to be a warning. «Stop.»
She struck him on the shoulder and shoved at his chest. When he didn’t yield, she wound her hands in his shirt and met his eyes. After a few hitching breaths that finally caught on a sob, she whispered, «Please. Help me.»
Terror could break her mind. It happened in more infected wolves than not, driving them so mad they had to be put down. His instincts rebelled, and he’d swung Carmen up into his arms before he realized it, cradling her feverish body against his chest. «Now, Jackson, or there won’t be enough of her left to save.»
Judging from the hard set of the man’s jaw, Jackson recognized the truth of his words. But when he reached for Carmen, she snapped at him, her teeth closing viciously only inches from his fingers. «Jesus Christ.» He tried again, and this time he managed to press his hand to her cheek.
One low word, and she sagged in Alec’s arms, still whimpering and fitful. «The rest can’t be helped,» Jackson said. «We need time to figure out what happened.»
Alec could only hope it was time she had.
Chapter Five
They were talking about her. Arguing, judging by their harsh tones, even if they fought to keep their voices lowered.
She curled tighter on the narrow backseat and pressed her hands over her ears. Everything was loud, too loud, and she couldn’t stand it.
Fight. She wanted to, except that she didn’t know where the hell to start. The sandy-haired man in the front seat, the one who seethed with the same sort of magic the witch had carried inside her? She couldn’t very well battle the glare of the sun or the ear-splitting rumble of the engine.
Or the chaos inside her. Half of her wanted to fight, but the other half wanted to run, to kick through the back window if she had to. Fight or flight. Instinctive reactions, and they left little space for anything else. Still, some tiny part of her…
It remembered the dark, scared man behind the wheel.
He’d glowered at her before, though Carmen couldn’t quite place where it might have been. She vaguely recalled heat, as well, the sort that warmed her blood and made her shake with longing.
She could test him, stand still and see if he approached, if he liked her scent. She liked his. It clung to her clothes, her skin. Leather and sweat, strong and earthy.
Strong. She closed her eyes and reached inside for some semblance of lucidity. It made no sense that she could feel that, the magic that dwelled in him and matched her own.
«— heard rumors, but they’re just that. They’re rumors. You can’t make a wolf, not like this.»
«But she’s not human. Hell, she’s not even your usual brand of halfbreed. Remember, one of the brothers turned up shifter.»
«I don’t care if one of her brothers is a little gray man from outer space, Jacobson, you can’t do it. It’s exactly because she’s not your average human that you’d have to be insane to try.» He sounded upset, almost sick. «The usual way will turn a halfbreed plumb crazy in about two minutes. Too much wolf.»