I whipped around two demons, taking their heads in violent slash. Where the hell was Bella?

River—my niece—was there, fighting for all she was worth as she spun her two elements together. Earth and water. I reached her side and dropped to one knee. To do what I was going to attempt, I needed to have my hands in the ground.

“Watch my back.”

“Always,” came Bella’s voice behind me.

Driving my hands into the earth I opened myself to the power that resided in me, delving deep into it as I hadn’t for years. Fear chased the power and I pushed it away. If I burned out, then so be it.

Around me the battle raged, and the demons were not being held back in any sense of the word. We were surrounded.

“Mother goddess, help me,” I whispered.

The voice that spoke softly to me was not the mother goddess I knew. Destroyer. Do what you must to cleanse my land.

Power like nothing I’d ever felt slammed into me, a virtual avalanche of strength I couldn’t possibly contain. I let it go, pushing it deep into the earth and opening a crack. Tectonic plates shifted and the world around us groaned as I did the impossible. I knew it was impossible. I knew I shouldn’t be able to do what I was doing, and yet I still moved the ground with a strength that seemed unending.

With a groaning scream, the earth opened in front of me, the crack running deep enough that there would be no bottom. The elementals around me didn’t pause, didn’t hesitate. They pushed the demons toward the crack, driving them with all their strength, sweeping them away like the filth they were. Waves of water and earth crashed into the demons until only a few were left, stragglers that ran from us.

Breathing hard, I realized I still held the power that had been offered to me and was still using it to sweep the demons away. The edge of the massive crack through the earth crumbled and a pair of clawed hands reached up the edge.

“No, that isn’t happening,” I hissed. I drove my hands back into the ground and pulled with all I had. Closing a fissure of that size; I wasn’t sure even I could do it.

“Bella, help me!”

She dropped to her knees beside me, and so did River. The Terralings who’d come to fight at my side put their strength beside mine and with a creeping pace, we closed the wound in the earth, sealing the demons deep within, crushing their bodies.

A cheer went up around me. I looked and saw that there were only a few casualties, mostly bad wounds. How the hell had we stood against so many?

Bella reached up and touched my face, “Little sister, you are the reason. You united us and we worked together.”

“Lark,” Pamela’s voice cracked on my name, fear chasing it. I spun on my knees to see her facing the direction of Rylee’s farm. “The sun hasn’t gone down, so why is the sky still black?”

I stood, chills racing through me. That was why it had been so easy to take out so many demons. It had nothing to do with me.

“It was a distraction. They were there to keep us busy while the rest attacked Rylee.” The words slipped out of me as the horror of what was happening hit me square in the chest.

And now, Rylee was at the center of the true battle without me.

CHAPTER 36

ALEX

RUNNING FLAT OUT through the streets of Bismarck, I couldn’t help but nip at the wolves around me, unable to contain myself. A few nipped back, but there were no serious bites involved. The energy around us was hot with excitement and the thrill of the hunt.

It seemed I wasn’t the only one enjoying the breaking of this particular rule as our paws pounded the pavement. I kept my nose twitching, breathing in deeply, but it wasn’t me who picked up the scent of the half-breed trolls.

A howl echoed from our left and the monster pack shifted as a unit toward the call. We leapt cars and dodged traffic as if the city was an obstacle course set up just for us. A few people stared and pointed, and then more. And more.

How were they even noticing so many of us? No time to stop and ask questions though. Not that I cared.

Tongue hanging out, I bolted to the front of the pack, wanting to get there first to see the half-breed trolls.

I skidded around the corner and found myself staring at a tattoo parlor that jogged a memory. Blind Bats Tattoos had been rebuilt and looked as though whoever put it back together made an effort to have it look as rough as it did before.

Swallowing hard, I shifted and stepped forward. From above, Eve dropped me my clothes and I pulled them on quickly.

The auburn-furred wolf—Luca—shifted too, but didn’t bother with clothes. He would have given Dox a run for his money in the height department, standing at least six and a half feet.

His eyes, a light gray flicked to me. “Kid, there are a lot of them in there. Not sure there aren’t straight trolls too; that would be bad for your health.”

I stepped forward, my eyes on the doors of the parlor. “Yeah, I realize that.”

“And you’d go in on your own anyway?”

I shrugged. “I don’t expect anyone else to risk their life for me. That’s not how I roll, man.”

He laughed and fell into step beside me. “You’re an odd one, Wolf.”

“Man, have I heard that a time or two,” I muttered, but didn’t hold back the smile that tugged at my lips.

We reached the door and I knocked first.

Luca laughed at me. “Kick it down.”

“Nah, we want to talk to them, not scare them,” I said as the door cracked open and a human woman peered out. I drew in a deep breath. Not human, but her face looked it. “I need to talk to Tara. Please.”