“The men in the second circle will protect us from any outside harm,” Gregori added. “Rely on them to have your back. They will stand in the face of any enemy. Your single job is to guard Bronnie and give her that power if she asks for it. No matter what happens around us, stay with Bronnie.”

Gregori couldn’t have gotten the point across any better. Without a doubt, what they were attempting was extremely dangerous.

Zev let out his breath as Daciana and Makoce led Damon to the sphere. He was blindfolded.

“Go to the edge of the trees and remain there,” Gregori instructed the two elite hunters. “Do not set one foot on the meadow. It will be extremely dangerous to you.”

Both were clearly already uneasy inside the circle of power. Daciana’s hair had risen as an electrical charge had shot through her body. She nodded, squeezed her brother’s arm and both Lycans trotted to the edge of the forest to join with Lykaon and Arnau.

Gregori waited until they were far enough away before turning to Damon. “This is your desire, to have the shadow removed from your brain?” Gregori asked.

Zev noticed the women remained absolutely silent. Should Xaviero pick this precise moment to enter his shadow puppet, there was no evidence to betray the identity of the women. Damon would hear only Gregori’s voice. He couldn’t see anything at all.

“Yes. Thank you. I’d very much appreciate you getting this thing the hell out of my head,” Damon said, his voice coming in low growls.

His wolf was close, desperate to protect him. Branislava glanced fearfully at Zev. Should Damon’s wolf take over, he would be extremely dangerous. They were threading the needle between the mage and the wolf.

“Damon,” Zev said softly. “I am here, watching over you.”

The tension seemed to ease in Damon at once. “If I go mad, Zev, I don’t want to harm anyone, especially a woman.” He inhaled, drawing the scent of each of the women into his lungs. One could blindfold a wolf, but you couldn’t deaden his acute sense of smell very easily.

“I know, Damon,” Zev assured.

“Promise me. You’re my pack leader. It’s your duty.”

Technically, Zev wasn’t really his pack leader. Damon wasn’t a member of his elite hunters, but to Zev he was family, and that meant he was part of Zev’s pack, elite or not. “You have my word. Just relax and let them do their work. Your wolf knows I’ll keep everyone safe.”

“We’re going to put you to sleep, Damon,” Gregori said. “It’s much safer for all of us. Should the one who mage-shadowed you attempt to see through your eyes, he will find you in a deep sleep. It is night, he’ll think nothing of your being asleep and leave again.”

That was their hope. Whether or not their plan worked was something altogether different.

Damon nodded. “One way or another, just please get rid of it. If you can’t, don’t let me wake up. I’m not going to let him use me to assassinate a council member or kill a woman.”

“Your heart is accelerating,” Gregori said soothingly. “Remain calm. We’re going to remove the mage-shadow.”

Zev didn’t want to think about what would happen if they couldn’t. He wished Daciana was back with the council members, but they’d unwisely allowed her to stay near her brother.

Gregori held his arms up to the sky, palms facing the drifting clouds. Zev felt the swift buildup of energy inside the circle. The hairs on his body stood out as an electrical charge built up around them. Gregori chanted in a low carrying voice.

I command thee sky, darken Earth.

Clouds rushed overhead, boiling and churning, great dark cauldrons blotting out every star and bit of moon to be found.

Earth below now quake and tremble. Gregori’s voice swelled with power.

The ground shifted, rising and falling around the outer circle, but didn’t cross that line of protection. The clearing rippled with waves, as if the field was alive, a guardian keeping those within the circle protected.

Let flood waters take all who would enter.

Water bubbled from below, the hidden river rising at his command. Around the outer circle the ground sank, forming a deep trench. Water filled the ditch, developing a moat.

Gregori, arms raised to the boiling clouds, moved his hands in a graceful, but deadly pattern. The towering dark clouds lit from within, long forks of orange-red flames.

Mage fire, burn forth in rage, he commanded.

Thunder shook the forest, and lightning slammed from ground to sky and back again, five or six bolts sizzling through the sky to strike the meadow around the circle.

Entrapping shadow within your cage, he finished.

Gregori stepped up beside Damon and drew him into the middle of the circle. He started to wave his hand to send Damon into a sleep, but Branislava and Tatijana both shook their heads.

Xaviero will sense your presence. Your touch as a Carpathian is too strong, too individual, Branislava explained, using the common Carpathian path for communication so all of them could hear. We need a mage spell that will feel like a real sleep.

Wouldn’t Xaviero spot a mage spell before a Carpathian one? Zev asked.

Carpathians were taught the spells from mages, Gregori said.

Branislava nodded. True, and they were slightly different for Carpathians so a mage could always tell who had actually cast the spell or woven a safeguard.

That still means Xaviero would recognize a mage spell, Zev insisted.

Branislava and Tatijana exchanged a small smile. Branislava shook her head. Not if we changed the spell yet again. We had little to do behind those walls of ice but learn. We are every bit as adept as the three of them.

Branka, I love your confidence. Zev had faith in her, but he knew how terrified she was of Xaviero. She hadn’t wanted to face the mage and had only committed to erasing the shadow because she feared no one else could do it without harming themselves.

It’s the simple truth, Zev, but we don’t practice the dark arts like they do. We might know each spell—we felt it necessary to learn in order to reverse them—but we refused to use our gifts for anything other than good.

Or mischief, he teased, wanting to see her smile. Her complexion was stark white, her eyes enormous, looking like two emeralds pressed into her face.

She turned her head to look at him and gave him a smile that was worth more than all the gold in the world to him. His heart gave a little stutter and he placed his palm over his chest in a small tribute to her.

For a long moment, Branislava’s gaze clung to Zev’s. They stared into each another’s eyes, hers questioning. He nodded slowly and then she answered his nod with one of her own, showing him they were in perfect accord.