Gash shook his head. “No, Felix. Damn it, I’m begging here. I’ll do anything.”
Felix lowered his nose to Bailey’s neck while she snarled at his nearness. He breathed slow and deep, his nostrils pulling in with his inhale.
“Oh, yes, Brother. This is going to hurt so bad.” He leveled his gaze on Gash. “Did you know your mate is with young?”
“Oh,” Nastia murmured. “Oh no. No, no, no, no. This cannot be. This cannot take place. This cannot happen. It will not. Can not. Will not. Can not. Will not…”
The shock on Gash’s face was so obvious, the entire clan could see this was the first he was hearing of it.
“I’ll take that as a no,” Felix murmured. “Probably too fresh. But I can scent it in her blood. She carries your young.”
“Bailey?” Gash’s broken voice was all cracks and craters.
“Didn’t know.” She could barely get the words out through the chokehold Felix had on her, and her expression was all pinched with regret and determination, angry tears streaking her face. “Thought it… was nerves.”
Adira could sense the power shifting in the air. Felix had made a grave mistake revealing Bailey’s condition. Now he had a mama cat, a daddy cat, and an entire crew of aunts and uncles willing to tear into him. Adira didn’t have a mother, but she’d been versed in the ways of Mother Nature, and she knew well how fiercely one could defend the innocent.
Even unto death.
And as if her thoughts were prophetic, things came to head quickly.
Bailey shifted. In a puff of air, she became sinewy strength covered in orange and black fur. Claws slashed out at Felix and he jumped back to escape her heavy paw.
Gash shifted, and the rest of the Ouachita clan. The emerging bears made Felix’s eyes bulge in horror as they lumbered forward, swiping at the rangy Alley Cats and sending them skittering with very little effort.
Adira watched Bailey as she hissed and pawed at Felix, but somehow, he managed to keep his hand around her neck. All she had to do was shred his hand. Surely he’d loosen her then. But instead she continued swiping for his head while Gash circled for an open angle to pounce.
“She’s going for a kill shot,” Nastia murmured. “Once to the head would do it, as big as her paws are. Can not. Will not. Can not. Will not…”
“Sisters,” Mirena squeaked. “What shall we do? What can be done?”
“Can not. Will not. Can not. Will not…” Nastia wasn’t herself. This was too much for her right now.
Adira watched the horrific scene unfold, feeling more helpless than she did even before she’d come into her powers. They would fail the Ouachita clan, and in turn, the light, the goodness they’d spent their lives protecting. They’d fail each other if she didn’t come up with a solution quick.
Double tiger… double tiger…
Realization grabbed Adira, and she couldn’t believe she hadn’t seen it earlier. There wasn’t one tiger. There were two. The power of a second life growing inside Bailey.
Her gaze went to Gash and skidded to a halt. His snarl drew his face up like a man ready to burn his enemies to the ground. Enemies he’d been hiding from. Hidden dragon.
Adira looked to the sky. Bubbling trouble, brewing storm.
The ancient spell they’d used to conjure Destiny and the rainbow was more than just a spell. It was prophetic.
Draw from the animals, their love is pure.
She turned to her sisters. “I know what to do.”
But the realization came a moment too late. Just a second sooner and disaster might not have been their fate. The future is already begun.
Nastia’s gaze was focused on one of the bears. It was impossible to tell them apart, and they both fought the cats with such brute strength. But one captured Nastia’s attention, and just when Adira looked up, a panther pounced on his shoulders as he fought off two others. Using his massive razor teeth, the cat took a hunk out of the bear’s flank as his claws shredded a line of red in the brindle fur. The clearing erupted in a deafening roar, and the cat threw his jaws wide, preparing to go for the throat.
“No more!” Nastia screamed. “I know a way.” She threw her hand forward, extending her fingers like claws. With a flick of her wrist, the panther’s head twisted sideways with a sickening crack and he went limp, falling backward off the bear.
Adira shook her head but no words would come. Not like this, not like this!
Life was valued above all. Even a life dedicated to evil. It was why the Sorcera had never gone vigilante on the Magei. Life could never be taken, even for the sake of defeating the wicked.
“No!” Mirena cried, but her warning was cut off when a dark magic from above began swirling over Nastia. Around and around it spun until it began to form a funnel, stretching down, down, down.