‘Compulsion,’ he said into my mind.

Then she looked at me. “You will change into your human form and offer me your blood.” I could hear strange sounds in her voice. Were those hummingbird wings? However, I felt no desire to do as she asked. Her compulsion didn’t work on me. I lunged for her throat with my teeth bared. I got in one good bite before she ripped my body away with a gripping force. I felt a few ribs crack, and I howled. A flaming arrow cut through the sky and landed in her shoulder. She hissed and her face took on a predatory look. Her strawberry blonde hair singed with the flame. All of a sudden Kai was broken free of his compulsion and lunged at her abdomen. Layla yanked the silver-tipped flaming arrow out of her shoulder and in one quick movement rammed it into Kai’s hind leg.

“No!” I screamed and involuntarily shifted into my human form. Mist began to pour out of my hands. I couldn’t stop it. I could hear fighting behind me. The mist was swirling around my body like a funnel. It was like it was waiting for me to tell it what to do. Kai had retreated a few steps.

“Attack!” I screamed and put all of my intention into the mist. Like it was a living guard dog. Like I could command it. The mist suddenly turned into thousands of bees. They covered Layla’s body like a coat of black fur. The buzzing was deafening. The sky shuddered and lightning crackled. Layla began to fumble backwards but the bees moved with her. I turned to Kai who was dragging his hind leg, the arrow still in it. I yanked the arrow out and we both turned to the entrance. There were five barrels of silver untouched. RAIDOS and our pack had taken care of most of the vampires but a dozen or so remained. Seeing their queen covered in a blanket of magic bees, they began to advance on us.

“Shit.” I breathed and shifted into my wolf. Kai stood in front of me and growled. His back leg was quivering with the weight of him standing on it. The bees began to dissipate, as I realized one of the people I mistook for a vampire, was in fact the dark witch from LA. She raised her hands and black smoke began to leak from her palms.

‘Don’t breathe it in!’ I told Kai.

Just as the wave of black smoke came towards us, I felt a cool mist at my back. I turned to see Sylvia and her coven. Their arms outstretched, white mist rolling on the ground making the black mist retreat. Layla was nowhere to be seen.

“All alone, Prudence?” Sylvia screamed at the dark witch.

Prudence laughed and it raised the fur on my back.

“I don’t need a coven. I am more powerful alone!” She roared and sent a blast of hot air at us. Kai and I retreated to the side parking lot, while Sylvia and her coven threw spell after spell at Prudence. I could see Kai was hurt badly from the silver arrow. We were snaking our way along the trees towards the front door, when Layla and two vampires jumped out. Two of the vampires distracted Kai, while Layla grabbed my back fur and yanked. I yelped out in pain. I couldn’t do anything. I was hanging midair from her arm by my back skin, yapping with my teeth at nothing. I shifting quickly to my human form and grabbed Layla’s arm and snapped it in half. She screamed but quickly smiled.

“Atta a girl.” Then she pounced on me, taking a hold of my hair in her hand and exposing my neck. I tried to wiggle out of her gasp but she was fast and strong. I felt her teeth sink into my neck before I could even try to get free. Pleasure and disgust exploded inside my belly. It felt like I was eating the most delicious meal in the world. My mouth salivated. On the other hand I was being bitten by a vampire! I shuttered. These two feelings warred inside of me. Finally, I felt myself being torn away from her. Dr. Tavern held a long sharp samurai sword. Layla’s mouth was dripping with my blood. Oh God.

Dr. Tavern advanced on Layla. But Layla smiled. It was the creepiest, blood-coated, sharp-toothed smile. Then she ran. She fled fast into the woods and my stomach dropped.

I looked at Dr. Tavern. “She drank my blood! That means she is fertile for the next few days! She can have a child.”

I shifted into wolf form and began to go after her. Dr. Tavern said something over an ear piece and I heard helicopter blades above me. Two RAIDOS members hung from ropes that dangled from the helicopter.

I heard foot steps behind me. It was Kai. I glanced back, happy that he was helping me pursue Layla. Together we could take her down. Just as I glanced back, his back leg gave out with a snap and I saw him roll. Twigs and leaves scattered in the air. I skidded to a halt.

‘Kai!’

‘I can’t run that fast with a silver injury.’

I crouched over him now, assessing his leg. It was bad. The wound wasn’t healing. It was open and leaking clearish fluid. Let RAIDOS handle Layla. My mate needed me. I shifted to human form.

“I want to try something,” I told him. I held my hands over his leg. The muscle was twitching. The mist began to pour from my hands and Kai’s nostrils flared.

‘Magic,’ he commented. I nodded. HEAL. I told the mist. I closed my eyes and I imagined all of the skin stitching together and becoming pink and then pale. I imagined his fur, fluffy and thick. I heard him panting. If I had this magic inside of me then maybe I could do something good with it. I opened my eyes. Kai was standing and staring at me in fear. I looked at my hands and shook them, stopping the mist. His leg…. It was healed. No gash, no blood, no pain. I could hear his heart beating fast.

‘I’m a witch,’ I said half to myself. I could hear the whine of helicopter blades off in the distance.

‘You’re a witch,’ he agreed. His yellow eyes appraised me. ‘A pretty sexy, amazing witch.’