“I thought you’d be a tougher catch, shapeshifter.” She brushed a long strand of hair away from her face with a hand that wavered between burned and un-burned flesh.
He frowned. The burned hand was obviously Maddie’s work, but why was the witch wasting energy to cover it up? Vanity, perhaps? “Maybe you’ve overestimated me.”
Eleanor’s dark eyes were watchful despite her triumphant air. “Oh, I doubt that very much.” She hesitated, her face surreal in the odd light of the pale orange flames. “Perhaps you’d best rid yourself of those white-ash daggers you have in your boots.”
Electricity raced up his legs from the ground, swirling around his body like a cord, yet never really touching him. He sensed it was somehow meant to make him obey. That he didn’t surely had to indicate that the amulet burning against his throat was working. He bent and slowly took out the two daggers from his boots, then tossed them to one side. For the moment, at least, it was better to let Eleanor think she had him in her power. He left the smaller dagger hidden in his coat. Eleanor didn’t mention it, so maybe she couldn’t sense it through the leather.
“Let Maddie go, Eleanor. She’s of no use to you.”
Eleanor grinned. “I can’t set her free, shapeshifter, but you can.”
He raised his eyebrows, feigning unconcern despite the churning in his gut. “How, when you have me pinned to this spot?”
Eleanor’s smile widened, which meant his guess was right. The star was meant to do nothing more than temporarily immobilize him.
“There’s no fun in defeating an enemy who cannot move. You will be free soon enough.”
Eleanor was too calm and Maddie too still. Sweat trickled down his back. The whole situation seemed way beyond his control. “Then what will stop me from ripping out your heart, witch?”
“Oh, you can try, but the price will be your lover’s death.”
His gaze ran back to Maddie. Despite the chill in the air, her slender body was flushed with heat. It burned across her skin, beacon bright against the cold flames surrounding her. Sweat beaded her forehead and darkened her burnished hair. Even her T-shirt clung damply to her skin. The pale flames surrounding her held no warmth, so why was she so hot?
He met Eleanor’s gaze and saw the uneasy mix of amusement and cruelty in the dark depths of her eyes. The witch wanted them all to pay—him for his interference, Maddie for burning her hand … Then his heart gave a sickening lurch. Maddie was a fire-starter. The heat was internal.
He flexed his fingers. “Let her go, Eleanor, and I am yours.”
Her responding smile was little more than a sharp snarl. Her form was blurring, shifting shape, becoming something less than human—but not quite catlike. “She has five minutes, shapeshifter.” Her voice was a purr, deep and menacing. “But to rescue her, you must defy my spell and then defeat me.”
Blood trickled down his leg; its sweet smell seemed to hang heavily in the air. The craving in Eleanor’s inhuman gaze grew stronger.
“What spell?” he asked, watching her form shiver and darken, becoming more catlike with every passing heartbeat.
“The flames, shapeshifter. They will devour the very essence of your soul.” Her sharp smile was little more than the snarl of a panther. “They will take your shapeshifting abilities from you.”
“No …” The denial escaped before he could stop it. He was a shapeshifter. It was an integral part of what he was. It couldn’t be ripped away without killing him.
“It won’t destroy you, shapeshifter.” Her voice had become little more than a rough growl, her shape a breath away from the panther. She was retaining only enough humanity to speak. “That would be too easy. You must pay for the trouble you have caused me. Pay with pain.”
Her paws hit the ground, and with another snarl, she sprang. Not away from the flames, but into them—straight at Maddie.
“No!” He leaped forward, hitting the flames. Pain ripped through his body and tore a scream from his throat. For a frightening heartbeat there was nothing but emptiness; then he hit the ground and darkness claimed him.
MADDIE JERKED AWAKE. FOR SEVERAL SECONDS SHE STARED at the mist-shrouded trees high above her and wondered where she was. She felt the damp ground pressing into her back, the caress of the cool breeze against her heat-fevered skin, and it only added to her confusion.
Then memory returned with a thump. She was burning up, killing herself because Eleanor had somehow looped her fire-starting abilities. And because she didn’t understand how to fully control them, she couldn’t stop the fires raging deep inside from consuming her.
If she attacked Eleanor, she’d kill herself instead.
Something black flew over her head. White teeth flashed a second before a snarl cut through the silence. The ragged sound of a gasp cut through the air—Jon. She didn’t question her sudden certainty. He was here and in trouble because of her.
I have to help him. Somehow, I have to stop Eleanor. But her body refused to obey her. Despite the heat flushing every pore, her limbs were locked in ice. She couldn’t move; she was barely able to breathe. The panther snarled again. A heartbeat later there was a guttural sound of pain. Dear God, what’s happening to him?
She struggled to shift her head. Sweat ran down her forehead and stung her eyes. She blinked the moisture away and gritted her teeth. Her breath became a hiss of pain as the ice tightened around her neck.
I have to move … But how? Her one weapon had been leashed and the icy noose around her neck tightened every time she shifted. Damn it, there had to be some way to free herself! Fire surged in response to her desperation, burning through her veins, the sheer force of it making her feel as tho
ugh she was beginning to melt from the inside out. Maddie bit her lip hard enough to draw blood. Attack me, and you will kill yourself, Eleanor had told her. Was that the key? Not attacking Eleanor? What if she turned her fires on something else instead of the witch? What if she turned it in? Attacked herself—and the things that bound her—first? She had nothing to lose by trying. Nothing but her life—and Eleanor intended to take that either way.