Wrath of the Gods (Magic Blessed Academy 3)

I resisted the urge to roll my eyes. Whether he was boasting of his accomplishments or admitting he’d been a short-sighted asshole, Wesley was always a damn drama queen.

“Lach.” I glanced over at my boyfriend, who gave a feral grin and stepped forward to grab Wesley.

But before he could pull the battered man down the hall toward the makeshift holding cells, a low boom echoed down the corridor. A blast of power followed it, washing over me like a tidal wave, and my skin chilled.

“What the fuck was that?” I gasped, my gaze darting around wildly.

Wesley smiled, his swollen face contorting gruesomely as he let out a quiet chuckle. “You never should’ve trusted me, Aria.”

My blood turned to ice, chilling me from the inside out.

Lachlan growled, letting go of Wesley’s arm and fisting the front of his shirt, dragging the smaller man closer and growling in his face. “What the fuck did ye do, ye wanker?”

Another boom sounded, coming from the other side of the school this time, and the wave of magic that followed felt like a premonition of death.

“The shield,” I muttered, my voice choked. “He sabotaged the shield.”

Wesley’s grin only grew wider, his eyes burning with mad glee as he looked up. “They’re here.”

Chapter Twenty-Two

Blood rushed in my ears, threatening to drown out any other sound.

“What the fuck?” I stepped up beside Lachlan and grabbed Wesley’s face in a tight grip, snarling at him. “What did you do? Tell me. Right now.”

“It was a flaw in the shield.” Wesley grinned, insane pride glinting in his eyes. “A weakness. It repelled gods, it repelled their messengers, but it didn’t repel me. It was meant to protect the students, and I’m a student.”

Motherfucker.

I had thought it might be something like that. It was strangely kind of Ryker at the same time it was monumentally stupid of him. The fact that he had wanted to protect all the students of Magic Blessed had ended up being our downfall.

Another boom rocked the hallway, and I squeezed Wesley’s face tighter, my fingers and thumb digging into his flesh. “What are they planning? What are those noises?”

“Magical charges,” he spat out. “I placed them all around the school before you caught me. They’re taking the shield down. It won’t last long now.”

“Fuckin’ hell.”

Lachlan shoved Wesley away, and before the man had a chance to even stumble, I hit him with a right hook so hard that his entire body spun around before crumpling to the floor. He lay sprawled there, still and motionless, but I was already moving.

Leaping over his body, I charged toward the front entrance, gathering magic between my palms. “Lach!” I screamed. “Raise the alarm!”

With a grunt, he unleashed something that looked almost like a fireball from his hands—but instead of just rushing forward like a normal fireball, this one split into dozens of little sparking lights, which zipped through the air, racing down the corridor and up the stairs. They would wake the school, alerting everyone to the fact that we were under attack.

If the booms haven’t woken them already.

I skidded to a stop in the large entryway, breathing hard as another heavy explosion rattled the walls. Whatever Wesley had placed around the school to disable the shield from the inside, I didn’t think it was actually tearing down the stone walls themselves. But the force of the magical shield being disintegrated still rocked the whole building on its foundations.

“What the fuck is going on?”

Merrick’s voice, still a little rough from sleep, rose up behind me. I glanced over my shoulder to see him and Trace striding toward us, several other students trailing in their wake.

“Wesley,” I said grimly. “The fuckwad got through Ryker’s shield and set magical charges to disable it. Even now, after everything, he’s still working for the gods.”

“Piece of shit.” Trace bared his teeth, summoning the tiny blue glowing balls as he dropped into a fight stance.

“Yeah.” I turned back to face the door, my heart thudding wildly in my chest.

I wasn’t sure how Wesley had gotten so beat up—had he volunteered to let the gods do that to him so it would be easier for him to sneak inside the school? If so, he was even more psychotic than I thought.