“No!” Shelly screamed, drawing my eyes back to her. Knox, Tristan, and Shelly were circled by a low wall of flames, keeping the alligators at bay. Yet Tristan and Knox were trapped as well, keeping them from helping in the battle. Shelly’s tortured gaze was on the birds dying at my feet.

“Kill the alligators and help us!” I shouted at her before turning my attention back to the naturi.

They had left the tree line and were now rushing to attack us. I moved to create a wall of fire between us and the naturi, but Danaus was already on the move, ready to engage them. I couldn’t risk cutting off the hunter’s ability to retreat. With a grunt, I stepped forward and swung my knife at the first naturi to approach me. A knot tightened in my stomach. We were painfully outnumbered and the enemy was too close for me to start lighting fires. I needed space and time to concentrate on what I was doing. If I paused now, there was a good chance I would end up with a knife in my back.

Danaus and I cut down one naturi after another, but still they continued to come. Shelly managed to keep the approaching alligators off my heels, but it locked both Knox and Tristan at her side. We were quickly becoming overwhelmed.

Behind me someone screamed in pain. I tried to turn my head to see who had been injured, but the distraction cost me. A blade plunged into my chest, clipping the edge of my heart. I gasped, every muscle tensing in pain as precious blood poured from the wound.

Danaus…I whispered, reaching out for the hunter.

“Mira!” he cried, not far from where I was slowly sinking to the ground. The naturi pulled the knife from my chest while I crumpled to my knees. He grabbed a clump of my hair and jerked my head back so my neck was exposed. Closing my eyes, I focused on setting the naturi that held me on fire. I was weak and doubted I would be able to kill him before he was able to remove my head.

And then Danaus’s powers rushed into me, filling me so there was no escaping the energy that flowed through every vein and burned in every muscle. I screamed, and the naturi holding me exploded in flames.

Seconds later Danaus was kneeling beside me, his hand pressed to my chest as he tried to stop the bleeding. I opened my eyes to find the naturi taking a couple steps back as they watched us anxiously. We had finally caught them by surprise, and we had to take advantage of their confusion if we were to survive this fight.

Help me destroy them, I pleaded as Danaus started to withdraw his powers from my body. The relief was intense, but it wasn’t what I wanted. I wanted to be free of the pain, but I wanted to be free of the naturi more.

Not like this, he replied.

It’s the only way, I said. I laid my hand on his, holding him connected to me, my blood seeping through both of our laced fingers. They’re killing my people. They’re killing the lycans, and soon it will be the humans. I’m not strong enough without you. We won’t destroy their souls. Help me end this tonight.

Mira…

Please, my friend.

The power exploded through my frame like a torrent of water rushing through a narrow canyon. My body bowed forward under the force of the energy that ran through me from Danaus. My head fell back and my eyes closed, but I could sense them, all the naturi in the area, just like when we hunted them down in England. Gathering up the energy, I focused on their bodies with the sole intention of setting them all on fire. But it didn’t work. I reached out again, my grasp encircling their frantically beating hearts, and still I could not set them on fire.

I tried again and again, beating back the energy that was demanding to be used. I didn’t want to destroy their souls as we had in England. There had to be another way, but I was out of time. The energy that Danaus was pouring into me had to be used before it destroyed me, destroyed us both. Hating myself, I reached for the wisp of energy that floated in every naturi and set it ablaze.

There were no screams of pain. The end came and went for them too fast. With Danaus’s power still flowing through me, I reached out past the marshlands and killed all the naturi within my domain. My people would be safe for at least a few nights, and the Savannah Pack would be safe from the reach of the naturi for now. Two dozen naturi died that night, and I felt the touch of every soul as it was extinguished. Two dozen new reasons for me to be damned to Hell when this existence was over.

Danaus jerked his hand out of my grasp and I fell forward in the sand, landing on my stomach. I was too tired, in too much pain, to try to catch myself. The world went black around me and I welcomed the emptiness.

I opened my eyes to find Knox kneeling beside me, one hand sweeping across my forehead. His clothes were torn and there were a collection of scratches and bite marks on his body, which were slowly healing. I looked around to find Tristan sitting in the sand near me, looking much the same. They both had been wrestling alligators. Shelly stood off to the side, her face pale and streaked with tears. Her hands trembled. I had made a horrible error in allowing her to come along.

“Are you okay?” Knox asked, drawing my gaze back to him. I had yet to see Danaus, but I could feel he was close by, his anger boiling silently on the inside.

“I’ve been better,” I grumbled, slowly sitting up. “Let’s go find Amanda and get the hell out of here. I’m going to need to feed tonight.”

Knox grabbed my elbow and helped me to my feet. The nightwalker remained close to my side as we walked deeper into the island, as if waiting for my knees to give out on me. I appreciated his concern but it put me on edge. I didn’t like being this weak around other nightwalkers, even though Knox wouldn’t try to take advantage of the situation and stab me in the back. It wasn’t his way. I almost felt as if he was attempting to protect me from either Shelly or Danaus, since he was careful to keep his body between myself and the hunter, while his eyes continuously drifted back to the earth witch on the other side of me.

“There’s someone over there!” Tristan called before darting ahead, anxious to finally have Amanda back in our safe keeping.

“It’s not her,” I murmured, my brows drawing together over the bridge of my nose. I could see the creature’s hair color, and it wasn’t Amanda’s bright blond.

“It’s naturi!” Danaus said, and I understood his surprise. We had killed all the naturi within the region, reduced them to gray ash. Surely there couldn’t be one still alive and in one piece.

When we got close to the naturi curled on the ground, we could see that she was covered in a blue dome of energy. Beside her in a hole in the ground was Amanda, curled up and unconscious.

“Is she still alive?” Tristan asked, ready to jump in the hole the moment I deemed that it was safe.

“She’s asleep,” Shelly said, her voice soft and wavering. The earth witch stepped forward and looked down on the two women, as different as night and day. Amanda was pale and blond, while the other had dark hair and tanned skin. “This is a sleep bubble. It keeps whoever is inside in a deep, protective sleep.”

“Why keep a naturi asleep with a nightwalker that you’re holding prisoner?” I asked as I knelt down across from the naturi, keeping a safe distance from the bubble. “Is the naturi torturing Amanda in her sleep?”

“Unlikely. They’re both asleep. A deep sleep. There’s no thought, no dreams. It’s like being dead.”

“It’s two prisoners,” Danaus suddenly said. “Look at her wrists.”

The naturi was curled into the fetal position, with her hands pressed against her stomach, but there was no missing the iron bands wrapped around her slender wrists or the chain connecting them together. This sleeping creature was a prisoner, an enemy of my darkest enemy. A smile flitted across my lips.