“Absolutely not.”

“You don’t get a say in it,” Sophie snapped. “She’s in my coven. You’re just the guard.”

“She’s my mate!”

“Hunter.” Layla put a hand on his arm, trying to calm him. “It’s my choice, okay? You have to admit, it makes the most sense. You and Sophie are the best fighters out of the three of us. I’m the obvious choice as bait.”

“It’s too dangerous.”

Layla resisted rolling her eyes with difficulty. “This whole thing is dangerous! You knew that when we set off. Nothing has changed.”

Hunter opened his mouth to protest again, but Sophie cut him off. “Enough. We don’t have time for this. The others are in trouble. We need to move.”

Hunter rounded on her. “Some high priestess, you are! Aren’t you supposed to look out for your coven members? Make sure they’re safe? How is this safe?” Cord discreetly put a hand on Hunter’s shoulder, apparently ready to pull him back if he tried to attack Sophie, but the fact that he didn’t speak up betrayed what they all knew; this was what made sense.

“Layla can do it,” Sophie growled. “I have confidence in her abilities. Maybe you should, too. Now, come on. They could be killing the captives at any moment—that includes Phoenix and Fisher, remember.”

This seemed to give Hunter pause, at least. He glanced between Layla and the distant warehouse, evidently torn. Touched as she might be by his concern, Layla still wasn’t going to let him make this choice for her. She wanted to do her part in the rescue.

“All right, I’ll see you in a bit.” She kissed Hunter briefly, catching his eye in what she hoped was reassurance as the others looked on, and then she dodged out of Hunter’s grip and started walking resolutely toward the warehouse. She didn’t try to be sneaky. The plan was for her to walk right up, pretending to be looking for her friends. Sophie, Hunter, and Cord would hang back, and when the enemy showed themselves, no doubt by attacking Layla, they would pounce.

The walk seemed a lot longer than it had looked from the car. Layla was also painfully aware of how much open space there was around her. There weren’t any close spots to hide if she needed to. She’d have to put all of her faith in the others and potentially in her own ability to cast shields, despite the fact that that would probably weaken her. And Sophie could cast a shield charm, too, she reminded herself, even from a distance.

Layla peered around constantly, and she didn’t have to pretend to look nervous. She wondered how long they would wait before attacking her. It would make sense to get her close to the warehouse first. She couldn’t see anyone yet, but as Sophie had said, that didn’t mean much. Whoever was doing this had access to magic and could probably hide themselves if they wanted to.

Layla spun around at a noise, but it was just a cute little dog, trotting out from an alley. The creature was whimpering and looked hurt and lost. She saw that it didn’t have a collar. Layla loved dogs, and the sight of this one briefly took her mind from her fear.

She’d always wanted one, but her mother had never allowed it. Bending down as the dog came up to her, she wondered if it needed to see a vet and what kind it was—she’d never learned much about them, given that her mother was adamant about them staying far from the house. Was this one a stray? Maybe it had gotten into a fight?

As her hand reached the top of its head, several things happened at once. She felt a jolt of shock and alarm that wasn’t hers. Something was happening on Hunter’s end. She turned to try to see what was going on, but then spun back around as she sensed the dog shifting.

It grew before her eyes, the fur disappearing and the tail shrinking back into the spine. Before Layla could so much as blink, it wasn’t a dog standing before her. It was a man.

She stumbled backward as the man started to advance on her, but then she could hear growls coming from behind her, and a flash of light briefly lit up the area. Instinctively, she knew that Sophie, Hunter, and Cord were under attack, unable to come to her aid.

The man before her muttered something and raised his hands. She frantically tried to remember the shield spell, but her mind was spinning so fast that she could barely keep up with her own thoughts.

Before she could put up a defense, something silver was flying at her, like a knife made of lightning. She threw herself to the ground and heard the air above her whistling as the weapon flew over her head. Nearly being stabbed wasn’t what scared her most, though. What scared her the most was the raw power she felt in the magic. She couldn’t shield against an attack that powerful. Not even close.

Layla rolled over and scrambled to her feet. The man still advanced on her, determination shining in his eyes. She had a feeling that, the next time, he wouldn’t miss. The words came back to her, and Layla shouted the protection spell, knowing it wouldn’t be enough but knowing that she had to try.

A ball of fire, too huge to even think of dodging, roared toward her, and Layla flinched, expecting at any moment to feel her flesh searing off. It didn’t happen.

The fire hit her shield, and for a moment it looked like it was going to blast right through, just as she’d expected. Then it suddenly fizzled out. Not only that, but the man behind the spell collapsed. He didn’t stop at the ground, either. He seemed to be melting. His skin was bubbling, as though he’d been filled with hot water.

Layla cried out in horror and lurched toward him, but remained too afraid to touch him. What if she started bubbling from the inside, as well? She hadn’t meant to kill him, just to stop him.

A pair of arms grabbed her roughly, and she screamed before she realized it was Hunter.

“Are you okay?”

Layla’s eyes roved over him. He had multiple small cuts, many oozing blood, but none of them looked too serious.

“Layla? Talk to me.”

“I’m okay,” she whispered. She stared over his shoulder. What had a minute ago been a man now resembled nothing so much as a pile of skin containing a sloppy stew. She fought the urge to throw up.

“What did I do?” she whispered. “I only tried to cast a shield charm. What did I do?”

“That doesn’t matter now. Come on, we need to find the others.”

Layla realized he was right and let him pull her by the hand toward the warehouse. The doors were wide open now, and Sophie and Cord were nowhere in sight. They must already be inside.

Hunter seemed to know exactly where he was going, and when Layla saw his nostrils flaring, she realized he was navigating by smell. He led her around a tall pile of crates to a door that looked as if it had been blasted open.

Inside, Sophie and Cord were kneeling down beside five prone figures.

“Are they okay?” Layla threw herself down next to Sophie, feeling frantically in Lizeth’s neck for a pulse.

“Drugged, like you said,” Sophie murmured. She looked a lot calmer now, which Layla hoped meant that the worst of the danger had passed.

“There’s a spell that can wake them, but you’ll have to do it, Layla. I’ve used up my magic for now in the attack, and I’m just barely standing, I’m so tired. I can walk you through it.”

Layla’s high hopes didn’t last long.

It seemed that the new spell Sophie had in mind to teach her was even more advanced than the locator spell had been, and she’d had enough trouble with that one. Finally, Sophie sighed in defeat.

“We can carry them to the car, I suppose. I’m not sure we should be moving them before we know what happened, but only they can tell us that.”

“We won’t need magic.”

Hunter had been busy while Layla tried and failed at the waking spell. He was carrying a box filled with various odd things—some charcoal, a bottle of water, honey, and a bucket.

“Which one should we wake up?” he asked Sophie.

“Rose,” she said at once. “She can wake the others.”

Hunter nodded and went to Rose’s side.

“Break this up,” he told Layla, tossing her the small bag of charcoal.

“Why? What are you doing?”

“I’m going to try to neutralize the drugs inside her, which will hopefully wake her up.”

Layla didn’t need to know more than that, and she quickly set about crushing the charcoal to a fine powder, not even trying to stop it from smearing all over her clothes. Hunter was pouring the honey into the bottle of water in another moment, and when the charcoal was ready, he had her pour it in, as well. He shook the bottle vigorously, until everything had combined into a massive mess of sludge.

“Hold her up.”

Layla did as Hunter asked while Sophie gave him a thoroughly suspicious look. Cord talked quietly to her, apparently explaining the process. She didn’t look happy, but she didn’t try to stop them.

Bit by bit, Layla helped Hunter tip the horrid concoction down Rose’s throat. It took a while, as they needed to make sure she swallowed each very small sip before they risked another.

Finally, they got a reaction. Rose retched, and Hunter promptly rolled her onto her side, putting the bucket in place just in time.

He hauled her into a more upright position and pressed the bottle to her lips when she’d caught her breath. “Drink,” he commanded. Rose only seemed to be semi-conscious, and she choked a little as Hunter tipped the drink down her throat. He thumped her on the back and rolled her over for another round of vomiting.

Her eyes fluttered. Sophie went to her at once.

“Rose, it’s me. We’re all here, and we’re all safe. Just do as Hunter says and drink, okay?”

Rose didn’t seem able to reply, and Hunter didn’t wait. He forced the drink into her. Rose cringed, but Sophie murmured words of encouragement.

“Don’t vomit,” Hunter told her. “You need to keep this down. As soon as you keep down enough, you can stop drinking.”

It looked to be a powerful motivation. Layla could tell from Rose’s expression that the drink was utterly disgusting. She threw up once more, but then managed to keep everything down. Her eyes got clearer, and Hunter finally switched to giving her plain water with a few drops of honey. Rose glugged it down.

“Two warlocks are dead,” Sophie told her. “Were there anymore?”

“No, at least not here,” Rose said. “But I’d really like to get out of here as soon as possible.”

“Of course. We just need you to wake the others. Are you okay?”

Rose nodded, already focusing on Lizeth.

“Demons first,” Hunter said. “You’re all weak at the moment. If we’re attacked again, we’ll need to set up a defensive line.”

Layla expected Sophie to argue, but the high priestess just gestured for Rose to do as he said. The awakening spell seemed to negate the effects of the drugs instantly. Fisher and Phoenix leapt up at once, ready for a fight. As soon as Hunter reassured them of the new circumstances, they set off with Cord to check the area for any lurking dangers.

They looked a little unsteady on their feet, but otherwise all right. Rose looked like she was shaking off the drug-induced lethargy, as well. Once all the demons were up, she woke Damaris, who performed some spell on her similar to the wakening charm. Rose’s eyes immediately became clear, and then she woke Lizeth. They all looked exhausted, but alert.

Layla could feel the relief swelling inside her like a balloon. They were all okay. The threat had passed. Soon they’d be out of here and back at Sophie’s.

“Is everyone okay to walk?” Sophie asked. “We need to get going.”

One by one, they nodded that they were, but Layla frowned in worry. They weren’t all going to fit in Sophie’s car, and making two trips wasn’t an option.

She should have known not to worry, of course. When she made their way out of the warehouse, there was a battered-looking Toyota sitting next to Sophie’s car. She shot Hunter a curious look.

“I told Phoenix to do some research on cars. Looks like it paid off.”

They passed the man she had killed, though of course, he didn’t look anything remotely like a man anymore. Hunter put an arm around her as she shuddered.

She saw Rose, Lizeth, and Damaris giving Hunter dark looks, as though he was the enemy and remembered that they hadn’t had the benefit of fighting by his side like Sophie had. Clearly, Sophie still hated him, but the edge had been taken off. Saving each other’s lives would do that.

Layla peered into the bushes where Sophie and Hunter had been waiting with Cord earlier. She saw a body sprawled out, covered in blood. She didn’t look more closely. He was obviously the other assailant, and he was just as obviously dead. She shivered. She hadn’t thought, coming here, that people were going to die, though now she realized that had been naïve on her part.

“Should we call the police?” she asked Sophie, gesturing to the two bodies. If they ran now, they’d just make themselves look guilty, and they’d done nothing wrong. It had all been self-defense, after all.

“No police. We’d never be able to explain it to them, not unless we wanted to be locked in a mental institution. I’ll call Penny when we’re back home. She and her coven can come and do clean-up.”

“Clean-up?”

“This kind of thing doesn’t happen often, but when it does, there are spells to remove all traces of physical evidence from the scene. The police will find nothing.”

Layla didn’t particularly like the idea of running away and erasing evidence, but Sophie seemed quite certain, as though she’d done this before.

“She’s right,” Hunter murmured. “All immortals deal with their battles in a similar way. It’s best if the humans are kept out of it. You know how they are. Some might accept us, but most of them would sooner see us caged and sent away to be subjects of experiments.”

Layla knew the grim truth of that. She sighed and took Hunter’s hand, ready to go home. Sophie gave only a perfunctory glare at Hunter as he slid into the back seat with Layla. She leaned her head back and closed her eyes then, grateful beyond measure that it was over.