Tristan and I were having brunch the next day when some of his Elites broke through the dining room, claiming that Converted wolves had breached the property. I almost choke on a piece of apple, not believing that after everything was said and done, this chaos with the Converted still wouldn't disappear.

Tristan jumped up from the chair and I followed him out into the courtyard. Some wolves were already injured. Both Arnou and Converted.

“Elisa!” Aris yelled from across the courtyard. “I can’t stop all of them. They’re too strong.”

Apparently, the young Osborne had come to defuse the situation, but by the look on her face, I could tell that her magic was draining.

I recognized the man in the black suit. Jovan Zovic. This time, he wasn’t in his Converted form. That wasn’t true for the other Converted wolves who fought with Arnou wolves. I cringed, after seeing several bites riddling the Arnou wolves who fought diligently.

Jovan laughed from the far corner of the courtyard. "Oh, this is good. This is very shocking but good." He clapped his hands loudly. "Not only do you have a Caedmon witch at your beck and call, but you also seemed to have gotten your hands on one of the Osborne bitches."

After his insult, Aris sent a ray of negative energy straight for Jovan's chest. He toppled over but sprang back up with a growl.

He wasn’t the only one growling. Tristan lurched forward, heading straight for Jovan Zovic. The Converted wolves in Tristan’s path didn’t even have a chance. He clawed through them like they were nothing but rodents. But when he got to Jovan, his backstabbing cousin put up a determined fight.

With Aris depleted of her magic after throwing all her energy behind knocking Jovan over, I took over. I accessed my dark magic and unleashed my fury on all of them.

After realizing that I was the one who was dropping them like flies, the remaining Converted came at me. Very few made it within two feet of me. I didn’t even have to touch them. I preferred snapping their necks and giving them aneurysm of volcanic proportions. In the midst of it all, all that remained were bitten Arnou wolves and bloodied and bludgeoned carcasses of the Converted.

At some point, Tristan and Jovan had shifted. Tristan in his true wolf, and Jovan in his Converted form. Years of pent-up anger and frustration surged as they tumbled across the courtyard, trying to claw out each other's eyes. Tristan had already sustained many bites from Jovan's venom-infested canines.

I held my palm out, cast a spell, and then thrust my weapon of destruction at Jovan’s torso. Jovan’s wolf yelped as his body, hit the opposite side of the wall. Tristan’s wolf lay panting on the ground, but he jumped up upon seeing that Jovan was breathing.

I thrust the energy from and an immobilizing spell in Tristan directions. Unable to take one further step, Tristan's wolf reared up and bucked, trying to find a way out of the barrier.

Jovan’s wolf charged at me, canines baring and fur standing up on edge. The yellows of his eyes were bright with tainted magic.

I spoke in Latin, executing the one spell that would disadvantage Jovan for good. My energy was near completion, but I kept on going, drawing the dark energy from the blood staining the courtyard.

Jovan leaped up and sank his teeth into my arm. I blasted him back several feet and continued the spell.

“Elisa! Stop!” Tristan called out. Someone how he’d shifted while the immobilizing spell was up, but he wasn’t able to get past my barrier. “Lift this now. Elisa! Let me out!”

I shut him out, stood my ground, and did what I knew I was capable of. I stripped Jovan of the wolf spirit permitting him to convert to wolf and back to man whenever he pleased.

When it was all said and done, Jovan lay on the pavement as a human. He was confused and dazed. He lifted up his hand as if checking to see if he was still in wolf form. It was no use. There would be no more shifting for him.

Jovan sprang up. “What did you do to me?”

Two seconds later, he was doubling over in agony clutching his chest.

“You’ll never get away with this,” Jovan spat. “When the dust settles, you’ll all be nothing but ashes in the ground. Including you, Caedmon bitch.”

I closed the distance, standing over his twitching body. “If you call me a bitch again, I’ll wring your heart from your chest.”

On his knees, Jovan scooted away from me and kept his gaze on the ground.

“And for the record,” I said, “Dust settles. Queens don’t.”

“You took it away from me?” he stammered. “My ability to…”

“I took nothing away. You were never meant to have those spirits. I just returned to where they belonged.”

I looked to the left of me and brought down the barrier holding Tristan captive. He ran to me, putting distance between myself and Jovan.

“Oh Elisa…you could have killed yourself,” Tristan exclaimed.

“No, Tristan. I survive. That’s what I do.”

Tristan turned to Jovan. “You’re a fucking pawn. A worthless pawn.”

Jovan was speechless now.

“Do you know what I do with pawns?” Tristan asked him.

Jovan shuddered.

"No, I'm not going to give you the mercy of death. I'm going to let you wallow in your loss, and then I might kill you. Or who knows? I might just have my beloved rip out your heart and ram it down your throat." Tristan looked at me. "What do you think?"

“Hmmm, he should run very, very far away. If I see him again, I might just rip out his eyeballs and put them on display in my museum.”

Jovan stumbled back, rose swiftly, and half-ran, half-hopped across the courtyard and back through the fields where he came. Only this time, the Arnou wolves were hot on his trail.

I didn’t care one way or another of Tristan’s wolves had at him. I just wanted to be rid of him.