When Merle arrived at the Baldwins’ house with Tallak and Basil, Bahram was already waiting in the driveway, leaning against a car. Clad in casually formal clothes probably costing thousands of dollars, he could have easily jumped out of an ad for a high-class Italian fashion label.

Bahram was all but oozing sensuality, his body a woman’s wet dream, from tanned skin and dark hair to eyes of crushed gold and features hinting at Persian royalty.

Merle could appreciate his appearance and recognize the effect he had on the female population, but unless Bahram directed his incubus powers at her, he didn’t do anything for her—unlike a certain bluotezzer demon, who was the reason she was here.

Writhing and moaning at the feet of the incubus were about half a dozen witches in various stages of undress. The heavy pulse of Bahram’s demon power filled the air, and Merle had to stop and catch her breath for a moment when they came closer. And to think, Bahram wasn’t even targeting her directly.

“Great job,” she told the incubus.

He smiled and shrugged with sinuous grace, and the witches on the ground swooned in unison.

“Impressive,” Tallak said, raising a brow.

Bahram gave him a slow grin. “It does come in handy.”

“Okay,” Merle said to the incubus. “You hold the position out here and charm any other of Juneau’s witches who come outside.”

“My pleasure.”

“Don’t touch them, though.”

“What if they touch me?” He waggled his brows.

“No.”

“Not even a little rubbing?”

“Bahram.”

He heaved a sigh. “All right.”

Satisfied the incubus had the situation under control, Merle turned to Tallak and Basil. “Let’s go.”

Tallak took point, Merle ran in the middle, and Basil brought up the rear. They entered the house unimpeded, the wards already taken down by Hazel and the others. Inside, they were greeted by chaos.

The fight raged in all rooms, spells flying everywhere, singeing furniture and walls, blasting apart lamps and picture frames. It was hard to figure out what was happening where and who was doing what, so much smoke and magic clouded the air. Merle thought she saw Lily and Alek in the salon to the left, fighting in a whirl of otherworldly-quick martial arts moves and slashing blades, and maybe Madhuri Gupta and Kristen Frost facing off with three Draconians in the room to her right.

Basil fired off arrows and used his shapeshifting ability to temporarily confuse some of Juneau’s witches by turning into one of theirs while he moved up the staircase. Unfazed by the chaos, Tallak ran after Basil, and hurled some charms of his own, apparently completely familiar with witch power due to his stolen memories.

And Merle ran like hell, dodging spells and throwing some prepared magical grenades while trying to make her way to the door of the basement at the back of the hall.

The sounds of witches—Draconians—coming directly toward her made her leap behind a large armchair. She was out of grenades, and had nothing else to throw.

The two witches dashed past, and she wanted to move out from behind the chair as the door to the basement flew open, and Hazel ran out, followed by Hanna and Elaine—who steadied Rhun between them.

Merle’s heart seized. He looked dreadful, beaten up and bloodied and too sluggish for his lean, powerful body.

Rage a storm in her veins, she vowed to make Juneau pay for every minute he suffered at the Draconians’ hands.

She was about to run to his side, help carry him out, when a flash of white caught her eye. Unnoticed by Hazel, who gave Hanna, Elaine, and Rhun cover from the witches coming at them from the front, the head of the Laroche family had appeared in the doorway just behind them.

Juneau hissed a word and flicked her hand, and Hazel cried out and collapsed. While Hanna blocked a spell from the two other Draconians, Juneau struck again, her face twisted into an expression of horrifying madness. Rhun screamed and convulsed so hard he pulled Elaine down with him as he crashed to the floor.

Hanna barely disentangled herself from Rhun’s grasp in time to avoid going down as well, but the moment of inattention cost her. A spell by one of the approaching Draconians hit her just as she sent out a wave that made the other two witches stumble and fall. Hanna made a muffled sound of anguish, and crumpled to the floor.

Another spell of Juneau’s slammed into Elaine just as she crawled out from under Rhun, and the head of the Donovan family slumped down again.

Holy hell, no.

While Hazel rose on shaky legs, the other three were out of commission, but breathing. At least the two Draconians lay motionless a few feet away…but right now, it was only Hazel facing off with Juneau.

And the blood trickling down from Hazel’s nose didn’t bode well.

Juneau raised her hands, which glowed with gathering magic the taste of which hinted at death, and smiled grimly at the group.

And Merle made a split-second decision. If she didn’t step in they would all die. Hazel, Elaine, Hanna…Rhun. Chaos still reigned in the rest of the house, and no one would come in time to stop Juneau.

“Into hunger, pain, and darkness, hidden from the light,” Merle whispered, calling up her magic, her focus on Juneau, who stood only feet away from her but hadn’t noticed Merle’s presence, “I bind thee in the Shadows, in never-ending night.”

Juneau gasped, jerked, her eyes bulging. The first line of the spell was already enough to paralyze her, giving Merle time to finish the verse.

“Leashed and helpless, thou shalt pine,” she continued in a whisper. “Held ever after by the magic of my line.”

Swirling, writhing darkness rose up from the floor, snapping at Juneau’s feet, twining around her legs. The stygian mist covered her body as if intending to devour her. The last image Merle saw of the witch before the Shadows took her was her face frozen in horror and pain.

And then nothing in the place where Juneau stood just seconds ago.

A moment, a heartbeat of shock at what she’d just done, and then Merle dashed over to her friends, to Rhun.

“Merle!” Hazel whirled toward her as she spotted her running over. The Elder witch had to steady herself on the wall, her breath uneven. “What are you doing here?”

“Settling a score,” Merle replied grimly, glancing at the spot where the Shadows had taken Juneau.

Rhun groaned in that moment, and everything fell away, dissolved into insignificance as Merle crouched by his side.

“Rhun,” she whispered, stroking his blood-matted hair. “I’m here. We’re getting you out. It’s all over.”

“I was just,” he rasped, “getting cozy down there.”

“Hush.” She kissed him, not caring a bit about the blood on his face, her cheeks and mouth wet with tears.

Elaine stirred and grimaced. Hazel helped her to her feet, assessed the scene quickly, and knelt next to Hanna, holding her shaky hands over the other witch’s body.

A moment passed, then Hazel balled her hands to fists. “She’s gone.”

Merle clenched her jaw, her throat burning. Godsdammit.

With a shuddering breath, Hazel closed Hanna’s eyes, whispered, “Travel well.”

“Downstairs all clear,” Lily yelled from the living room.

Basil came thundering down the stairs, followed by his father. “Upstairs is clear too.”

Elaine, who had gone to check the kitchen and the back rooms, nodded, her face not as pale anymore as a few minutes ago. “All Draconians present here are either dead or incapacitated.” With a disdainful look at the witches lying on the floor, she added, “With Juneau gone, they might come around. Some of us should stay and make sure they get a good talking-to.”

Hazel glanced at Elaine. “Can you do that? I’d like to go with Merle and Rhun, make sure he’ll be all right.”

The head of the Donovan family nodded. “I think I’ll rather enjoy cleaning up this mess.”

“Let’s go,” Merle said. “Thank you, Elaine—let’s talk later.”

Together with Hazel, Merle helped Rhun stumble outside, Tallak and Basil in their wake, Alek and Lily joining them too. Bahram straightened from his lazy slouch against the car when he saw Rhun.

“Damn, man,” he said, “you look almost as bad as that one time you asked a puma shifter if he uses a litter box or a toilet.”

Rhun’s mouth twitched up. “It was a legit question.”

Bahram came over, indicating to Merle and Hazel that he’d take him from here. Putting one shoulder under Rhun’s arm, he clapped him on the other shoulder. “I’m glad you made it out.”

Bahram hauled Rhun to Basil’s car parked a few blocks away, put him in the back seat, and walked toward his own car to follow them. Merle slipped in next to Rhun, Basil sitting down behind the wheel. With Tallak in the front passenger seat, Hazel opted to drive her own car back to the mansion, Alek and Lily taking Alek’s truck.

Rhun leaned his blood-streaked head back on the seat. “Did you really send Juneau into the Shadows?”

“Death would have been too nice for her.”

“I always knew you were a feisty witch.” Dark appreciation in his tone, affection pulsing through their mating bond.

She took his hand, her heart heavy despite the joy of having him back. I drew on outside magic to weave that spell, she said mind-to-mind to Rhun.

He met her gaze, the knowledge in his eyes stark. How much?

She swallowed. I don’t know if it’ll be enough to warrant a payback.

He twined his fingers with hers, silent, because there were no other words to be said. They both knew the stakes, knew the impossible choice she had to make, and its probable consequences.

If the magic she tapped caused the Powers That Be to demand payback, she’d lose the baby.