Lycan on the Edge: Broken Heart Book 13 (17 page)

world-between-worlds. She will never be free.”

Chills darted down Meckenzie’s back and

lodged like arrows in her guts. She was sick of

Ena and threats, and she was worried about more

than her own ass this time. “Let Ren go, and I’ll let

the other Alberich into Broken Heart.”

Ena dropped Meckenzie to the ground, but

Meckenzie wasn’t free. Ena easily pinned her to

the concrete with her stupid, evil magic. Ena lifted

her palm, and Ren was jerked up from the floor.

His face was bloodied, and he was so constricted

with magic, it looked like he was wearing a black

Snuggie. Not even his considerable powers could

break the dark sorcery of Ena.

What chance did Meckenzie have now? How

would she save Ren and her mother’s soul?

“How will you open the gates to this

godforsaken town?” demanded Ena.

Meckenzie tried to hide her fear. Her mom’s

soul being on the line, that she was used to, but

handling the life of a dude she hadn’t even kissed

yet? Holy crap. She swallowed the knot clogging

her throat and affected a bored tone. “I know

where to turn off the force field,” she lied. “One

flick of the switch and Broken Heart is all yours.”

“Take me to the switch.”

“Oh, no. You don’t get what you want until I get

what I want first.” All Meckenzie needed to do

was to get Ena off balance. If the magic weakened,

she could escape long enough to claw out Ena’s

black eyes.

It was a helluva risk.

Meckenzie wanted nothing more than to free

her mother’s soul. She deserved peace. But she

would not be happy if she knew that Meckenzie

had sacrificed a living creature to free her. The

dead are no longer concerned with earthly matters.

Life is for the living, Meckenzie, so live well.

Besides, she couldn’t let Ren get hurt. He’d

protected from the moment she tricked him into

letting her inside Broken Heart. She owed him.

“Well?” Meckenzie pretended to yawn. “You

want revenge or not?”

“You’ll take all three of us to the switch. I’ll let

him go if what you say proves true.”

“Deal.”

Ena snapped her fingers and freed Meckenzie

from the magical bonds. Meckenzie rolled to a

sitting position and rubbed the back of her neck.

Slowly, she climbed to her feet.

“You’re wasting time,” spat Ena.

“You’re right.” She snap-kicked Ena hard in

the crotch, and the witch screeched and bent over.

Meckenzie kneed her in the face, and she collapsed

onto her side.

Meckenzie only had seconds. She kicked Ena

in the stomach, forcing the woman onto her back

and then she kneeled on Ena’s chest. Wow, she had

no boobs. Maybe giving her an A-cup was

somehow karma’s way of matching her tiny,

blackened heart. Blood spattered the witch’s

creamy white complexion and wheat blonde hair. It

was so not fair she didn’t even have any warts or

scars. But no, she was all beautiful and shit. Well,

until she went all crazy with the snarling and

spitting and eye-narrowing—then she was one ugly

bitch.

Meckenzie punched her in the face. Ena’s head

snapped back, and she yowled. More blood

spattered, this time splashing on Meckenzie. Her

knuckles throbbed, but she ignored the discomfort

and gave Ena an uppercut. The witch’s head

smacked hard into the concrete.

Oh! Good idea.

Meckenzie grabbed her hair and banged her

skull against the ground.

“Enough!” screamed Ena.

Meckenzie was airborne before she’d realized

what had happened. Ena’s cry had gone up two

octaves … um, probably because Meckenzie had

two handfuls of blonde hair that she’d ripped out

as she was thrown. She landed hard on her side

and groaned as pain jolted up her spine and down

her legs. Ouchfuckingouch!

She scrambled to her feet. Okay, she listed to

her feet and wobbled around to face a very, very

pissed-off witch.

Her plan hadn’t worked.

Ren was still tightly bound, his gaze on

Meckenzie’s. His expression was pure rage. She

mouthed, “Hang on.” He shook his head fiercely,

but it was too late to back down now.

“Meckenzie!”

She looked at Ena and felt her entire body go

ice-cold. Ena had created a soccer-sized ball of

black, nasty magic.

And she lobbed it straight at Meckenzie.

THE FIFTH TIME Sophie went for the weakened,

but unfortunately, still fighting Alberich, she

launched herself at his leg and bit into his gnarly

flesh.

Light imploded behind her eyes and it felt like

a thousand stars rained down on her. She was

tossed backward like a discarded ragdoll. Her

head smacked into a tombstone, and she sank to the

ground, every inch of her throbbing with pain.

Then Trent was there, gathering her into his

arms and he, once again, siphoned away her agony.

He shuddered under the onslaught of her pain.

“Thank you,” she whispered.

He kissed the top of her head. “You did it,

Sophie. Look.”

She felt rejuvenated every time Trent used his

gift to heal her. Now, was no different. She lifted

her head and stared at the Alberich. His gravel-

crunching cries slowly faded as he fell backward.

The entire graveyard shook from the massive

impact. Then there was a cracking sound.

The Alberich’s body took on a grayish-brown

cast, his flesh and clothes cracking as though it was

clay drying, and then everything collapsed inward.

He was gone.

Sophie got to her knees, and turned around,

wiping the sweat from Trent’s brow. “Are you all

right?”

“You’re alive. The rest will sort itself out.”

“That’s not an answer.”

He smiled, but she could see the effort. “I will

be.”

All her anger from earlier had vanished before

the fight, and looking at him now, her head cleared

for the first time in months. Without a shadow of a

doubt, Sophie knew Trent was meant for her. She

loved him. The realization scared her almost as

much as the Alberich. With love, there was so

much to lose. As it was, there was too much

between them unsaid. “I need…I want…”

“Hey, kids.” Patsy and Gabriel popped next to

them, both looking like they’d gotten into a fight

with a convoy of Mack trucks. “We still have four

Alberich trying to get in. If they get bored, they

might decide to eat Oklahoma.”

“What about Ena?”

Gabriel and Patsy shared a look. “We’re still

hoping that works.” Patsy offered a grim smile. “I

know you’re tired. And I know this sucks. But we

really need you.”

“Of course,” said Sophie. She looked at Trent.

He nodded. “We’re in.”

“All aboard the vampire train,” said Patsy

holding out her arms. Trent went with the queen

and Sophie stepped into Gabriel’s embrace.

Sophie hoped she and Trent were up to the task

of taking four more Alberich. She worried that

Trent was going to collapse. He’d endured so

much suffering for her.

“Ready?” asked Gabriel.

“Yes,” said Sophie. And she hoped she was

ready.

ENA APPARENTLY KNEW jack shit about how

to throw a ball at a target. Meckenzie dropped to

the floor, and the nasty magic exploded against the

wall behind and disappeared in a cloud of stinky

smoke.

“I think you might need some Rogaine,” said

Meckenzie. “Or a wig.”

“You!” Ena gritted her teeth. “I’ll kill you with

my bare hands.”

The magic around Ren disappeared, which

surprised the hell out of Ena. He jumped to his

feet, his face half-morphing into a white wolf as a

low growl issued from his throat.

Ena reached behind her back and drew out a

long, thin curved blade. Where the hell had she

hidden that thing?

Ren didn’t stop growling, but edged backward,

his gaze on the sword.

“That’s right,” she practically cooed. “Pure

silver. I will take your head, blood wolf.” She

leaped forward and swung it, but Ren quickly

dodged the blade and went low, trying to sweep

out her legs. She jumped like some kind of fucking

witch ninja, and with her free hand unleashed

ropes of black glittering magic that went at Ren

like snakes. He pulled back, attempting to move

out of reach of the magic and Ena’s sword.

Then the magic grabbed hold of him; tendrils

wrapped around his wrists and dragged him

forward. Then more grabbed his ankles and his

legs. He was forced to his knees—and then his

head was stretched back, giving Ena a primo spot

to embed her sword.

The. Hell.

Meckenzie ran at her, screaming like a crazy

warrior woman. She had no weapons, no plan, and

no fucking sense. But she refused to let Ena the

Evil hurt Ren. The sword swooped down, but she

plowed into Ena like a linebacker taking down the

other team’s quarterback. Ena managed to keep

hold of the sword, but not her feet.

They landed in a heap, fighting for the blade,

but Ena was in full-on fury mode. Meckenzie had a

difficult time warding off the blows.

With Ena fighting for her life, she extinguished

the magic holding Ren. Meckenzie heard him

growling, and then Ena bucked her off and rose to

her feet.

Literally.

She floated in the air and zoomed toward the

Ren, blade raised.

Meckenzie had never moved so fast in her life.

One of the reasons she was a good thief was her

flexibility. She put on the moves and ended up

standing in front of Ren seconds before the blade

swooshed toward that beautiful neck of his.

Ena couldn’t stop the trajectory, but given the

look of hatred in her gaze, she wasn’t sorry when

the sword slashed across Meckenzie’s ribcage.

She twisted the sword and brought it up to her

stomach.

It felt like she’d been set on fire. Pain

exploded.

“Crap,” she muttered. Meckenzie crumpled to

the floor, unable to breathe. She felt her heartbeat

in her ears; it was slowing, a soft lullaby before

she fell into permanent sleep.

An unearthly howl echoed in the basement.

Meckenzie couldn’t feel her body anymore. But she

heard the growls and screams, and the thumping

and crunching.

Everything was getting gray, and going fuzzy

around the edges.

Ren knelt next to her, his expression ravaged,

his chest heaving with shuddering breath. Oh, and

he was naked and spattered with blood.

“Meckenzie,” he whispered.

She couldn’t get words to form, but she wanted

to say that she’d wished they had that kiss, and that

she could see him again—with more naked, of

course—and that—

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

SOPHIE AND TRENT had barely started playing

kill-the-monster tag with the four Alberich when

the creatures suddenly froze and tumbled to the

ground. Like the one they’d defeated at the

graveyard, they turned to dried clay and broke into

a thousand pieces.

A small crowd of tired Broken Heart citizens

came together, triumphant—and really fucking

tired.

“Ding, dong, the witch is dead,” said Patsy.

“And so are those assholes.” She glanced at Trent

and Sophie. “Go home, you two. We’re done

here.”

“What about Ren and Meckenzie?” asked

Anise.

“Don’t worry,” Gabriel told his sister. “Ren is

well.”

Patsy took Sophie and Trent’s hands and

brought them together. “Well, you two crazy kids,

you did good. Now, we can all get back to an

Alberich-free town.”

“Is that all?” Sophie asked. “You’re sure

there’s nothing more to do?”

Patsy raised a knowing brow as she looked

from Sophie to Trent then back to Sophie. “Love

each other, already. That’s a command from the

queen.”

Trent turned to Sophie, his dark eyes even

darker in the waning late afternoon sunlight. He

looked exhausted and thin. Had he lost weight

during the battle? She would feed him, and not

from Nana’s wok. She would feed him, and