Fateful Magic (The Star-Crossed Series Book 8) Read Online Free Page B

quietly to him while the rest of us
grappled with everything he’d said.
    Why did his speech sound so final?
    Why did it sound like he wouldn’t be a part of the
Resistance anymore?
    I watched Avalon and Amory closely. I had a bad
feeling. I’d had it ever since it was announced that Lucan called off the
engagement. It grew into a full-blown panic when Avalon tried to pull away from
Amory.
    Avalon looked ready to kill someone.
    And then Titus burst through the barn doors and
shouted at the top of his lungs, “Someone’s coming!”
    We had seconds to react.
    Seconds.
    I’d barely made it to my feet before the entire farm
swarmed with Titans. They poured from their numerous vehicles and began
attacking on sight.
    There was no peaceful negotiation speech or even a
warning of what they planned to do. They simply attacked.
    And when they attacked, we reacted.
    The farm that I had come to know and love, that had
become a home when I had no home to speak of, turned into a warzone within
minutes.
    The Titan Guard was brutal in their pursuit of us. And
we were just as angry and determined.
    Titus’s words had screamed through our quiet barn with
the kind of explosion an actual bomb would have. Everyone moved into action at
once.
    I took off into a sprint, stretching my legs and Shifting midair.
    I landed on the cold, gravel drive on the pads of my
paws and tipped my head back to let out a ferocious growl of intent.
    Maybe in my Immortal form, I could be a tad meek and
mild, but in my true nature, in my tigress form, I was as badass as they got. And I was so ready to rip out some throats.
    I met Titan after Titan that intended to capture me
and send me back to that prison.
    I’d already been there. I had absolutely no intentions
of ever going back. They would have to kill me first. Because I had no doubt
they would kill me later if they caught me.
    My thoughts flashed to Eden. Something must have gone
wrong. Something must have gone terribly
wrong . She would never allow something like this to happen. And Kiran wouldn’t betray her like this. He loved her. Even
though he wasn’t a good person, he was selfish enough to want her to love him
back. And if he attacked her friends and family, she never would. No, Kiran had nothing to do with this.
    It had to be all Lucan.
    I caught sight of the King almost immediately. I was
surprised to see him so willing to fight until I saw the prey that he hunted:
Amory. The two men found each other immediately and got straight to business.
That eased my mind a little.
    If he fought Amory, then there was no way we could
lose. Amory was the original Immortal. Amory was the true King. We would win.
    The Resistance would win.
    I was sure of it.
    Except as the night dragged on, and more and more of
my friends fell, my confidence wavered. Kiran had
shown up a while ago and renewed the energy of his Guard.
    They dominated now, seeming to have been injected with
more certainty and purpose. I fought tirelessly, but the Titan Guard closed in
around me.
    They surrounded me from every angle and dangled those godawful handcuffs at me. They were taunting me now. They
knew they had me.
    I snapped my head to the side and let out a deadly
snarl. They would not take me back to those prisons to rot.
    They would have to kill me first.
    I hated the feeling of the cage, of even the Titans as
they circled me. The animal instinct inside me rejected every notion of being
locked up or trapped with no way to escape. And they would restrict my Magic.
    That was the worst. That felt worse than death. Losing
my Magic like that… not having access to my life’s blood, to the soul of my
soul… I couldn’t go through that again.
    I let out another roar and then launched myself at the
nearest Titan. I bit at his face and clawed at his chest. He screamed in
protest and tried to scramble away while I sunk my teeth into his jugular.
Blood spurted into my mouth, but in animal form it was easy to ignore.
    The other Titans leapt