Lycan Legacy - Paladin: Tales of Luna White - Werewolf Veronica Singer (children's ebooks online txt) 📖

shifted from 4K to something even better. The image was now a hole in the air that showed the chanting group of magicians.

One magician, head nodding up and down in synchrony with the bobbing of the portal, suddenly made a leap through. He had a harness affixed to his back with a long silken rope that was tied to a stanchion on the far wall of the ship.

He just barely made it. The portal shifted while he was in mid-air, dropping suddenly as his feet cleared it.

His silken rope did not survive. The edge of the portal cut cleanly through the material, a warning that this was a dangerous escape route.

I examined the spell while the red-haired young man gathered himself. Why was the portal moving up and down so violently?

Of course—it matched the motion of the ship as it bobbed up and down in the distant waters. But why didn’t they use a compensation algorithm?

It would be so easy to adjust, so easy to tweak. But this wasn’t my spell. Any touch by an outsider might wreck it. I kept my magic to myself.

“Splendid work, Warrant Officer Cameron!” said Lady Birdsong. “Quickly now, stabilize the portal so we can evacuate.”

Warrant Officer Cameron blushed deep red. “I’m afraid this is the best stability we can obtain at this distance, milady.”

Lady Birdsong looked down at the neatly severed length of rope, gulped loudly, then nodded.

“I’m sure it will prove sufficient.”

“It looks like jumping from a small boat to a ship’s ladder,” said Manny. “It’s just a matter of timing.”

Mike nodded at Manny. He stepped to one side of the portal and motioned Manny to the other side.

“We’ll time it for you and toss you through at the right moment,” said Mike.

“Don’t worry, Birdie, I won’t let you get cut in half,” Manny said with a smile as he held out his hand.

Lady Birdsong gritted her teeth, tucked the genie bottle into her purse, and took Manny’s hand.

“One, two, three,” said Mike and Manny in unison. On three, they tossed Lady Birdsong through the portal.

The ambassador was next, then the rest of the embassy staff lined up.

If they could hold the portal, we would all be safe soon.

The senior SAS officer moved over to examine one of the monitors. “The crowd is pushed right up to the main gates. But they’re leaving a space open in front. Are they afraid it’s mined?”

Then with a gasp, he said, “No! They’re stoning a naked woman at our gates.”

Logan and I looked over the dwindling group and said in unison, “Where’s Alisha?”

27

Logan and I raced from the room. At our rear, I heard the SAS officer say, “We can’t keep the portal open much longer!”

I hit the huge double doors of the entrance at full werewolf speed, snapping the three-inch-thick tongue of the lock like it was a toothpick. My wrists broke, but they had healed before I reached the driveway to the main gate.

Logan was inches behind me as I jumped to the top of an abandoned limo, using the roof as a springboard to fly more than twenty feet up and over the immensely thick carbon steel gate.

The tingle of high voltage tickled my stomach as I curled over the top of the gate. There was a thump, then a crackle as Logan hit the gate in an attempt to duplicate my leap. Voltage that would kill a human would only knock him out for a moment, but I couldn’t wait for him to recover.

I landed on the balls of my feet and crouched down in front of Alisha. Somewhere along the way, I had shifted to my hybrid form—still human-shaped, but much larger, much stronger, covered in fur, with fangs and talons extended.

Alisha’s arms and face were covered in sulfuric acid, and her skin was peeling away. Lord, I had no cure for this type of damage.

In a snap decision, I neutralized the acid with magic. If I couldn’t cure it, at least the damage would not continue.

A thrown stone hit me from the rear. I turned and snarled at the crowd, all traces of compassion gone.

Several members of the crowd turned to run away, fearful of my monstrous form. Others, either too stupid or too caught up in mob outrage, continued throwing stones at me and Alisha.

Let he who is without sin cast the first stone. I caught a rock, then visually retraced its path to a swarthy middle-aged man with a fringe beard and bad teeth.

My return pitch hit him square in the forehead, cracking his skull like an egg and splattering all those around him with blood and brain matter. Thank the Lord for high school softball practice.

Three more cast stones with the same deadly rebounds gave the crowd pause. They pulled back slowly.

Then I used my loudspeaker spell and howled loudly enough to shatter eardrums. The murderous mob fled.

The soldiers moved up, intent on killing the unclean animal guarding the British Embassy. I loosed my bullet-killer spell before they could open fire.

The chorus of impotent clicks brought a smile to my jaws, and dozens of soldiers decided to retreat.

That still left hundreds of opponents. And the tanks were turning their turrets toward us.

Alisha whimpered at my rear. I pushed down the urge to race to the tank, rip the hatch off and feast on the blood and entrails of my enemies.

I stepped over Alisha’s body and grabbed the central pillar of the main gate. I was prepared for the shock, and the electricity flowed over my body and into the ground. I used the mental command I had learned in prison, the one that manipulated electronic locks, and the gate clicked and started opening slowly. On the other side of the gate, Logan was finally getting up.

I turned back to the crowd, astride the body of the girl I had come here to save and howled again, even louder than before. All the unprotected soldiers and civilians scattered under the force of my howl.

Even the tanks halted