Wicked Werewolf by Lisa Renée Jones Page B

easily healing magic could kill an inexperienced practitioner. For six months Nico had been her lover, her heart, and while Cassie had been away on a special Guard assignment during that time and Aylia did not know her well, she knew how much Nico loved her. And no matter what had happened between her and Nico, no matter what he’d done or not done, she still loved him. She had to help Cassie, no matter what the price.
    Aylia pressed her hand to Marcus’s back, her other fist holding the necklace. She closed her eyes, calling on every part of herself and her magic. She willed her healing power, and that of the necklace, into Marcus, into his blood. The necklace warmed and glowed in her hand and still she called for more magic. Her hand heated, her spine burned. Everything around her went black again but not her mind. In her mind, she saw Cassie healing, saw her alive and well.
    Magic began to splinter through Aylia’s body as Cassie’s pain became her pain. In some far part of her mind, she heard Nico calling her name, felt his arms around her. A piercing blast of energy shook her and her knees buckled. The world blurred in and out until Aylia realized she was in Nico’s lap and he was sitting on the ground, against a tree.
    “Cassie?” she asked. “Please tell me she’s okay.”
    “She’s awake,” he said, pressing her hair from her face, brushing blood from her nose. “You’re bleeding. You could have killed yourself.”
    She touched his cheek, trailing her fingers over the goatee that gave him that ultra wicked look she loved so much. “I’m fine. If Cassie is all right, then I’m more than fine.”
    “Because of you, Aylia,” he said, his voice low, hoarse. “She’s fine because of you.”
    She opened her mouth to respond when she heard Cassie’s panicked voice behind her. “Troy. Where’s Troy?”
    Aylia turned to locate Cassie, eager to confirm her well being, but suddenly Cassie ran past them, her bloodied, torn clothes hanging off her newly healed body. “Troy!” Cassie screamed. “Troy!”
    Nico settled Aylia onto the ground against the tree, and they both quickly identified where Cassie was headed. Not more than two hundred yards away, Troy, still glowing silver, stood above Andres’s dead body, his eyes blazing red.
    “Cassie, stop!” Nico shouted, pushing to his feet and launching into a run instantly. Evan and Aiden were running towards Troy as well from another angle but they were too late to stop Cassie. Cassie stopped in front of Troy and he immediately grabbed her and pulled her to him, howling as he did.
    Aylia’s heart lurched and she shoved to her feet, fighting dizziness as she watched Marcus join Nico and his Wardens to form a line in front of Troy and Cassie. Over and over, Cassie screamed for them to stay back, that Troy wouldn’t hurt her.
    Aylia took off running towards them at the same moment that Nico lunged at Troy and Cassie. Troy let out a fierce, ear piercing screech like nothing Aylia had ever heard and then threw Cassie over his shoulder. A second later, he was gone, traveling so fast she couldn’t even see him move. Aiden and Evan disappeared a moment later, using their vampire speed to give chase.
    Nico stood there, unmoving; staring at the spot where his sister had been seconds before, no doubt aware of the limitations of a wolf to match a vampire’s pace. Aylia closed her arm around his, willing him to look at her. “He won’t hurt her. He loves her, Nico.” She stepped in front of him and took his hand and his eyes met hers. Pain radiated from their depths; fear that she had never seen in her alpha lover. “He won’t kill her.” She pressed her necklace to his palm. “I’m so sure he won’t that I’d bet my life on it.”
    Shock registered in his face, his amber eyes darkening, before he pressed the necklace back into her hand and closing her fingers around it. “Use your magic to fix the chain and put it back on. Where it belongs ,