She was talking about Austin now.
“Thanks,” I said, because she had helped me get a handle on this new way of perceiving the gargoyle connections. It was certainly a lot better than what I was doing before, but I got what she was saying—I’d need to develop some finesse.
A shock of pain brought me out of my reverie. Another followed it up quickly, stabbing into my side. A third through a wing.
I looked around in confusion and rising panic, taking in the grove of trees in the park at the southeast edge of the town below me. The grassy area beyond it was devoid of people. Patrols mostly
passed through here going elsewhere, as this area of town was not heavily populated yet.
Something struck my leg, digging in, and more popped through my wings. Arrows. Someone was shooting arrows at me! What in the…
I twirled to look around, but I’d sunk low in the sky, lost in my own world. No one flew nearby, giving me space. Another arrow flew up and pierced me. Pain reverberated through my wings with each pump, and wind passed through instead of keeping me airborne.
There, in the trees, a person—a man—stepped into the clearing and lifted a bow. He let go, and another arrow flew, missing me. A second person—a woman this time—stepped into the space between the trees, and a man walked onto the grass beside her. They had their bows out. More arrows flew.
I swiveled to get out of the way as my altitude lowered. With the air passing through my wings, though, I wasn’t effective. More arrows slammed home, sending shooting blasts of agony through me.
Thankfully my gargoyle hide was a lot tougher than human skin, and the arrows weren’t going anywhere near deep enough to cause serious harm, but it still hurt like the blazes.
Not to mention people were shooting freaking arrows at me! People from the pack. Mages would use magic, number one, and two, our people were all over the territory perimeter. This many enemies couldn’t have snuck in unnoticed.
Fury burned in my chest.
Kingsley’s people were trying to get even for my getting that moron Bruce kicked out of the top hierarchy. That, or they didn’t like that I’d challenged Kingsley and nothing had happened to me. Hell, maybe this was still about Austin and they stupidly thought I was the weakest link.
Whatever their reasoning, they’d made a very grave mistake.
I flapped wildly now, pretending like I was trying to maintain altitude while sinking lower and lower. The arrows kept coming, making me wonder if they were actually trying to kill me.
Below the treetops now, I sent out a blast of magic, a stinging spell that would hopefully give them false confidence. None of them had ever been hit with magic before—maybe they’d think it wasn’t that bad and stick around. I sure hoped so.
Another arrow struck deep, fired at close range. My anger spiked. I folded up my wings and hit the ground. Making a show of stumbling and falling, I used that time to rip arrows out of my body and legs, before crawling forward and laboring to my feet, all for show.
James stepped out of the trees, that bastard. He was supposed to be leading the pack in town! His smile was smug and his swagger ridiculous.
Bruce came out, too, along with that woman from the bar last week and a few other shifters, all with bows in hand. All of them were supposed to be participating in training right now.
“Oops,” James said, walking toward me in the nude, having clearly shifted for this. “Looks like, for all the magic you have, and the strange light show, you aren’t impervious to something as simple as an arrow.”
The arrows removed, I shifted into my human form. Blood trickled from my many wounds, already healing.
“And you think you aren’t?” I asked, breathing heavily and hobbling toward them a little. I wanted to see their eyes widen when I blasted them back to last century.
“Think you run this pack, huh?” Bruce walked forward, a block of muscle. “Think you and your boyfriend call the shots?”
Ah. So they subscribed to the belief that shifters shouldn’t mate non-shifters. What idiots.
“What is it you guys want?” I asked, hunching a little, trying not to let my anger send pulses of
magical intent. “You think the alpha is going to be cool with your killing me? You think that’ll help your pack?”
“We’re not gonna kill you,” the woman from the bar said, walking forward also. All of them did, moving in to surround me now. “We’re just gonna teach you a lesson. You and your boyfriend have been sticking your noses where they don’t belong.”
“Teach me a lesson?” I asked as they fell in all around me. “What about Austin? You’re not going to teach him a lesson?”