In moments, Sydney snapped into action, got into place, and began her transcast. Yes, the Council had sent missives, likely objecting, but with Bram so ill, no one was reading his correspondence.

"During a battle earlier today, a group of wizards destroyed a weapon Mathias claims he retrieved from Africa that ripped the souls from unsuspecting humans and made them Anarki instantly. Mathias escaped, but his forces have been badly damaged. As always, updates will follow as necessary," she concluded.

"I'm Sydney Blair." She cut a glance over at Caden and winced at his scowl. "Sydney Blair MacTavish.

Stay safe. Good afternoon."

The transcast ended. Caden was still afraid for his mate's safety, but pride beamed all through him. She was vital to him and magickind. He had no idea what he'd do without her-and thankfully he hadn't learned the hard way this morning.

He held her close and pressed his lips to hers. "Perfect."

"The transcast?" she asked hopefully.

"Yes, but I meant you. I'm very proud of you."

"Ugh. New mates." Duke rolled his eyes. "I'm leaving." The others followed suit and closed the door to the library behind them, sequestering Caden and Sydney alone.

"I hope you mean that," she whispered. "Because I called Holly today and quit my job." Fear for her speared through him, but he took a deep breath. This was war; they were mates and in this together. "She hadn't already sacked you?"

"Aquarius told her I was working deep undercover on a new magickind story. It satisfied her until I called. She wasn't happy."

"Are you?" he asked gently. "Do you truly want to give up your human existence and work exclusively for magickind? What about proving to your parents that you're a journalistic star?"

"I don't need their validation anymore. I know I'm doing something good. That's all that matters." She bit her lip in uncertainty. "What about you? Once, you wanted to return to Texas and resume-"

"I thought I did. You said it best when you accused me of running from my destiny. It took nearly losing everything and everyone I love dearly to make me realize I had to stand and fight for what I want. I'm a wizard now, and magickind needs those trained to fight during what's bound to be dark times ahead.

And I wouldn't leave your side for anything in the world."

"What about your job in Dallas?"

"I called and resigned an hour ago. You're stuck with me."

"Promise?" she laughed. "Where is that little red book? I have a few untapped fantasies I want to jot down."

"Oh, no, you don't. If you want something, from now on, you only need to tell me."

"Looking forward to it," she murmured, then pressed her lips to his.

Turn the page for a special sneak peek at the next exciting Doomsday Brethren novel from nationally bestselling author Shayla Black POSSESS ME AT MIDNIGHT.

Coming soon from Pocket Books WHEN THE CEILING THUNDERED, and Ice heard a woman scream, his blood ran cold. Sabelle!

He and Tynan hadn't quite finished stashing the weapons when he heard the first rumblings. They were under attack. In a choice between preserving the hardware and saving Sabelle . . . no choice.

After collecting a few weapons for the warriors to carry, Ice quickly conjured thigh-deep water and doused the rest. That done, he whirled around and pumped his way up the stairs, to the first floor of the enormous house. Amid the smoky chaos and ceiling's crumbling plaster raining down, Ice scanned the corridor.

"Sabelle!" he shouted over and over as he stalked to Bram's office, the library, the dining room, broken gla.s.s crunching under his boots. All empty.

Duke stumbled toward him from the front door, bleeding from a gash in the forehead. "The Anarki will be inside the house in less than five minutes. Find Sabelle. Get her and the book out of here. And take Lucan."

With a curse under his breath, Ice nodded. The annoyance at taking Lucan was minimal compared to his fear. Sabelle, though he'd never hold her, was . . . everything. He'd never understood a wizard's urge to mate. After one look at her, he comprehended perfectly.

Though she might become Lucan's, no way would he lose her to Mathias.

"I've been screaming my throat raw to find her. Know where she is?"

"Sorry . . . ," Duke said and ran toward the back of the house.

Ice cupped his hands around his mouth. "Sabelle!"

"Up here."

Ice barely heard her reply above another explosive boom, but the siren call of her voice was enough. He charged up the stairs and flung into one bedroom after another. In the middle of one that was golden and silken and sumptuous, he found her.

He resisted the urge to gather her in his arms. She would neither welcome nor allow it.

Sabelle had thrown on a pair of jeans, a creamy white sweater that was snug across her b.r.e.a.s.t.s. She shoved a few items into a black backpack. "I'm ready."

"The Doomsday Diary?"

She pointed to the backpack and darted past him, out of the room.

The closer he stayed to her, the safer she would be. He grabbed her arm to guide her down the stairs.

Instead, she ripped from his grasp and sprinted down the hall.

Ice chased after her. "Where the h.e.l.l . . . we must leave now!"

"Not without my brother," she called over her shoulder.

It was on the tip of Ice's tongue to suggest leaving the imperious b.a.s.t.a.r.d to rot, but Sabelle would waste valuable time arguing and trying to cart Bram down the stairs. The longer she stayed here, the greater the danger.

"b.l.o.o.d.y h.e.l.l," he muttered, on her heels.

Bram's room of heavy curtains, dark wood, and luxurious damasks was a study in wealth. Ice didn't spare the time to shake his head in annoyance. Right now, Sabelle was trying to use her magic to levitate her brother and evacuate him. A whole lot easier to sling the prat over his shoulder.

With a curse, he edged past Sabelle and grabbed Bram, slinging his dead weight into a fireman's carry.

"Be careful! He's very ill."

As if he didn't know that. With his free hand, Ice grabbed Sabelle's hand and ran. "Let's go!" Another boom resounded, shaking the whole house. Halfway down the stairs, the front door began to groan and heave intermittently under the magical equivalent of a battering ram. Collectively, the Anarki threw energy at the house as one, trying to shatter its magical protections. And Ice knew, soon, they would succeed.

Outside, a sea of voices chanted. Mathias's entire f.u.c.king army was here, and the Doomsday Brethren would be lucky if they managed to get out alive. Ice hardly cared if he did, but Sabelle . . . she mattered.

Magickind needed her and the Doomsday Diary safe.

At the bottom of the stairs, he shoved her toward the back door. "Peek out the back windows. Have the Anarki surrounded the house?"

She stared at him, her gorgeous blue eyes rimmed in fear. But she bravely nodded and scampered off, dodging projectiles as another rattling boom shook the house. She was everything worthy in a female, and if he had more time, he'd tell her so.

But for now, he unloaded Bram's unconscious form on the floor, then took up a defensive position by the front door to face the pounding threat. Marrok, Olivia, and Tynan raced down the stairs. With a glance, Marrok saw Sabelle at the back of the house and sent Olivia in her direction. The once immortal warrior and Tynan lined up beside him to face the threat about to crash through their door.

Duke stumbled from Bram's office and joined them. "I've alerted the Council that we're under attack." Old curmudgeons wouldn't do a d.a.m.n thing, but Duke's belief in the n.o.bility of the ruling cla.s.s was understandable, given his t.i.tle and background.

"Where are Lucan and Caden?" Duke barked.

He shrugged. Not his problem. His sole focus was to secure this door long enough for Sabelle to make it out alive with the book.

"I don't see Anarki in back," Sabelle shouted.

Hardly meant they weren't there. They could be concealed, but if he and the rest of the Doomsday Brethren waited much longer to take the women and leave, Anarki would be crawling everywhere.

Escape would be impossible.

To his right, Caden and Sydney flew down the stairs, Lucan staggering behind, clutching a bleeding shoulder.

"What happened?" Duke asked.

"Flying gla.s.s. Someone can heal him once we're safe," Caden suggested.

At her mate's urging, Sydney darted for the other women. At the back door, Sabelle drew her wand, ready to fight, and Ice turned his body so he could see both doors with a subtle turn of his head. Sabelle wouldn't be the one battling for their survival.

Duke lifted the creamy silken drapes covering the windows on either side of the front door. Outside, the swell of black robes grew and grew. They began to fan around the house, scurrying like ants from one place to the next. More joined seconds later. Then more, until there weren't hundreds, but thousands.

Lucan and Caden exchanged a glance as they fell into the battle-ready group. The front door groaned and splintered. It was going to break any minute, and Ice wanted Sabelle nowhere near the h.e.l.l about to break loose.

"Take the Rions and the book. Lucan can help me defend the door. As soon as you're prepared, I'll send him with you," Duke insisted.

Instead, Lucan ran toward Sabelle.

Quarreling was a waste of time they didn't have, but Ice still had to bite his tongue to keep the argument inside. "Fine."

"Initially, we'll split up to confuse them, cut down their forces and make them chase us in all directions." Duke's face was grave with concern. "The book is most important. Keep it from Mathias no matter what."

"I'll contact you when it's safe. Where will you go?" Duke winced when the door splintered again, and gray smoke crept in. The same sort of smoke that was slowly killing Bram.

The warriors shouted, cursed, began to back away as the insidious smoke clawed and crawled its way across the floor and walls. Mathias himself was likely here.

"Go now!" Duke shouted.

Ice didn't wait to be told twice. With Bram on his shoulder, he dashed to the back door, then pressed an urgent hand to the small of Sabelle's back. "Grab your backpack. Ease out the door. Stay in shadow.

We've got two minutes, at most."

She sent him a shaky nod, but didn't panic. "Lucan?" Who gives a s.h.i.t? After losing his mate, the b.a.s.t.a.r.d thought to use Sabelle because she was beautiful, kind, and convenient? "Right behind us."

With a nod, she grabbed her belongings. "We're safe for the moment. Bram had more protection here, just in case we ever needed to escape."

Good to know. Still, as Ice opened the door, he checked to make certain no Anarki had made their way around the ma.s.sive estate. He couldn't see any, but he could hear them, attacking Bram's weakened magical defenses, zapping and gnashing their way ever closer to the Doomsday Brethren's fallback position at the back door.

Ice urged Sabelle onto the terrace, in the shadow provided by the overhang, then slid out behind her, covering her body with his own. The December chill wrapped around him in welcome, and he thrived on the bite against his skin. Snow was beginning to fall. He hoped the Anarki b.a.s.t.a.r.ds were having a miserable time. He'd be happy to speed the process along if they threatened his Sabelle.

d.a.m.n it, she isn't yours. Ice shushed the unwelcome voice in his head, then wrapped an arm around Sabelle to guide her into the terrace's corner while laying Bram at her feet in case he needed both hands to fight. With concrete at her back and sides, he could protect her. Holding his back to her, he pinned her against the wall and scanned for potential threats, watching as Marrok, Olivia, and Tynan poured out of the house. They took a few steps forward before the wizard grabbed the other two and teleported them away. Sydney and Caden followed.

Where the h.e.l.l was Lucan? The p.r.i.c.k had ten seconds before Ice left him to his own defenses.

Duke stumbled through the door, dragging an injured Lucan behind him, who was now b.l.o.o.d.y from head to toe.

Behind him, Sabelle gasped and tried to wriggle free. Ice whirled on her and mercilessly flattened her to the wall with his body, pressing her deep into the corner. "Can't you hear the Anarki? They're nearly upon us. You are not rushing through the danger to tend MacTavish."

"But he may need-"

"He is a full-fledged wizard with others around who can care for him. He'll escape."

"But I've been caring for him since Anka . . ."

Something on his face must have shown his fury and the soul-deep willpower he used to squeeze it down.

He'd known that Sabelle had become MacTavish's willing carnal sacrifice as he healed, and it lit a fire of jealousy and hatred in his gut. Lucan loved Anka still, but he'd use Sabelle's body, her sweetness and softness, for his own ends. And Sabelle encouraged him. Because she loved him? Ice knew Sabelle would never be his, but he'd be d.a.m.ned if he stood by and watched Lucan use her.

"Would you rather have Lucan die or the Doomsday Diary fall into Mathias's hands?" She drew in a shuddering breath, and the feel of her b.r.e.a.s.t.s against his chest was d.a.m.n near his undoing.

But this wasn't the time or place.

"You're right. I-I wasn't thinking." Her breath misted the cold air, and he wanted to kiss her so desperately. He didn't dare.

"Ice!" Duke called through the dark chill.

d.a.m.n it! He pinned Lord High-and-Mighty with a stare and a raised brow.

"The Anarki is through the door and into the house. That gray smoke is everywhere. Take Sabelle and go. Lucan is too injured to be anything but a liability to you now. I'll bring him with Caden and Sydney." Best notion he'd heard all day. "Let's go, princess." He grabbed her around the waist. She clutched his wrists and, panting, tried to pull him away. "Where?" Ice knew of many remote places between here and his boyhood home. He could find a million places to hide-and stay hidden as long as necessary to ensure Sabelle stayed safe.

"Anyplace they're not."

Curling his arm more tightly around her waist, Ice tried not to think about how perfectly she fit against him, how soft her b.r.e.a.s.t.s felt cushioning his chest, how easy it would be to curl one hand under her backside and urge her legs around his waist as he rode her . . .

Not happening, he chided himself.

Focusing on Wye Valley in the Welsh Mountains, he willed himself, Sabelle, and Bram there. His knees left him as darkness and a keen sense of weightless disorientation swallowed him. But he was conscious of his arm around Sabelle, of her clinging to him as he hoisted Bram's limp form.

Moments later, the ground rushed up under them, and they landed in a heap within a cl.u.s.ter of trees, the river trickling nearby. Lights from the adjoining village glowed in the distance.

Ice helped Sabelle to her feet and began leading her in the opposite direction. "Are you all right?" In the silvery moonlight, she nodded, all those pale curls of hers shimmering around her face, cupping her b.r.e.a.s.t.s. "Where are we?"

Not a good idea to think about her b.r.e.a.s.t.s now-or ever. "Herefordshire. I know it well. Let's go." Ice secured Bram over his shoulder, took her hand, and hauled her deeper into the copse of trees. If memory served him, there was an abandoned house built into the nearby hillside. It would be easy to defend and should shelter them for the night. After he re-established communication with Duke and the others, they could decide on a rendezvous point.

They'd taken only a handful of steps under the shelter of the trees when he heard a whoosh! behind him.