She put out a low heat energy field around herself and Faine. He cut his gaze to her quickly and then was back on the job once he’d ascertained there wasn’t a problem. She’d experimented with something similar a few days before and it seemed to keep humans back. She didn’t need to hurt anyone; she just wanted to keep a space bubble around their group. Molly moved slow because she was still on crutches and Helena didn’t want her jostled.

When they got to the main doors leading outside it was a whole new level of challenge. Several hundred people had gathered on the steps. Some holding signs with the usual and lame “God hates werewolves/witches/Others” along with the gamut of abomination, warnings of danger and violence, that sort of thing.

A counter-protest was just steps away, meeting at the edges. In some places there seemed to be earnest discussion and debate, but in others there was jostling, angry, raised voices and the chance for far worse than words and shoving.

So much potential for things to go bad in so many ways. She spoke to Faine, knowing that even with the din all around he’d hear her.

“Faine, I’m going to need you to pick Molly up so we can move quickly. Gage, you’re on them. I’m going to clear a path.”

Several of the Weres who’d accompanied Cade Warden showed up, ready to follow her lead. She explained what she needed and even Molly simply sighed and let Faine pick her up. Gage started to argue, but Helena lifted a brow.

“I’m not arguing with your orders. I wanted to tell you something bad is coming. I can feel it.”

She knew his gift was a sort of intuitive foresight of intention. If he felt something, it was out there and it was her job to deal with it.

She nodded. “Keep tight. Keep alert.”

Helena adjusted her spell, speaking under her breath to make the field around them a little larger and a little hotter. She added an aversion spell to overlay it. Nothing that would create an emotional aversion, but enough of a hint to back up and let them pass.

Since the Magister it had seemed a lot easier to bend her magick to her will. One positive from all that negative, she supposed.

She scanned the crowd as they went, her hands free should she need to repel anyone or use her weapons.

Which was good because the moment the crowd recognized them, the angry voices raised and the crowd turned to face them. Helena cut toward the side, making a hole for the group. Her spell held and she only needed to push people back twice, more due to crowd surge than anything else.

Helena was glad she’d called ahead for the cars to be brought for them. Having to wait at the curb for their ride would have only exposed them to danger for longer.

They idled nearby. Safe harbor. She hustled the group in that direction, scanning the crowd for weapons, people’s faces for signs of violence, the air all around for any signs of impending negative action.

Later, she figured she was so busy doing that, she’d missed the sick feeling emanating from the vehicle in front of her until a split second before the air sucked from all around them and then blew outward in a hot wave.

Time slowed as Helena moved to respond, trusting Faine to deal with Molly as she called her magick fast and hard, yanking it from the air around her and the ground at her feet. It filled her instantly in a painful slice as she managed it. As she used her magick to push back against the explosion, to repel the flaming metal and burning tires.

Dimly she realized the car behind it had also blown and she managed her magick to repel it as well.

It filled her, raw power. Bright and searing hot. Her filters were down so she could take in as much as she could as fast as possible. It roared through her, responding to her will, but she knew enough to understand that could change.

So much magick she knew she’d have trouble regulating it, keeping it from going wild and burning her to the bone. But she needed all she could get to keep her people, and the crowd behind her, safe from all the flying wreckage.

She held it even as she tasted blood and her nose began to drip. Her skin burned and as the energy around her from the bomb died down, she shoved it all away, back to the twisted metal, which groaned as she hit the pavement on her knees, the blood from her nose and mouth staining the front of her shirt.

Damn it. That much blood would never come out and she really loved that blouse.

Her vision grayed at the edges as she swayed, fighting consciousness and beginning to lose.

She heard Faine roar and then snarl. “Shit. Shit! Helena?”

Faine had been watching the crowd, taking care not to hold Molly too tightly, not to bump her casts or injure her. And then he turned, noting Helena’s body language had stiffened, her focus shifted to the curb where the vehicles were.

Helena was right in front of the vehicle and she shouted for them to get down and he felt the air suck away and then the taste of her magick as she pulled it from all around. He’d covered Molly with his body, expecting the blow of the flaming wreckage, but instead he’d watched as Helena had shouted in a language he rarely heard, her hands drawing runes as she wove the spell. He knew channeling that much power was dangerous for anyone, a fact underlined when her nose started to bleed.

He heard Gage shouting at people to get back, heard the panic behind him as humans scattered. All he could do was watch, helpless as she took all that power and shoved it at the explosion.

Molly spoke to him quietly. “She’ll be all right. She’s strong.” But her words were nearly a question. Not quite, but close enough that it only scared him more.

He’d only held himself in place because he knew that if he’d disturbed Helena she could have lost control of her magick. And his job was Molly right then. He’d promised Helena and he couldn’t break that promise.

But when Helena dropped to her knees and pitched forward, blood all over her face, he made sure Gage was there with Molly before he exploded up, running to her. He scooped Helena into his arms as the sounds of sirens began to break through the wall of power she’d kept between the car and the crowd.

He shook so fucking hard it was a challenge to stand, but he did, holding her close, breathing her in until he was sure she was alive and would be all right. Her blood was everywhere, freaking him out.

“Damn it, Helena Jaansen, you will open those eyes right this moment. You’re scaring me.” He gave her his best officer-issuing-orders voice and hoped the fear wasn’t showing.

Her eyes fluttered open, unfocused at first, but then she seemed to grasp consciousness with a gasp. “Is everyone all right?”

He growled. “Everyone but you, brown eyes. What the fuck do you think you’re doing?”

She sighed, turning her face into his chest. “Not failing.”

Chapter 8

“WE need to get her help.” He turned to Gage, still holding Helena.

Gage held his hands up, approaching slowly, understanding exactly what it meant to be wild with the need to protect the woman you loved. “When the ambulance arrives, we’ll send her first. You go with her.”

Helena stirred, trying to get down and he held her tighter.

“Stop that.”

“So imperious.” She blinked. So slowly he found his panic fighting to return. “Stop growling. I’m all right. The police are going to want to question us all. And I’m not leaving the scene.”

“I’m taking over the team.” Gage sighed. “Temporarily. Helena, you’re covered in blood. You’ve burned yourself out handling that much power at once. I don’t even know what the hell you just did, but it had to have fried your circuits.” He said the last very quietly and Faine realized he wasn’t the only one who’d been amazed at what Helena had done.

“In case you haven’t noticed, a riot is brewing. We need to get Molly out of here, along with the rest of the group. We need to be sure Tosh, Delilah and Parrish Carroll are all okay, along with all the Others who work here at the capitol.”