The creature burst into glittering shards of obsidian before dissolving into black mist.
Three more charged.
Dominic roared soundlessly and launched himself into them. He tore through one, crushed another beneath his forepaw, then bit through the spine of a third. Green fire sprayed across the walls and vanished in puffs of thick smoke.
More stepped from the mirrors to replace the fallen, because of course they did. The floor dragged at him. The silence rang, piercing and disorienting. The reflections kept coming.
Then through it all, faint, fragile, andreal, he scented his mate.
He jerked his head around, his eyes scanning the distance. There, beyond the end of the corridor, past the double doors carved with gold sigils and dripping enough magic to choke on.
He glanced at the endless row of mirror wolves, then back at the doors.
Enough. No more games.
Driven by instinct and powered by fury, he barreled through the center of the corridor, mirror wolves snapping at his flanks as green flames streaked past in silent arcs. Claws raked his side. Tar clung to his legs. Teeth gnashed at his throat.
He ignored it all.
Twenty feet away from the pulsating doors, sound returned. Not all at once, but little by little. Only a muffled snap at first, then voices bleeding through the seams.
“Really, mother.” Sammy. “Language.”
Dominic’s heart slammed against his ribs as he turned on a burst of speed.
Another voice followed, waspish and female, rising into shrill accusation. “You did this. You caused this. Everything is ruined because—”
A crack split the air. Then a heavy thud as something, or someone, hit the floor.
“Ah, that’s better.”
The words came faintly through the warded doors. He didn’t recognize the voice, didn’t know who it belonged to, but something in the oily cadence made his blood run cold.
His steps faltered for half a stride, then every instinct in him sharpened to a killing edge. He hit the next mirror wolf hard enough to tear straight through it without slowing, glass and shadow exploding behind him.
“Now,” the male murmured, calm and calculated. “What to do withyou.”
Dominic shoved off his back legs and launched himself the final distance. The first impact bowed the doors inward but held as the sigils blazed around the frame.
He landed, spun, and struck again with both forepaws. Hinges screamed, and cracks shot through the wood, but still, it held.
Magic surged through him in a violent wave, gathering in his chest and racing down every limb. He drove forward with all of it.
Black oak shattered. Metal screeched. Gold wards burst with loud pops, burning out like used-up lightbulbs. Behind him, mirrors detonated like ticking bombs, broken glass raining across the floor, and the twisted clones evaporated into fog.
Dominic roared, a sound ripped straight from his soul, and hit the doors one last time. They exploded inward in a maelstrom of splinters and dust as the magic that held them together shuddered and gasped.
Dripping with blood and sweat and vibrating with rage, he stepped through the wreckage to retrieve his mate.
Chapter twenty
Sammy gasped as the heavy doors crumbled, and everything came rushing in at once.
Light spilled into the room from the corridor beyond. A gust of wind swirled dust high above him, carrying the scent of blood and smoke as the distant roar of battle flooded the chamber.
Then his breath caught, and his pulse leapt into a gallop when a wolf the size of a small house prowled across the threshold.
Head lowered, lips peeled back from glistening canines, the beast released a snarl that reverberated off the vaulted ceilings and rolled through the room like thunder. Eyes like burning embers swept the space before locking onto Sammy with fierce, unbearable intensity.