Page 301 of Psycho Gods

“Don’t question our ability to protect our mate,” Malum snapped. Scarlet flames danced across his head.

Cobra bared razor-sharp fangs at him, then disappeared over the edge of the mountain. The assassins were a blur of shadows behind the shifters.

The angels remained.

“You should go,” I repeated.

“Angels don’t run and hide,” Rina spat. “We’re staying.”

Whatever. I tried.

Cracking my neck back and forth, I focused on the village full of infected.

I pushed my pipe between my lips and inhaled enchanted smoke.

“Are you ready?” Scorpius asked with a grim expression.

“Yes,” I said, before I could change my mind.

Cherry blossoms swirled off Orion’s neck, a pink pretty in the lavender sunlight. They traveled through the air and circled around the structures.

I tensed my muscles.

Click. Click. Click. Click.

The gold hardware on our ears floated upward and separated into shards of a crown.

Unlike last time, the kings’ eyes didn’t darken.

Ice talons exploded from my fingers. Scorpius’s and Orion’s talons looked the same, but Malum’s had changed.

They were made of fire.

Malum tipped his head back and said, “As the Ignis from the illustrious House of Malum, I invoke the power of my mates.” He pulled the wickedly sharp dagger from his neck. He stared at me as he said, “As the crowned King of the Sun God, I invoke the power of my mates.”

My skin prickled with power.

It was intoxicating.

“Venimus!” Orion sang. “We came.”

I braced myself for the trancelike state—it never came.

Scorpius grinned as he realized and bellowed, “Vidimus! We saw.” The eye tattoo on his neck looked around and his milky blind eyes glowed brightly.

It was Malum’s turn to speak, but I tipped my head back, and sheer power ripped through my chest.

On instinct, I yelled, “Interfecimus! We slaughtered.”

Ice shot from my fingers and formed into a staff. It touched the ground and towered high above my head. A skull sat on the end, and Horse settled onto it. His feathers gleamed with shades of red and gold.

He was corporeal.

I gasped with delight.

Horse opened his long beak and cawed, the sound toe-curling and vicious.

Malum shouted, “Vicimus! We conquered.” He held the dagger above his head, and flames poured off him, filling the air.