Unleashed by Kate Douglas

easier.
    Taron had a feeling that particular tradition was already gone. But just as women were now free to flirt, Taron was free to ignore that flirtation. Setting his towel aside and smiling ruefully, he did exactly that, shaking his head over Isra’s skill and his own clumsiness.
    “You’ve learned quickly, Isra. I’m going to need more work with Roland if I expect to best any of you in battle, mock or otherwise.” He bowed his head in respect. “You have done well. All of the Paladins are doing an amazing job, but you have truly excelled.”
    A brilliant flash of blue light set him back a step. Again, the image of Willow and her trail of blue crystals entered his thoughts, but only for a split second. A strange voice—a woman’s voice—echoed from everywhere, yet from nowhere in particular.
    “Taron is right. You have done extremely well, Isra.”
    Taron was almost certain his heart stood still. He stared at Isra’s glowing sword, unwilling to believe what he’d just heard, but there was no denying truth.
    Impossible. Absolutely impossible. How could this be? It was too soon—Isra was too new a warrior. He swallowed back a curse, raised his head and focused on the wide-eyed woman.
    “Isra. Your blade. It speaks.”
     
    * * *
     
    Ginny Jones redialed her cousin’s number, but the call didn’t go through. She stared at her cell phone long enough to register Markus’s panic and the blinking icon telling her the battery was going dead. Then she shoved the phone in her pocket, turned around and walked right into the solid wall of red rock.
    In seconds she’d passed through the portal at Red Rock Crossing in Sedona, Arizona, and entered the vortex. She bypassed the tunnel to Bell Rock, where the main entrance to Lemuria was located, and took the small portal leading directly from this vortex to the Council of Nine’s chancellor’s office.
    It took mere seconds to step out of Earth’s dimension and enter Lemuria’s, something that never ceased to amaze her.
    She’d have to save the amazement for later. Ready or not, there was another crisis looming, but where the hell was her team? The damned chancellor’s office was empty.
    “Shit. Where is everyone?” Ginny brushed her hand over her crystal sword, as much from habit as the need to connect to her ever-present companion. After another quick glance about the empty chamber and adjoining rooms, she slipped through the doorway and took off at a full run, heading for the great plaza with her cousin Markus’s panic-stricken words echoing in her ears.
    Ginny! Something bad is going on. Animals are acting really weird. I mean really, really weird. Tom the cat’s got all those teeth again and he just ate the neighbor’s dog. Like chewed him up and swallowed him. And the dog’s a Rottweiler. Uh . . . he was a Rottweiler. Ginny? Answer the phone! Where are you?
    Skidding as she rounded a jeweled column, Ginny collided with Alton. Her mate grabbed her arms, steadying her as she gasped for breath.
    “Ginny? Sweetheart . . . what’s wrong?”
    Blowing so hard she couldn’t speak, Ginny linked and telepathically shared Markus’s message.
    Hanging on to her arm, Alton spun around and looked out across the great plaza. He called out to a familiar figure near the dais. “Dax! Grab Eddy. See if you can find Daws and Selyn. We need to go to Sedona. Now.”
    Eddy Marks popped out of one of the council chamber rooms. “What’s going on? We were just headed back to Evergreen to check in with Dad and see how BumperWillow’s doing.”
    Ginny shook her head. “There’s no time. I just got a message from Markus. It sounds like a full-scale invasion in Sedona. I tried calling him back. He didn’t answer, but my battery’s really low. I barely got a signal.”
    Dax, Selyn, and Dawson Buck trotted across the plaza. Ginny waved them over. “Can you guys leave now? We really need to hurry.”
    Dawson nodded. “We’re ready. I need to check on the clinic anyway,