Excerpt of Beloved Wizard by Shannan Albright

Merci blew out a calming breath and narrowed her gaze on the goddess. "I've heard about you, all of it very unflattering. As a matter of fact, they claim you're a raging bitch." The snipe was childish, but she couldn't prevent the barb from passing her lips and was disappointed to not get so much as a raised eyebrow at the insult.

"Some of my best work I do admit." Nimue gave her a perfect smile, pearly whites flashing. "I wonder what Morgan would say about you working for her most hated enemy? So much potential going to waste." She shook her head sadly. "You are capable of so much and here you are squandering it in this useless battle you wage to be good. Good and evil, light and dark, it's all subjective, Merci. The sooner you learn that the better off you will be. I can teach you to embrace your nature, hone your powers. You could even surpass Morgan le Fay as the greatest sorceress who ever lived."

Out of the corner of her eye, she caught a large shadow moving into the soft ray of moonlight and spilling across the sharp lines of a face forever imprinted into her brain like a hot brand. Drake's blond hair fell loose around his face and shoulders, framing the blue–green eyes that gazed upon her. A brief look of surprise flitted over his handsome face. Relief surged through her that he was still alive. The urge to go to him was overpowering and she fisted her hands at her sides, fighting the compelling impulse.

Suck it up. He dumped you, remember? Yeah, she remembered he broke it off without a backward glance. Leaving her bleeding inside, leaving a hole in her that beat a constant reminder, no matter how far she ran, how hard she tried to escape the pain. Weak, that's what she was and she hated herself for it.

She kept him in her peripherals, quelling her relief when he rose unsteadily to his feet, not giving Nimue any warning of Drake's unsteady progress, his closing the distance between them. If he could move, he could fight. She had to come up with something to keep Nimue distracted and she knew the best way to accomplish this would be to feed her ego.

Have to keep her talking, she chanted to herself. "Well, you see that's the problem, Blondie. I have no wish to be the next greatest anything. I like me just the way I am. I mind my own business and no one gets into my shit. Nice, quiet and uncomplicated."

Color rose on Nimue's fair complexion. She'd just crossed the line, but couldn't seem to care, even if the goddess could squash her like a bug. The only thing that mattered to her was Drake's tall form moving ever closer toward them.

Merci's focus on Drake's approach slipped to full on attentiveness for a split second. In the next, Nimue grabbed her upper arm in a punishing grip, whirled her around to face Drake. Nimue flung her hand out and Drake flew back like a puppet on a string, crashing into the far wall of the warehouse with a sickening flesh–meet–cinderblock thud. He lay crumpled amidst the debris like a broken doll.

Something snapped within Merci. Her blood scalded her veins. The taste of ash filled the back of her throat. Rage, cold and biting, filled her, coloring her vision in a red haze. Drawing energy from the earth, she channeled it up through her body, willing it to form. Her hands glowed, magic as hot as a stream of lava engulfed her. Her skin stung like the bite of a thousand fire ants as a small burst of electricity arched over her arms, snapping with pent up energy. The stench of ozone, hanging like a heavy cloud in the still air, filled the area. The force arched into Nimue, dropped her to the floor. Merci offered a feral smile while Nimue wreathed in pain against her magic. She bent down close enough for Nimue to hear her. "Since you don't know me, I will explain this to you. You don't fuck with what is mine. Drake, is mine."