Free Love's Protection (Passion Moon 3): (A Shifter, Supernatural Romance) by Renee Jordan

reach my father's throat. He snarled as the golden sparks burned, forcing his flesh away.
    My father reached out with his hand and touched Forrest's chest. Dark energy erupted. Black Imbuement spirits, looking likes blobs of congealed ink, danced around Forrest. My mate howled in agony. His barbed wire tattoos burned bright red through his clothing.
    Forrest shifted into the wolf.
    His uniform ripped as his body swelled. Fur sprouted as his arms grew longer. He howled. His jaw became a vicious snout. Around him, his deputies howled and snarled, responding to the call of their packleader. Tatters of his uniform clung to furred limbs, like clinging pieces of wrapping paper on a present hastily opened. The barbed wire tattoo shone blood-red through patches of his fur.
    My heart froze in my chest. My father had prepared him a decade ago.
    My father reached out and petted Forrest's head. “Fetch my daughter,” he ordered.
    Forrest turned, his golden eyes fixed on mine.
    “Shit!” Vanessa snarled beside me.
    Miss Maggie roared out from beside me. The she-bear shifted, snarling as Forrest rushed forward. Miss Maggie was a majestic, golden brown bear-woman, her fur thick and lustrous. She reared on her hind legs, snarling at Forrest. My controlled mate crashed into her in a titanic collusion of fur and claws. They roared and snarled at each other, furred paws swiping.
    “We need to go!” Vanessa snarled, seizing my shoulders. Her fingernails were sharp, biting into my flesh. “Forrest is calling us!”
    The other deputies fell to the ground, howling as they fought against Forrest's commands. They knew their packleader was controlled. They knew they shouldn't follow him, but they couldn't help it. Instinct burned through them.
    “I need to break the spell!” I shouted. “I'm a Love witch! Spirits of dispelling, disrupt the Imbuement spell and break its enchantment on my love!”
    My father stepped down the steps, watching as the golden hearts clashed into the inky blobs racing around Forrest's body. I had broken the spell on the cabin with relative ease. I would save my mate and destroy my father.
    My tattoo burned. I forced more and more energy through my totem as the love spirits streaked from all directions, slamming into the Imbuement spirits controlling my mate. Inky black clashed with golden light. And swallowed them up. My father's spell was powerful. I shuddered and swayed as I forced more and more of my passion into my will.
    “Defeat them!” I shouted at the spirits. “Save the man I love.”
    I had never failed to break a spell before. But the tattoo impregnated into Forrest's skin had existed on my mate for a decade. It was a part of him. The Imbuement spirits knew him. They fought to stay on his tattoo even as they forced him to fight Miss Maggie. My werebear boss was losing. She was fierce, but two of Forrest's deputies had joined the fight, attacking her from all sides.
    “We have to go!” Vanessa snarled and hauled me back. “Forrest wants you protected.”
    “Stop!” I screamed as the werewolf hauled me back. More of the deputies fell under Forrest's new will. Their green and golden eyes turned on me. “Please, I just need a little more time.”
    My father watched with his green eyes, still smiling. Cocky and confident. I could beat him. I screamed and threw all my will into compelling the love spirits.
    Forrest howled as he threw down Miss Maggie.
    My will broke. My spell died. I couldn't free him. My father's spell was too strong, it was too woven into Forrest's being. Tears burned down my cheeks as Vanessa shoved me into the seat of a cop car. She raced around to the driver's side and hopped in. The car was still running. She threw it into gear. Gravel sprayed as she backed up and then we were racing down the road.
    “Dammit!” Vanessa snarled, her voice deep and gravely. She fought Forrest's control. She had always been more strong-willed than other members of the pack, pushing the limits of