Chapter 22
Jessie
“Right, okay.” I clapped, because I felt great. Better than great. I felt like I had things under control.
Austin had come up with some sort of plan with the alphas that would apparently change his entire schedule and the way he went about meeting the rest of the important alphas. What was the plan? No idea. Niamh said I didn’t need to “bother me arse” about it. Fine.
I’d had to heal Tristan, who’d apparently been in pain the entire time I took a three-hour nap, because he didn’t want Indigo sharing space in his bedroom.
The guy had suffered in silence, and no one had woken me to help him.
I felt super guilty about it, mostly because I’d caused the wound, and when I was about to go apologize, Niamh told me I shouldn’t “bother me arse.”
Fine.
Now, a day later and arriving via plane, train, and automobile—not quite but whatever—we were about to enter a dense forest. It was the domain of a powerful, emotionally scarred and dangerous shifter rogue, one that neither shifters nor Dicks would allow in their towns or cities.
Apparently, his very presence screamed unhinged, approach with caution!
In the interest of time, we would stalk this dangerous character as the afternoon waned and threatened to turn into night.
Long shadows pooled in dense pockets between the trees, creating many places to hide.
Once we found him, we’d likely be attacked, and then we’d attempt a meeting to issue an invitation to O’Briens.
Did we have any sort of plan? No, we did not. When asked if maybe we should? Niamh assured me that we wouldn’t “bother our arses”.
That didn’t even make sense in the situation! This was tomfoolery to attempt without a plan.
But fine. If I was going to live in ignorance, I’d do so with a wonderful disposition, like all the people of Drex’s town.
This disposition annoyed Niamh to no end.
“Shall I go first, then?” I smiled big and threw everyone a thumbs up as they climbed from the various passenger vans Mr. Tom was able to procure at the magical air strip posing as an airport.
We hadn’t had anything to comfortably put the basajaunak in, and so they were making their way to us on foot.
They’d been happy about it, actually. They loved the feel of the woods and mountains of the Cascades.
The rogue was said to be about halfway up one of the mountains. What mountain? I had no idea. I’d stopped asking questions when Niamh was in hearing range at that point.
“Hang on, babe.” Austin shut his door and looked around at everyone assembled before taking in the trees around them. “Tristan.”
Tristan stepped up. He wore a purple muumuu and a hard expression on his face. He was ready for battle.
“The trees are dense. You guys won’t be much good to us, and I don’t want him to hear your wings and think there is some sort of manhunt on the way. Stay here at the cars. If we need you in a hurry, Jess will send a magical pulse.”
Tristan nodded and fell back.
“Brochan.” Austin waited for his beta to fill Tristan’s spot.
“Take all the wolves and other pack hunters. Spread out. You will be seeking and reporting. Don’t make contact or get too close.
Stick to the trees and stay out of sight if possible.
Once you have something, send a pulse through Jess’s connection. ”
Brochan nodded and moved away.
“Sebastian, Nessa, Edgar.” The three stepped up, Nessa and Sebastian in black pants and shirts, and Edgar in a muumuu.
“Sebastian, you’ll be with Jess and me. I’ll be making contact with him or getting in the way of him attacking someone else.
You will help Jess try to tear us apart as peacefully as possible.
Detain him if possible. Another of the alphas at Drex’s said he’d heard this guy has some serious power.
Possibly on par with my own. He might challenge, but we are not treating it as a challenge.
Tear us apart as quickly as possible. Do you understand? ”
This was ruining my upbeat disposition. Niamh would probably be glad.
“Yes,” I said as tension built.
“I really hope I don’t resort to my old ways and use you as a shield,” Sebastian told me. I laughed even though he was probably serious.
“Nessa and Edgar.” Austin waited, his intense alpha gaze beating into the vampire until Edgar stopped smiling.
“You guys are good at being in the right place at the right time. Stay together. Have a look around. If you think you might’ve spotted him, do not engage.
Keep your distance. Edgar, you’ll need to let us know since Nessa doesn’t have a connection. Also, make sure no harm comes to her.”
“Eyes, captain,” Edgar responded, his hands clasped behind his back. He must’ve heard Tristan say “aye, aye, Captain” and misinterpreted.
Austin didn’t acknowledge. He’d learned to let Edgar go his own way and hope the Ivy House crew handled it.
He stepped back to address the group. “The point here is to offer help to a guy who’s been shunned by his own community because of his power.
The goal is to offer him a home that will accept him and peace if he wants it.
A job if he needs it. Or to leave him alone if he’d prefer it.
We’re trying to meet him on his terms, so let’s keep that in mind if things get a little hairy. We’re the intruders here.”
“Shouldn’t we wait for the basajaunak?” I asked Austin quietly. “They’ll be able to easily figure out exactly where he is.”
“They are also prone to aggression, and I’d like to try and keep this situation calm. I’d like to avoid a fight if we can.”
I nodded because that made perfect sense.
Broken Sue and his team shifted to their animal forms and took off into the trees.
Fog drifted between the large, ancient trunks, quickly enveloping them.
We followed, Austin in the lead. He stepped silently and avoided any reaching branches or brushing against the leaves.
I tried my best to mimic him, avoiding what he did and watching where I put my feet.
Edgar waved as he took a deer trail to the right. Nessa followed him, her knives in their sheaths but her hands ready to grab them if needed.
Sebastian pushed in closer to me, his feet shuffling along the tiny deer trail laden with leaves and twigs and patches of grass.
The scent of damp earth and pine perfumed the cool air. Wildflowers bloomed in little patches of light, often giving way to ferns and cushions of thick moss that thankfully seemed to swallow sound. Sebastian wasn’t as good as me at keeping quiet, and I was a long way from shifter material.
Onward we walked. The mist now almost seemed to cling to the trees, a curtain hiding the pooling shadows behind.
Bird song echoed in the distance but fell silent as we passed through.
Every way I looked, it all seemed the same, a tableau of green and brown and muted colors.
I really hoped someone had brought a compass, because I’d get lost in this place almost immediately.
Fred hadn’t even gotten out of the car. She’d taken one look at the trees around her and asked if she could stay put and lock the doors. She probably had the right idea.
About twenty minutes in and the first of my connections flared to life.
“Austin.” I pointed off to the right, though he hadn’t looked back at me. He’d be able to feel it himself as I fed it along.
Another connection flared, and then one more, three people in about the same vicinity. They spread out into a large arch and slowed, slinking through the trees so they wouldn’t be noticed. It occurred to me that the side they left open was likely upwind.
“Jess.” Sebastian’s tone was subdued but wary. “Are you monitoring your surroundings?”
He meant magically, something I always forgot about in these situations. I used eyes and ears like a Jane instead of magic like a female gargoyle.
I sent out the spell, felt the feedback, and grabbed the back of Austin’s shirt in alarm bordering on blind panic.
John
The usual screech of the Mountain Jay abruptly fell silent.
John hesitated, looping the blue yarn and threading it through.
The little crochet whale was really coming along.
Very cute, this thing. The kit he’d found at the store was probably meant for kids but was a nice way to pass the time.
He could send it to one of his nieces when he’d finished.
The Jay didn’t regain its voice, a sound like a frog dying in a murky pond. Or so he’d always thought. Bird chatter took on a different personality when you really listened to them all. Some were pretty and some needed a tune up. Or to move out of his neighborhood and find someone else to disturb.
He glanced up as a familiar feeling started to encroach on his awareness.
He took note of his surroundings and leaned hard into his intuition.
He didn’t feel any specific presences, so his watchers weren’t checking in, but something else existed in these wilds that didn’t belong. That hadn’t been here before.
A wave of goosebumps covered his skin as he delicately balled up his little whale work-in-progress. There was no point in rushing. If the presence hadn’t come crashing through the trees already, it wasn’t likely to. It was stalking him, whatever it was, like a hunter. Treating him as prey.
He wanted to laugh as a trickle of adrenaline wormed into his bloodstream.
He’d been many things in his life, and continued to evolve, but no matter how relaxed he allowed himself to be these days, there was one thing he would never become: prey.
This creature—or creatures—would learn that the hard way before they met their untimely demise.
He tucked the arts-and-crafts into the little bag it came in before straightening from the worn-in seat on the naturally felled log. He stepped lightly around his camp, practiced in avoiding making noise but now being careful. The feeling sank down into his middle before solidifying in his gut.
Whatever was out there was hanging around, growing in danger.
That probably meant more of them, covering more ground.
Spreading out around him, probably, but not upwind.
They had experience and they were likely here for a specific purpose.
Him, obviously. No one else would be so stupid as to invade these woods.
Not with what lurked within them. Except him, of course, but that was out of necessity.
He’d had to fight for the right to be here.
The pressure around him continued to build. No sound filtered through the dense forest. He didn’t catch even a thread of a scent.
He stripped out of his clothes to make shifting easy and took a trail toward one of the presences he sensed was out there.
As he moved, everything moved with him—the presence in front of him, as well as the feeling of others to the sides.
They perfectly kept their distance, synchronized with each other and flitting through the trees like ghosts.
Wolves, probably. They were good at this sort of thing.
These wolves, however, were expertly trained and very well led. This wasn’t a glory seeker situation. This smacked of an established alpha.
So be it. He’d taken down a great many of those.
The pressure continued to build. More must’ve joined. They’d sighted their target and were collecting their force.
And then the pressure turned into a throbbing drumbeat, a serious warning of a battle imminent. There was some serious power in these woods, he could feel it with the sixth sense that had kept him alive thus far.
He continued to move, not shifting yet. He was better at this internalized warning system in his human form. It had the most practice. He’d shift when he was ready to kill.
The drumbeat anchored in his gut, a fight or flight reflex.
He didn’t run. Hadn’t, ever. He wouldn’t start now.
Still his lurkers hid from sight. They tracked him, operating around the outskirts of an invisible bubble. They were very well trained and clearly experienced. Someone had called in the best to finally get rid of him.
A scent caught him. He snapped his head in that direction, fully upwind and not one of his watchers. This one was foreign to him, and he was being obvious, making his presence known. His people might sneak, but he did not plan to.
Was this a trap?
He moved in that direction carefully. As he did, the bubble moved with him, changing formation. The lurkers ran ahead of him, circling until he could scent them all, in behind the first.
Not a trap, then. The intruder wanted a face-to-face.
Would these alphas ever just focus on their own territory and build their profile the old-fashioned way? They were exhausting.
He sped up now, feeling all the danger in that direction. Up ahead, light glowed around a few of the trees. Beyond was a little clearing and a beautiful waterfall. He traveled that path often.
He did so now, head high, wanting a look at the challenger before he shifted and made a bloody mess of them all.
The second he stepped through the trees, though, he looked straight into the eyes of death itself. He could’ve been looking at a mirror with all the wild, ruthless scars sparkling on the surface.
He did not hesitate, knowing action might give him the edge. He shifted in a heartbeat and burst forward.