Chapter 44
Chapter
Forty-Four
REID
“It’s taking too long,” I whispered, peering through the front windshield, trying to see something—anything—in the dark. Unfortunately, I had useless human eyes, not cool shifter eyes, and they couldn’t make out a gods damn thing.
My nerves were on edge and every noise in the dark made me flinch, certain that the warlocks from my coven had caught up with us. The others seemed to think we’d gotten away from them—at least for now—but it felt too easy to me.
“They said they might have to search for the omegas and that it could take some time,” Melinda reminded me, but I could tell from the wobble of her voice that she was worried too.
“It’s been nearly thirty minutes,” I hissed. “Their stealth spells will wear off soon. Something must have gone wrong.”
She grimaced. “I can’t hear anything from inside the car. Maybe if we open the door, I’ll be able to.”
“Are you sure that’s a good idea?”
“The ward isn’t affected by opening or closing the doors and windows,” she reminded me, and eased it open. For a long moment, she didn’t say anything and I slumped. So much for that idea. But then she tensed and cocked her head, her eyes flashing gold in the darkness.
I dug my fingernails into my palms to stop myself from demanding to know what she could hear. Rushing her wouldn’t do anything good and might stop her from hearing something important, so I stuck my tongue into the side of my cheek and forced myself to wait.
“The traffickers have—” Something slammed into us from behind and rocked the entire vehicle.
I lurched forward, wrapping my arms around my belly just before I slammed into the front seat. Unfortunately, Melinda wasn’t so lucky and she tumbled from the car and hit the ground with a thud.
I spun, looking over my shoulder, searching for whoever was attacking us. I hadn’t sensed anyone approaching but I was tired and my magic was depleted, Perhaps I’d missed something.
The car rocked again, and through narrowed eyes, I made out a solid male form in the darkness. They attacked again, and my breath stuttered as I realized they hadn’t physically moved.
This wasn’t one of the traffickers. It was a warlock.
Melinda scrambled up, a growl rumbling deep in her throat.
“Get in the car,” I urged.
The wards were still holding firm. If we stayed here, he might not be able to get to us—especially if the others returned soon. She threw herself inside, bumping into me as she landed.
The warlock stopped attacking and cocked his head. He stood, motionless, as seconds ticked by. I stared into Melinda’s frightened brown eyes, uncertain of what to do.
Then, all of a sudden, the wards vanished.
My blood ran cold. The warlock stepped closer, sparks crackling around his fingertips.
“What happened?” Melinda asked.
“The wards are down.” I swallowed. “Nathaniel…”
Gods, I hoped this didn’t mean he was dead. That I’d gotten him killed by insisting on this raid after he’d survived decades as part of the PBI.
Melinda leaned closer and spoke softly. “I need you to run. On the count of three.”
I tensed, wondering how on earth she thought a pair of omegas—one of them pregnant—were going to outrun someone who could fight with magic.
“Three,” she murmured, her eyes glued on the man outside. “Two. Go!”
She sprang from the backseat with the spryness of a much younger woman, and for an awful moment, I thought she was going to run and leave me there. But then she shifted, her clothes tearing as a huge bear replaced the matronly woman.
She roared and I was frozen in place until her golden eyes met mine.
Run, they seemed to say.
So I did.
I scrambled out of the car and tore down the road, my legs burning and my lungs struggling to drag in air.
The ground at my feet exploded, spraying dirt and gravel everywhere. I stumbled but managed to keep going.
Another roar sounded behind me.
Was Melinda okay?
What the hell was she doing?
My foot landed in a pothole and I winced as my ankle rolled, but I caught myself before I tripped and focused on the road.
Melinda could turn into a grizzly. She’d be all right, wouldn’t she?
I veered to the left, ready to dart into the fields to hide, but another figure appeared from the darkness.
I considered dropping to the ground and praying that they hadn’t seen me, but then I chanced a glance over my shoulder and jerked in surprise at the sight of a hulking silhouette bounding along behind me.
Melinda.
Thank fuck. She was alive.
Some kind of magic tendril thing came out of nowhere and tried to wrap around my ankle, but Melinda grabbed me and yanked me free. I expected the warlock to try again, but no strike came.
A third warlock appeared ahead of us as he drew level with the driveway, forcing us to turn.
A chill ran through me. Why did it feel almost like they were herding us somewhere?
I ran over to the nearest shipping container and flattened myself against the back of it. Melinda followed, keeping low to the ground and making almost no noise.
We circled around the end of the shipping container and my heart nearly stopped. The traffickers had surrounded our people and had weapons trained on them.
My feet glued me in place. I glanced at Melinda, wondering what on earth we were supposed to do now. We were coming here for reinforcements, not to act as reinforcements ourselves.
I was a magically depleted, pregnant omega and Melinda was a middle-aged housewife who could turn into a massive bear. What good could we do against a team of career criminals?
At the forefront was a tall, heavyset, bald man who had positioned a bloodied Hawk in front of himself like a living shield.
I gestured to the trees, silently asking her if we should go back and risk running into the warlocks. I still didn’t know why they hadn’t caught up to us. They should have been right behind us. She motioned—I think for me to stay put, but it was hard to tell—and crept closer.
None of the traffickers had noticed us yet.
Zander glanced up and his gaze caught on mine. His eyes widened before he smoothed his expression over, trying to hide his reaction to our presence. I could still see the silent plea in them though. He wanted us to turn around and leave them here.
A stick cracked behind us.
I looked over my shoulder and bit my lip so hard I tasted blood. The first warlock was staggering out of the trees, clearly injured but hellbent on getting to us.
We were trapped between him and the others, and despite his injuries, he might still have the capacity to hurt us.
I felt inside myself, searching for any remnants of power. I didn’t want to use magic when I’d been warned not to, but if these guys caught us, I might lose my baby and everyone I’d come to care about.
Sensing the familiar buzz of magic within me—including the magic that belonged to my baby, I relaxed a little.
My supplies were diminished but not nonexistent, and my baby was fine.
Carefully, I summoned as much energy as I had to spare and channeled it into two bolts of blue sparks.
Nathaniel had been teaching me to improve my accuracy and I gave my entire focus over to ensuring that the bolts were aimed exactly where I wanted them to go.
Then I released them.
One flew toward the warlock and the other at the bald man.
Both bolts struck true. The warlock dropped as if his strings were cut and the bald man collapsed, his hold on Hawk loosening. Hawk weakly pushed him away.
Caught off guard, the traffickers reacted more slowly than I expected. I dashed behind the corner of the container as they spun to see who’d attacked.
Meanwhile, Melinda did the opposite of what I’d thought she would and charged at them. She leapt on the bald man and tore his throat out. I gagged and forced myself to swallow the bitter taste of bile on my tongue.
One of the traffickers had the wherewithal to shoot Hawk. He slumped to the ground, limp and unmoving.
Carnage broke out.
Our Grizzly Ridge companions launched themselves at the traffickers, many making contact before shots were fired.
I silently debated whether to stay hidden or run over to Hawk. Now that Melinda had taken out the bald man, she was trying to help him but had gotten caught up in the fight and couldn’t give him the attention he needed.
I looked around. All was quiet, sound muffled by the frantic hammering of my heartbeat, the scene unfolding before me in terrible clarity, teeth and claws and blood spattering the ground.
Hawk’s head lolled back, exposing the blood that was slowly pumping from a wound on the upper left side of his torso.
Realization dawned, swift and sharp. For him to survive, someone needed to put compression on the wound. The fighting was vicious and Melinda was too busy protecting him to give first aid.
I checked to make sure that no one was paying me attention, raced to Hawk, and maneuvered him into a seated position, wrapping my arms around him from behind. Bit by bit, I dragged him toward the container.
If we could hide, they might forget about us.
Melinda struck down a coyote shifter and prowled alongside us, ready to defend us if necessary.
I got him behind the container and pulled off my jacket, which I folded and pressed against his throat firmly but hopefully not so much that it would cut off his oxygen. I kept an eye on his face to make sure he wasn’t struggling for air.
“We need Nathaniel,” I told Melinda. “If he’s alive. He knows some healing spells. He might be able to stop the bleeding.”
She nodded her huge, shaggy head and lumbered around the corner, but stumbled backward a moment later with a tiger shifter bearing down on her.
“Melinda!” I cried.
That’s when another man—likely human—leveled a gun at me.
Oh, fuck.
Fuck fuck fuck.
I glanced at Melinda but she couldn’t help me now. If we were to get away from this man, it was up to me.