Chapter Six #3
The mage had stopped screaming. He was doing something to his ankle, maybe using magic to heal it, but he looked up at Ryan.
His lips were twisted, and his gaze flared with what Seth was pretty sure was hatred, although he didn’t know if it was for Ryan, for him, or for anyone who associated with the pack.
“I’m not ashamed,” the man said. “I followed orders, unlike you. I didn’t betray my coven.”
Ryan waved the man’s words away. “Yes, I know. I betrayed the leaders and my coven, yada, yada, yada. You really should come up with something more original. I already heard that from the leaders, and if I didn’t care about it when Raymond tried to shame me, imagine how little I care about it now.”
“The coven will come. We will destroy the pack.”
“Well, you certainly tried.” Ryan wiggled his fingers, and a tiny speck of purple light rushed toward the mage’s face. It exploded on his cheek, causing him to yelp and reach for it. From where he was, Seth couldn’t see any blood, so he didn’t think the mage had been hurt.
Not any more than he already was, thanks to Seth’s claws.
“You know, I was there when Raymond, Maureen, and Eldora met the alpha,” Ryan continued. “I heard them agree not to attack the pack. What do you think is going to happen now?”
The man shook his head. “They don’t know about this. We decided to come and take justice into our own hands without telling them.”
Seth snorted, which sounded weird when he was a bear. It caught Ryan and the mage’s attention, and they both turned toward him. The mage leaned back, but Ryan took a step forward. Seth shook his head, and dammit, it hurt.
He was fine, and he didn’t need Ryan to fuss over him. He didn’t need anyone to fuss over him, but he knew how this would end. Between Ryan and Theo, Seth would be lucky if he was allowed to leave the house anytime soon.
He shifted back to his human form. The mage quickly looked away, but Ryan stared. It was as if he was trying to memorize Seth’s body, and maybe he was—or maybe he was checking Seth for injuries.
Seth reached for what remained of his clothes. He hadn’t had the time to take them off when he’d shifted, and his hoodie and jeans were torn. Luckily, he didn’t need either of those things right now. What he did need was his phone, which he found in what was left of his jeans.
He glanced at the first mage as he unlocked his phone and pulled up Chance’s number. The man was still on the ground, whimpering as he held his chest. Seth grimaced when he saw blood seeping from between the mage’s fingers. He hadn’t realized that Ryan had hit him so hard.
Not that he cared. Both of these men had been trying to kill him and the people he loved. They deserved to die slowly and painfully.
Seth had to lean back against the tree as he found Chance’s number. He really wished the world would stop spinning, dammit.
“Hey,” Ryan said.
Seth blinked to see his boyfriend coming toward him. When had Ryan moved?
“I’ll call Chance,” Ryan said as he gently took the phone from Seth’s fingers.
Seth let it go. Maybe he should sit down.
A branch cracking made him snap his head up, only to see that the second mage was on his feet.
Seth raised a hand as if it would be enough to stop the mage, but the man was already hobbling away from them.
Ryan turned and swore, but he didn’t move to go after the mage.
Instead, he put a hand on Seth’s shoulder and gently pushed him down.
“Sit.”
“I’m fine, but we need to catch him.”
“Do we? I don’t care what he does or what happens to him.”
“He’s going to go back to the coven.”
“Yeah, he will.”
“We can’t let him do that.”
“Letting him go isn’t going to change anything. He’s going to run back to the leaders, and if he’s lucky, they’ll kill him because he disappointed them. I’d rather focus on making sure you’re okay.”
Seth finally allowed his knees to buckle. “I’m fine,” he said with a groan.
Ryan arched a brow. “Yes, because you look fine.”
Seth wiggled his eyebrows. “I do, don’t I?”
He was pretty sure that the running mage could hear Ryan’s answering groan even from where he was.
* * * *
SETH HAD TO BE OKAY if he was joking, but Ryan wished he’d stop. Now wasn’t the moment to joke. Of course, it was better than Seth being unconscious, so maybe Ryan should take it as a win.
He quickly found Chance’s number on Seth’s phone and hit call.
Part of him wanted to go after the mage who’d escaped to get revenge for what he’d done to Seth, but another part couldn’t stand to be away from his boyfriend.
He needed to be here and make sure that Seth was okay.
The other mage didn’t look like he was going to get up anytime soon, but what did Ryan know?
Maybe the mage was faking it to escape or attack Ryan.
“Seth?” Chance asked when he answered. He didn’t sound alarmed yet, but that would change soon.
“Not Seth. We have a problem.”
Chance sucked in a breath. If Ryan was in his place, he’d be swearing up and down, but Chance didn’t.
“Tell me,” Chance ordered.
“I don’t know what happened exactly, but two mages attacked Seth and another pack member. Both the mages were wounded. One is on the run right now, while the other is down. You need to send people after the first one and to help me with Seth.”
“He’s hurt?”
“I can’t see any blood, but he was slammed against a tree pretty harshly. There was nothing I could do to stop it.”
“I don’t blame you, and I’m sure he doesn’t, either. We’ll be right there.”
“Send someone after that mage before he hurts someone else,” Ryan reminded Chance.
He was pretty sure that he didn’t need to remind the alpha how to do his job, but he was scared and angry. He wanted to stay on the line to know where Chance was, but Chance hung up, so Ryan turned his attention back to Seth.
He briefly glanced at the dying mage, then dropped to his knees next to his boyfriend. He put down the phone and reached for Seth’s face. For some reason, Seth puckered his lips.
Ryan snorted. “I’m not going to kiss you.” He gently cupped Seth’s head and slid his fingers into his hair, poking around to find out if he’d hurt his head.
Seth winced and tried to get away, but Ryan didn’t let him. He could feel something damp in Seth’s hair, probably blood. He wouldn’t be surprised if Seth had a concussion.
“I’m sure a kiss from you would heal me right away,” Seth muttered.
Ryan leaned down to press his lips against Seth’s forehead. “There.”
“Maybe you could kiss me somewhere else, too.”
“Stop that. You’re hurt.”
“I meant my lips. Not my fault your mind’s in the gutter.”
Ryan rolled his eyes but pressed their lips together. He couldn’t lie and say that he didn’t want to kiss Seth, even when Seth was wounded.
Seth sighed happily and leaned back against the tree. “I really wish this hadn’t happened,” he murmured.
“You and me both.”
“We were supposed to go on a date.”
“We’ll have plenty of dates. Don’t worry too much and focus on being okay.”
“I don’t know if I’m okay. I want to puke.”
The way Seth was behaving right now reminded Ryan of how young he was—only twenty-one.
While Ryan wasn’t exactly old, he felt the need to protect his boyfriend.
If he could, he’d hunt down the mage who’d escaped to be sure he could never return to hurt Seth again.
Instead, he pulled his fingers out of Seth’s hair and reached for one of his hands.
Ryan’s fingertips were bloody, but neither he nor Seth cared. They linked their fingers together, and Seth leaned his head back against the tree, wincing when he pressed against the spot where he was hurt.
“I’m fine, but you should probably check out that lady,” Seth said.
Ryan blinked. He’d forgotten about her. “What happened to her?”
“She was yelling at me that I don’t belong here or something just as stupid when the mages arrived. She freaked out and tried to run.”
“That clearly didn’t go well for her. Why didn’t she shift? Isn’t she a bear?”
Seth shrugged. “I think she is. I didn’t pay much attention, to be honest. I was too busy trying to protect both of us from those mages.”
Ryan eyed her. It would be the right thing to do to check in on her, but considering what Seth just said, Ryan didn’t care much if she was okay.
There wasn’t anything he could do if she wasn’t, anyway.
He wasn’t a healer or anything like that.
If he was, he’d be helping Seth, anyway.
“Are you going to tell Chance what happened with her?”
“Of course I am. She deserves it.”
And he’d wanted Ryan to tell Chance about that lady who had berated him and his sister.
Ryan squinted and cocked his head. He couldn’t see the woman well from where he was, and he wasn’t planning on going anywhere near her, but he was pretty sure he recognized her. “I think that’s the woman who yelled at Maddie and me.”
“Yeah? Clearly, she has a problem with me, too.”
“Do you care?”
“Not one bit.”
Loud voices made Seth jump. He winced again, and Ryan reached for him, but there was nothing he could do. Seth needed to stay still and stop hurting himself.
Something crashed between the trees. Ryan got to his feet, ready to defend Seth if the mage had returned. Chance was coming and bringing people with him, but this didn’t sound like him. He wouldn’t run through the forest like that, especially with a mage still at large.
It wasn’t Chance. Ryan shook his head when Theo tripped on a root and almost fell on his face. He managed to catch himself on a low branch, but he didn’t stop running until he could drop to his knees next to Seth.
“What happened?” he asked, hovering his hands over Seth without touching him.
“What does it look like?” Seth asked.
Theo gently slapped Seth’s thigh. “You’re not funny. Seriously, what the fuck happened? Are you wounded? Why are you sitting on your ass and leaning against a tree like that?”
“He got slammed against the tree. I’m pretty sure he has a concussion,” Ryan explained.
It looked like Seth’s bear body had protected him from the magic itself, so while there were a few scratches on his chest, they’d heal easily enough.
Ryan wasn’t sure about the concussion, though.
He wasn’t a healer. He’d never gotten the hang of healing spells, and it wasn’t like the coven leaders cared whether or not their coven members could heal.
As long as they were capable of killing people, the leaders were happy.
Theo turned his attention back to Seth. “What were you thinking?” he asked gently as he touched Seth’s hand.
“He was defending that lady,” Ryan said as he waved in her direction.
Theo’s eyes widened. “Chance!” he called out.
Chance finally appeared. Like Ryan had expected, he wasn’t alone. James and a bunch of other people were behind him. James looked like he wanted to kill someone and make it as painful as possible.
Ryan agreed with him.
“What happened?” Chance asked as he rushed forward.
Theo pointed at the woman. “Seth wasn’t alone.”
“I protected her even though she was telling me that I don’t belong with the pack,” Seth said.
He’d closed his eyes and was leaning his head against the tree again. He appeared a little dazed, and Ryan prayed that the only thing wrong with him was that concussion. He didn’t know what he’d do if his boyfriend was severely injured.
“You did good,” Chance said.
“I’m not sure what happened initially, but when I got here, Seth was in his bear form protecting her,” Ryan explained, never looking away from his boyfriend.
“There were two mages. I’m pretty sure the one over there is dead or about to be, but the other healed himself and managed to escape.
I don’t know how close he is from the edge of pack territory, but you should look into it.
You should also look into how they managed to get past the protective spells around the area. ”
Chance stared at Ryan, and for a moment, Ryan wondered if he’d gone too far. He didn’t need to tell the alpha how to do his job, yet he’d done it twice over the last few minutes.
Chance nodded but didn’t scold Ryan. It was a relief.
Chance turned toward James, who was already striding toward the dead mage. Two guards were behind him, and while Ryan didn’t like that woman, he hoped she’d be okay.
“How many people have you sent out to find the mage?” Chance asked James.
“More than enough. If there’s anyone here who shouldn’t be, we’ll find them.”
Ryan was still worried about Seth, but he could finally allow himself to relax. They were safe, and if there was one thing Ryan knew about Chance, it was that he’d learn from this. He’d find out how the two mages had snuck in, and he’d ensure they couldn’t do it again.
Whether or not the leaders had sent the mages, they weren’t going to like whatever happened next.