Chapter 13 - Elias
The sound of pounding paws rushed toward me as I walked down the street. I spun on my heels, seeing Sam charging toward me in wolf form. I could smell his fear and caught the stench of blood surrounding it long before he reached me.
“What is it?” I asked as Sam shifted back to human. He had a large cut running down one arm and a slash over his forehead as he panted.
“Sand wraith,” he breathed. “Caught us on patrol.” His eyes met mine, grim and worried. “It’s stronger, Elias.”
I swore. The wraith had been quiet for a while. I should have expected it to attack soon, but I had been too preoccupied with other things. “Where?”
“Edge of town.”
“Show me the way.”
Sam didn’t move.
“We need some sort of plan. How do we kill it?” he asked. “We can’t attack it. It’s immune. Danson lunged and just went straight through it as if it wasn’t there at all.”
“We can’t,” I growled, remembering Emma’s research.
“We can hurt it, but only magic can defeat it.” Confusion flickered across Sam’s face, but before he could ask any questions, I held up my hand.
“This is an extraction mission. We just need to get them out of there. I’ll distract the wraith long enough for everyone else to get away. We’ll worry about the rest later.”
It had been several days since Emma’s discovery.
We had decided to keep the information to ourselves, at least for the time being.
We would need to tell the elders and the rest of the pack soon enough.
But we needed to go about it the right way.
And right now, I had bigger things to worry about than explaining details to Sam.
Sam didn’t look thrilled at the idea, but when he saw the expression on my face, he nodded. I threw him my keys.
“Car’s faster. You drive,” I ordered. “But we need to make a stop first.”
Sam sped us to the outskirts of town and into the desert. Explosions of sand in the distance gave away the wraith’s location. Soon enough, my ears caught the sound of snarling wolves and yelps of pain over the roar of the car’s engine. And then the wraith came into view.
It was larger than the first time, as if it had grown in power.
Swirling sand created a humanoid shape. Glowing eyes and a space for what might have been a mouth hovered where the vague shape of a head loomed.
It was surrounded by wolves, all fending it off.
Several of my men had scratches and fur matted with blood as they lunged ineffectively at the creature.
I grabbed the container at my feet, one of several in the car, and jumped out before Sam came to a full stop, racing over to the cluster. I barreled into the fray, standing in front of my men.
Those glowing eyes swiveled toward me.
“Alpha,” it hissed as its eyes locked on me. “I’ve been waiting for you.”
“Last chance to leave for good,” I snarled.
It gave a throaty, gravely chuckle. “And why would I want to leave such a bountiful area? So much despair and worry. So much to feast on.”
A snarl escaped my throat. “I warned you.”
Then I threw the bucket of water onto the wraith.
It hissed, more in annoyance than in pain, but it became more solid, firmer. Sam came with me and chucked his own bucket, as did the two others who had come with us in the car.
I shifted, letting my wolf and its rage take control. I lunged forward, claws outstretched. They sliced through the wraith’s side, creating deep gouges. It snarled in pain as clumps of wet sand flew away. It staggered. Injured, but more pissed.
I couldn’t thank Emma enough for her research.
Arguably, it had saved this entire patrol’s life.
If I hadn’t known that only magic could defeat it, I would have certainly tried to kill it.
As it was, all we could do was push it back and injure it so it would retreat for a bit, and we could make a plan.
Next to me, Sam had shifted as well, lunging forward and making his own attack. I snarled at him, jerking my head in an unmistakable order: go with the others; get out of here. I would stay behind and fend off the wraith on my own.
Sam growled and stayed put, refusing to leave my side. Stubborn ass.
I didn’t have time to argue. I spun back around to face the wraith. It watched me, head tilted with amusement as it spread a sinister grin.
It lunged toward me, hands outstretched. Not hands—claws. I dodged out of the way, but barely, stinging sand hitting my fur.
I jumped forward, driving it back as the rest of my men made their retreat. Sam moved in tandem, lunging the second I had finished my own attack, over and over again, pushing it further into the desert.
By the time I knew my men were out of harm’s way, Sam and I had managed to do serious damage—gouges in the wraith’s shoulders, arms, and side. We had done our job. We couldn’t do more without magic. With a nod at Sam, I signaled for us to fall back.
The second I was distracted, the wraith made a final parting move. With a furious snarl, it swiped out again. This time, I didn’t move fast enough as its claws raked against my flesh.
Pain erupted in my side, more agonizing than anything I had experienced before. A howl of pain pierced the air, and it took me a minute to realize that it was coming from me.
I stumbled, staggering to the side before collapsing, panting heavily. I watched through half-lidded eyes as the wraith stalked forward, that grin growing as it leered down at me.
Another loud, furious snarl echoed through the air, and Sam barreled into the wraith, knocking it to the side.
The wraith hissed, slipping to the side as Sam’s claws lashed out, missing those but not his snapping teeth as they lunged forward.
Sam clamped down on the wraith’s arm. It hissed in pain and rage as it shook its hand, dislodging it from Sam’s jaws.
It rounded back on me as I tried to stagger to my feet, its glowing eyes leering down at me.
Sam blocked his path once more, snarling and bristling as it put itself between me and the wraith. The wraith paused, looking curiously at Sam, then past him to look back at me. It bared its teeth as it gave something that might have been a gravelly laugh.
“I would tend to your alpha instead of worrying about me,” it hissed. Then, without another word, it spun on its heels and sped off, vanishing into the desert.
The instant the wraith was out of sight, Sam shifted back to human, crouching back down to look at me.
“Elias? You all right? I need you to shift so I can get a better look at this.”
I barely heard as his voice flickered in and out, but I did shift back to human. I heard a sharp intake of breath from overhead. When I angled my head to look at Sam, I saw him look as pale as a sheet.
“Is he all right?” I heard a voice ask. One of my men. Oz, I thought, but I wasn’t sure. Everything spun.
“He’s alive, but he’s hurt bad,” Sam said.
“What do we do?”
“We need to take him to the oasis,” Sam muttered.
I felt them haul me to my feet and shuffle me toward the idling SUV.
They laid me down in the back seat. The edges of my vision went blurry as I felt myself drifting in and out of consciousness.
One moment, I was in the back of the car.
Next, the car had screeched to a halt, and several hands were gingerly lifting me out, carrying me somewhere, then laying me down in water.
The sound of familiar rushing water pounded against my eardrums. Of course.
They had taken me back to town. To the oasis.
“Oh my God, Elias?” A high-pitched, panicked voice filtered through the pain.
“Emma,” I muttered, barely realizing I was saying it.
“No, it’s Rachel.” My sister’s worried face filled my vision as she stared down at me.
“He’s been asking for Emma the entire way back,” Sam said. “Can you get her? Maybe it will calm him down a bit.”
I had been asking for her? I hadn’t realized it.
Rachel hesitated, looking at me, then away, biting her lip. She didn’t want to leave me. After a moment, she gave a reluctant nod.
“You look after him,” she ordered Sam with surprising sternness.
Sam blinked in surprise, but gave his own brief jerk of his head. Satisfied, Rachel turned back to me, her eyes—looking just like Mom’s—filled with worry. Her hand went to my good shoulder and squeezed gently.
“I’ll be right back,” she mumbled. “Don’t you dare go dying while I’m gone.”
“Do my best,” I grunted, but she had already sprinted away.