Chapter 6 - Hunter
The witch hunt leads us to the dark oak-pine forest, where we've gotten a lead about the woman causing chatter amongst the locals.
It's our only lead for now, and our group won't waste time sitting idly by for the warlock to wreak havoc on the humans in this town.
If we find her, she can lead us to the dark lord.
A faint light casts an orange glow in the distance between the trees, and I race forward ahead of the group.
“Found it!” I call over my shoulder, already geared up in fight mode like I was during black ops, kicking in the door. Wood snaps as the door smacks open, and I rush into the small cavity of the wooden log cabin, my feet stomping over loose floorboards.
“Hello! Anyone in here?!” I call out while I can hear the others surrounding the cabin. A quick search through every room, every possible space where the woman could be hiding, comes up empty.
“She's not in here!” I inform the others as they come through the door.
“You think she knew we were coming?” Tyler asks as he inspects the room, lifting a mug off the coffee table. “It's still warm.”
“If she did, she couldn't have gotten far,” Nicholas says as he lifts a photo frame off the ledge above the fireplace. He turns it over and shows us the picture of a young woman grinning as she stands next to the tree. “I'm guessing this is what she looks like.”
Delilah steps forward, reaching out a tentative hand toward the frame. “I might be able to see where she's gone.”
Nicholas nods as he passes the picture to Delilah, and she stiffens in that way she always does when she's having a vision.
I go to the kitchen, rinse out a glass, and fill it with water, then take it to her just as the milky-white cloudiness in her eyes dissipates and her eyes turn to their normal shade of honey-gold hazel.
She meets my steady gaze, blinking fervently as I gently press the glass of water in her hand.
“Th-thanks…” she murmurs, but this time, it's not in the tone she used earlier tonight. It's genuinely grateful, and she chugs down the water as she turns to the rest of the group waiting expectantly.
“The woman is somewhere in the woods. Running…that's what I saw…she's running, disoriented, and fearful.”
“What is she running from?” Emily asks, to which Delilah shakes her head.
“I'm not sure. I can't see further than that,” Delilah responds. “But she's somewhere in these woods; I just can't pinpoint her exact location.”
Tyler nods. “Let's spread out, then. Em, you're with Nick. Hunter, you're with D. We'll check every corner, and regroup in half an hour. Use the mind link if you find anything.”
Giving him a firm nod, I turn to Delilah, who appears anything but pleased to be paired with me. But she makes no protest, remaining tight-lipped as she places the empty glass in the sink and follows the group out.
I do the same, and Tyler points out the directions for the pairs to sweep the forest in search of the woman. Delilah and I take the south and west area, and she immediately begins trekking into the woods.
“Hey! Wait up! We're supposed to be a team!” I call out after her.
“Shh!” she breathes through her teeth as she throws a glare at me over her shoulder. “Don't be so loud,” she growls in a whisper. “We don't wanna scare her off if she's out here.”
“We can still whisper, you know? You can't keep avoiding me. I am your—”
“Yeah, I know,” she cuts me off, rolling her eyes at me. “But this marriage is fake. It means nothing.”
“We can still be friends, D,” I offer, hopeful. “You don't have to keep shunning me.”
“I'm still pissed, Hunter. You didn't have to kidnap me and force me into it.”
“I didn't force you.”
Delilah flicks a branch aside with a deliberately powerful slam, turning to me and grunting. “You didn't give me much choice.”
“You gotta admit…” I hurdle over a tree stump. “My idea was brilliant. Besides, I'm really trying to be a good friend, don't you see?”
“Giving me water is hardly an apology,” Delilah retorts.
I sigh. “Not even the gesture?”
“No, not even the gesture, Hunter. Let's just stop pretending that we can stand each other. Truth is, I—”
A sliver of flickering silver light rips through the air a few meters ahead, the source hidden behind the trees.
My wolf senses kick in, and I grab Delilah, pinning her to the closest tree.
Staring deeply into her bewildered eyes, I press a finger to my lips, prompting her to keep quiet as I nod in that direction.
The close proximity has my mind flaring with the awareness of Delilah pressed between me and the tree, but right now, my inner wolf is more focused on the heightened awareness of danger lurking close by.
I pull away from Delilah when she nods, understanding what I'm saying without having to breathe a word, and we carefully begin trekking in the direction of that lightning bolt I just saw.
Delilah follows close behind me, sticking to my shadow the way she always did when we were paired up during missions.
It was a silent agreement that she'd always be behind me, where I could protect her if anything came rushing at us.
We work in tandem, no need for words, as we grow closer to that source of energy, my inner wolf clawing at my insides, that we found what we've been looking for.
My inner wolf alerts me when my instincts snap, and I turn to Delilah just as a thunderbolt of energy surges through the air. I grab her and toss her to the ground, the flickering light passing our faces.
Delilah is shocked, pushing me off her and climbing to her feet.
“What the hell, Hunter?!” she exclaims, glaring at me furiously.
“I was saving you! That thing was coming right at you, D!”
“I don't need saving!” she yells. “I don't need protection, especially not from you!”
Before I can respond, Delilah storms off toward the source of that strange energy that zapped toward her, unafraid and courageous enough to charge in without knowing what awaits her on the other side.
Struck by her competence and courage, I follow, finding her palms facing a woman who's on her knees in front of her.
She just used her magic to snag the witch and bring her to her knees.
“She's the one who attacked us,” Delilah says as she keeps her palms facing the woman, who stares at her with pleading blue eyes. “I just cast a spell on her so she can't use her magic. Cuff her.”
I nod and follow Delilah's instructions, cuffing the woman's wrists behind her back with the pair of cuffs on my tactical vest. I stand up, meeting Delilah's milky white eyes as she wields her magic, becoming mesmerized all over again by her capabilities.
It's not the first time I'm seeing her in action, wielding her magic as the descendant of a long line of witches, but I find myself stunned all over again.
As her eyes return to their normal shade of hazel and she sends out a mind link to the others, I realize that I have no choice but to protect her, even if she tries to fight me about it.
She's a goddess in my eyes, a powerful creature unlike anything I've met, and she deserves to be served and protected.
I'll wait on her hand and foot if I must. My inner wolf demands it, the burning ache to be her protector filling my body with awareness that makes it impossible to ignore how stunning Delilah is.