Chapter 33 Avery
AVERY
Irolled like a log, off the trail and down into the ravine where a shallow creek wound its way through the park.
Wyatt’s agonized roar sounded above me.
My spine snapped against a huge rock as I came to a stop. I sucked in a breath that wouldn’t come. I brought my tiger as close to the surface as I could, pushing all the power I possessed into my limbs.
“Avery!”
Wyatt’s panicked voice echoed above the ravine.
I rolled onto my hands and knees in the ankle-deep water. “Wyatt!” I shouted hoarsely.
“Avery!”
He appeared at the edge of the ravine a ways downstream from me, just beyond where an old footbridge arched over the creek bed. He was naked, streaked with dirt and wraith guts, and so beautiful. His eyes glowed red as he scanned the area below. I’d never seen him look so terrified.
“Wyatt! I’m over here!”
The serpent Giant tore through the trees. With a screech, it launched itself onto the footbridge and turned its unsettling void eyes on me.
Shit. I began to move, crawling my way out of the creek while every breath felt like I was being stabbed by a hundred tiny knives. My swords were still on my back. My tiger directed every ounce of power she had into healing my wounds.
I tried to stand and stumbled on the slippery rocks.
The Giant coiled. It was going to jump straight on top of me.
Move.
I slipped again and fell to my knees. My beast roared within me.
Wyatt ran for the bridge, shifting back into his bear mid-stride. He slammed into the wraith, knocking it off the other side. It thrashed and shrieked and swiped at Wyatt with its deadly tail, pulling him over the edge with it.
They landed hard in the creek bed just beyond the bridge, rolling and snarling and screeching and grappling.
My insides went cold as that sharp tail sliced straight through Wyatt’s belly, opening him up from hip to hip. He roared in agony.
“No!” I screamed, but hardly any sound came out.
My tiger cut off her healing attempts and surged all of her energy into my limbs. I pushed to my feet and ran.
Wyatt rolled sluggishly to his bear feet, blood gushing from his stomach. He dodged the Giant’s next strike, its grotesque jaw unhinged and rows of needle teeth aimed at his head.
I reached the footbridge and jumped up to grab the bottom of its iron railing, ignoring my screaming ribs and aching back. I pulled myself up and onto the bridge, and then I leapt from the railing, ripping my swords from their sheaths as I fell.
I landed on top of the wraith’s head, using my momentum to plunge both swords straight through its skull, impaling whatever foul thing functioned as its brain.
It screeched and shrieked and thrashed. I held on, my swords my only grip, but it bucked me off and sent me flying, one sword dislodging and the other still stuck in its skull.
I collided with the side of the ravine, hitting packed dirt, roots, and rocks, and then I slid back down into the creek.
Sucking in an excruciating breath, I rolled onto my hands and knees once again.
“Wyatt,” I croaked.
He wasn’t moving. His bear body lay in the creek bed, at least twenty yards from me.
The wraith had collapsed nearby, twitching, my sword still lodged in its skull, its violet glow sputtering like it was short-circuiting.
I knew better. The head was still attached. It would regenerate whatever I’d fucked up in its brain, and then it would go straight for Wyatt, who lay only a few feet away.
I tried to stand, but my legs weren’t working. My tiger was putting everything she had into healing me, and shifting from human to beast and back to human so that I could swing my sword was an expenditure of power and magic I could not currently afford.
I sheathed my blade and began to crawl.
The wraith twitched.
“Wyatt,” I called, a little louder, my voice cracking.
The bear twitched. His eyes opened.
The wraith began to curl up, winding its thick, decaying body around itself, hissing.
The bear collapsed into Wyatt the man. He groaned, his hands going to the gaping wound in his abdomen. Blood ran into the shallow water around him.
“No, Wildcat,” he shouted, his voice as hoarse as mine. “Stay back. It’s not dead.”
He’d shifted to talk to me. He was injured and depleted, having shifted too many times back and forth in the past few minutes, and now he’d be hard-pressed to pull enough energy together to shift again to heal faster. You stupid, gorgeous, infuriating man.
“Don’t worry,” I rasped. “I’m going to kill it.”
“Avery.” He shook his head, a tear leaking from his eye. “You can’t even stand, baby.”
“No,” I said, and I kept crawling.
I had to get to him before the wraith did. His bear soul was a brilliant supernova that the monster wouldn’t be able to resist.
I refused to lose Wyatt, just like I refused to lose Ian.
The wraith began to unfurl, its exposed bones scraping against the river rocks.
I crawled faster. Pain warred with the fierce will of my tiger, who was digging for everything she fucking had, pushing me to her mate.
“Avery, please,” Wyatt croaked. “I can’t watch it kill you.”
“No,” I said again, and it came out as a sob. My vision blurred. “I can’t watch it kill you either. I won’t, Wyatt.”
The wraith screeched, tossing its head violently. My sword rattled in its skull. It was loosening.
Rocks scraped my knees and hands, but I didn’t care. Wyatt tried and failed to sit up, letting out a pained shout.
My own pain had melted into throbbing numbness. There was nothing except getting to Wyatt.
He reached for me.
I tried to stand, stumbled, and fell to my knees next to him.
The wraith turned its glowing void eyes on us.
I brushed Wyatt’s hair out of his eyes with a shaky hand and kissed his forehead. “I’ve got this.”
Wyatt cupped my cheek, brushing away my tears with his thumb. “Baby, please try to shift into your tiger and get away from here. Get to the others.”
The wraith shot toward us.
My tiger’s vicious roar erupted from my mouth as I surged to my feet. I stood over Wyatt, drawing my sword.
The wraith struck, its jaw unhinged, deadly teeth aimed at my face. I jammed my sword through the roof of its open mouth, a move I’d never have attempted if I hadn’t pulled it off against a simulation in the arena once upon a time.
The wraith shrieked and flailed, and my other sword fell from its skull. I caught it before it hit the ground. I wrapped both hands around the hilt and wound up.
With everything I had, I swung my sword right at the wraith’s neck, catching it as it flung its head violently in my direction. The blade met rotten flesh and bone, the runes etched into the steel glowing softly, and sliced straight through.
The body flopped into the creek with a loud splash, and the head hit the water a second later.
I screamed.
In victory.
In rage.
In despair.
I fell to my knees again next to Wyatt. He was so pale, his teeth clenched, the red sheen of his bear pulsing in his eyes like a sputtering car engine.
“You’re such a goddess, baby,” he said softly. “I’m sorry I doubted you, but I was so fucking scared.”
“You have to hold on,” I whispered, grabbing his hand. “Please, Wyatt. Don’t leave me.”
He managed a weak smile. “I don’t deserve you.”
I shook my head. “Yes, you do. You saved me first.”
His smile grew just a little more. “I did, didn’t I?”
“And then you got yourself hurt,” I said, choking on a sob. “I’m so mad at you.”
“Good. You’re fucking hot when you’re mad at me.”
I hiccuped a laugh. “What am I going to do with you?”
“Avery!”
Relief flooded me. “Aiden!” I shouted. “Down here!”
Aiden ran out onto the footbridge, stopping dead in his tracks when he spotted us in the creek below.
He appeared to be in one piece, though he hadn’t quite gotten his uniform shirt seam closed on one side, the tails flapping as he moved.
He did have pants and boots on, and his glasses had survived the night.
“Shit,” he swore, and then he vaulted over the bridge railing and landed on light feet like the cat he was. He knelt on Wyatt’s other side and began to carefully examine his wound. “Fuck, man, what happened?”
I squeezed Wyatt’s hand. “We had a little trouble putting down that last Giant.”
“Wildcat killed that bastard,” Wyatt said, sounding drowsy. “She didn’t even have to shift. She’s hurt, though. Make sure she gets fixed.”
I shook my head vehemently. “No. Aiden, we have to get him help. He’s shifted too many times, and now he’s injured. We need to get a medic here right now.”
Aiden stripped his shirt off and pressed it to Wyatt’s wound. “We’ll get him help, Avery. I’ll try to work a few healing spells to keep him stable in the meantime.”
“Okay,” I said, sniffling, and then I gasped. “What about Ian? Have you heard anything?”
“Yes, Heath got him to Dr. Lee in the med tent, and he’s being stabilized—”
I groped for Aiden with the hand that wasn’t clutching Wyatt’s. “And you? Are you hurt?”
Aiden grabbed my hand and pressed it to his chest. “A few scratches, sweetheart. Nothing that won’t heal in a few hours.”
“And Elijah?”
“The basilisk took a few hits, but he heals very quickly. We finally managed to kill both the other L4s, and he’s still in beast form, clearing out what’s left of the wraiths. Kellan’s unit chased some this way, so with his quad’s extra help, they should have it handled.”
Wyatt gripped my hand tighter and groaned.
My pulse began to pound in my ears again. “Aiden, we have to get him to a healer. Please.”
“We will, sweetheart, I promise.” He said it confidently, but he couldn’t hide the concern weighing on his face. “Kellan already called back to base for medical support. Hank and Teegan were both pretty banged up.” He took my hand and placed it on Wyatt’s forehead. “And look, feel Wyatt’s bear.”
I did, stuffing my fear down and letting my tiger reach for the bear. He was there, simmering, weak but holding. He wasn’t fading. Not yet.
“Okay, good.” I stroked Wyatt’s hair. “You just hang on. We’ll get you help soon.”
He forced a smile for me. “Yeah, baby. Don’t worry about me.”
I tried to smile back, but I couldn’t keep my lip from trembling.
“Hey.” Aiden tilted my chin so that I was looking him right in his turquoise-ringed eyes. “I will stay right here with Wyatt and use my basic skills with medical runes. I think I can keep him stable for the time being, okay?”
I nodded and wiped my eye. “Okay.”
He swallowed, glanced up out of the ravine, and then he blew out a breath.
“But I need you to go get Heath,” he said, the fear and reluctance at the idea of us parting clear in his voice.
“We’re only about half a mile from base, and Kellan reported that the wraith activity has died down after what was a very intense early surge.
Grab Brody and get to base so you can both be with Ian while Dr. Lee works on him.
Send Heath back out here with a medic. He will move heaven and earth to bring that medic straight to Wyatt. ”
Yes. Heath would take care of everything.
Nodding, I set my shoulders and scrubbed the tears off my cheeks. My future colleagues couldn’t see me like this. “Okay. Yes, I can do that. Don’t worry. I’ll go right now.”
I stood up on shaky legs. My entire body was one giant bruise, and I was exhausted, but I was in better shape than I was earlier. Sort of. Adrenaline and the power of my beast would get me through the rest of the night.
“Please keep him alive,” I whispered.
“I will. You have my word.”
I dusted myself off—futile for my wet, mud-and-guts-caked uniform. I retrieved my other sword from where it’d fallen into the creek, sheathed it next to its sister, then climbed out of the ravine and went in search of Brody.
The part of the hiking trail where we’d faced the surge looked like someone had driven several bulldozers through it. Trees had been uprooted and tossed across the trail. Dirt, leaves, and the last remnants of wraith guts that hadn’t melted away covered everything.
Joon informed me that Elijah was still a basilisk and had disappeared into the woods, and apparently Brody had taken off for base the second the last wraith had been put down.
I didn’t blame him.
Matt the hawk was awake, in human form, and in one piece, the entire left side of his face a puffy purpling bruise. He was sitting on a felled tree, looking sullen, Andre perched next to him. Nico stood over Andre, tying a makeshift bandage around his arm.
I waved to them as I strode past, trying my best to look like a person who was not hurting all over, especially in my fucking chest at the thought of the precarious states of both Ian and Wyatt.
“Hey, Avery, where are you—”
“Can’t talk now, Kellan,” I clipped as I marched past him. Teegan’s wolf lay quietly at Kellan’s feet, a nasty wound gaping in his hip. Hank sat on the ground next to him in human form, his uniform shirt balled up and pressed to a bloody gash in his face.
Get to Ian. Find Heath. Save Wyatt.
When I entered the non-demolished section of the woods, I increased my pace, testing my body with a slow jog along the trail. It did not feel good, but at least I’d regained the strength to remain on my feet. My beast would let me sleep when I was dead.
I jogged for what felt like hours but was probably only a minute or two.
The packed dirt felt like cement under my aching feet.
The trail wound around a bend, and I reached the intersection with a wider trail.
Here, the path had been cleared so that a vehicle could traverse it, and I breathed a sigh of relief.
It would be a straight shot down that trail back to the base parking lot.
And Ian.
And Heath.
As I stepped out onto the wider trail, two Alpha wolves prowled out of the trees that lined the other side of the trail.
I froze.
Those wolves were Jared and Alex.
Cash appeared out of the woods behind them, Trent on his heels.
Wraith guts spackled their uniforms and exposed skin.
Cash had a deep laceration above his eyebrow and claw marks raked into the skin of his forearm.
Trent’s white hair was matted with dark-red blood, and he was failing to conceal a limp in his right leg. They both gripped their swords.
They surrounded me.
My tiger took me to my coldest, quietest place. I reached behind my head and slowly drew my blades.
Cash’s eyes were wild. I was used to his disdain, his hatred, his cold cruelty.
This was something different, and for the first time, I found him truly alarming.
“Finally,” he spat. “We’re going to take care of the fucking cancer that you are.”