Chapter 15
Chapter Fifteen
Solan drove, and Kaeli was in the back seat speaking quietly with Dove, one of the female security members. Leo was in the passenger seat, gripping the dashboard. Adam, from the back seat, cleared his throat and said, “Leo, we’ll find her.”
“It was bad enough when I thought it might just be Foley. Using her for bait or something. But Hawthorne? She could—” his voice cut off with an emotional snarl.
Solan glanced in the rearview at Kaeli. Her eyes were amber, her sage-and-honey scent hot and heavy in the cab of the truck as she wielded her magic tracking spell and told him which way to go.
Shit, he was falling hard for her. Sweet, protective badass female.
“Up here,” she said. “On the right, go slow, she’s close.” Her voice was low with a musical quality, ethereal and spooky at the same time.
Warehouses, abandoned after the company that built them went out of business years ago, sat like empty sentinels against the river. Solan stopped on the roadside near the entrance to the lot. Chains had closed the lot off to visitors, but they were broken now.
Everyone got out. Behind him, the other vehicles emptied as pack members and Mira’s dads—Auren and Rami—prepared to fight. The air smelled of stagnant water and old oil, and beneath it all, Solan could pick up the scent of humans.
A lot of them.
Foley was known to draw mercs to him with big payouts, and if he and Hawthorne were working together again, who the hell knew how many dangerous psychos were in there.
Solan grabbed Kaeli’s hand. “Glue,” he reminded her.
Her eyes darkened, the amber glowing with red undertones. “Glue.”
With quick direction from Adam, their group spread out. Solan and Kaeli stayed with Adam, Leo, Rami, and Auren, heading toward the warehouse, where a vehicle was visible from just behind it.
“Any idea how many are in there?” Rami asked in a low voice.
“Sorry, no,” Kaeli said.
“I’ll kill every damn last one who touched Mira,” Leo said with a snarl, his voice more growl than words. “Whoever’s in there, we’ll handle them.”
“Hell yes,” Auren said.
As they approached the warehouse, the front door burst open, and their surprise attack was not at all a surprise to the hate-filled humans.
“Go!” Adam shouted, giving Leo a shove. “Get your girl.”
“I’m with him,” Rami said, darting away to follow Leo around to the back of the warehouse.
Solan gave Kaeli’s hand a squeeze. “Stay close.”
“I know,” she said. She lifted her chin, her eyes shining with determination. “I’m not going anywhere without you.”
“That’s my girl.”
They met the attackers head-on. He, Adam, and Auren fought the humans who swung knives and bats at them. Solan let out his claws, swiping and defending himself and Kaeli. As they fought, a male strode out of the warehouse, a tranq rifle in his hands. Solan recognized him as Victor Hawthorne.
“You shouldn’t have come,” he taunted. “I’ll take the non-wolves for trophies, too. I’m sure you’ll fetch just as high a price as the bitch in the warehouse.”
Auren let out a furious roar from his lion and launched himself forward, narrowly missing a tranq dart.
“I’ve got this,” Kaeli said. A flaming ball shot past Solan as he grappled with a human, and it exploded in the chest of the male trying to take Solan’s head off.
The male shrieked, and Solan took the opportunity to put him down, knocking him unconscious with a swift blow and turning to fight another male. Kaeli wielded her fire magic like a pro, helping the pack and making headway toward Hawthorne, who was reloading his rifle.
He ducked as a fireball nearly hit him in the head, then lifted the rifle toward Kaeli.
“No!” Solan roared. He grabbed and swung her behind him, the tranq slicing through his shoulder but not embedding in his skin.
His whole arm went numb, and a metallic taste filled his mouth.
But he wasn’t about to let the effects of the drug make him helpless and leave his mate to protect herself without him.
Reaching for his wolf, he pulled the beast to the forefront, just on the edge of shifting.
The poison in the dart burned as pure rage clouded his vision, and all he could see was Hawthorne—lifting that damn rifle to fire again.
Someone slammed into him, and Kaeli let out a cry of alarm.
One of the humans slashed a knife toward Solan, and he twisted, caught the male’s wrist, and snapped it.
The knife clattered to the ground, and he turned, spinning the male to the side and smashing his elbow into his nose, letting him drop to the ground with a pain-filled groan.
A taser sparked nearby, but Kaeli took the male out with a fireball.
As another male came at him, he ducked under the baseball bat he swung and kicked the male’s legs out from under him.
When he rose to his feet, he saw Kaeli lift her hands, and she called his name in an utterly calm voice. “Solan.”
He turned as a wind whipped up, her hair flying and her eyes burning bright amber and red. The earth trembled under his boots, and the humans shouted in alarm. He heard the click of the tranq being loaded into the gun.
His bond with Kaeli surged inside him like a living thing, powerful and furious.
“We will end this,” she said.
Solan spun and faced Hawthorne, ready to take all the tranqs to keep Kaeli safe. It was clear he realized something had changed, because Hawthorne’s hands trembled as he lifted the rifle, taking a step backward.
Kaeli watched him sight down the barrel at her. She spoke one simple word: “No.”
Her magic rose. North answered first. The asphalt jumped under Hawthorne’s feet like something pushed up from below. Cracks raced outward from where Kaeli stood. The warehouse shuddered, windows cracking.
South was next.
The racing wind around Kaeli turned hot, the wind roaring as it built. Sparks swirled around her fingertips, and flames licked up through the cracks in the pavement.
“By the sentinels of earth and fire, I condemn you, Victor Hawthorne,” she said. “Your reign of terror ends now.”
He fired off a dart, but it fell harmlessly at her feet, stopped by her magics.
Solan felt her drawing him close, and he moved, resting his hand on her neck underneath her hair. The contact snapped something into place between them—witch and wolf together.
She spoke in the language of the ancient Wiccans.
The earth quaked hard, a high-pitched whine coming from the ground itself.
Hawthorne dropped the rifle and lurched away as the asphalt split apart, revealing the dirt and sand underneath.
Fire burst from the cracks in the pavement, and the warehouse walls seemed to buckle.
Hawthorne lost his footing as he tried to get away and landed on his knees. Roots broke through the ground and coiled around his legs. “What are you?” he shouted, digging with his fingers at the roots.
“I’m the one who’s putting a stop to your murderous ways. The earth wants vengeance for those you slaughtered in the name of greed and evil.”
She lifted her hands higher. The roots tightened on him. And then burst into flames.
He shrieked in pain.
She threw her hands wide, and the earth opened like a cavernous maw, and Victor Hawthorne fell through. The rest of the humans were dragged screaming into the hole with him.
She brought her hands back together with a loud clap, and the earth sealed back up, leaving only scorch marks behind.
The wind and quakes stopped, and Kaeli sagged against him.
Leo rushed from the warehouse with Mira in his arms, his father-in-law Rami at his back. Solan held Kaeli close, his heart pounding.
“Nightling?” he asked.
“I’m okay. Drained. Are you hurt?” Her voice was a whisper, as if it took all her remaining strength to speak.
“I’m good.”
The pack joined them, everyone checking on everyone else, a victory cry rising up from their people.
“You really sent that asshole to the depths of the earth, yeah?” Adam asked, hands on his hips, as he surveyed the lot. Most of the humans who had attacked them had been taken by the earth, but a few had fled, and one was captured, held by Dove and Linus.
“He was too evil. The ones the earth took were evil, too. The judgment was just and righteous. If they were beyond redemption, too dark and corrupted, the earth took her vengeance,” Kaeli said.
“What about this guy?” Adam asked, looking at the bloodied male on his knees.
“Not fully corrupt,” she said.
“Then he’ll happily tell us where Foley is. Because he sure as hell wasn’t here,” Adam said, cracking his knuckles.
“I’m going to get Kaeli to the truck before she passes out,” Solan said.
“I won’t pass out until we’re back home,” she said, her chin jutting in determination.
“It’s okay if you do,” he said. He swung her up in his arms. Leo joined him, Mira dirty but seemingly unharmed. “You two okay?”
“I thought the damn warehouse was going to come down on us for a minute there. But hell yes, we’re okay. Right, baby?” Leo asked.
“I’m safe with you. Yes,” Mira said. “And Kaeli wasn’t going to let the warehouse come down on us. Her magic protects those who need it.”
“Damn straight,” Kaeli said. She rested her head on Solan’s shoulder, and he let out a breath he hadn’t realized he’d been holding.
“I could have lost you,” he said. He opened the passenger door and set her on the seat as Leo got into the back seat with Mira.
“You didn’t,” she said. Her eyes were back to the beautiful green he adored.
She put her hands on his cheeks, and he felt a surge of power, healing the minor aches he had from battle.
“Baby, don’t waste your energy on me. You did so much already; a few cuts and bruises are worth it to keep you safe. ”
“You saved me,” she said. “That dart was coming right for me. But without you, my powers couldn’t have done what they did. Thank you for being my mate and the light of my life. My anchor.”
“I would stand in front of any danger for you, Kaeli. My Nightling.”
He kissed her forehead and breathed in her sweet scent, then stepped back while she healed Mira and Leo, before she finally passed out.
“Thank you for fighting with me,” Leo said. “Both of you.”
“I’ll tell her when she wakes up,” Solan said, smiling. “But we’re family, Leo. I would fight by your side any time.”
“Me too.”
They bumped fists, and Solan shut the door on his sleeping mate, then waited for Adam to interrogate the male and hopefully find out where Foley was holed up. He was the last dangerous thing the wolves were facing, and for the good of the pack, he needed to go.
He glanced at Kaeli asleep in the truck, thankful she was safe.