Chapter 5
Nix
Levi: Hey, Nix, just wanted to let you know that I’m back.
Do you want to meet up tomorrow? I have the day off, but we could still meet at Herb’s?
I also brought all my stuff, and I think I have some clothes you might like?
No pressure, but if you’re comfortable, we can go check them out after.
Or, you know, I can bring a selection. That way you wouldn’t have to risk meeting Rhett.
I bit my lip, staring at the phone without moving a muscle.
Levi was back.
My time was officially up.
I closed my eyes as relief and dread slammed into me at the same time, stealing my breath away.
Tomorrow.
Everything will finally be over tomorrow.
There was a lump in my throat, tension creeping into my shoulders even as my body was trying to relax, torn by the conflicting feelings coursing through me.
A part of me was screaming that I was making a mistake.
That I needed to keep going. That I could push through.
Could stay hidden. That I still wasn’t safe.
Knox’s pack hadn’t given up. They were still after me, still trying to sniff me out.
I needed to keep going a bit longer. Just until the threat was gone.
But the other part of me, the part that was getting stronger and more certain, knew that the voice was my fear speaking.
The realistic part of me was painfully aware that I couldn’t keep going.
That I couldn’t push through. That I might be able to stay hidden for a while longer, but I’d be paying dearly for it. I already was.
Show no weakness.
I wasn’t showing weakness, but everyone who took more than a second to look at me could see how weak I currently was.
Nix: That sounds good. Let’s meet at Herb’s. You don’t need to bring clothes, though.
He didn’t.
Because after we met, I’d face the consequences of my actions.
Paranormals had to make their presence known upon entering claimed land. They had to ask for permission to stay. I’d broken the law. Had kept myself hidden from the local pack for months, when the first thing I should’ve done was to talk to the Alpha and beg for refuge.
There was no doubt in my mind that I’d have to pay for that offence alone.
The phone dinged in my hand, and Levi’s name flashed on the screen.
Levi: Don’t be an idiot. It’s cold as balls here. You must be freezing. Hey. Uhm… you know you can come over if you need to, okay? You can sleep on our couch. I know you have a problem with Rhett, but I’m worried about you.
I swallowed.
Levi was such a good and kind person.
And he’d probably hate me once he knew what I’d been keeping from him for months.
Nix: Don’t worry, I’m fine.
I wasn’t fine.
In fact, I was the opposite. I was so fucking unwell I didn’t even know where to start.
I stared at the wall of canvas in front of me. This tent had been my home for the last six months. My refuge. The one place I felt safe. I’d spent weeks enforcing the walls, lacing the cotton with magic, enforcing it until it’d become my fortress.
Right now, it felt like a prison. A small, windowless cell. Like the one I might be thrown into tomorrow.
I jumped up, turning my head, eyes searching for an escape. I was walled in. Caught. Trapped.
I frantically fell to my knees at the entry, fingers shaking as I unlaced the opening of the tent, just until I could pull the two pieces of canvas apart far enough to slip through.
Cold, freezing air hit me straight in the face, my breath puffing out in white clouds in front of me as I desperately tried sucking more and more oxygen into my lungs.
I am okay.
I am outside.
I can breathe.
The snow crunched under my feet as I took a couple of steps away from the tent and into the clearing. It was interesting to feel the snow compact under my feet, to hear the crackling and crunching, to feel the softness go hard.
I’d never experienced snow before. I’d spent my whole life in California. Up until I was eighteen, I’d never left the safety of the coven. I snorted. The safety of the coven. I’d never been safe there. It’d been a cage, gilded by my father, meant to keep me in, keep me hidden forever.
My existence was his greatest shame.
Oh, I’d been allowed to leave after I’d turned eighteen, but I hadn’t been free.
Not really. The first time, I’d had my own guards with me, coven members who’d tormented me with snide and cruel remarks.
Later, the packs provided security. I’d never been alone, never had a moment to myself.
And the only thing that’d kept the wolves at bay was the knowledge that my coven would come for me.
Not because they cared about me, oh no, but because they cared about the money I brought in.
Over the years, they’d become more lenient. I’d been allowed to travel to my destinations on my own, but I still hadn’t been free. There were tracking spells. Lots and lots of them. Tracking my car, tracking me, every move I made displayed on a map in Amanda’s office.
By now, the last remnants of their spells had worn off, but the wolves were still hot on my heels, lying in wait.
I sat down in the snow, the cold, fluffy flakes turning dense and wet, soaking my clothes within seconds. I didn’t care. I welcomed the cold, welcomed the way it chilled my skin, welcomed the way it fucking hurt. Because I was free. Just for a moment, for one last night.
Right now, no one knew where I was. There was no one chastising me, telling me to get inside and warm up or go back to work.
There was nothing but nature surrounding me.
Trees wherever I looked. Thick, barren underbrush, the branches harsh, speckled with thorns. The sky a dusty grey, thick with snow.
I inhaled the freezing air, tasted the crispness, and listened to the whispers of the wind, telling fantastical tales of upcoming snow.
One last night of freedom.
And tomorrow… tomorrow it’d all be gone.
Danger.
Hurt.
The barrier was screaming, the alarm shrill in my mind, sending out a warning signal, ripping me straight out of a dream, leaving me disoriented.
I blinked, but it didn’t matter if my eyes were open or closed, everything was dark, so I shut them again, focusing on the warning coursing through my body.
Someone had breached the barrier, had intruded into the pack’s territory.
The barrier kept telling me it was my territory, but it wasn’t.
I was just connected to the barrier. Had nursed it back to health, had spent hours and days and weeks weaving my magic into it, reviving old and long-dead connections to the pack lands. Had nurtured new bonds.
The pack was getting the same warning. The stronger the connection to the barrier, the louder the distress call.
What they didn’t know, couldn’t know without me actually connecting the magic inside them to the barrier, was that it was different today. The intruders weren’t enemies. They were refugees.
My eyes widened in shock as their fear washed through my body, eerily close to my own feelings. The dread. Exhaustion. The fear of stopping while knowing your body couldn’t keep going.
Fuck.
I closed my eyes again, trying to drown out those feelings and to focus on what was going on beneath. Two people, two wolves. Distressed. Injured. Full of fear and pain.
And outside… more lurking. Their intentions darker. Three, no, four of them. There was anger and a cruel satisfaction that made my stomach churn.
They thought they had the upper hand.
I didn’t know why, but they did.
My body tensed when I felt them, their presence inches away from the barrier. I wanted to keep them out; the barrier wanted to keep them out, but it couldn’t. I’d been too weak to nurture it quite enough for that—and now those two wolves on the run would pay the price.
I jumped up, reaching for my cloak, conviction settling in my body.
I needed to help. It might be the last thing I did, but dammit, I would. I would go out there and make sure they were safe. Whatever it took.
No one deserved to be hunted like that.
I wrapped the cloak around me, the thick fabric settling something inside me as I slipped on the hood.
Tonight, I wasn’t the one running. I wasn’t prey.
Tonight, I was the one protecting. Those fucking predators didn’t know what was coming.
The breach was close to me, on the north-eastern side of the barrier. A little over two miles away.
I pushed myself as I ran, lacing my steps with magic to spur me on.
My body was screaming in protest, exhaustion threatening to overwhelm me, but the barrier was screaming louder.
One of the enemies had stepped foot over it but retreated a second later.
I doubted it’d stay that way, and I didn’t know how long it’d take the pack to get there.
They were fast, but the packhouse was close to the centre of the territory. If there was no patrol close to this part of the border, it’d take them a while.
But I could be there in minutes.
The well of magic inside my chest was running dangerously low, but I still pushed myself to run faster, used the scraps to propel me forward. I flew past trees, my cloak getting caught on branches, but I kept going. Closer and closer, my steps a loud crunching in the dead of the night.
Whimpers were carried by the wind, soft, pained cries followed by loud shouts and cruel laughter.
Finally, the scene unfolded in front of me. Two shifters, both in human form, hiding behind a thick tree trunk. One of them was lying on the ground, the snow beneath him painted red. The other one kept peeking around the trunk but kept pulling his head back after a few seconds.
“Come out, you cowards!” A voice taunted, sending chills down my spine as I came to a skidding halt, crouching low behind the roots of a cedar.
The speaker was a wolf too, standing buck-ass naked in the snow as if he’d never heard the word cold before.
Next to him, two wolves were snarling, their sandy-brown fur raised, fangs gleaming in the moonlight.
“Come back, and no one has to get hurt.”
I almost laughed.