Chapter 42
WISH GRANTED
MORGAN
I wasn’t wearing a seatbelt, so I jolted forward when Gary stomped on the brake. My arms sluggishly responded as I flung them up to brace myself, but my reaction was too slow. My head conked against the dashboard.
“Ouch! Gary!” I shouted at him. My words sounded slurred.
He didn’t reply. Instead, he put the car in Park, then threw open the door. He stumbled out of his seat, falling to his knees on the frost-covered gravel outside.
“Help! I’ve been bitten or cursed or…” Gary shrieked.
“Gary?” What was happening? Why did I feel so groggy? I didn’t understand any of this. “Where is Violet?”
Wait… Gary had stuck a needle in me, hadn’t he? The conniving traitor! What had he done with Violet? I fumbled for the door handle.
“Morgan?” A whisper came behind my head. A voice more precious to me than anything else in the world.
“Nelson? You’re here!”
“Shh, Little Rainbow,” he said. “Gary is working with someone. I think it might be the hunters.”
I shook my head, trying to clear the last of the drug from my system. “Did they hurt Violet?”
“I don’t know. I’ll find her, but I need you to run. Can you do that?”
“But…”
“Help is on the way, but right now, I need you to trust me.” A feather-light touch caressed my cheek. “Please. Open the door and run. I’ll get Violet, and we’ll be right behind you. Okay?”
Gary was writhing on the ground in front of what looked like an abandoned truck stop.
“I’m bleeding,” he shouted as he flailed, lifting his hand to someone. “Help me!”
I turned to see who he was shouting to.
Uh oh.
A bunch of camo-clad people were approaching the car. They held ginormous guns against their shoulders, and the muzzles were pointed at me. Things like this didn’t happen in real life. I looked around for a movie crew, but there wasn’t one.
As they neared, I realized I knew who these people were. At least two of them were the hunters from the hotel. Had Nelson planted the tracker on one of their other buddies? Otherwise, Nelson’s friends would know the hunters were here, right?
My very sneaky plan to track them wasn’t working out at all the way I’d thought it would. We were supposed to be following them to their evil lair, not the other way around.
The woman who’d stopped me in the restaurant that day, Tammy, was on the left, flanking a mean looking man. He had silver shot through his short, dull-brown hair, and a scowl on his face. On the right were another two men and an older woman.
“Uh… Nelson?”
“Go! Go now!” Nelson shouted as he somehow opened the door and pushed me out at the same time. I landed on my hands and knees with a grunt. Then I bolted for the trees at the edge of the parking lot.
“Don’t shoot him with bullets!” The older woman shouted. “That’s the one we’re here for. Use the tranqs.”
I ran faster. I didn’t slow down until I was in the trees. Nelson wanted me to keep running, but I couldn’t. My limbs still felt all Jello-like. Maybe not as wobbly as strawberry Jello, but definitely as much as orange.
I also refused to leave without him. I needed to know both he and Violet were safe.
The hunters split into three groups. The older man ran for the building, the two women trained their weapons on the car, and the two other men came running after me.
My heart galloped. My pulse pounded in my neck.
A shadow flowed out of the car before jumping into the shadow Tammy cast over the ground. Between one breath and the next, Nelson transitioned into his human form. He held a bloody needle to Tammy’s throat.
“Stop. Let him go. If you don’t, I’ll kill her,” Nelson said. He sounded so calm and relaxed.
I bit my tongue. I wanted to tell him to let her go. That he shouldn’t harm someone because of me, but if he could kill for his job—which I was sure that he had—he would definitely kill to protect me. He would do anything for me. I knew that.
Thankfully, his threat made the two coming toward me stop.
This was the perfect opportunity to get out of here, but I didn’t move. I couldn’t. Uncle Fraser had been killed because of me. I couldn’t let any harm come to Nelson or Violet.
The squeal of hinges and a cry of pain had my gaze darting over to the abandoned gas station. I gasped when one of the jerks in camo dragged Violet out by her hair. Her hands were bound behind her back, and a gag was tied over her mouth.
Her gaze bounced around the scene wildly until her eyes found mine. Even with tears running down her face, Violet looked murderous.
“Let Tammy go, asshole,” the newcomer shouted.
He shook Violet, who kicked at her assailant.
He dodged her foot, then wrenched her head back and held a revolver to her head.
“Or I’ll kill this one. Then again, maybe I don’t care.
I’d enjoy putting a hole in this bitch. She’s a pain in the fucking ass. ”
There was a long pause. Nelson’s back was to me, but I could see the way his hand flexed. Then he dropped the needle and lifted his hands in surrender. The hunters all turned their guns to my mate.
My shift shot over me in a glitter bomb. Then I pawed at the snow under my hooves. My nostrils flared as I shook out my mane. The men who’d been following me gaped.
“It’s a fucking unicorn,” one said. “Jesus.”
“How much do you think we could get for a unicorn horn?”
They wanted my horn, did they? Fantastic! Wish granted.
I dipped my head down and charged.