“Are you sure that’s their goal?” I asked, not liking that warning.
“We aren’t sure that it isn’t their goal,” the man spoke up in a raspy voice that sent a tingle of fear across my shoulders and down my back.
Nodding, I quickly dug through the bag, taking a quick inventory. They’d given me more than I ever expected, including food, and that said a lot. They would have never given up some of these things without a soul or two thrown into the mix.
I licked my lips. “Will you send a letter for me?” I asked.
“You were stupid again,” Shetz said.
Frowning, I tried not to sound offended when I said, “I’m never stupid.”
“The fact that you were able to find this village the first time you came says exactly how stupid you are,” he said. “We will send along a messenger and let them know you left here alive. It is best. I hear you are friendly with a dragon.” He shared a look with the other two. “We do not need the dragons here.”
I smirked. “So you are scared of someone.”
“Very rightly so.” Shetz nodded slowly. “Now leave. Find that village and make sure they aren’t killed.”
“How do you suggest I do that?” I asked.
“That’s your problem.” He shooed his hand at me. A man with a scaly tail and slitted eyes, dressed in a black suit, came through and waited at the door.
My escort. How nice of them.
How very nice of them.
Chapter Fifteen
Hiking sucked. I was a born and bred city girl and was proud to admit it. Days. Days of this and my love for the city settlements on the east coast grew. By my estimates, it was Tuesday evening. As long as I didn’t walk through some kind of time portal thing out here, it should have been only two days since I’d left Shetz’s village. It was a bit hard to tell. My watch and phone stopped working shortly after leaving the village, most likely through interference of all the energy and magic out here in the wild. It was almost intoxicating. Once or twice, or about every other hour, I’d been tempted to lie down and just let go, allowing Nature to consume me. I theorized Nature sensed the temptation inside of me because all too often I found spots that looked way too comfortable, just screaming for me to stop and rest.
I couldn’t do that. Not when the baddies were moving fast. There was a string between them and me, and every time I stopped to catch my breath, that string grew taut and thin, ready to snap. I didn’t know how ineffective my tracking became with distance, or if distance could make it stop working, and it wasn’t a theory I wanted to test out while I was out there.
So I pushed forward, through my pain and misery, because I did not want to be stranded with no guidance. While they were my target, they were also my lifeline. I kept magic infused in my feet to move faster, but I had to do it in spurts or risk burning myself out.
Doubt and fear became my strongest companions with each painful step I took. My feet ached down to the bone, and not even magic was helping to sooth the pain.
“How the heck did I think this was a good idea?” I grumbled to myself as I made a lame attempt to get over a fallen tree. “Go into the wild, Laila. Chase them, Laila. Find them, Laila. Don’t bother asking the others for help, Laila. No time, Laila. Need to act now, Laila. You’re going to lose them if you don’t go now, Laila.” I kept going, berating myself in a soft voice to keep my mind off the fact that I swore something was breathing down my neck and had been for the last mile or so.
My magic was tight around me still, the potions Shetz gave me working in keeping me going. But yesterday morning, I’d learned that some creatures weren’t affected by magic. The bruising on the back of my thighs proved that when they slammed into me. What they didn’t like was fire though, and their eyes had been sensitive, so when I lit up the area, they were quick to retreat, their thick leathery wings tucked into a sleek body, a puffy tail whipping around as they disappeared back into the darkness.
I glared at a tree as it leaned forward.
“Oh, no you don’t,” I snapped at it and sent a buzz of my magic out as a warning. It was enough to have the tree pop back into its original position. I glared hard at the bluish bark as I inched around the massive trunk. Something underneath the bark moved, and I shuddered.
“I don’t want to know. Nope. Not today. Another day, when I have a whole team of people to grab my stupid ass when you try to eat me.”
Refusing to give the tree my back, I walked backward a few feet until I felt safe enough to look where I was walking. Frankly, I was surprised I lived. I felt like I should have been eaten the first day.
While the thick canopy of trees made it impossible to see the sun, enough light filtered through to make it easier to see without having to use magic to keep the area lit. I didn’t need to worry about creating a spotlight on myself for any predators. The downside was that when the sun began its decline, it got a lot darker in the wild than it should have. While I would normally have had at least another three hours of light, I only had half an hour tops to prepare.
As the shadows deepened, I knew it was time to come up with a game plan for the night. Keep going or take a break, bunker down, and hope I survived until the morning. My brain told me to keep going, my body said to stop.
I decided on a compromise: keep going until I found a really good spot or until my body caved. Either one felt like a possibility at that point. Besides, I wasn’t so sure I wanted to stop yet. Everything in me told me I was being stalked, that the being doing it was intelligent and patient. I was its prey, and it had no intention of letting me go.
Suddenly, I felt like the injured gazelle in those animal documentaries Elliot had shown me recently. In it, the poor animal was stalked by a lion. The lion was going to run me down until I was exhausted and then pounce and tear out my throat.
With the little hairs on my body prickling, I moved on. The sound of rushing water and a crisp, fresh scent filled me with hope. When I came across a massive river, a grin formed. Water. Fresh, running water. Thank fuck. I kneeled onto a large, flat rock, took a handful of the stingingly cold water, and drank it. My throat tingled with relief and I spent a few minutes drinking, my body feeling revitalized naturally instead of with potions.
After a few more gulps, I paused and looked up and down the river, admonishing myself for losing so much focus. My tracker said I needed to get to the other side, but the water roared by, smashing against large rocks, cool mist dancing across my skin.
Even if the water wasn’t deep, the current looked fast enough to take me under and keep me there. The surface of the water was white and foaming, raging as it sped by. I squinted, unable to make out anything on the other side.
I’d need to teleport across but this sucker was wide. Wait… I took in the river again, the area, tried to do the exhausting math in my head. Shetz’s village had taken me about a day to reach with all the teleportation, and I normally had to suck down a potion or two to make it. I only knew about the village because one of their citizens had visited the city, mentioned the village and what it had to offer, and she was too old and exhausted to make the journey home on her own. We did up a huge potion to share minds, and I saw enough of her memories to create the path to get her there—for a ton of money. That had been a three-day journey with her tagging along.
On a normal day, I could jump on my own up to ten miles, and with the help of potions, for an infinite amount of times. Of course, afterward, I usually felt a little dead and needed a day to rest, but I could do it. By my calculations and with all the teleportation I’d done, Shetz’s village had to be about five hundred miles from Springer city. I had to teleport about fifty times before I reached the village. That was why I only made that trip twice a year, if that. It was exhausting. Worth it but exhausting.
Using magic afterward to move on, heading southwest, I’d probably moved a constant pace equal to a shifter’s speed. Not vampire fast, but shifters were super fast. Taking into consideration the little bit of rest I had al
lowed myself and the amount of potions I’d had to chug down, this river had to be it.
Oh Goddess. My eyes widened, never thinking I’d really see it.
This was the official border. The Mississippi River. The only running body of water to separate the true wild away from the few large settlements that had been built in America. I blew out a slow breath in complete disbelief as I walked onto the bank and gaped at the water. It splashed hard against the boulder beside me, violent in its nature.
I had to be staring at the Mississippi. I felt like a fricken explorer.
And on the other side was no-man’s land. I thought the wild had been a challenge up until now, but the moment I crossed over I was done for. Fear slammed into me as I tried to stare at the distant bank. I pulled on my magic to sharpen my gaze. It was a risk using magic to enhance my sight—I risked blindness—but I needed to see the other side.
“Holy fuck,” I said. Things were moving, and I felt too many eyes on me.
They were waiting.
My chest pulsed with fear and maybe a little excitement. Something about being able to go to the other side thrilled me. Across this river was the place no city-dweller should ever enter. We had a low, nearly impossible, chance of surviving. That challenge alone got my blood pumping.
But I wasn’t an idiot even if Shetz thought so. I wasn’t just going to pop myself over there in the middle of all those beings. I released the magic in my eyes and blinked a few times as my sight went blurry for a moment.
I needed a game plan. I could easily teleport over now that I’d looked, but the big question was if they’d tear me apart once I did. There wasn’t any doubt they would. No way did I come this far to become food for a beast.
A low sound rumbled through the air and my body stiffened. The low sound happened again from behind me. It was a mix between a growl and something more final, deadlier, and occurred on a different frequency than what my ears could pick up. This meant the air ricocheted with the sound and gave the impression of everything shaking even though nothing moved.
I was ready to run, but there wasn’t anywhere to go. I was in a large clearing with nowhere to hide, and I knew that anything out here could easily outrun me before I made it back to the tree line. I whirled around to face the danger, putting the river to my back.
A creature stalked toward me. The thing was a nightmarish replica of a dinosaur. Its body looked rock hard, a large horn on its deformed head and smaller ones framing its face and going down its back and tail. Its mouth was pulled back in a snarl as it stalked forward on four legs, its lips unable to cover its sharp, dangerous teeth. The creature was the color of rocks as it moved, its icy blue eyes tracking me as it inched closer.
“Easy boy,” I said, keeping my hands in front. The magic within me swirled around, ready to jump to my defense as I prepared to fight back. I had three escape plans, but none of them were favorable. I could head back the way I’d come, but there was a good chance it would backtrack and find me. I could go across the river and face the other creatures, though I had a feeling they’d be worse. I could say fuck it and jump into the water and let the current take me away, but that was a whole different danger, and with my luck, a river monster would wrap its disgusting tentacles around me and devour me.
The thing came closer with a snarl, its thick chest barely containing the strength it held in its body. With the way it moved and stalked, the beast would be fast and strong. I didn’t have a chance.
Backward, forward, or in the water.
I circled around my options.
Backward, forward, or into the water.
The creature wasn’t going to wait for me. It charged. I threw my hand out in front of me and my magic poured out. A temporary barrier surrounded me just in time to take the brunt of the creature’s charge. It stumbled back and made a noise similar to a whooshing sound. The air vibrated again as it made its displeasure known. It stalked back and forth, its focus going between the ward and me.
It geared up for another attack and lunged. I prepared for the impact with my ward, strengthening it. In the middle of its jump, a blurry figure slammed into it and the two of them tumbled away from me.
My mind needed a moment to take in what I saw. The creature rolled around with another. The new one had two barbed tails that whipped around as it fought against its opponent. My eyes trailed over a gray coat with spotted black dots. When the two attacked and it faced me, I got a good clear look at slitted yellow eyes deeply set in a face framed by a dark brown mane, two long incisors peeking out of snarling lips.
Siitha.
I gaped as my behesiff pet continued to fight the beast. I hadn’t seen my kitty in so long that I was amazed as it battled on my behalf. The behesiff was ruthless and fast, taking chunks out of the other creature and doing well to avoid the mean looking horns on its body.
After some hardcore fighting, Siitha got its teeth into the creature’s neck and tore it out. The beast tried to run away, but collapsed, its body coated with more blood than I thought could possibly fit inside its body. Siitha growled and moved so he was between me and the beast.
“I think it’s dead,” I whispered.
The behesiff growled again, as if responding to me, and moved forward, sniffing at the bloody mound. When my kitty turned to face me, I knew it really was dead. After letting the ward drop, I threw myself at Siitha, wrapping my arms around his neck and burying my face in his soft fur.
“Holy Goddess, how are you here? Why are you here?” I whispered.
He purred and rubbed against me. I squeezed him tighter.
“Thank fuck you’re here. I missed you, big guy.” I pulled away and showered him in hugs and kisses. I was about to go through another round of affection when the trees rustled and the ground shook. The air charged instantly, making my skin buzz with the excess energy. Too much in the area. My fear tried to spike, but the familiarity of it turned that fear into a swirl of anticipation.
The ground shook again as all the energy was pulled away, along with my breath, to a point within the forest before me. Siitha didn’t care as he rubbed against me and managed to knock me over.
“You’re alive.” Shanton’s familiar smoky lilt melted all the tension in my body. I couldn’t help it as he stepped out of the canopy of shadows into the little bit of light left.
Another figure stepped out next to him and my grin widened, recognizing the man. Emiel Von. He’d lived in the same apartment building as me and when the break-in into my personal lab occurred, I’d learned he worked specifically for Shanton, though none of my research had revealed that. He also did freelance work for the enforcers to make use of his mimicry gift.
“What are you doing here?” I asked.
The avian shifter nodded, flashing me a toothy smile, his penetrating dark eyes laughing. “I’m just the messenger.” He tilted his head to Shanton, and I didn’t need any prodding from him to look at the dragon.
Shanton looked delicious shirtless, with loose sweats hanging low on his hips. There was a sheen of sweat coating his chest, and I realized he’d probably flown here in dragon form. His black hair was plastered to his tanned skin and the normally reddish hue to his skin was deeper, like he was about to burst into flames at any moment.
My mouth popped open, ready to say something, anything, but I was speechless. He was the last person I’d expected to see. While I stood there like an idiot, his burning gaze traveled up and down my body as his nostrils flared. He seemed just as speechless as I was, neither of us having any words to share. Maybe he hadn’t thought he’d find me.
The behesiff broke the spell when he came to my side with a low whine. My hand automatically went to his head and scratched, my gaze unwilling to leave Shanton’s.
Goddess, I hadn’t realized how much I missed the arrogant dragon.
“You found me,” I whispered, finally saying something to him.
“Of course I did,” he said, his words more of a growl. His dragon must have been right at
the surface. There was no telling how long he’d been in dragon form and that meant he’d have trouble connecting to the human part of him right now. I had to tread carefully to not set him off. “Would you like to explain to me why you left Springer City, and on your own? Why I got a phone call from Lombardi saying you were missing? And why we found your scent entering the wild? Why didn’t you tell anyone? When did you suddenly become so fucking stupid?”
I winced at his words and tried to hide the pain they caused in me. He was furious. And rightfully so. He’d had to chase me through the wild, probably for days. As a dragon, I wasn’t worried about his safety, but if Von was with him, Von could have gotten killed and that would’ve been on me.
“Please tell me you weren’t thinking of crossing the fucking river.”
My shoulders slumped, which was answer enough. He growled and ran a hand through his hair. He shared glances with Von, who nodded. Wings popped out of his back, golden and feathery, and breathtaking. They flapped a few times before Von shot up into the air and disappeared.
“Laila.” Shanton sighed and let out a low growl. The energy around him was sharp as he fought against his instincts. I wasn’t sure I wanted to know what his instincts were telling me. With his determination to fight them, it couldn’t be for anything good. “Are you hurt?” He trained those blazing brown eyes on me.
I shook my head and licked my lips. “I’m fine.” My voice was deep when I answered.
He nodded. “Good, because you scared the shit out of us all.”
“How’d you find me?” I asked.
His anger dispersed as he grinned wickedly. “I’m a dragon, nothing gets away from us if we don’t want them to.”
I barely held back a roll of my eyes. “You smelled me, didn’t you?”
“I did,” he responded unapologetically.
Snickering, I stepped toward him, my body wanting something, but I wasn’t sure what it was.
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