“Blake’s men have been quietly thinning our numbers. Families. Cubs. More than a hundred gone since we left New York.”
“Bloody hell,” Luke swore from the back.
“It won’t end there. With the call for help we made, many more will die today.” I turned to look back at Bethi.
She leaned against Luke. Because of her high emotions, we’d already had to stop once for Isabelle and Carlos to spar. I knew this news wouldn’t help calm her, but they all needed to know.
“You can’t let them win,” I said.
Bethi snorted and sat up straight. “To save the world, yes we can. We don’t want to. We want to stop him. But, if he tries to wipe out all werewolves, there’s no chance for balance; and the world will burn.”
Isabelle reached over and grabbed Bethi’s hand.
“We’ll just need to make the Judgement before the Urbat get there. You keep visualizing your emotions trapped in a small steel box, and I’ll keep visualizing all the ways I’m going to kick Luke’s ass when we stop next.”
Luke made an annoyed sound.
“Sounds good to me,” Bethi said. She snuggled into Luke’s side and closed her eyes. The scent of her worry immediately faded.
Twenty-Two
ISABELLE…
I itched to hit something. Bethi tried, but she sucked at holding back everything just as much as I sucked at not soaking everything up like a sponge. Deep breathing didn’t help. Focusing on Carlos in my head like a cute creeper didn’t help.
“Do you think the trunk’s air tight?” I asked after Bethi fell into one of her twitchy sleeps.
“You are not putting my Mate in the trunk,” Luke said crisply.
“Well, I’m trying to think of something because I need to stop again and at this rate, we’ll get there tomorrow.”
The car immediately started to slow.
“You should have said something,” Carlos said.
“Babe, I’m not going to whine every time I get the itch.”
“Your nose is bleeding. It’s not an itch.”
I swiped at my nose and rolled my eyes at the blood there. As soon as the car came to a stop, I got out and started walking.
“Be back in a minute,” I called over my shoulder. Disappearing into the trees, I kept going until I thought I had walked far enough. Then I looked up into the branches.
“If there’s any critters up there, you better run now.”
A horn echoed faintly in the distance.
“Yeah, yeah. I know. We’re on a schedule.”
I closed my eyes and tried to stop worrying about the squirrels.
“Funny. We’re on a schedule, too,” a male voice said.
I opened my eyes and found myself surrounded by twelve grinning idiots.
“Looks like you ran into a door,” one said.
I didn’t mess around. I exhaled what I had, inhaled what they tried to keep and pushed it all out again in less than a second. The effect was like a mini nuclear explosion. The first wave started the Urbat falling to their knees, the second wave knocked them backward off their feet. They all lay in a circle around me, their sightless eyes staring up at the sun speckled canopy.
