Brandon pulled my hair away from my face, his eyebrows pressing together in concern. “You did…” He leaned closer, his face filling my vision. “You did it.”
I sank against him, resting my head against his chest. I looked at the crowd of people I had saved, and my heart skippeda beat. I felt Brandon’s lips press against my forehead, and I closed my eyes.
Chapter 25 - Brandon
I hoisted Jade tightly into my arms as I continued to get everyone to move out of the town. The rest of the group helped guide everyone into the woods and headed for our pack. I kept looking down at Jade, watching her chest rise and fall. I had been so scared she’d outdone herself and might have damaged her ability, but she looked peaceful rather than in pain.
“Keep going,” Asher said ahead of me, his head turned to look at Jade and me. “Is she okay?”
I nodded. “She’s limp, so I’m guessing she’s exhausted from using her power.”
“That was insane,” he said, shaking his head. “Wild. I’ve never seen anything like that. Seriously, she’s got some serious power inside her. I’ve never seen a witch possess an ability like that.”
We knew that Jade had a strong power, but this wasn’t what I expected. I could see just how badly everything was about to turn before she just seemed to let go of it all. Fire erupted and took over the space in waves. The fire moved exactly where she wanted, and it burned the hybrids alive. It was breathtaking to see what she could do.
I held her tighter, inhaling her scent as I walked. I listened to hear her heartbeat and each breath she took. She was my everything, and I almost lost it all. If she hadn’t stepped in, I don’t think I would be alive right now.
Once we were outside the smoke and danger, we all stopped to take a breath. The people looked absolutely terrified, and the children continued to cry. Everyone was looking at me, and I, in turn, looked to figure out who their Alpha was.
However, I didn’t see anyone who I could sense was strong enough for the role, which started to make me question. “Where is your Alpha?”
They were silent for a long moment before a young man spoke up. He has blood smeared on his chest and all over his arms. He didn’t look to be any older than eighteen. He had dark circles under his eyes, and he looked exhausted.
“He’s dead.”
I frowned. “You’re all sure? He’s not just out there?” I didn’t want to ask if he’d run away to save himself, but the thought had entered my mind.
The group nodded. “We watched him die. They came out of nowhere,” a woman spoke in a broken voice. “It was just another day. The town was fine. We were enjoying the decent weather. It came out of the woods and ripped him apart. We’ve never seen anything like it.”
“People tried fighting, but it didn’t stop. It just moved from one person to the next. And then there were more. We didn’t know where to go. We didn’t know what to do.”
“It all happened so fast.”
The space fell quiet again, and I inhaled slowly. So they had no leader now. The pack wasn’t large by any means, but I had figured they would have been prepared. But something told me that wasn’t entirely the story. We were missing something.
“You guys have never seen them before?” I asked. “Not even once?”
They all shook their heads. “No.”
My stomach slipped as I tried to piece things together, but then I felt Jade move slightly. I snapped my gaze to her just asher eyes started to open. She groaned softly, pulling a hand up to her face. “Oh god…”
I lowered my head closer to her, taking in her light brown eyes. She blinked a few times before her eyes landed on me. She softly smiled. “Did I fall asleep?”
I nodded. “Yeah, for a bit.”
She winced, pulling a hand up to her nose and pinching. “Sorry…”
“It’s okay, you’re awake now.”
“We should keep moving,” Asher spoke as he got up. “We still need to get back even if we are tired.”
I knew he had a point. I could continue this conversation with them when we were back at home, and I knew everyone was safe. We all started getting up, and I offered Jade a shoulder to lean on as we walked.
The walk back was tiring, and it was clear that everyone was nervous and unsure of what was going to happen. We had a lot of things we needed to discuss and figure out. As we got closer, I looked at Jade.
“Are you feeling okay?”
She nodded. “Yeah, I’m just tired. I feel like I could sleep for an entire year.”
