“Healers. Jewel, to be specific. Whatever is going on with her, it’s getting worse.”
Jen narrowed her eyes and looked at the healer. “Now that Cain is taken care of, I’m sure Fane will help Dalton figure out what’s going on with Jewel, and they’ll fix it. No matter what she might have gotten herself into, we won’t give up until she’s safe.”
Stella looked into Jen’s eyes. Jen knew she’d see nothing but truth. “I know. I just feel like she’s been through enough, ya know?”
“We don’t get to pick the number of trials we face or the difficulty of those trials. All we can do is lean on the Great Luna, and friends and family, and keep putting one foot in front of the other. When we get through it, we always come out stronger and wiser on the other side.”
Stella’s eyes widened. “Wiser?”
Jen laughed and gently shoved her. “Shut up. You didn’t know me a few years ago. I’ve come a long way.”
Stella chuckled. “If you say so. I’ll take your word for it.”
“Okay, people.” Maxim’s deep voice filled the room. “With the twenty-two in our pack and the six I brought with me, there are twenty-eight of us.” He looked at Adam, “How many can you take?”
“Just gotta have a hand on me or be holding the hand of someone that is touching me. I wouldn’t recommend having long extensions of people holding hands though,” Adam explained. “If they let go, I have no way of controlling where they go. There’s no telling where they could end up.”
“Okay,” Maxim agreed. “Then let’s keep it to direct contact to Adam. Where to first?”
Adam looked at his phone, his finger sliding across the screen and his eyes moving as he read whatever was on it. “Oklahoma City seems to have the highest amount of deaths and disappearances, from what I can tell.” Adam continued to look at his screen. “It’s the one that has the most headlines.”
“The OC it is.” Jen grabbed Dec’s hand and then placed her other hand on Adam’s shoulder.
“I can put a cloak around us,” Adam said, “but since I’m the only fae, I can’t guarantee it won’t slip a bit when I’m focused on fighting.”
“We’ll try and keep you covered so you can focus on the shield,” Decebel said.
Jen patted Adam when his face fell. “Don’t be sad. You’ll have another chance to beat my kill rate.”
“You suck,” Adam grumbled.
“Don’t say it, Jennifer.” Decebel’s voice was calm, but the tension through the bond told her she should probably at least try to behave for a little while.
They flashed and reappeared on a street corner with a light shining above them. It was dark, seeing as how it was nighttime in the US.
“Be right back.” Adam flashed again to get the others. After three total trips, they had their whole group together. The fae spoke in his language, his hands raised, and a moment later he said, “It’s done.”
Decebel took a deep breath, and Jen did the same thing. It was faint, but she smelled it. Blood. Her head snapped to the side. “That way.” As one they turned and started off at a lope. Jen’s eyes moved from side to side and then up to make sure there was no threat on top of the buildings. She knew her mate, who was way more experienced at battle than she was, was keeping tabs on everything around them and doing a better job than her. But Jen improved with each fight and every hunt.
It didn’t take them long to come up on the source of the blood. Five males were taking turns on a guy in the middle of their circle. Several bodies were already lying on the ground, discarded and forgotten. They’d push the guy from one to the other, each taking bites and feeding, then giving him to someoneelse. The man could barely stand, and he didn’t seem to have the strength to make a sound, or perhaps his throat no longer worked.
“Dec,” Jen whispered softly. She couldn’t stand here any longer and watch these monsters play with a human like a cat with a mouse.
Dec held up his hand, and Jen knew it meant for all of them to stay put. He moved fast, and surprise was on his side. Within a few seconds, each vampire’s neck was broken, and they’d dropped to the ground like a bag of rocks.
Alice sucked in a breath and Jen turned to look at her. “You good, Doc?”
“He’s fast.”
“He’s the beta of the strongest alpha ever. He can draw on Fane’s strength,” Jen explained. “He was badass before he had that, but now his already lethal abilities are magnified.”
“All of the wolves that belong to Fane’s pack are affected this way?”
“To a degree,” Jen answered. “Those that are closest to him and his most dominant are affected more.”
“Their heads need to be removed. They need to be burned.”
Jen smiled at Decebel, and her eyebrows bounced up and down. “I’m up.” And she turned and jogged toward her mate.
