Grace bobbed her head. “Yeah! Her name is Annie. I shared my animal crackers with her, and she gave me half her cookie.”
I couldn’t help but grin. I missed when friendships were that simple.
“That’s great, sweetie. And how are you feeling after last night?”
Grace yawned. “A little sleepy. But I’m okay!” Her brow furrowed as she leaned to look around me at the table. “What are all the books for?”
“Elias and I were just doing a bit of research into…the town. Isn’t that right, Eli—”
I turned, but Elias was already gone.
Chapter 13 - Elias
The sound of pounding paws rushed toward me as I walked down the street. I spun on my heels, seeing Sam charging toward me in wolf form. I could smell his fear and caught the stench of blood surrounding it long before he reached me.
“What is it?” I asked as Sam shifted back to human. He had a large cut running down one arm and a slash over his forehead as he panted.
“Sand wraith,” he breathed. “Caught us on patrol.” His eyes met mine, grim and worried. “It’s stronger, Elias.”
I swore. The wraith had been quiet for a while. I should have expected it to attack soon, but I had been too preoccupied with other things. “Where?”
“Edge of town.”
“Show me the way.”
Sam didn’t move.
“We need some sort of plan. How do we kill it?” he asked. “We can’t attack it. It’s immune. Danson lunged and just went straight through it as if it wasn’t there at all.”
“We can’t,” I growled, remembering Emma’s research. “We can hurt it, but only magic can defeat it.” Confusion flickered across Sam’s face, but before he could ask any questions, I held up my hand. “This is an extraction mission. We just need to get them out of there. I’ll distract the wraith long enough for everyone else to get away. We’ll worry about the rest later.”
It had been several days since Emma’s discovery. We had decided to keep the information to ourselves, at least for the time being. We would need to tell the elders and the rest ofthe pack soon enough. But we needed to go about it the right way. And right now, I had bigger things to worry about than explaining details to Sam.
Sam didn’t look thrilled at the idea, but when he saw the expression on my face, he nodded. I threw him my keys.
“Car’s faster. You drive,” I ordered. “But we need to make a stop first.”
Sam sped us to the outskirts of town and into the desert. Explosions of sand in the distance gave away the wraith’s location. Soon enough, my ears caught the sound of snarling wolves and yelps of pain over the roar of the car’s engine. And then the wraith came into view.
It was larger than the first time, as if it had grown in power. Swirling sand created a humanoid shape. Glowing eyes and a space for what might have been a mouth hovered where the vague shape of a head loomed. It was surrounded by wolves, all fending it off. Several of my men had scratches and fur matted with blood as they lunged ineffectively at the creature.
I grabbed the container at my feet, one of several in the car, and jumped out before Sam came to a full stop, racing over to the cluster. I barreled into the fray, standing in front of my men.
Those glowing eyes swiveled toward me.
“Alpha,” it hissed as its eyes locked on me. “I’ve been waiting for you.”
“Last chance to leave for good,” I snarled.
It gave a throaty, gravely chuckle. “And why would I want to leave such a bountiful area? So much despair and worry. So much to feast on.”
A snarl escaped my throat. “I warned you.”
Then I threw the bucket of water onto the wraith.
It hissed, more in annoyance than in pain, but it became more solid, firmer. Sam came with me and chucked his own bucket, as did the two others who had come with us in the car.
I shifted, letting my wolf and its rage take control. I lunged forward, claws outstretched. They sliced through the wraith’s side, creating deep gouges. It snarled in pain as clumps of wet sand flew away. It staggered. Injured, but more pissed.
