And met resistance, but not the kind they expected.
The heartless mage was back on his feet, the room showing through the gaping hole in his chest, but he was past caring.He hit them like a freight train, pushing them back into the crevasse, his vocal cords sounding an unholy screech that seemed to surprise them more than the fact that he was dead.But they would soon recover, and an already damaged body would not last.
“Go!”I told the girls, who crowded into the crack in the rock, dragging Lee along with them, and a shield harder than the rock surrounding it slammed into place behind them.
But something did not leave.Sophie’s Cat regarded me out of squinted eyes.Unsure what I was, but willing to find out.
“Shall we buy them time?”I asked.
And I swear the Cat smiled.
Chapter Thirty
Iknocked on the RV’s door.“Can I come in?”
It opened, and Jason looked out and then down.The red manbun quivered slightly, and the pale skin flushed.“Damn it.”
I raised an eyebrow.
“I don’t know.Can you?”Noah asked dourly, looking out of the window from a perch on the sofa inside, and probably referencing the fact that I hadn’t yet made it up the stairs.They looked… kind of tall… and I’d barely managed to shuffle over here from my chaise, where I’d been napping in the sun for a couple of hours.
And wished I still was, only I had things to do.
“Damn it!”Jason said again when I just stood there, and then he grabbed me under the armpits.“Get in here before Cyrus sees!”
“Would that be bad?”I asked as I was hauled inside.
I hadn’t been in there before, as the RV was a recent acquisition, not that you could tell.The bones were good, all sleek white leather with black and chrome accents, but otherwise it screamed boy dorm, with what looked like an entire basket of laundry thrown around, a gaming system set up under the big, flat-screen TV, and the new-car smell seriously challenged by wolf musk.But at least with the pool’s help, the guys were clean.
I wondered if that was why Cyrus had gotten it.
“We’re supposed to leave you alone,” Andy informed me.He was sitting at the table with Chayton, Luis, and three illegal beers, because none of them was of age, although with their metabolisms, it might as well have been juice.
He got up to offer me one from the full-sized fridge that this behemoth came equipped with, but I shook my head.“Already had one.”
“Yeah, but you know, it doesn’t hurt to have a backup.”
I raised another eyebrow, but he didn’t explain.I was deposited on the sofa, where Noah moved his leg to make room for me.“I can sit at the table,” I offered, only to have him scowl.
“I’m not an invalid!”
“What would you call it, then?”Luis asked.
Noah switched the scowl to him, but it was a valid question.I hadn’t noticed in the dimly lit hall, but with the sun streaming through the big window behind the sofa, it was obvious.Noah looked worse than me.
His face was pasty white, his eyes had dark circles underneath, and he had bandages on his hands, face, neck, and even the feet poking out of a loose pair of sweatpants.Not to mention the leg, which was in a cast that stretched all the way to his hip.And that was after almost a week, when Weres usually healed broken bones in a few days.
The only bright spot was that the clan had found time to decorate the cast, and I could guess just from the handwriting who had done what.Kimmie’s message was the biggest, with a huge heart over the knee surrounded by flowers and “Get well soon, you furry idiot,” written in the center.Jen’s was a gentle tease in a glittery gel pen, “Cause of injury: overconfidence,” and Sophie’s was a checklist:
? Healed
? Still hot
? Lesson learned.
The boys weren’t so kind, with a variety of disses that ran the gamut from “Needs Professional Grooming” and “Who’s a good boy?Not you,” to “Do Not Pet (He Bites)” and “Broke it trying to be cool,” while someone else had just written BRUH.Cyrus had sketched a small, cartoon wolf howling dramatically with the same tiny cast and the promise “We’ll run slow,” underneath.And Aki had written “Stay wild, heal fast” inside a paw print.
The best was Dimas’s, though, which was a beautiful full-color forest scene that covered the entire calf.A tiny buff-colored wolf sat on an outcropping of rock, baying at a pale moon.It was hauntingly lovely, and looked like a professional artist had done it, and must have taken hours.
