“It’s done!” Caitlin shouted. “Hide her again!”
Sameen’s chest stuttered, each breath harder than the last. Her body was too weak. Too battered. Had it been enough? Peter’s wolf faded into darkness, and silence wrapped her in a warm blanket. One she wasn’t sure she’d be able to escape again.
Chapter Thirteen
Peter
His mate wasn’t moving. Sameen lay in the center of the circle, her eyes closed, and her heartbeat so faint, his wolf could barely hear it.
Sprinting to her side, he ran his lupine nose along her neck, begging her to wake up. Eli knelt next to her, and Peter growled a warning when the practitioner touched her.
“Easy, mate. If I don’t cast another protection spell, the Thirteen are going to find her.”
He couldn’t shift back until he knew they were all safe, but fuck, he had to hold her. Laying down next to her, he rested his head on her shoulder.
Eli called all the elements to him, twisting them into a new golden halo he laid over Sameen’s side. She shuddered and let out a little whimper.
Peter gave an inquisitive yip, and Eli nodded. “They won’t be able to use the sigil against her. Shift and let’s get her back to the house. Caitlin? Did the locator charm work?”
“Yes. Mara’s northwest of here. Not close. If I had to guess, she’s on the Isle of Skye.”
Peter let the shift rush over him. The pain took his breath away, but he didn’t care. He needed his arms to hold her, and more than anything else, he needed her to hear his voice. Naked and panting, he clawed his way over to his mate and touched her cheek. “Sameen? Can you hear me?”
Her lids fluttered, but she didn’t answer him.
“When are we leaving?” Cade asked. “We have to go get Mara. How far is the Isle of Skye?”
Regulus pulled a phone from his pocket, and his fingers flew over the screen. As Peter gathered Sameen into his arms, the vampire nodded. “The plane will be fueled and ready to go in two hours. The flight will take an additional sixty-five minutes. Two SUVs will be at the airstrip when we land.”
“Ya’ did all of that in the time it took us to shift?” Farren huffed. “Ya’ might be helpful to have around, vampire.”
Sameen still hadn’t moved, and Peter struggled to his feet, ignoring the pain shooting from his shoulder all the way down to his hip. “If Sameen doesn’t wake up in two hours, I have to stay with her.”
“Everyone goes.” Cade tugged on his jeans. “We need her, Peter. She knows the Thirteen like no one else.”
“Cade—”
“Watch what you say next, asshole. My mate’s out there.”
“And mine is right here!”
“Peter?” Sameen’s whisper calmed him like nothing else ever could. “What happened? Did it work?”
“It worked, sweetheart.”
His mate settled in his arms, resting her head on his shoulder. “Okay. Good. Not doing that again.”
Hell no, she wasn’t. Peter was going to protect her for the rest of his life and no one was going to use her for that fucking sigil on her side ever again.
“Might I suggest we get back to the mansion?” Regulus said. “We are exposed here, even with the castings the practitioner’s son performed.”
The group surrounded Peter and Sameen until they passed through the wards Regulus had commissioned many years before to hide his home from any and all magic.
Farren led the way, and when she opened the heavy wooden doors that led into the house, she stopped short. “Where in the bloody hell have ya’ been, ya’ daft bastard?”
Regulus moved so quickly, Peter only saw a black-clad blur, and the vampire grabbed the old man, fisted his white hair, and bent his head to one side.
“Stop!” Farren shouted. “That’s Paddy. He’s with us.”
