He smelled the enemy wolf the second before he saw it.
The gray-furred creature jumped into the parking lot, tilted his head back, and howled out a warning that was abruptly cut off by Delainey lobbing a ball of magic right at him. The sphere of crackling energy hit the wolf square in the chest and sent him tumbling backward across the asphalt with a yelp that ended in a wet, choking gurgle.
She grinned at Reece, feral and bright, her eyes glowing with residual power. "I think that's our cue to go."
Chapter
Thirty-Seven
Elise was trying notto panic.
It wasn't working.
She really didn't want to die. She definitely didn't want Nico to die, but the bonds holding them in place wouldn't budge. Neither she nor Nico had a knife to cut through them. Just because the bonds were spelled against using magic didn't mean that they couldn't be cut the human way. But she didn't have anything that would work, and she couldn't use her teeth to do it.
She was stuck and waiting for the death knell that would come at midnight.
She had considered Austin's offer of sending on any last words to the coven and was trying to come up with a really good curse she could level on him at that last minute. Even if he had something that dampened her magic, she wanted him to live with the threat of it for the rest of his life—his hopefully short life.
But anticipation was only making her panic more. She had to think about something else, something that had been pricking at her curiosity for days and that she hadn't allowed herself to truly contemplate.
There was no time like the present because it was very possible that she would never get another opportunity to ask.
"This 'mate' thing …" She turned her head toward Nico as much as the ropes would allow. "What's that about? You keep using that word. Is it just the werewolf word for girlfriend or does it mean something more?"
Elise had just confessed that she loved him. It shouldn't have been so absolutely terrifying to ask that question, as if it might reveal far more than she was ready to hear, but she hadn't run away from him yet. So maybe she was brave enough. And it wasn't like she could escape right now.
Nico found her hand and squeezed it.
"It's—" He was cut off by the sounds of wolves howling in the distance. The howls bounced off metal and concrete, making it impossible to tell how close they were. Howling turned into pained yelps and human screams.
Whatever he was going to say went right out the window. They both started tugging even harder at their bonds. The ropes bit deeper into her wrists, but she twisted and pulled anyway, ignoring the hot sting of the burns. Something was happening, and Elise hoped it was the rescue squad coming to get them, but she wasn't willing to bet her life on it.
She spotted a rusty nail sticking out from the pallet next to her and managed to get onto her knees. She started working the ropes against it. The nail's rough edge caught on the fibers, and she sawed back and forth franticly, feeling the first threads begin to separate. She let out a sound of triumph. The rope rubbed against her wrist, and the skin was raw underneath, but she put that pain out of her mind.
If she could get free, she could get Nico free. Or at least give him access to the nail.
Now he was looking for a nail of his own, running his hand over the pallet closest to him.
The door at the end of the pathway opened. Elise found herself flattened to the ground as Nico threw himself on top of her, shielding her body from whatever threat was coming their way. His weight pressed her into the cold concrete, and she could feel his heart hammering against her shoulder blade.
"Take that, you furry motherfucker!" Delainey's voice rang out through the warehouse.
For the first time since waking up, Elise let herself feel hope. She pushed Nico off of her and saw Delainey and Aya running beside two wolves. When had that happened?
The last conversation she had, her coven had been calling them "mangy animals," and the last thing Elise had ever expected to see was them working together. Reece was running beside Delainey, and Javi was taking up the rear.
"Hold them off," Delainey shouted to Aya and Javi, who took up posts right in front of the door. She and Reece knelt in front of Elise and Nico.
"Are you okay?" Delainey grabbed Elise's shoulders, eyes scanning her for injuries. As she picked at the rope, she sent a burst of magic into it and cursed when it rebounded back onto her. The spell ricocheted with a spark, and Delainey jerked her hand back, shaking out her fingers.
"They're enchanted," Elise managed to get out.
"No shit," was Delainey's response. She pulled a switchblade out of her back pocket and flicked it open with a practiced snap. She sawed at the ropes as quickly as she could. Then she made quick work of the ropes at Elise's feet and got her to stand just as Reece was doing the same thing to Nico. Elise's legs wobbled as blood rushed back into her cramped muscles, pins and needles shooting through her calves.
"Okay, come on, we have to go."
How, Elise was trying to ask, but Delainey was leading them back towards Aya, who was maintaining a magical barrier in thedoorway, and Javi, who was in his half-shifted form, claws and teeth at the ready to fight anyone who got close.
