“I didn't force you.”
Delilah flicks a branch aside with a deliberately powerful slam, turning to me and grunting. “You didn't give me much choice.”
“You gotta admit…” I hurdle over a tree stump. “My idea was brilliant. Besides, I'm really trying to be a good friend, don't you see?”
“Giving me water is hardly an apology,” Delilah retorts.
I sigh. “Not even the gesture?”
“No, not even the gesture, Hunter. Let's just stop pretending that we can stand each other. Truth is, I—”
A sliver of flickering silver light rips through the air a few meters ahead, the source hidden behind the trees. My wolf senses kick in, and I grab Delilah, pinning her to the closest tree.Staring deeply into her bewildered eyes, I press a finger to my lips, prompting her to keep quiet as I nod in that direction.
The close proximity has my mind flaring with the awareness of Delilah pressed between me and the tree, but right now, my inner wolf is more focused on the heightened awareness of danger lurking close by. I pull away from Delilah when she nods, understanding what I'm saying without having to breathe a word, and we carefully begin trekking in the direction of that lightning bolt I just saw.
Delilah follows close behind me, sticking to my shadow the way she always did when we were paired up during missions. It was a silent agreement that she'd always be behind me, where I could protect her if anything came rushing at us. We work in tandem, no need for words, as we grow closer to that source of energy, my inner wolf clawing at my insides, that we found what we've been looking for.
My inner wolf alerts me when my instincts snap, and I turn to Delilah just as a thunderbolt of energy surges through the air. I grab her and toss her to the ground, the flickering light passing our faces.
Delilah is shocked, pushing me off her and climbing to her feet.
“What the hell, Hunter?!” she exclaims, glaring at me furiously.
“I was saving you! That thing was coming right at you, D!”
“I don't need saving!” she yells. “I don't need protection, especially not from you!”
Before I can respond, Delilah storms off toward the source of that strange energy that zapped toward her, unafraid and courageous enough to charge in without knowing whatawaits her on the other side. Struck by her competence and courage, I follow, finding her palms facing a woman who's on her knees in front of her.
She just used her magic to snag the witch and bring her to her knees.
“She's the one who attacked us,” Delilah says as she keeps her palms facing the woman, who stares at her with pleading blue eyes. “I just cast a spell on her so she can't use her magic. Cuff her.”
I nod and follow Delilah's instructions, cuffing the woman's wrists behind her back with the pair of cuffs on my tactical vest. I stand up, meeting Delilah's milky white eyes as she wields her magic, becoming mesmerized all over again by her capabilities.
It's not the first time I'm seeing her in action, wielding her magic as the descendant of a long line of witches, but I find myself stunned all over again. As her eyes return to their normal shade of hazel and she sends out a mind link to the others, I realize that I have no choice but to protect her, even if she tries to fight me about it.
She's a goddess in my eyes, a powerful creature unlike anything I've met, and she deserves to be served and protected. I'll wait on her hand and foot if I must. My inner wolf demands it, the burning ache to be her protector filling my body with awareness that makes it impossible to ignore how stunning Delilah is.
Chapter 7 - Delilah
I don't take my eyes off the target, the witch who attacked us, even as we trek back to Portland.
Now that she's incapable of using her magic because of the spell I cast on her, and with her hands cuffed behind her back, none of us are in danger. Hunter keeps close watch of her, too, walking beside her as we make our way to Tyler's territory.
I have so many questions, but my intuition tells me that the witch is linked to the dark warlock who's been after us ever since the mutated rogue came for Arianna and Tyler's son. That's why Arianna had that vision of the dark warlock in Oakland, and why we found this witch there, attacking us.
Halfway to Portland, the silence is so thick that it can be cut with a knife; the only sounds around us are our shoes crunching dead leaves on the ground and kicking loose stones. It's unnerving, and the second Hunter glances at me over his shoulder, I'm spurred into action as if it's a silent instruction.
There was once a time when we worked so well together that a single glance was all it took for us to deliver instructions to each other. I sense that he knows what I want to do, what Ineedto do, because it's gnawing at me.
I take a few quicker strides to his side, swapping places with him and taking a turn to walk beside the witch. She glances at me nervously, her bottom lip pulsing with a tremor that extends from the fearful look in her eyes.
“Why did you attack us?” I ask flatly, maintaining my composure despite her frightened expression. I know that feeling all too well—being afraid of the unknown.
That's the only thing I can resonate with when I've been afraid of my fate ever since retiring from black ops and going home.
“I didn't…” the woman murmurs before she stumbles on a rock. I catch her and steady her on her feet, when she looks up at me with doe eyes that are full of gratitude. “Thank you.”
