“We pray Mica comes through with weapons… like in the next couple of hours?”
Asher chuckles. “Yeah, that would be great, but somehow I don’t think it’s going to be that easy.”
I sigh. “Yeah, me neither.”
Twenty minutes later, the Life and Death Brigade begins to gather. Wylder eases his Jeep onto the graveled shoulder and stops behind Asher’s truck. He and Reid jump out, and I wave them over.
“Hey, are you all right?” Wylder hurries to join us and looks me over. The relief that blooms in his gaze once he assures himself I’m unharmed is super sweet.
I squeeze his hand and lean in to give him a quick kiss. “Other than being freaked out by the pull of Tharuzel thrumming inside my chest, I’m fine.”
“Is that how you ended up here?”
“That and a locator spell, yeah.”
Clara and Izzy pull up next in Izzy’s green VW bug, and then Sebastian’s black McLaren rounds the corner and crawls to the side of the road to avoid kicking up stones.
The snap of energy beside me brings S’Nark into the mix in his bat-winged gremlin form.
“Wow, dude, you look so much better.” I resist the urge to touch him. I may have cuddled him a little when he was in pain and vulnerable, but I doubt he would welcome it now.
Instead, I hold up a fist to bump. “A few days roasting in the fireplace has done you wonders. Welcome back to the land of the living.”
He leaves me hanging on the fist bump and gives me a droll stare. “What is so important that you needed to call me here? I was in the middle of terrorizing the neighbor's cat."
I’ll feel bad about that later, but right now I address the concerned gazes of the gathered group. "Tharuzel has gained enough of a presence on the physical plane that I can now sense him. We tracked him here to the old mill.”
Sebastian frowns. “Tracked him how? If the connection is strong and goes both ways, he might sense you, too. He could know we’re here, right now.”
I hold up my hands. “I considered that, but think we’re good. As soon as I realized where he was hiding, we backed up until the bond settled.”
Before he responds, Orion waves to catch our attention. “Something’s happening. Guys, come see.”
The eight of us gather on the side of the road and follow Orion’s pointed finger. A blue van has just pulled up in front ofthe old mill, and two men in black have come outside to open the doors at the back.
“What are they doing?” Clara asks.
Izzy huffs. “I can’t see. Can anyone see?”
I cast an enhanced sight spell and shift around the front of Asher’s truck to get a better vantage point. “Two men dressed in black seem to be unloading the back of the truck.”
“Unloading what?” Asher asks.
Orion lets a long growl rumble at the back of his throat. “People. It looks like Tharuzel’s minions have taken human captives.”
The memory of Tharuzel’s hunger grips at my belly. “I got the sense that he was ravenous earlier. He’s taking form, but it’s taken a lot out of him.”
Izzy gasps. “So he plans on eating people from Emberwood?”
The more I think about it, the more sure I am. “He needs strength. He’ll consume them as soon as he’s fully corporeal."
Sebastian rubs a hand over his mouth. “How many did you see?”
“Five, I think,” Orion says.
Wylder leans back against the bumper of the truck and curses. “That means that whether we have a way to battle him or not, we can’t hang back if people are being harvested.”
Clara looks at us as if we’ve lost our minds. “So, you think we should try to get them back without weapons? What about Mica? We should give her more time, shouldn’t we?”
