‘Not cool. I don’t like this dude anymore,’Jaxon told me.
I smiled.‘He’s keeping yourgirlfriend from feeling pain. You better like him.’
I could feel Jaxon’s butt-hurt feelingsthrough our twin bond and it actually felt nice. I felt normal for one momentin this crazy day.
Nahuel was done quickly and had bandagedAvery in record time. With one snap of his fingers she was moving again.
Shock registered on her face and then shewinced in pain before turning to look in the mirror. “Hey … it’s done? What?”
Nahuel just nodded and Avery looked at meas if asking, ‘How much weirder can your shaman get?’ I just shrugged. I didn’thold the answer to that question.
“All right, pack your stuff and I willtake you to some friends for the night. Then tomorrow you’re on your own. Iwill stay a day behind you and make sure I can’t hunt your trail. Because if Ican, he can.”
I swallowed hard. “My dad said peoplewere storming the mountain. We need to get back to Portland to help.”
A look passed over Nahuel’s face. “I mustinsist you meet my friends first. If you still want to go on to Portland then …”He held his arms wide as if to say, ‘So be it.’
I knew Nahuel long enough to know that hewouldn’t insist something unless he thought it was for the betterment of my well-being,so I just nodded. I wasn’t sure how much help the four of us were to my fatheranyway but I couldn’t stand not doing anything, so after meeting this friend,we would speed to Portland and help in any way we could.
“Is it on the way?” I didn’t want to goany deeper into Canada when I really just needed to get to Portland in sixhours and help my dad protect the mountain. Screw my mother’s visions. I wasn’tletting our family get kidnapped and slaughtered while I hid like a coward.
Nahuel simply nodded and that was that.We had cut off our marks and now we were about to be on the run from the Skin Walker.What we were running into, I had no idea.
Chapter Five
NAHUEL HAD FOLLOWED us in his red truckand Jaxon, Avery, Gavin, Mason, and myself were all piled in the Range Rover.We had driven down from Canada into Washington and were now near Tacoma, justoutside of Seattle. Nahuel had pulled us up to a huge private gated entranceand was now speaking into a speaker box.
“Who are these friends of his?” Jaxonspoke up from the driver’s side, his hands gripped the wheel nervously.
I shrugged. “No idea, but they sure dolook well-funded.”
The mansion before me was fit for acelebrity. Sitting high on the hilltop with one of those windy tree-lineddriveways you saw in movies. Whoever these people were, they had connections. Aftera moment, the gate opened wide and Nahuel drove his truck on through. Jaxonlooked at me with apprehension and I nodded.
‘I trust him with my life,’I told my brother. There was a faintwhitish sheen on Jaxon’s neck where the tattoo had been cut off and had since startedthe healing process. A reminder of how bad things had gotten. I didn’t want toeven look at my phone or turn on the news for fear of what I would see, howquickly this might turn into a full-on race war.
Jaxon took a shaky breath and let hisfoot off of the brake pedal. The car moved forward and the second we rolledacross the gated entrance, a thick blanket of magic coated my skin. One of themost powerful protections I had ever felt. And that was saying a lot since Iwas part witch.
“Whoa,” Jaxon said.
“What is that?” My mate had barely spokenthe entire drive and I still couldn’t feel him through the bond, so I was gladwhen he asked the question.
“That, is magic. Really, really powerfulmagic,” I answered him. Just who the hell was Nahuel taking us to meet?
The shaman parked his dusty pick-up at theside of the house in what looked like guest parking and we followed. I openedmy car door at the same time as Gavin but Nahuel, who was waiting beside mydoor, shook his head. “Just Anya for now. The rest of you can go around backand check out the animals.”
I felt something through the matebondthen. Possession. Gavin was nervous to let me out of his sight. I spun aroundin my seat and snaked my hands through the gap, resting my palms on his knees.
I met his eyes and reassured him. “I’llbe fine. If shit goes south Nahuel can freeze time or teleport me or something,”I joked and it got me a small tug from the corner of his lip.
“Is that a smile?” I teased.
Now it was a full-blown grin as he leanedforward and kissed me. Hard. Pulling away, he locked his gaze on my lips. “Ilove you.”
The way he said it was weird … hard toexplain. Almost like a goodbye.
“Get a room,” Jaxon groaned and I shookthe weird feelings off.
“I’ll be right back,” I told everyone,detangling my hands from his knees and popping out of the car to stand next toNahuel.
