‘Demi…’His voice broke.‘I’ve tried everything I can think of. Our helicopter was shot down … this fucking ankle bracelet electrocutes me if I try to leave Werewolf City. We’re working on getting it off, and I sent Sage and Walsh to try and find you, knowing you would be along the dark fey border but…’His voice broke and my heart pinched. I just wanted him to hold me. I just wanted to erase the past few days and start over. Poor Sage and Walsh were tied up in this now, and everyone was at war. This wasn’t right.
He sighed.‘But all of this is a longshot… I think you’re going to have to make it to me on your own.’
My heart thundered in my chest to hear that I might be alone all the way to the Witch Lands. That wastwomore territories over. I’ll be honest, I’d been hoping for a helicopter rescue, but hearing that one got shot down… that option was gone.
‘Can you do that? Can you be strong and make it back to me?’There was an ache in his voice that I felt in my bones.‘Because I’m not sure I can live in a world without you.’He mentally sobbed.‘And I definitely can’t live with myself and how I treated you the last time we saw each other.’
Silent tears slid down my face and I nodded.
‘Don’t answer,’he added.‘These things hurt like hell if it’s anything like my ankle bracelet. When you get home, I’m banishing them forever. And I’m bringing your parents home and I’m never letting you out of my sight again.’
A sob escaped my throat, but I swallowed the noise for fear of alerting the two giant figures sitting around the campfire. How had everything gone to shit so fast? It was so nice to hear him back to his raging jealous murderous self.
‘I prayed,’he went on, probably finally elated he could speak to me again. And to be honest I needed the human contact, and needed to hear everything he was thinking. It was nice to just listen for once. ‘I’m not even religious and I prayed you would return to me unharmed,’he said.
I smiled, imagining Sawyer with clasped hands sending up a prayer for me. He really was a catch, but I did wonder one thing…
‘Meredith…?’My arms were going to fall off at this point. I’d never been consistently electrocuted so much in my entire life, but I had to know. I had to know if that bitch just got a slap on the wrist for her stunt.
His anger bled through our bond,‘She’s been banished from Wolf City forever at my request. She’ll be enrolled in Delphi University tomorrow.’
Shock ripped through me. He…banishedher for that? I didn’t know what to say. Was she cuffed? Was she all alone? I kind of suddenly felt bad for her even though she totally tried to ruin my relationship.
‘I should have believed you, Demi, I should have known. I feel you in my soul. I know what you are capable of and what you aren’t. I should have known better even through a stupid spell.’
You can’t just see through spells though, that’s not how they work. We just sat there in silence for another few minutes, breathing and just being. I wasn’t going to hold it against him. He had been under some magical love spell, and it did look like I’d kissed another guy. Well, Ihadkissed another guy, but that whole situation was fucked, and if I ever saw that douchebag again, it was a kick right to the nuts.
I was ready to move on from this and get my life back, my boyfriend back. If we broke up over this, Meredith won.
I was also ready to get these damn cuffs off. Eyeing the two figures by the fire, I worked slowly to pull off my pack, and set it at the base of the tree I was leaning against, making sure to be quiet. The two figures ahead were talking softly, and muffled, so that I couldn’t understand them while cooking something on the low fire.
What did Sawyer say? Every fey had a fey blade? I wondered if I just walked up and asked to borrow it for two seconds if they would let me… yeah, right. These weredarkfey, fey that did such evil shit their eyes turned black from the magic and they separated from their light fey kin to run their own sick territory. The horror stories that they told at Delphi about this place gave me the creeps. They’d put the Ithaki to shame if they were true. My gut feeling said that if I wanted to live through this night, I’d have to wait until they fell asleep. The shotgun was nice, but it wasn’t going to work well on two people. Twodark feyof all people. They’d have me frozen in place with magic by the time I could reload.
There were very few dark fey at Delphi; they didn’t usually banish their kind that broke the rules, they just killed them.
I slowly slid to the base of the tree and clutched the shotgun on my lap. I just wanted my wolf. If I had full use of my powers, I wouldn’t need to be so afraid. I’d still be scared shitless about sleeping the night here, but not this overwhelming helpless feeling I had now.
I spent the next hour or so tapping a soundless rhythm on my thighs. I wasn’t prepared for the cold wind that blew through the trees at night, and had to keep my teeth clenched in order to keep them from chattering. This was a waiting game and I had to win in order to get the blade. I was initially afraid of falling asleep while waiting, but it was so damn cold there was no way that was happening. Also the Tylenol root had worn off and the pain of my injury was coming on strong.
Once I felt enough time had passed, I stood and slowly stretched my legs. They were stiff, but nothing like the throbbing pain in my shoulder. I needed to find more of that root, and I prayed I could get these cuffs off and heal before any permanent damage or infection.
I stared at the small dying embers of the fire and was glad to see the two huge figures seemed to be lying down, hopefully asleep. They didn’t have a dog or anything like that with them, which was good, because I heard the fey had familiars of all kinds, and I couldn’t deal with killing anything more than I had to right now. The two dark fey I knew of from Delphi had their familiars killed before they were banished.
I shivered.
Leaving my pack at the base of the tree, I slowly cocked the hammers back on the shotgun. I wasn’t going to ask questions. If either one of those giant bundles of sleeping cloth moved, I was shooting.
Fey blade. Fey blade.
Focus. Just get the blade and get out, I told myself.
As I crept closer, I relished the warmth of the dying fire. Maybe I could sit here for a minute and warm up. My eyes immediately went to the large packs that lay just a few feet from the sleeping figures. There were two places I would keep a special dagger. In my pack or on my body.
I was going to check the pack first before groping a sleeping man.
I tried to make as little noise as possible, but still a few leaves crinkled under my feet and I froze each time, staring at the two sleeping men. They wore animal skins, pulled over their heads so I couldn’t see their faces.
I inhaled.Deer.Deer furs, freshly skinned. I could still smell the blood on them and it made me sick. It also masked their smell, which was smart.
