Get the blade and get out.My eyes roamed the packs and excitement bubbled up inside of me at the sight of a glint of steel.
Tiptoeing over to the pack, with the two sleeping figures and the warm fire at my back, I crouched down ever so quietly and grabbed for the glint of steel that I’d seen. As I was pulling it out, I heard movement at my back. Not a small rolling over while asleep movement. Someone had awoken and was launching across the rocky ground to grab me. As the sound of scrambling feet filled my ears, I brought the shotgun up and spun around.
My finger was on the trigger, about to pull, when a shock of red hair tumbled out of the hood of deer fur.
It made me hesitate because it reminded me of Sage.
The deer-fur-covered person froze, yanking her hood back, and a strangled cry flew from her lips. “Demi?”
Everything in me shut down then. I’d been running for two days purely on adrenaline, and upon seeing Sage, upon knowing I was no longer in this alone, I just ran out of steam, ran out of strength. Lowering the shotgun, I fell to my knees, sobbing. Sage crumpled to the ground beside me and wrapped her arms around me gently, seemingly unsure how injured I was. She started to rock back and forth slowly like you would if you were holding a child.
I’m not alone.That’s all I could think.I’m not alone anymore.
“We’re here now. It’s okay. We got you,” she whispered.
Movement passed behind her and she looked up. “She’s shaking with cold. Get the extra fur,” Sage barked to the second figure, who I assumed was Walsh. I couldn’t see through the blurry landscape of my tears.
Two seconds later, a warm fur was thrown over me, bringing that nasty freshly killed smell with it.
“It hides our wolf smell from the fey. They hunt our kind for use in spells,” she told me.
Great. Hunted no matter what I was. Just freaking great.
I didn’t stop crying. I couldn’t. I felt so fragile and broken and embarrassed. But neither of them said anything. She just held me while Walsh kept the fur draped around my shoulders and no one said anything about my nervous breakdown.
It was a few moments before anyone spoke. “I smell your blood, Demi,” Walsh’s deep voice called behind me. “Are you injured?”
I sniffled, pulling back from Sage and wiping gently at my eyes, wincing when I hit the injured socket the queen had punched. I just nodded, unable to be strong anymore knowing I had others to lean on. Sage looked beat up as well, bruises on her cheeks; her hair was matted in parts with mud, and her nails had dried blood under them. She probably had a story to share about getting here as well.
Walsh crouched in front of me, strong and silent Walsh, here for me. Sawyer’s best friend. I felt so emotional I reached out and pulled him in for a hug. His arms were limp at first, as if I’d shocked him. Then he gave me two quick pats on the back and pulled away, clearing his throat.
“Where are you bleeding? I have a med-kit,” he asked again.
I nodded and pulled the fur back to show him my shoulder.
He hissed. “We need to get these cuffs off so your werewolf healing can kick in.”
Sage scurried to her pack and produced a piece of paper. “Sawyer said if we found you to give you this. It’s the incantation to remove the cuffs. We just need to find a fey blade.”
I looked down at the steel I’d dropped when going through their packs to find it was a regular old hunting knife.
I nodded to her, taking the incantation and folding it up before shoving it in my pocket. “I can’t… believe you’re here.”
Sage grinned. “It’s that or I go to Magic City Jail for murdering Meredith. Sawyer thought sending me on a recon mission was a better idea.”
More tears spilled from my eyes. She was a good friend.
“I would never cheat on Sawyer. Ever,” I told her.
She nodded, eyes going watery. “I’m sorry I didn’t say anything right away. I was… so shocked. I mean, it all happened so fast, and by the time I started to question things you were gone. I chased after you and Eugene, but lost your trail.”
I nodded and squeezed her hand. “It’s okay. We were all tricked.”
She looked guilty as hell, and I wished I could take that feeling from her. It wasn’t her fault.
“When I finally got to talk to Sawyer, he wasso sureMeredith was the one… his love. He kept talking about the stupid necklace. I knew everything was wrong then, that magic was at play.”
I nodded. I hoped it was currently at the bottom of a lake somewhere or bashed into a billion pieces.
