Walsh frowned. “How can you tell?”
She gave him a timid look. “How can you tell where the kitchen is in your house?”
“Touché,” he said.
This was her land, her home, and I had no doubt she knew every inch of it. There was a gap in the wall ahead and she headed toward it, slipping inside and disappearing behind the high stone.
Sage and Walsh looked at me as if asking one more time if I trusted her. She’d saved Walsh’s life at the risk of her own. Were they crazy?
I stepped ahead of them and slipped in behind her, walking into a thick forest.
Astra stood quietly, waiting for us. Her entire demeanor had changed. She was relaxed, a little more confident in her own land, leaning casually against the base of giant apple tree. Apples hung from the branches and she plucked one off, taking a bite. “Last batch of the season. They’ll all be rotten or frozen in a month.”
She started to skip her way down a path, and I shared a look with Sage and Walsh. My, my, how being on her own turf had changed her.
‘Demi! Dammit, woman—’
Sawyer screamed inside my head and I stopped, sagging in relief at his voice.‘I’m here!’
‘Don’t go into the Witch Lands! It’s a trap,’he rushed out.
Everyone else stopped and looked at me. I tapped my head once and Sage relayed to them what that meant.‘I didn’t. I figured it out when you didn’t respond.’
‘Where are you? I’m going crazy. Are you okay?’Concern threaded through his voice.
Relief washed through me now that our bond had been restored. Must have been because we were in the Wild Lands, a place the witches couldn’t blanket with spell power?
‘Walsh nearly died, a healer Paladin saved his life and is now walking us from Light Fey City through Paladin Wild Lands to Werewolf City.’
He was silent a moment.‘A Paladin helped Walsh? Are you sure you can trust them? They could be leading you into a trap.’
‘I’m sure, Sawyer…’I growled a little, annoyed that everyone thought the Paladins were bad when all I’d ever seen was goodness from them.‘She nearly died trying to heal him, and she’s as timid as a mouse. She’s barely sixteen years old!’
‘Okay. I’m sorry, I just… I haven’t slept well in days. I need you home, I need you in my bed.’ His voice was gruff, and my heart swelled.
‘I miss you too, you big idiot. Who puts on a necklace from their jealous ex-girlfriend?’
I expected him to laugh, that maybe we were at that stage, but he didn’t.‘I’ll never stop trying to make that up to you, and for the record, I don’t remember putting it on. Those five minutes are all black.’
Probably a spell. Fuckers.
‘Where exactly are you?’Sawyer asked.‘I’m coming. I’m bringing an army with me. This will never happen again, you will never be taken from me.’His voice held deadly promise, and I knew without a doubt if anyone tried again they would meet their death.
‘Can you go to the southeast-most corner of Wolf City? We should come out somewhere around there,’I guessed based on where we were walking and the map Marmal had given me.
I longed to get word to my troll friend that I had made it home safely.
‘I’ll be there! We were able to magic the ankle monitor to allow me to go around Wolf City before the witches turned on us, but I cannot cross the border. I’ll see you soon. Be safe,’Sawyer said, and then I felt him retreat into my thoughts.
“Let’s go. Sawyer will be waiting at the Wolf City flag line,” I told everyone.
With every step deeper into Paladin land that I took, I felt something inside of me stirring. My wolf? My soul? Something felt right here, at home here. I shook it off and ran faster to catch up with Astra’s skipping.
We’d been briskly walking for a good thirty minutes when I heard the snap of a twig. We all froze and turned to the sound. I felt my wolf stir just under my skin as one of the male Ithaki who had helped kidnap me from the base of Waterfall Mountain stepped out of the woods with a handful of others.
He grinned. “Hello, little demon.”
I balled my hands to fists and Astra ran to my side. “You can’t kill them unless they step foot on our land. And they can’t kill us unless we go on theirs. It’s in the peace treaty,” she whispered.
