Deactivating his own necklace, Myles shoves blindly at my invisible body. “What the fuck?”
He sputters as I lick his face again. Sucks to be him for opening his mouth, and I swear to all that is holy, both of us better take this moment with us to our graves, never to be spoken of again.
“...Ever?” Myles eventually whispers.
Fighting my instincts tooth and nail, I climb off of him, curling against his side and laying down so that hopefully he’ll realize I’m not a threat.
Breathing a sigh of relief, he tentatively threads his fingers through my fur, slowly stroking from my head down my spine, and I shudder.
Note to self; more pets for Ledger. This shit is like free Xanax with a side of foreplay.
“Well, that was easier than I expected,” he murmurs. “Do me a favor? If the guys ask, pretend I took a guy down to get you back, okay?” I snort a laugh through my nose. He might not hear it, but he smiles as the puff of air hits his arm.
A faint curse has my ears perking up, and I’m on my feet in an instant, sprinting off.
“Shit, Ever, wait!” Myles curses, scrambling to catch up.
I’m able to fight my instincts enough to run through a puddle of blood, leaving tracks behind for Myles to follow. All the while, I wrestle with the worst impulses, knowing damn well it’s a stupid idea to run straight into the heart of the fighting. But wolf-Ever can smell her mate’s blood and isn’t having it, focused only on getting to Ledger.
If I thought the destruction was bad before, the other side of the pillar is a dystopian nightmare. Dozens of bloody bodies lie unconscious, there are scorch marks on damn near every surface, and the stench of blood and sweat hangs heavily in the air. I stumble to a halt, searching for Ledger, when suddenly Myles’ shout has my head whipping around in time to see a stream of fire headed right for me.
A heavy weight slams into me from the side, Myles and I rolling over each other across the floor, bits of rubble biting into my flesh. Out of breath, he pants, “Fates above, Ev.Stop. Running!We already lost you once; I can’t go through that again.” Skimming his hands down my body, he searches for injury as best he can, shoulders relaxing when his palms don’t come away wet with blood. “Stay by me, okay? We’ll find Bell and get out of here together.”
Ledger suddenly appears, hovering above us and offering a hand to help Myles up with a look of frustrated confusion. “What the hell, man? You’re supposed to be inside by now.”
Swiping dirt off his pants, he says, “Soooooogood news and bad news.” He gestures in my general direction. “I found Ever! ...I think.”
Ledger’s confusion swiftly morphs into anger. “What do you mean, youthink?This isn’t a fucking game, Myles!”
Myles crouches down and threads his fingers through my fur like he’s afraid I’ll make a break for it the second his guard is down. But before he can explain himself, a stone panel slides out of the wall opposite us, and out hobbles Elder Naomi and five soldiers. Lips pressed into a thin line, she slams her cane down against the floor, and with it, a shockwave blasts every single person still standing off their feet. The fighting stills to utter silence, and when I try to get up, my muscles are still vibrating so hard, my paw slips and I crash back to the ground like I’ve been tased.
“Youdareattack our home?” she seethes while behind her, the men raise guns, leveling them in our direction. “Kill my men?” Her lip curls in a disgusted sneer. “You outsiders are all the same.”
Bellamy stumbles in front of us right as she’s about to give her men the signal to fire. “They’re only here for Ever, not ourpeople. These are her,our,bondmates. They didn’t come here to attack us.”
She looks around at the carnage and raises a single, silver eyebrow. “You wanna try that again?”
Ledger pushes to his feet with a growl. “We're here for you too, idiot.” Turning his attention to Naomi, he clenches his fist and says, “We're only here for Bellamy and Ever. If you don't want your men to get hurt, tell them not to stand in our way. But we haven’tkilledanyone. Yet.”
A wave of pain has me doubling over with a grunt, warmth flooding through my limbs until I’m stretched out on the ground, panting, but able to feel my fingers and toes again. Without thinking, I reach for my necklace, still shook up over the fact I was trapped without a way to deactivate it while shifted.
As soon as my form appears, one of Naomi’s soldiers trains his gun on me. With a soft thud, the man scrambles for the knife sticking out of his throat, falling to his knees. I follow its trajectory back to see Arson leaning against a stone pillar, another knife in hand and eyeing the soldiers with cool disdain.
“If I knew you were waiting for me naked, angel, I'd have gotten here faster.”
Glancing down, I yelp, flinging my arm across my chest and the other between my legs. I never even noticed I shredded through my clothes during my shift. Ledger whips off his shirt, hastily tugging it over my head and drowning me in his earthen scent, cedar smoke and fall leaves filling my lungs with their familiar comfort. It lands near my knees, more of a dress than anything, thankfully. Myles tugs me behind him, discreetly slipping something into my hand. Using his body as cover, I glance down to find the cube I helped him fix the first day we met, heart swelling.
It was created to automatically protect the user behind a bubble shield in case anyone broke into their house while theywere sleeping until help could arrive. Any of the guys could have used it during the attack and avoided injuries, but instead, they wanted to make sure Myles could keep me and Bell safe as we escaped.
Bellamy joins us, looking furious. “What part ofstay hiddenmade you think ‘Oh, I’ll just run over here and strip naked in front of a bunch of soldiers?!”
In the next heartbeat, there’s a knife against Bellamy’s throat. “Yell at my wife again, I fucking dare you.” A trickle of blood stains Arson's blade as he stares down my mate, silently daring him to call his bluff.
Saved from defending myself, Ledger practically vibrates with fury as he grips Bell’s chin, tilting his face from side to side and stealthily putting a few inches between his neck and the blade. “Who the fuck did this to you?” From the corner of my eye, I watch one of Naomi’s guards drag the one with the knife in his throat back through the panel they appeared through.
Wincing, I scratch the back of my neck. “Um, that would be me. I thought he was an imposter and headbutted him; my bad.”
Arson, though, beams like a kid on Christmas morning, shooting a smug look at Ledger and bumping his shoulder. “See? Told you it was a good way to vet out mates.”
