Chapter 22

Chapter 22
Shadow
Easel snuggled against Shadow as her hands began to drift over Shadow’s back before slipping under her shirt to play with her nipples as Easel kissed her neck. Shadow moaned softly before rolling over to put her hand on Easel’s cheek.
“Easel, honey, it’s Shadow.”
Easel’s hand moved down her body to slip into Shadow’s pajama bottoms, making her breath catch in her lungs. “Shadow, you are so beautiful. I want you,” Easel whispered as she found Shadow’s lips in the dark.
Shadow pulled back. “Easel, you are just feeling lonely because Gary is not here. Just because we sent her to be with Keith doesn’t mean that she forgot about you,” Shadow murmured soothingly.
Easel rolled on top of Shadow, looking down into her eyes. “How I feel has nothing to do with Keith or Gary. The last few days I have spent with you have been amazing. You are amazing. I want a few stolen moments with you before you leave. I know you feel it, too. This craving. I see how you looked at me in the kitchen this morning.”
“Easel, we shouldn’t do this.”
She leaned down to kiss Shadow softly. “Then push me away.”
Shadow sighed as she ran her fingers through her hair. “I can’t.”
Happiness lit up Easel’s eyes as she lowered her head again. “Good.”
Their hands ran down each other’s bodies as their tongues explored each other’s mouths. Shadow moaned when Easel cupped her breast. Suddenly, the window across the room exploded inward, and Easel collapsed on top of her.
“Easel? Are you okay?” Shadow asked, panicking as she rolled Easel over.
She growled when she saw the dart in Easel’s neck. Before she could roll off of Easel, something pierced her neck.
“Well, fuck,” she muttered as she pitched forward, falling unconscious.

She woke up in a small room with reflective material on every available surface. She groggily sat up, peering around the well-lit room.
“Easel?” She croaked, already knowing that Easel was not in the small room with her.
She looked around the room again, trying to find a door or some way to escape, but there was nothing. There were no obvious slits along the walls that screamed a door. There were no windows. The only thing in the room was a toilet and the cot she sat on. She got up to start running her fingers over the wall, searching for any dips or unevenness. She didn’t even bother trying to use her powers. She knew whatever they gave her had disrupted them. Energy surged in the room, and she dashed back to the cot to pretend like she was asleep. Two men entered through a portal, chatting about an Earth-Bringer.
She was lifted, and she kept her body limp, letting her head loll to the back. One of the men laughed as they carried her through, still excitedly talking about the Earth-Bringer. She was dropped to the ground, where she shifted slightly, groaning.
“SHADOW!”
When she heard Easel’s anxious voice, she sat straight up. “Easel?”
Easel dashed over to her to throw herself into Shadow’s arms. She wrapped her arms around Easel, glaring at the four men in the room with them before looking down at Easel. She sucked in air when her eyes landed on the bruises on Easel’s face.
“What the fuck happened to her?” Shadow growled at the men watching them.
They didn’t answer her as they continued to watch them. Shadow’s jaw clenched.
“ANSWER ME! WHAT HAPPENED TO HER!”
The door behind the men opened, and a larger man walked in with a female by his side. He ran his eyes over them before snorting.
“This is Fire and Earth? Both of them are pathetic. Has this one even shown any signs of accepting Fire?”
“Not yet, Alpha James.”
“Hmmm. Kill the other one.”
The other men immediately moved forward to yank Easel out of Shadow’s arms. She tried to get up to protect Easel, but one of the men knocked her back down. When Easel was forced to her knees in front of Shadow, the Alpha put a knife to her throat before leaning down to kiss her, making Shadow furious. Her body started to heat up rapidly until she felt like she was burning from the inside out.
“Let her go,” Shadow seethed.
The Alpha met her eyes. “Make me!”
Shadow screamed as fire exploded out of her, releasing some of her anger and incinerating everything in its path except the Alpha and the woman next to him. As the fire died down, panic filled Shadow when Easel was nowhere to be seen. She climbed to her feet, fighting back tears.
“W-where is she? WHAT DID YOU DO TO HER?!”
The Alpha laughed as he brushed the ash off of his clothes. “You did it.” He met her eyes. “You did very well. We can work with that.”
Slight movement drew her attention to a pile of what looked like dirt on the floor in front of the Alpha and the woman. She took a step forward, and the woman stepped in front of the Alpha.
“Stay back, or I will make you stay back.”
The pile of dirt moved again, inching its way to the woman. Hope bloomed inside of her as she looked back up at the woman, taking another step forward. “Are you now?”
She lunged toward the pair as the dirt exploded up. The woman inhaled a lot of it before sinking to her knees, clutching her throat as she gasped for air while Shadow pulled on the heat still inside of her to send fire to surround both of them. The Alpha was ash in seconds, while the woman melted slower, leaving a mound of ash mixed with soil. Shadow hesitantly reached down to bury her hands inside of it.
“E-easel?”
The dirt pile got bigger until it resembled a clay statue before the soil began to flake off to reveal Easel. Shadow let out a relieved cry as she tugged Easel into her arms. They held each other for a few minutes before Shadow moved Easel back to stand at arm’s length away from her.
“Are you okay? Did they hurt you?” Easel shook her head, making Shadow exhale harshly again. “Good! I recognize this Alpha. He is responsible for a lot of supernatural wars. Even if he wasn’t directly involved, he was behind the scenes. If anybody is going to have information on what’s going on, it’s him. Let’s go see if we can find anything out.”
She took Easel’s hand as she began to walk out of the room. Easel tugged on her to make her pause.
“I heard the Alpha talking. Most of the pack is down here in the dungeons. A lot of them did not like that they were kidnapping people. The Alpha and his helpers have been eating them.”
Shadow pulled Easel back into her arms. “I promise you. We will save them all. Let’s go.”
They left the room, carefully peeking around corners, watching and listening for any signs of enemies in their vicinity as they made their way up into the main pack house. They didn’t come across anyone on the way to the Alpha’s office. Once in the office, they quickly went through stacks of papers, finding the names of three more locations that held kidnapped children. Shadow sighed, holding the list up.
“Well, the good thing is we now have a plan. The bad news is, there’s a pack that’s not listed, but the rest are here.”
Easel reached for the paper with shaking hands. “Can’t we give the list to Merlot and let him go after the rest of them?”
“No. We can find them faster with just the two of us. We have nothing invested in finding them. They do. That will lead to mistakes that they can’t afford. It’s just better for us to do it. The quicker we do it, the quicker we get you back to Gary and Keith.”
Easel narrowed her eyes at Shadow. “So, what now?”
“Now, we put the innocents somewhere safe and burn this fucking pack to the ground.”
Easel took Shadow’s hand. “Let’s do it.”
They walked through the pack house, releasing little bursts of fire and chunks of earth all over that moved rapidly away as the women made their way back down to the dungeon to free and speak to the people trapped there. One of the women held hostage in the cells quickly gave them a list of the people involved in the kidnappings while families hugged each other, crying. Small screams came from above them, making the people jump. Shadow smiled at them all reassuringly.
“My name is Shadow, and this is Easel. We need to move you guys for your safety. Are any of you witches?” Two younger males stepped forward shyly. “Can you open a portal for us?”
“Where are we going?”
Shadow grimaced. “To the Black Diamond Pack, but I promise you, you will be safe. You will stay hidden until Easel and I destroy the pack. We will place you in a safe building under our protection, and we will send people to get you. They will take you to Locust.”
They exchanged looks. “Locust? That’s Alpha Amerald, King Joshua, and Queen Lucianna’s pack. They will help us?”
Shadow smiled softly at them. “Yes. Their children are in charge and will make sure you are safe. Let’s go. We have many other people to save.”
The two witches opened the portal, and Shadow cupped Easel’s face before kissing her. “If this doesn’t go right, Easel, just know that I treasure our time together, too.”