Ch. 34
CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR:
~Drake:
How did I miss the sound of those loud rogues? Her. My nameless mate. She had me in total tunnel vision. I knew it was silver bullets that hit me the second I was thrown into some tree. The impact was disorienting and when I rolled my head back to face the threat, my mate was blowing up like an ethereal supernova. The light coming from her was intense and maybe overpowering to anyone else, but for me, I couldn’t look away. It was magical. No other way to describe it. It was like the heavens opened up and a Goddess was revealing her real self to me.
The sight set my heart ablaze, I was stuck in complete awe. The seconds of her radiation seemed to last a lifetime.
“How did an idiot like you get so lucky?” Dane commented.
I was totally slack jawed in my total and complete awe.
The pain in my neck, side, and back hit me and I rotated my head back, looking straight back up into the night sky. I tried to push up but found it hard to move.
I can hear her movements as the forest grows completely still. It’s just her steps, one, two, and I turn back slowly to face her, my body already pushing back against the silver bullets.
I catch her silver glowing eyes as they flicker back and forth before cooling to their natural green. She sways a bit and before she can say a word, I push up to catch her, ignoring the screaming muscles and sinew on my side and back.
Dane pushes into me as we move just in time to get under her falling frame.
Goddess, no! Did she overexert herself?! I pull her closer into my grasp as I fall back to the ground, protecting her as best I can.
I cradle her head in the crook of my elbow, using one hand to move her hair from her face. I feel her heart beating, slowly but steadily, I hear her breathing, her small shallow breaths barely moving her chest.
“She really pushed it, she’s not ready for that level…” Dane whimpered in my mind, pacing back and forth with worry.
I look up, using all my senses to check for threats, but there’s nothing. There’s not a single critter left here as far as I can tell. I can’t hear any birds or any other sound other than the wind rustling the trees, and the humans in their hotel rooms farther off.
“Wow,” I exhale.
“They’re all gone. She killed them all,” Dane adds to my own conclusion.
“Yeah and nearly killed herself,” I sent him back, my heart thundering, emotions fighting to take over.
I look back down at her peaceful face, she looks like she could be dreaming. Relaxed expression, hair tousled, even breathing. One of her hands twitches a bit like she’s trying to grab something.
“Keep her close, our bond will help her,” he adds after a moment.
I put my free hand in hers and she grasps tightly. Seeing her respond to my touch brings me some peace. It means she’s still a little cognizant in there.
“Go on, be your annoyingly cocky self…” Dane grumbles. “She likes our touch.”
“If anyone is cocky between the two of us, it’s one thousand percent you,” I quip back.
Dane says nothing in response, just wags his tail and spins around a few times in my mind before settling down.
“What? That’s it? You have nothing to say about what to do now?” I press.
He just rolls on his side.
Well I guess it’s all on me now. I assess my stance and adjust my hold on my mate before starting to lift her. My arms are mid-swing, when I catch sight of my injury.
“Goddess that’s bad!” Dane nearly gasps.
I can’t think of anything smart to say as I assess the giant gaping hole on my side. What in the Goddess’ name hit me? I shuffle my mate a bit to be able to twist and get a better look. My whole right side was riddled with purple flesh and dark red blood. There were vines of black and purple expanding from what were surely five or six deep holes. The visual of all this helped my body register that I was still in an incredible amount of pain.
“Fck, OW!” I grumbled aloud to no one.
“That was some hit,” Dane added. “We’re healing already though. One bullet already came out…”
That’s when I eye the huge, misshapen silver sphere on the ground ahead, nearly tucked behind a bush. It must have come out on its own…
“But… how?” I stuttered out the question aloud, not even meaning to direct it to Dane.
“Let’s call it an upgrade,” he said after a moment.
Okay… I guess that’s all I’m getting.
“Well we need to get out of here,” I finally sent him back.
No response. I guess I’m on my own now.
I adjusted my mate in my arms one more time before carrying her back to the motel, staying careful to stay out of the view of any local humans - or others. Thankfully other than one guy opening a door to head to the ice machine across the street. It would be really hard to explain away my totally naked self carrying an unconscious woman out of the woods, giant bloody wound and all.
She stayed out of it even as I briefly wiped myself down, dressed, and got us both in her car. After several hours on the road going nowhere in particular, one hand in hers, I noticed an uptick in her breathing. I look over to see her eyelids fluttering, her face scrunches, and she lifts her free hand to cover her eyes from the rays of the rising sun.
“Wh-,” she mumbles out, finally opening her eyes and looking around. She looks over at me as I turn on my signal to pull over.
“Oh my god! Drake!” she gasps, pain and something else in her expression. “Are you- You’re okay,” she says at last, breathing out the words.
I put the car in park on the shoulder of the road. I’m speechless for a moment, at how beautiful she looks in this early morning light, light reflecting off her perfectly messy bedhead.
“Yeah, I’m okay. I could say the same to you, you’ve been out for almost 8 hours… You completely passed out after that - explosion in the woods…” I can’t help the hand that reaches out to cup her cheek.
Her eyes just scan my face for a moment. Then her look changes to one of serious thought.
“Oh my god-” she says suddenly, one hand to her chest as her breathing changes. “Those people..” Her head suddenly turned toward the window, her fists clenched, “Again. God! I can’t be stopped. It’s like-” she turns back to look me directly in the eyes, “It’s like I have no control.” Her words went colder as she let them out.
I don’t know what to say. The distress in her eyes, the panic built in the air around her. Her magic flared up, her eyes flickering to their strong glow.
I reacted then. One hand on hers, my thumb caressing her tightened fist, and it calmed her down like a balm. Flicker, flicker, and it was down.
She took a deep breath and took a long look at me before asking, “How do you do that? Just cool me like that?”
I just smiled back, letting the answer speak for itself.
“Ah,” she glanced away, “Right.”
I waited a few more moments while she gathered herself.
“Okay- Um,” she breathed out. “So, where are we?”
“Somewhere in southern Idaho. I haven’t been paying much attention to city signs. Just started driving… We had to get out of there…” I let it hang there.
“Right, okay,” her eyes focused on nothing as she thought.
Watching her mind work was just sexy, and I held back the urge to readjust myself. She twisted her mouth a bit while she chased some thought or another and I fought the image of her doing something very different with that mouth.
“We’re going to have to disappear again. We need to ditch the car, get a phone, get you some new ID maybe… Let’s get rid of this car first. How much do you know about hiding?” she asks me, focused gaze meeting mine.
“Probably not as much as you,” I say and huff out the air in my chest.
“Well good thing you’re with an expert,” she replies, a little smile at the end.
I don’t hold back the huge smile that builds up in my chest at the lightness in her tone. She puts aside the darkness and makes a plan, just like that.
Her hand goes up in a ‘stop’ motion.
“Now, slow your roll… I know there’s a lot going on that I don’t understand, and I know these guys are after me, after us, but I want to be clear - I’ll stick with you for now. I mean, I know you calm me down, and you know how to fight those guys. And I know - I feel it - that there’s something… Something here,” she gestured between us, “But I don’t want to lose my head in all this. I mean, we still don’t really know each other…”
I held up my hand then. She looked at me strangely but mirrored my hand.
I took her hand in mind and shook it.
“Hi, I’m Drake,” I said, shaking her hand vigorously.
“Uh-,” she chuckled. “You can’t be serious.”
I didn’t let go. Just kept on shaking her hand.
“Oh I’m serious. You keep saying we don’t know each other - then let’s get to know each other. Starting with your da*n name, Freckles,” Dane’s low voice mixed with my own with the last few words.
She stared back slack-jawed, trying to pull her hand back. But I just kept on shaking it. Until she cracked.
“Uh, I’m - I’m Avery,” she said at last.
“Our fierce, beautiful Avery,” Dane growled appreciatively in my mind.
Yes. Avery.