69

69
"You think you managed to break Alex, didn't you?" I sneer at her. "All you succeeded in doing was hardening his resolve. He can adapt to any situation. He has the patience of a fucking saint. I can guarantee that wherever you put him, no matter how hard it is for him, he’ll break free. And, let’s just say if he doesn’t, he knows I’ll be coming for him. I’m not going to be intimidated by your threats. You’re nothing more than a bully and a coward.”

Karina’s face turns red in anger. “You have no idea what you're talking about."

Anger thrums within my blood. "You will never control the three alliances. I won’t let you. The world you are trying to build is one of destruction and bloodshed. I have too many people I care about who live in this world. Your dream is never going to come true."

"Seize her!" Karina has had enough. "Kill the rest but capture the Silver Wolf!"

To my surprise, the soldiers don't move, but the cloaked witches do.

Logan instantly shields me, but he can't protect me from the magic-imbued attacks.

The others clutch their heads in pain, their knees buckling. Without hesitation. I form a barrier around myself, the magic sliding off. Logan is sliding to the ground near me, his expression strained.

I expand the barrier, inch by inch, all the while summoning magic from the earth. We can't escape by running through the soldiers surrounding us.

I begin building the portal.

I can, at best, get us a few feet away from Karina's people, but that is all the distance we need. But creating a portal takes time and I have to let Karina believe she is succeeding.

Logan is the closest to me and the first one the barrier covers. As soon as I see his body relax, I whisper, "Don't get up. Karina can't know."

Logan immediately understands what I mean, because he remains on the ground, his eyes on my left hand, which is gathering tendrils of magic from the forest ground.

As the barrier expands and the others begin to feel relief, I murmur the same instructions to them. The witches seem frustrated, because they double down on their attack.

"What's wrong?" Karina demands.

"Our attacks…" one of the witches closest to Karina speaks up, strain in her voice. "Their brains should be turning to liquid, but nothing is happening!"

I know the jig is up when Karina makes an outraged sound. "She's blocking it! She's doing something! Grab the Silver Wolf! Go after her first!"

The soldiers move at her orders, and that's when I pour the last remaining magic into the orb, creating the portal.

"Come on!" I yell at my companions. "Let's get out of here!"

The others are on their feet, rushing toward me and Karina screams, "Stop her!"

But the witches can't interfere with the portal when I have set up a barrier that doesn't allow any magic to enter. It's a trick I learned from one of the younger witches in Marlene's coven. I didn't know that it would actually come in handy at some point.

The tugging sensation of the portal begins and I warn, "Be prepared to shift and run. Don't stop. We're not going that far!"

True to my word, the portal drops us a short distance from Karina. We can still see the group of witches, but it takes them a few minutes to see us because trees are blocking their line of sight. Using that to our advantage, we shift and begin running. As we do, I use my magic to wipe out our scent. Karina's people will be able to follow us, but not for long if our scents are missing. I make sure to linger at the tail end of the group to wipe out each individual wolf's scent.

I keep looking over my shoulder to make sure they’re not on our trail, my anxiety thrumming through me.

We keep running for a couple of hours before we come to a stop.

I quickly draw up a barrier to hide us from the outside world, before shifting back and letting out a ragged breath. "We're in the clear."

Hands on my knees, I catch my breath, the combination of running in my wolf form and casting such strong magic, taking its toll on me.

Logan approaches me. “What’s wrong?”

Gasping for breath, I gesture at him with one hand to give me a minute.

The others are looking around, worried.

When I finally feel able to speak, the first thing I do is reassure them. “Even if they come by here, they can't see us or hear us. I can maintain this barrier for at least thirty minutes at most, but we don’t need that long.”

“What were you doing back there?” Jared asks curiously. “I felt the pain, but then it was gone.”

“I put up a barrier. There are different sorts of barriers. I put up a really strong one. It prevents any magic from reaching us. It also prevents any from going out. I dropped it immediately when I touched the portal. It was a huge gamble.” I give him a weak smile. “Massive fucking gamble.”

Saul looks at me. “What are we going to do about Alex? Karina said she has him stashed…”

“Don't believe everything Karina says,” I cut him off, tense. “Alex is more resourceful than she thinks. He won't succumb to whatever she is trying to do to him. I know him.”

“Are you saying we shouldn't go look for him?” Nathan curls his upper lip. “Because that's not happening.”

I give him an annoyed look. “Calm down. I didn't say that. We have to look for Alex. But we also have to prevent this war, and to do that, we have to stop the attack on the humans in the next few hours. Help isn't coming. The packs in the South will be too busy defending themselves to come all the way here, and by the time they do manage to arrive, it will be too late. So I have another idea.”

All eyes are on me.

“Patrick, you, Jarad, Saul, and Nathan go look for Alex. Logan and I will head to the human city and warn the government of the impending attack. That way, they will be able to evacuate their people in time.”