Page 9

“So, let me get this straight,” Ava mutters thoughtfully. “He didn’t even tell you about the attack? Or that the runes were destroyed?”

I shake my head, even though she can’t see me over the phone. “No, I had to hear it from Marian when she called asking about how we’re progressing with the updated runes. It was so embarrassing that I didn’t even know about the attack.”

Ava lets out a breath. “Did he tell you why he didn’t tell you?”

“No,” I sigh. “To be honest, I haven’t asked him. I know why he didn’t. He thinks I’m useless and went over my head to the proper witches.”

I can almost hear Ava shaking her head vehemently. “No, no. No one thinks that, Em,” she says. “Everyone knows how vital you are to the work with runes. We wouldn’t be as safe as we are now without your help.”

“Not safe enough, though, apparently,” I reply sadly, thinking of all the people who were hurt in the latest attack and how the runes failed. “The runes will fail again, and then what?”

Ava’s silence speaks volumes. As she nears the end of her pregnancy, I can’t imagine how worried she is about all this, especially as she’s already experienced Malik’s evil intentions when he kidnapped her lovely daughter Harper.

But Ava is one of the strongest women I know; she takes a deep breath before replying, “Then we will keep finding solutions. You said yourself, the new runes are stronger.”

Suddenly, I hear raised voices coming from somewhere in the house. Tristen and some others I don’t recognize.

“I’m going to have to call you back; something’s going on,” I tell Ava, saying goodbye and heading out of my room into the hallway, following the sound of the men’s voices.

I realize it’s Ryan and a couple of the other betas with Tristen, and they’re talking about the attack. “We need to reinforce the runes and send an extra patrol to the area. It’s still vulnerable,” Ryan says as I turn the corner.

“Rogues have been seen checking the border there,” Kris, one of the other betas, confirms.

Before Tristen can say anything, my presence is noted, and they all turn to where I’m standing.

I see the subtle way he grinds his jaw, clearly not happy that I’m here.

“Please, don’t let me stop you talking about the attack on our pack.

It sounds like you need the new runes?” I say, not even hiding my tone.

I’ve spent weeks working with some of my sisters from the coven to perfect a new set of defensive runes that offer stronger and more far-reaching protections.

They should block entry to anyone not from the individual packs, meaning anyone wanting to move between territories would need to do so through the checkpoints.

Our current runes only stop wolves not linked to an alpha from crossing their boundaries, but they’re easier to confuse, which is probably how the latest attack happened.

Tristen pauses, seeming to consider his words before speaking. “We do,” he replies. “If you could give them to Ryan, he’ll take them out to the border.”

I huff slightly under my breath. He’s still not going to directly mention the attack, and he thinks I’m just going to hand over the runes. “You need a witch to set up the runes.”

“I’m sure we can find one,” he replies tightly.

Now, I really roll my eyes, ignoring the awkward looks the betas are giving each other. “I will go; they’re my runes. I can do the setup faster than anyone.”

A tense silence descends for a moment before Ryan speaks up, “If we go now, we’ll be back by this afternoon, and the border will be secure for the night.”

I don’t miss the daggers Tristen shoots toward Ryan, but eventually, he sighs. “Fine. I’m needed at the port to meet Nolan’s shipment. Keep me informed,” he says. Ryan nods before walking away with the others, leaving us alone.

Tristen turns to me. “If there’s any trouble, just run. Ryan will sort it.”

“Wow, you really do think I’m useless, don’t you?” I snap.

His jaw ticks again before he shakes his head. “Not useless. Just vulnerable and stubborn.”

“Well, I’m neither of those things,” I say, walking away without another word.

Once outside, I consider how ironically stubborn I probably appear, but shake it off.

I’m going to prove to him that I’m a vital part of all this and can be useful.

Working with the runes is the only thing my coven ever gave me credit for, and I’ll be damned if Tristen tries to keep me from it.

I sit in the back of the truck, and the drive is relatively quick, given the steep incline to the forest border. When we arrive, I see the devastation from the attack laid bare; the completely unnecessary destruction of people’s homes is becoming frighteningly common, but it makes me so angry.

We exit the truck, and Ryan hands me the bag of runes from the back. It’s so quiet out here. You could hear a pin drop. “Where is everyone?” I ask as we both glance around.

Ryan seems to scan the air. His shifter eyesight is superior, so he scans the tree line. “I can’t detect anyone,” he mutters. “That’s weird. They should be here. Samuel was going to start clearing the debris, and I offered to help.”

Kris steps around the truck, his eyes scanning the area, too. “The thing is, I can’t scent anything. Like anything at all. Not even you two, and I’m looking right at you.”

Ryan’s eyes go wide, and he opens the truck door. “In. We need to get out of here. It’s a trap.”

“But where are Samuel and the villagers?” I gasp, throwing the bag of runes onto the back seat. As I turn back to look at Ryan and Kris, my heart drops, and I see a group of rogues emerging from the tree line behind the houses. “Oh my goddess.”

Ryan spins around to face the oncoming threat. “It’s okay, Emily. Just hold the runes and stay down.” Turning to Kris, he says, “There are only six of them; we can take them.”

His confident tone reassures me somewhat, and I try to steady my breathing, determined not to appear as useless as everyone thinks I am.

While the men take up defensive positions, I open the bag and grab some runes, running around the truck to fortify our position.

Ryan looks over and realizes what I’m doing, nodding in encouragement as the rogues approach.

They’re laughing, which seems odd; they seem completely unconcerned.

Ryan turns to me. “We’ll take these on. You finish setting up the runes, and then we’ll use that protection to get the hell out of here. I’ll bring a full patrol back to look for Samuel. Okay?”

I nod and watch them advance, fumbling with the runes as my hands begin to shake.

They’re used to this; it will be fine, I tell myself as I begin the incantation.

I watch as the fighting begins, almost unable to tear my eyes away from the brutality.

Ryan and Kris are obviously exceptional fighters, but there are so many rogues.

I know they seemed confident, but the fight appears fierce right from the start.

I hear the cracking sound of bones breaking and the sharp intakes of breath as teeth clash.

A wave of nausea hits me, and I gag before realizing that the smell of blood and fear is overwhelming me.

I’ve lived in fear for years, and now it’s right in front of me once again.

I close my eyes, trying to focus on the runes and what I have to do.

When the last of the six rogues finally falls, Ryan shifts back and strides over to where I’m huddled beside the truck and helps me up.

“Come on, Emily,” he says softly, “let’s get you out of here.”

“The runes should protect the t-truck,” I stammer, climbing in.

He nods, wiping the blood from his face with his ripped shirt before pulling it back over his head. “Let’s hope we won’t need them and get back to town.”

It’s a classic case of famous last words, because before we can even get in the truck, we hear a battle cry and turn to see at least twenty more rogues appear through the trees.

If that weren’t bad enough, in the middle stands a man who looks so distinctive, so different, that I immediately know it’s Malik.

Ryan pulls out his phone and hands it to me. “Get in the truck and call the patrols. Call Tristen. Now.”

Malik and his rogues walk toward us but stop a short distance away.

They appear to be waiting for his signal to attack.

I fumbled with the phone, setting the pre-programmed alarm off and firing off a message to Tristen.

After I press send, I look down at the message and realize the words make no sense; they are all spelled wrong, as my fingers are shaking so much.

“We should all get in the truck,” I whisper. “The runes might protect us.”

“From him?” Kris mutters, his face set in hard lines, clearly ready for the fight.

I glance over toward Malik, taking in his eerie form.

His skin is so pale it almost glows, and his muscular frame and long robe look completely out of place next to his band of rogues.

Without a word, he smirks as huge black wings fan out from behind him.

I remember Ava telling me that he appears to be able to shift into a dragon and a wolf, which was hard to fathom until I saw it for myself.

“Goddess, protect us,” Ryan mutters as Malik steps forward before pausing and staring at us quizzically.

“And who do we have here?” Malik says in a hushed voice that echoes around the clearing. He almost appears to be peering around Ryan, who is standing in front of me. “Now, this is a pleasant surprise.”

“What the fuck do you want?” Kris snarls, but Malik ignores him and turns toward his rogues.

“Slight change of plan today,” he says, almost jovially. “Kill the men, but bring me the girl. She’s an unexpected find. Rare.”

Ryan turns to look at me, his eyes wide. I shake my head, “W-what’s he talking about?” I whisper.

“We’ll worry about that later,” Ryan says, edging forward.

“Wait,” I say, grabbing two of the runes and handing one each. “I don’t know about Malik, but these should weaken any rogue that comes at you.”

The men nod, taking the runes, and advance.

I can’t believe this is happening, I think as I watch the scene unfolding in front of me.

They don’t stand a chance against this many rogues.

I jump in the driver’s side of the truck and start the engine; perhaps if I can ram the rogues, we could outrun Malik.

The engine turns over, and I’m just putting it into gear when there’s a flash, a loud bang, and smoke rising from the engine.

I leap from the truck to see the front has a large hole in the side.

Ryan and Kris look back, their mouths hanging open as Malik stands with his hand aloft, a ball of energy glowing at his fingertips.

“Run, Emily, just run,” Ryan yells. But I know there’s no point. We can’t defeat them on our own or outrun them.

Just then, I hear vehicles approaching from behind us, and turn to see Tristen’s truck and some others appear. Thank the goddess.

My relief is reflected in Ryan and Kris’s eyes as they welcome their pack members, who don’t hesitate as they leap from their trucks and advance on the rogues. “Malik is here, be careful,” I call out.

Ryan backs up slightly to meet Tristen, who is moving into the fray and standing between the rogues and me. “He wants Emily.”

Tristen’s gaze immediately flicks to me, and I see something indecipherable in his expression.

“Protect her,” he says to Ryan, who nods as Tristen shifts, leading his pack into the fight.

As chaos ensues around us, Ryan turns to me. “Can these runes protect us from Malik? Is that why he isn’t attacking himself?” he asks.

I nod. “We think so. He’d have attacked long ago properly if they didn’t work against him.”

Ryan looks thoughtful. “Right, let’s line them up, create a shield. They reach far, right?”

“Yes, if we can throw them down toward the edge of the clearing, they’ll line up with the older ones that run along the tree line,” I say, counting how many we have left.

We work quickly, using the truck for cover and placing or throwing the runes into a rough formation. It takes time, but we eventually manage to create a line that extends into the trees.

Ryan turns to me. “Let’s hope this works.” We both look out into the mass of bodies and wolves fighting, unsure of who is winning at this point.

I watch as the fight rages on, feeling helpless.

Tristen is magnificent. His strength and speed are unparalleled.

He’s a true leader. The runes begin to work, affecting Malik's rogues, causing them to appear disoriented when they get too close, helping Tristen and his men finish them off.

The rune line is disturbed when a body crashes through two of the runes.

I creep away from the truck to move them further out again.

I’m so caught up with what is happening right in front of me that I don’t notice Malik has circled around, his eyes blazing with fury as I see him approach. “Brave little witch, aren’t you?” he snarls before backhanding me across the face, hard. “We need to have a chat.”

I stumble back, dazed, as he closes the distance between us, his hot breath on my face.

Just then, Tristen appears, blocking him.

They circle each other warily, both waiting for the other to make a move.

I can see the tension in Tristen’s stance; he’s ready to defend me with everything he has.

Malik raises his hand, and I see the flicker of energy on his fingertips, but as he does, Tristen summons the wind, and a ferocious tornado sends Malik flying back across the clearing.

The whole world tilts as my vision clouds, my face burning where Malik hit me. The last thing I hear is Tristen’s voice as strong arms lift me: “I’ve got you.”

And then everything goes black.