Page 2 of Cursed Magic (Rejected Fate Trilogy #2)

CHAPTER TWO

M y heart pounded, and a sour taste filled my throat. My gaze landed on Ryker, who was now being carried by Xander and Kendric, still in their wolf forms. Even from this angle, I could see that his eyes were closed like he’d passed out, and blood was pouring down his side into Kendric’s fur. I wanted to remove the knife, though I understood why he hadn’t. It would cause worse bleeding, and we needed to control the injury as best we could.

But he was fading.

My throat constricted, and I pushed the odd sentiment away and focused on Briar. She’d stayed right behind them, in front of Gage and me. Her gait was slower than normal, but at least she was upright and moving.

Gage limped beside me, still impacted from being choked nearly to death.

Faint footsteps sounded like they were following us.

When I stopped, it took Gage a second to notice. He let out a huff, and the others stopped and looked back at me.

He tilted his head, and somehow, I understood the question without being able to pack link with him .

“Keep moving. Get to the vehicles before they catch up to us again.” They were wasting precious time right now. With two of them having to carry Ryker, we’d been moving a whole lot slower than we should have been. Every second we delayed made it less likely that we’d make it out of here.

Briar’s brows furrowed. “Why did you stop?”

“Do you not hear that?” Footsteps were shuffling around the same location like they were trying to catch our scent to hunt us down. I didn’t understand why none of them could hear it.

I swallowed and tipped my head back. Was I hallucinating again, like the time I’d thought we were being watched in the national park when Ryker, Xander, and Kendric had been searching for Simon, the vampire we’d found outside the nest that had just been slaughtered?

“Hear what?” Briar blinked a few times and gazed around.

“The footsteps,” I gritted out, needing everyone to start moving again. “Everyone needs to get to the vehicles as quickly as they can.” I waved my hand forward.

“We only stopped because you did. Let’s go then.” She took a step forward, but when I remained in place, she didn’t continue.

I saw she was going to make this difficult, so I locked eyes with Gage and said, “I’m going to stay back and hold them off. Can you guard my sister and lead the way back to the cars? You two can move quicker than those two can with Ryker, and Briar has no idea where we parked.”

There was no point in the five of them staying when they couldn’t even see the attackers. I just needed to distract the shadows long enough for them to get to the car…which wasn’t very likely, but I refused to hand all of us over for easy slaughter .

“Absolutely not.” Briar shook her head. “I’m not going anywhere without you.”

“Yes, you are.” I’d resented Dad for making Briar and me run when our pack got annihilated. He’d used his alpha will on us, and I’d had so much anger and resentment over it. Now all of that dissipated because, in this moment, I understood exactly why he’d done what he did—he’d had to make sure the two of us had a chance at being safe and making sure our story was heard.

I didn’t want Briar to hold that same resentment toward me. “Move. Now,” I ordered, my wolf inching out, ready to lace my words with power if needed.

Briar’s jaw twitched.

Normally, Briar was complacent and didn’t challenge authority. I wasn’t sure if her newfound stubbornness was due to me being her sister or because we’d lost our pack, but it didn’t matter. I was her alpha, and this was one thing she’d be forced to obey.

My wolf surged forward, and Briar’s eyes widened.

Guilt weighed on my chest, but I pushed it away. Keeping her safe and giving her a chance to live was more important than her potentially hating me for the rest of her life.

Power like I’d never felt before radiated through me, and my words echoed as I spoke. “Run to the car as quickly as you can. And leave.”

The footsteps began moving in our direction and in a more consistent pattern. The pressure around my body began to build once again. I didn’t understand why none of them seemed to hear anything.

Briar’s face twisted in agony, but her wolf forced her to obey my command. I’ll never forgive you for this, she linked, the sting of betrayal coursing through our bond .

Not able to handle sensing any more of her emotions or hearing the insults she might toss my way, I closed the link between us.

If I thought she couldn’t have been hurt worse, boy, had I been wrong.

Her nostrils flared, and her eyes turned glassy with unshed tears before she ran.

Still, it was enough for Xander and Kendric to pick up their pace again. I’d had no doubt they’d obey. It wasn’t like they could help fight with Ryker on their backs, and the best way to protect their alpha was to get him away from here.

I couldn’t think about Briar’s struggle to fight the command, so I refocused on Gage. “Please protect her.”

He nodded and took off after Briar and the others, and suddenly, my lungs could work again.

Half the problem had been fixed, but the harder part of the equation was coming now.

I faced the direction of the attackers and flexed my fingers. The congealed blood on my right hand and fingertips felt sticky and nasty. I preferred that to the warm trickle that continued down my back from the injuries the shadow had given me. Hopefully adrenaline would help numb the agony soon.

I rolled my shoulders, trying to loosen my muscles for the inevitable fight. All that did was send a sharp stabbing sensation coursing down my back as if I’d ripped the skin and muscles further. This was going to be painful, but I had to push all that shit aside to protect my sister and friends.

My wolf howled inside me, not liking the idea of sitting here like a wounded animal. I wanted to shift so I could fight more easily, but with my injuries tearing more just from moving, shifting wasn’t possible. I bit the inside of my cheek as my pulse pounded in my ears, the sound almost louder than the footsteps coming toward me. The pressure against my body grew more uncomfortable than ever.

A large number of them must be heading my way.

A strange ripple floated through my limbs, similar to what I’d felt in the woods when I’d thought we were being watched. My gaze darted left where the sensation seemed to be coming from, but once again, nothing looked out of the ordinary.

Well…other than shifters looking like shadows to me and remaining completely invisible to everyone else. What sort of magic had the Blackwoods gotten involved with? I hadn’t known a spell like that was even possible.

The footsteps were upon me. The shadows weren’t bothering to be quiet as they swarmed into the clearing.

My heart stopped.

There were at least twenty I could count and only one of me.

Though they didn’t appear to have weapons, I’d learned that their weapons would be invisible until they removed them from whatever was hiding them. Plus, they could use their claws.

Refusing to give up, I looked around and found a decent-sized branch that had fallen from a nearby oak tree. I grabbed it and held it up like a baseball bat.

I’d take as many of these fuckers down as I could before I went down myself.

Two shadows came at me at the same time, and I ran forward, ignoring the torture of the burning pain in my back, and swung the branch at the first one’s head. It lurched away and knocked into the one beside it.

That was the only good news. The other eighteen charged at me as a group.

Adrenaline coursed through my body, easing some of the pain. I focused on what was in front of me. I lifted the branch back up, body screaming, and swung at the closest shadow to me. This one ducked and ran right into my stomach. I fell on my back with its entire weight on top of me, trying to suck in a breath to scream. I couldn’t, and I wasn’t sure if it was due to the weight or the torment.

I tried to shove the shadow off, my back feeling as if it were tearing in two. Tears ran down my cheeks as I used every bit of strength I had to push the bastard away. Two more shadows were now beside me, and blades appeared from behind their iridescent forms.

This was it.

The moment my life ended.

Still, I wouldn’t quit. I’d die trying to win, even with the odds stacked against me. I had to keep them from reaching the others.

I managed to throw the shadow on top of me into a tree, but the next two struck in unison.

I tensed, prepared for the inevitable pain, when all of a sudden, they both pulled their knife strike about two inches from my body. Tingles exploded around me, and the uncomfortable pressure that came with the shadows faded away.

What? I blinked several times, trying to comprehend why they weren’t finishing the job. Were they trying to confuse me or playing some sort of cruel game?

More shadows crowded around the two that hadn’t finished me off. The two reared back, and I rolled away, hoping to put some distance between them and me. Agony from the wounds in my back had me damn near tears.

The shadow on my right groaned as I pushed myself up and stood. I planted my feet shoulder-width apart, ready to fight, and the shadows moved toward me, but after two steps, the front ones stopped moving, and the ones behind them ran into them. Even as their bodies collided, the front pair didn’t get any closer to me.

Like there was some sort of barrier between us.

What the hell was going on? The pressure had entirely vanished, and only the strange prickling remained. The sensation of new magic rearing its head confounded me.

I needed to understand what was happening, but I wasn’t going to figure it out now. I would take advantage of whatever this was and try to catch up with Briar and the guys.

Spinning on my heel, I took off after them, glancing in the direction the sensation of being watched seemed to come from. Once again, nothing looked amiss.

I had to be losing my damn mind, and yet, like it had in the woods the other night, something urged me to go over there—like something familiar was there.

No . I didn’t have time for this. Whatever was keeping the shadows back might not do so for much longer. I had to go.

Calling my wolf forward using the warm, animalistic magic I knew as well as my human soul, I paid attention to that power. Despite my back screaming in agony, each step got easier until I finally broke into a run.

I glanced back, expecting the shadows to be right on me, but they weren’t.

Soon, the scents of Briar and the guys became stronger, and I could hear their faint panting. My shoulders loosened as I reopened my link back to Briar, not wanting them to think someone else was chasing them. I’ve almost caught up to you.

Cold tendrils of fear and the heat of anger came at the same time as she responded, Are you okay ?

The icky feeling of guilt built in my chest—for what I’d done to her but also for realizing I shouldn’t have shut down our connection. What if other shadows had been stalking them through the woods and she’d needed to contact me? Dad would’ve thought of that, which further proved that I wasn’t ready to be an alpha…and yet, here I was. I’m fine but don’t slow down. We need to hurry. Even as I linked it, I glanced back, expecting to see the shadows. They weren’t there.

Something wasn’t right about this.

Xander and Kendric, carrying a still-limp Ryker on their backs in tandem, came into view just as I heard whispers from the direction of the car.

Fuck.

We were walking into a trap.

Don’t go to the vehicles! This had to be a trick to herd us to our deaths. Make us believe we were safe then kill us all.

After Reid had rejected me, I’d learned that humiliating people was something he enjoyed.

What? Why? Briar linked and then spoke aloud, “Ember said to not go to the vehicles after all.”

If I could hear her speak, that meant the shadows could too. Don’t say another word. Turn around.

What are you talking about? You’re behind us! Her anger intensified, making my chest feel hot. She again spoke out loud. “She’s insistent, but I—”

“Did you hear that?” a man’s voice asked as if he’d suddenly decided it wasn’t worth hiding in the shadows any longer.

My blood turned cold. When they’d stayed hidden, I’d been more confident that there could be some survivors. If we saw their faces, it probably meant our lives were over.

Kendric and Xander stopped and turned carefully around, prepared to run back in my direction. Briar and Gage appeared behind them, my sister’s face lined in pure panic.

What do we do? she asked, her eyes meeting mine.

That was the problem. I didn’t know. This would be a good damn time for Ryker to come to once again.

As if Fate wanted to give me her middle finger, footsteps pounded in our direction, moving at a speed that shouldn’t be possible for shifters.

A lump formed in my throat.

There was no way we were getting out of this.

I glanced around for some sort of weapon, but it was too late. The enemy was here. It was time to finally see who was behind the veil.

My allies and my sister ran quicker, but it was no use. The footsteps were gaining on them.

And the person chasing them who came into view first had me dropping to my knees.