Page 48 of Deadly Reckoning (Broken Ashes #7)

Ransom

“T hank fuck for that,” the unknown supernatural says.

“Glad you’re still alive,” I grin.

“Surprised you are,” he retorts, making me laugh.

Another one of the Hunt riders launches himself off his not-horse and uses his ridiculously long legs to jump, heading straight for me.

Using my magic, I propel myself upward, in a move that clearly surprises him as I swing my sword and slice through his neck. I feel the same surge of magic that brought me here, and my gaze connects with the unknown supe as he nods and gives me a small, bloodied smile.

I land with a thump on the wet and squelchy ground, back in the Earth Realm and in our woods.

I hit the ground and growl. “For fuck sake! Take me back.”

There were still a lot of them attacking him. We took a lot out, but I would have preferred that I stayed until they were all fucking dead.

The only thing that is making me feel slightly better about the situation is that he is clearly extremely capable and loves the fight as much as I do. He should be fine. I have to believe that because I can’t fucking get back there.

I dissipate my magical swords, which are going to be really handy in a fight, and then stand up, taking stock of my injuries.

Surprisingly, everything is already healed, and I’m just left covered in a lot of blood, most of it not mine.

Thankfully, I’m wearing black, so it’s not that obvious, and I, of course, landed face down in a fucking puddle, so most of the blood should be gone from my face.

Just in case, I scrub the sleeve of my jacket over it to get rid of any ichor that lingers.

In my experience, women don’t take kindly to their men being covered in blood.

It scares them, I roll my eyes. Although Neith is different, so I doubt that it would scare her. I’d still rather be safe than sorry.

Neith.

If I wasn’t meant to go to Luesidious to find Neith, then I must have been sent there to help the unknown supernatural, but by whom and why?

My phone buzzes in my pocket, and I pull it out, momentarily getting distracted by the fact that I was in Luesidious for two hours.

It didn’t feel like I was there for that long, but I guess time really does fly when you’re having fun.

Reed: She’s at the house.

I take off running, heading for the house. If I’ve been gone for two hours and she’s only just been found, that means that she’s been missing for at least four hours.

Please let her be okay.

Neith

I don’t stop running until I get through the front door, almost running straight into Reed.

“Are you okay? Where have you been? We’ve been looking for you for four hours,” he asks me in quick succession, and then pulls out his phone and starts to type out a message with one hand as he pulls me into his arms with the other one.

“What?” I murmur, my face smooshed in his chest. “I’ve been gone for ten minutes.”

He leans back, but before he can say anything, there’s a thundering of footsteps, and I find myself surrounded by the guys and being pulled into worried hugs as they all ask me if I’m okay. I’m aware of the door behind me opening and closing, and then I’m pulled into Ransom’s arms too.

Once they’ve all hugged me, I move back.

“Hang on a fucking second,” I start, and they look at me. I look back at Reed, “I was gone for ten minutes, maybe fifteen. What the hell do you mean I was gone for four hours?”

“Look,” Coen says as he holds up his phone and shows me the time.

“Well, I’ll be fucking damned,” I mutter when I see that it really has been four hours. “How?”

“Did anything weird happen?” Raiden asks.

“Obviously,” I reply, like he’s asked a silly question.

River smirks, but there’s still worry in his gaze. It must have really scared him when they couldn’t find me.

“Care to explain?” he asks me.

I sigh, “Okay, so first I told Mael that we were going to Ireland, and he moved the entire lake and all of the kelpies. Well, it disappeared, so I’m assuming that he’s moved the lake to Ireland, and then my necklace heated, and Wallace appeared, he told me to go home.

We had a brief conversation where he told me that there wasn’t anything to worry about, and I said there most likely was, but I didn’t want to be involved, and then I ran back here.

” I frown, “Okay, so maybe that was twenty minutes, but it definitely wasn’t anywhere close to four hours. ”

“Coen and I flew over the lake several times, and it was just as it always has been. We didn’t see you there or any sign of the kelpies, but the lake was definitely still there. That was the first place that we checked,” Griff tells me with a worried dip between his eyebrows.

“Really?” I ask, thoroughly confused.

What the fuck is going on?

Griff and Coen both just nod in confirmation.

“First, I had no idea that Mael could move his lake, but honestly, that makes sense,” Reed starts.

“Second,” Doc continues for Reed, “that’s really fucking strange. I don’t have any suggestion for what could have caused you to lose that much time and not remember.” He looks at me worriedly, “Do you feel okay?”

I nod, “Yeah, I feel fine.” I undo the zipper on my jacket, and I pull out my necklace, “The necklace still looks the same as it always has, as well.”

“I’ve checked the wards, and nothing has come in,” Ransom adds with a frown. “There aren’t any breaks or cracks, and there aren’t even any weak spots.”

“Winston!” I yell, making the guys jump.

“A little warning next time, Nene,” Evander says as he winces and sticks his finger in his ear.

“Sorry,” I apologize. “To be fair, I probably didn’t need to shout at all.”

“You most certainly did not,” Winston’s familiar snark answers me. “What’s wrong?”

I quickly explain the situation.

“So any ideas?” Griff asks.

Winston’s frown has slowly gotten darker as I’ve continued my explanation, and he nods.

“Can I see the necklace?” he asks.

I nod and crouch so that I can show it to him without taking it off. “The imps gave it to me before we went to the Choosing.”

Winston’s eyes widen, “They shouldn’t have had this. I have no idea why they gave it to you.”

He looks at me, “You said that Wallace sent you home?”

I nod. “Yeah, he said he had it handled.”

“You were stuck in a time trap, where minutes pass for you, but hours pass for everyone else. I have no idea how or why. It might have just been a vacuum created by the kelpies when they moved their lake, but if Wallace said that he had it handled, then I have to assume that he sensed a threat there that you didn’t. ”

“He definitely sensed something that I couldn’t,” I reply. Frowning, I say, “Is he going to be okay?”

“I don’t know, and that’s concerning. I’m going to find out,” he says. “You need to get to Sully’s.”

I nod as he disappears. I hope Wallace is going to be okay.

“Ransom, why do you have a bruise in the middle of your forehead?” Coen suddenly asks.

Griff and Raiden burst out laughing while the rest of us just watch them, looking confused, and Ransom mutters something about attack books?

I frown as my gaze lands on Ransom, “Forget that. Why are you covered in blood? Are you hurt?”

“They’re healed now,” Ransom tells me, I assume, trying to reassure me.

“What the fuck?” Reed asks.

“What do you mean they’re healed now?” I ask. “What the hell happened?”

“Don’t look at us, we all split up to find you. I have no idea why Ransom was bleeding and is covered in blood,” Evander says when I look at him accusingly.

River inhales deeply, and his eyes flash to his kitsunes, “Not all of it is his blood.”

Ransom smirks, his eyes dark with an edge to them that I didn’t expect but that I find extremely attractive. He says, “Most of it isn’t.”

“Ransom,” Doc warns.

Ransom holds his hands up, “We don’t really have time for this now, so I’ll give you the cliff notes, and then we need to head to Sully’s, and I’ll fill you guys in more when we’re in Ireland.”

“Fine,” Reed replies, not looking too happy about it.

“I was in the woods looking for Neith, and suddenly got pulled into another realm,” Ransom starts.

“Those fucking imps, I’m going to skin them,” I growl as I spin on my heel.

Ransom catches my hand and pulls me back, threading his fingers with mine.

“It wasn’t the imps, Neith,” he tells me, and then continues, “I don’t know what it was.

I heard fighting and went to investigate.

I ended up helping this guy fight off twenty of those backward knee walking things, and then once they were done with, we were talking, and this horn sounded, he said it was the Hunt, and I should run, obviously, I didn’t.

I’ve never seen creatures like them before, and they were all after the guy.

I fought with him for as long as I could, and then, as I dove to take the head of one of the creatures, the magic pulled me back here. ”

“Did you get his name?” Griff asks.

Ransom shakes his head, “Nope. I’m assuming I was in Luesidious though.”

“Which means we need to do some research on the place and figure out why we keep getting pulled there,” Raiden says.

“Yes, but not now,” Evander says with a frown. “We need to get to Sully’s. We’re already so much later than we should be, and we have to get there tonight.”

“Agreed,” I say. “We can talk about it at House, we should have time.”

“Don’t jynx it, Love,” Coen mutters, as we all grab our bags.

“He’s got a point,” River agrees.

I look at Ransom, “Are you sure you’re okay?”

He nods and kisses the back of my hand, “I’m fine, everything is healed. It was great fun, actually, I just hope he’s okay.”

“We’ll figure it out,” I tell him, which is what they always tell me, and he nods with a smile.

Ransom seems to remember that he has magic because he makes a gesture, and all of the ick that was covering him disappears, and the grossness that I hadn't realized was on my jacket also disappears.

“Thank you,” I tell him.