Page 113 of Shifters Unifying

Shit. Emma. How am I going to get back to Emma?

CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE

logan

No Man’s Land

The half-crazed woman bustled about the place, moving from one prisoner to another. When she got back to me, I flashed a smile and tried to get her to look me in the eye. But she refused.

Finally, I said, “There’s really no reason for you to keep us here, is there? With Acheron gone, we’re just a nuisance,” I said. “Tell Acheron we overpowered you.”

“No, no, if he discovers I let you go, he’ll hurt my son. Worse than dying.” Her footsteps neared, and she came into view, her face swollen beneath a layer of bruises. Her eyes were cloudy, unfocused as she bent over me to check my restraints. An over-sized, tattered t-shirt hung loose over leggings and her painfully skinny body. “He wants you most of all. If I give you to him, he might let us go. And if that looking glass gets broke…”

“You have to know he’s never going to let you do,” I rasped, tugging at the chains and tightening them even more.

Lighter footsteps whispered across the stone floor toward us, and a small hand slipped into hers. At least he looked likehe ate better than his mother did. No, she probably gave him most of her food. For a moment, in his place, I saw ten-year-old Callie, holding my cousin Sheila’s hand, smiling at me. My heart splintered in my chest.

“Mama,” the boy whispered. “When can we leave here?”

“When he doesn’t need me anymore, sweetie,” she said, her voice stronger and no longer sing-songing. The kid was her handle on reality.

“When will Uncle Marcus come to save us? Didn’t you say he would bring an army of cat shifters? When will I be able to shift, Mama? Why don’t you shift anymore?”

Her face contorted. “I thought so. I don’t know anymore.”

“Marcus sent us,” I said. “Marcus shared this location.”

Her eyes cleared slightly, and she frowned. “You know my brother, Marcus?”

The boy beamed at me as though I’d already freed them.

“We were all there, at the creek. He told us where to go, and we came… to save you.” I nearly choked on the lie I forced through my teeth.

Olivia grunted, but she didn’t correct my dishonesty. Surely, she understood that was our one chance to get out of there before Acheron returned. The woman wasn’t singing anymore. Maybe that meant lucidity was within her grasp. She hadn’t been the reason we came. But if she set us free, I’d save her, too.

“Why didn’t Marcus come with you?”

“He’s helping the multimorph.”

“Acheron is coming,” she sing-songed, pressing a hand to her mind. “I feel him getting closer. His thoughts become clearer, and he can hear mine.”

I frowned. That’s how the fated mated bond work. Was she the fated mated of Acheron? No, Acheron was an evil mage, a human, consumed by power and dark magic. Acheron had never been a shifter. He couldn’t have a fated mate… Could he?

Regardless, if she felt him getting closer, that meant our time was running out.

“Marcus is waiting for you back in my territory,” I whisper-yelled. “If you release us, we’ll take you there.”

“But you’re wolves. He’s—we’re—cats.” She stared at a distant spot, beyond the mansion, beyond the walls.

“The multimorph unified us.”

Her gaze cut to me. She nodded as though my words made sense, chewing her bottom lip in way that reminded me of Emma. “Marcus sent you?”

“You put a map in his head, and I followed it.”

“I did, but Acheron forced me to do… I mean, he didn’t expect you so soon…” She faltered. “Can you protect me if I come with you? We have to be safe.” She trembled so hard her teeth chattered. “He’s getting closer. Dozens and dozens of shifters coming with more on the way. So much food and not a drop spared for us.”

“If we make it back to Six-Mile, the multimorph can keep you safe.”