Page 70 of Shifters Unifying

Panting, I stood in the middle of the clearing, surrounded by felled mages. The scent of decomposition covered everything, and I bent to the side to vomit from the evil smell.Shit. That’s awful.

With a groan, Logan lumbered down the front steps, folded in half and collapsed, limp on the ground. Deep, bloody gashes covered his skin, and his hair smoldered. Several of his toes had turned black. Probably from the lightning strike I’d funneled.

Sobbing, I dropped to his side, sending a healing spell into him. Little by little, I fixed what I’d broken, wincing as his body jerked. It took three times to heal him enough for him to regain consciousness.

His eyes fluttered open, and he smiled. Weakly, he pressed his palm to my cheek. “You did it, Emma.”

I kissed his hand, glad for his warmth. “Only because you were here. If I ever tell you not to come with me, come anyway.”

“Always.”

He frowned. “But what did you do?”

Settling my ass on my heels, I shrugged. “Funneled lightning, I guess. A bit like balefire. Not sure which is stronger.”

“Ah. Felt like the lightning was stronger.”

“It did take both of us,” I murmured.

With a groan, he sat up. Then he puked all over the ground. After, he wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. “Fuck me. They always smell like death on two legs, don’t they?”

“Seem to.” My sigh sounded loud in the restored silence of the forest. “You had better get back to Six-Mile, check on them there. If they knew we were here, that means they must have a compound somewhere close.”

“Maybe I’ve gotten something definitive back from Jace and his drone scans.” His lips pressed into a tight line, but finally, he nodded. “And you need to get to East Nuttal Delta.”

“Not to Six-Mile with you?” At least I wouldn’t have to argue with him about where I needed to go. I climbed to my feet. “Expected more of a fight out of you.”

“I think you got all the fight out of me you’re going to get tonight.” He gestured to the smoldering piles. “Besides, themultimorph made a promise, and she’d better keep it. Plus, it’s clear they’re watching us. The sooner we send Acheron back to hell, the better. Unifying the shifters is the only way to do that. That means you move into a tree house.”

I scrunched my face and offered my arm to help him to his feet, giggling when he nearly pulled me over. “Do you think Salali will set me up in a treehouse? I’ve never stayed in one before.”

“Probably the best one they have in Nuttal. It’s an incredible honor to host the multimorph, and she’s going to milk that for all its worth.”

I put my hands on my hips. “I might need to have a chat with Jasper. I bet his den wasn’t the nicest one in Red Tail.”

Logan shook his head. “Can you blame him? Back then, they weren’t sure you were the multimorph.”

“Fair.” I took a deep breath. It didn’t seem necessary to have clothes sent to Salali’s clan. Modesty wasn’t a priority. “When you get back to Six-Mile, can you send the squirrel warriors, the newbies, my laptop, and the thumb drive I gave to Olivia before I left Six-Mile? Dr. Wise sent it to me and said I needed to study up on some shit. I doubt she’s wrong.”

“She’s rarely incorrect.” He crossed his arms, and his mouth twisted into a self-satisfied smirk. “And without me to fuck, you’ll have a lot more free time on your hands, won’t you?”

“At least until you show up for a conjugal.”

“Shame we don’t have time for another one of those right now.” He eyed me. “I expect I’ll be on my way to East Nuttal sooner rather than later.”

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

emma

East Nuttal Delta

The sun crested the horizon as I shifted to my human form and strolled over the border of East Nuttal Delta. The scent changed abruptly from the freshness of woods to the nutty, earth overtones of squirrels. Chittering sounded in the trees to my right and to my left, preceding my determined march into a clearing of large oak trees. Branches shook overhead as the sentries darted from one side of the path to the other.

A black squirrel darted through the limbs of the largest tree and leaped through the air, flying in a long arc toward me. The form switched from squirrel to human and executed a roll as she landed on the ground in front of where I stopped. Her long black hair fell around her brown shoulders.

Salali hopped and gave a little bow. “Welcome to East Nuttal Delta, multimorph.”

“Thank you.”