Page 2

CHAPTER TWO

I blinked, hoping like hell that Raven had cloaked herself and, if I just stared harder, I’d see some sort of shadowy iridescent presence there.

All I saw was a swirl of orange and yellow leaves by the huge, bare oak tree. No sheen, no glow.

Nothing.

The vampire bitch had escaped.

As the leaves settled back on the mulchy ground, her scent began to weaken as the wind from her vampire speed stilled.

“She ran.” Briar’s hands fisted at her sides, and her eyes glowed.

Kendric’s long legs pounded the earth, propelling him forward in human form as he ran after the woman who’d not only broken his heart but likely caused lifelong emotional damage.

I charged after him. My legs throbbed, but the cool air eased some of the agony, and my adrenaline fueled me.

The warm, strange magic strengthened inside me, and my pace quickened, helping me close the short distance between Kendric and me.

The snap of branches and curses behind me told me the others had taken off too—Ryker, Gage, Briar, and Xander. They were all in human form and just as injured as Kendric and me. However, their injuries were all upper body, while most of mine were on my legs, each step feeling as if I were being punched in the gut over and over again.

Wait up, Briar linked, her panic swirling through our link.

I can’t, or she’ll vanish.

Her frustration charged the bond, and I heard her tell Ryker what I’d said.

He growled, and his footsteps quickened. “Of course she fucking did.”

Great, both of them were furious with me, but lately, that seemed par for the course, so I narrowed my focus on the trail Raven had left behind. If she got away, the answers she had would disappear with her.

I passed Kendric, who glanced down at me like he might try to grab me. I prepared to jump away, but then his lips pressed into a hard line, and he rasped, “Get her, but don’t risk yourself.”

Grateful that he hadn’t tried to stop me, I pushed myself even harder, the warm magic spiraling through me and surrounding my wolf.

My sense of smell heightened, and my focus narrowed further. She’d zigzagged, slipping through underbrush like a shadow, trying to cover her tracks, but I was locked in on her scent.

Trees blurred around me, and agony throbbed with every step. Still, I pushed harder, letting my anger fuel me. Raven had used the chaos, the dead, and the dying to slip away like the coward she was.

All that talk about protecting us? Bullshit.

A low branch smacked my shoulder, but I ducked and kept going, paws flying over twisted roots. Her trail veered left, moving deeper into the woods where the now rising moon’s light barely touched the ground. The scent grew stronger. She was close. I could feel it—hear the frantic rustling not far ahead.

This was it. I would catch her and finally get some damn answers for both Ryker and me.

Just as her scent thickened, faint murmurs from ahead reached me.

I slowed and strained to hear over my own breaths and the thumping of my pulse. The overly sweet scent of not just Raven but several others carried toward me on the wind.

More vampires.

A twig snapped, and I froze, not wanting them to hear me. I edged into the growing shadows, holding my breath as the vampires’ voices grew clearer and my pulse calmed.

“…the hell are you doing here?” a woman’s sharp voice spat.

I’d recognize that voice anywhere—Lucinda. One of vampire queen Ambrosia’s head guards.

My breath lodged in my throat. This must be where the vampires had disappeared to, and the last thing we needed was Ryker and the others showing up when we could easily be captured and killed.

Knowing this would make Briar and Ryker panic, I swallowed and linked with my sister, Don’t come any closer. Raven found the other vampires.

Her panic surged through the bond like wildfire. Are you safe?

Yes, I’m staying still and listening. I needed to provide her some sort of assurance before Ryker decided to go rogue and “rescue” me. I’d no doubt hear all about how I was reckless and shouldn’t have gone off on my own.

“I was outed,” Raven answered tensely.

The words shouldn’t have stung. Shouldn’t have meant anything after what she’d done. But something about hearing her say it aloud… it hit deeper. Like a blade twisted into the wounds in my heart that I hadn’t realized were still bleeding. I wished I could see her body language and face so her no-doubt smug look would erase the awful gut-numbing torture, but I couldn’t risk them detecting me.

“How were you outed ?” Lucinda shot back.

I could imagine her wrinkling her nose and tossing her blonde hair over her shoulder.

Raven spat, “Because you didn’t get all the dead vampires out of the clearing.”

“So what? The bitch ran off after shooting at us. She’s gotta be dead.” Martin’s condescending voice rose higher at the end, like the thought of my death made him joyful. At least he’d never hidden his disdain from us.

“You’ve been huddled out here the entire time, and no one informed you that she’s still alive.” Raven snorted. “She returned to the clearing and saw a shadow. The Blackwood witch was able to remove the cloaking in front of everyone there.”

“ Simon ,” Bella croaked. “Why didn’t you tell us?”

Simon.

No.

There had to be another vampire with that name—it couldn’t be the one I’d helped escape from Ryker.

“Oh, I’m sorry .” Simon gritted out. “But her life isn’t nearly as important as them finding a way to block us from killing them despite being invisible. I’m pretty fucking sure that’s more important right now.”

I exhaled and hung my head. It most definitely was the same vampire. Ryker had said Simon had information we needed. If I could go back in time and not interfere, I would without hesitation. I’d been so wrong not to trust Ryker back then.

“We don’t have time for this,” Raven snapped. “They’re close. I bought us what time I could, but it’s over. We need to go—now.”

A low snarl built in my chest, but I swallowed it down.

She knew we were on her trail. She’d claimed her involvement wasn’t what it seemed, but here I was, hiding in the shadows and listening to the truth.

She was a fucking coward.

“Wait.” A male vampire’s voice cut through the air like a blade.

Every part of me stilled, and every muscle tensed.

“There’s something near,” the vampire muttered as leaves crunched a little closer than before. “Do you smell that?”

Shit.

With barely a twitch, I dropped lower, letting the mulch press into my belly. If they caught me, I’d be dead. They could run faster than I could, so my best option was to try to hide to the best of my ability and attack them by surprise.

My lungs screamed for air, but I didn’t dare inhale. Not yet.

Another vampire grunted. “Yeah. I caught it too. It’s... odd.”

My pulse thundered in my ears. Maybe, miraculously, it wasn’t me they smelled. Please tell me you five stopped. The last thing I needed was for the vampires to be smelling them.

“It’s something floral but unfamiliar,” the first one said again. “It smells wrong. Like it doesn’t belong.”

My skin prickled with heat and cold all at once. I suspected I knew the scent they were referring to. My fur rose as if the comment alone had brought on the sensation of being watched.

Bella, the final of Queen Ambrosia’s most trusted three guards, interjected, “That scent—it's the same one from when the barrier formed.”

A beat of silence.

My lungs screamed, and my body felt heavy.

What’s going on? Briar linked.

Just stay put. Don’t come any closer. They smell something, but it’s not me. I’ll let you know if that changes.

“Yeah,” the first vampire said slowly. “That’s it. That strange vibration in the air. The scent comes with it, same as when it happened in the Shae pack territory.”

“We need to leave.” Martin’s voice sounded urgent. “If the magic’s building again—if it’s coming back—”

“That’s what I’ve been trying to tell you all,” Raven hissed. “Now let’s go.”

Still no movement. None of the guards were listening to Raven.

“We can’t risk attacking again until we gather more information.” Lucinda’s tone had turned ice-cold. “Everyone, get in the vehicles and move out.”

Now, rushed footsteps retreated.

Car doors shut, and vehicles started. Still, it could be a trap. One I refused to be caught in.

Is everything okay? Briar linked. Ryker is about to head toward you.

Most, if not all, have left. I’m making sure none stayed behind before heading back. Tell him if he comes now, he could cause me to be attacked because they’d find me on the way to head him off. Even though I was playing dirty, knowing that was the best way to ensure he didn’t come, it wasn’t a lie. The tingling sensation of being watched increased, but its source was behind me, not in front of me.

I slowly turned my head, making sure I made no sound, and waited, not confident that I was truly alone.

My chest finally rose, shallow, sharp. Air scraped into my lungs, filling them, while my legs protested the tension and my injured muscles pulled tight like a bowstring too long drawn.

The vampire scents faded, and there were no sounds of footsteps or vehicles to indicate they were still near.

The strange, haunting floral scent that didn’t seem of this world drifted to me. It was the same scent I’d smelled the night that Simon had escaped.

That prickling, charged awareness of being watched deepened and sank its teeth into my spine.

For some reason, I didn’t feel threatened. The presence pulled at me like something strangely familiar.

We’re going to head your way, Ember. Briar connected, her worry and fear adding to my own and making me feel as if I were being strangled. This is taking way too long.

The warm magic inside me flickered like a warning. Somehow, I understood that the essence didn’t want them to interfere, but my wolf edged forward. I took a deep breath and agreed with her. If Briar or Ryker were in my place, I’d be going out of my mind. I couldn’t ask them to back off again. The vampires are gone, but something else is here. Tell Ryker I smell the same scent and have the same feeling of being watched like that night in the park, but this time it’s stronger.

Ryker’s deep howl ripped through the trees, echoing with a desperation that wrapped around my ribcage and squeezed.

My wolf whimpered, wanting to run to him but knowing that we couldn’t risk turning our back on this threat.

I slowly climbed out of the brush, scanning the area for the reason I was feeling this way. My injuries ached as my muscles stretched. I’d just stepped cautiously between two sizable oak trees when leaves rustled right behind me, in the spot I’d just moved from seconds ago.

My heart leaped into my throat as I spun around and found something there.

No. Not something.

Someone?

But how? Nothing had been around, or I wouldn’t have come out.

His presence blurred and warped as if the forest had exhaled and created him from its shadows.

My breath hitched.

He wasn't a vampire, a shifter, or a witch. I didn’t know what he was, but he stood as still as stone, tall and lean, with power radiating off him like heat waves. Not cold like the vampires. Not musky like shifters. Not of earth like witches.

Something powerful and otherworldly.

His hair, a long, dark auburn, rippled as if wind had curled around only him. His skin was a shimmering golden brown, and his eyes were similar to liquid gold, burning just beneath the surface. The strangest thing of all was that his ears were sharply pointed.

He didn’t speak or move. He tilted his head and stared at me like he could see inside me.

I swallowed, but my throat was dry. The scent—like roses and lilacs mixed with storm-soaked earth—flooded my senses. It clung to him like a second skin.

My legs tensed, every instinct torn between fight and flight. I was both fascinated and terrified. But fascination seemed to be winning out. There was something about him that resonated with me.

My warm new magic changed its cadence to match the rhythm of power that seemed to emanate from him.

His golden eyes turned more molten, like he was seeing everything within me.

My pain.

My power.

My past.

My soul.

And the part of me that wasn’t just wolf.

I couldn’t breathe. Not from fear but from recognition that I didn’t understand.

What the hell was wrong with me?

Ryker’s frantic paws beat the ground, and Briar’s, Gage’s, Kendric’s, and Xander’s frantic footsteps raced toward me. They were desperate to reach me, Ryker so much so that he’d clearly shifted into animal form.

The energy between the stranger and me thrummed, and my wolf growled in fear and anger. She didn’t like what my new magic was doing as it spiraled through me, making me dizzy.

He took a single step forward, and I stayed frozen as if I were transfixed.

Ryker’s panting breaths came closer. He’d be here any second, and my wolf stirred restlessly, wanting to get away from this man. Yet my feet refused to budge as our eyes remained locked together.

The strange man tapped his nose.

Barreling into the clearing, Ryker snarled.

I whipped my head toward Ryker, intending to communicate that he shouldn’t hurt this man. I moved between him and the strange man, wanting to protect them both.

But when I glanced behind me to make sure he wouldn’t hurt Ryker, the strange man wasn’t there.