As Darkness Falls by Riley Storm
Chapter Fifteen
Astir went up from around the fire as my last words carried out into the wilderness.
“Anyone not up to date on what’s going on?” I snarled, leveling my gaze at everyone, daring anyone to challenge my statement.
There was silence, aside from the gentle whisper of a night breeze as it filtered through our little camp. One by one, the others met my stare. In the end, none of them spoke up. They had heard it all or enough of it to understand what was going on. That was good, because I didn’t know if I had it in me to explain to everyone what Johnathan had done.
My anger was the only thing holding me together at the moment. Pure, righteous fury at Lars and Johnathan and anyone else willing to work for that psychopath who thought himself a leader. They were all guilty, as far as I was concerned. Each and every one of them was as bad as Lars. They were enabling him to act this way, without speaking up or out.
While I wasn’t going to go out of my way to hunt them down, I made myself a promise right then and there. If any of them got in my way, I wasn’t going to hesitate. Whatever it took to get Jo back, I’d do. They would simply become collateral damage.
I bared my teeth, a silent challenge to Lars. I’m coming for you.
“Sounds like someone pissed you off real good,” Fred commented from the far side of the fire, his nonchalant attitude catching me by surprise.
“You could say that,” I agreed, taking a second to catch my breath, letting the fury inside me subside. I was going to do this, but I needed to do it properly. Think it out, and then act.
Thanks, Fred, I thought, pausing to wonder if maybe he’d intended that. There was certainly more to him than it seemed at first.
“Someone did piss me off,” I repeated in a slightly more controlled tone. “They took someone. Someone I care for, who didn’t do a damn thing wrong. So, we’re going to fix it.”
“You keep saying we,” Aaron drawled from nearby. “Like we’re all going to go haring off on this rescue mission. But we never signed up for that. We’ve only signed on to go back to Seguin with that moron.”
He pointed at Johnathan for emphasis, though everyone knew exactly whom he’d meant. I wondered if it was just to reinforce the point with Johnathan. Not that it was necessary. Before it was all said and done, he was going to be very aware of that fact.
I grinned, turning to face him. Aaron was a stickler for his contracts. Once he agreed to them, he stuck by it. To the end, it would seem, based on what he’d told me earlier. But if he didn’t have a contract, or if he hadn’t been paid, he didn’t go. He’d made that much very clear.
“I guess it’s your lucky day, then,” I said with a grin. “Because guess where we’re going?”
Aaron frowned. Then he sighed. “We’re still going to Seguin, aren’t we?”
“Yup,” I said. “And we’re just so going to drop Johnathan off in the same room my friend is in. A swap, if you will. And you signed up for that, so unless you want to break your contract, you and your men—”
Aaron waved at me to stop. “Fine, fine. You win. We’ll rescue yon bonny lass, or whatever the hell we’re calling this thing now. Okay?”
“Okay,” I said, nodding slowly. “Good. I’m glad we could get that settled so easily.”
“Extortionist,” Aaron muttered under his breath, but there was a tinge of humor to it, and I saw his eyes sparkling in the firelight.
He was, I think, a good man deep down inside. It wasn’t something he liked to admit or showcase to the world, because he also had a reputation to maintain. But it was there, and something like rescuing Jo from an asshole like Lars was probably right up his alley.
That only left one variable. Vir had been watching me silently this entire time. I locked gazes with him, trying to maintain my composure, though it was hard. The more direct attention I paid him, the more my Soulbond pushed me in his direction. His face was so guarded, his reactions impossible to read, that I couldn’t fathom how he felt from afar. I’d have to ask him.
“What about you?” I said quietly. “Are you up for a rescue mission? I know you’re anxious to get back to the Direen, but…”
I shrugged helplessly, earning me what I hoped was an understanding nod from the immortal being sitting ten feet away. And wasn’t that still wild to think about?
“Like Aaron, I already volunteered to go to Seguin,” Vir pointed out. “Since we’re still going to the same place, it does not seem like anything has truly changed.”
“Sorry for dragging you all over,” I said with a grimace. “If I could just throw you back through the barrier, I would, you know that, right?”
Vir smiled, and my heart fluttered. “I do believe you’ve made that point a time or two, yes.”
“Good,” I said. “Then, you can just take this change of plans as part two of your punishment for forcing me to be Soulbound to you.”
That wasn’t what had happened at all, and Vir sputtered as he tried to protest his innocence while across the fire Aaron sat in silence, listening to the byplay, clearing unimpressed with it.
I wasn’t overly fond of it either. It felt too much like flirting, and that would only encourage Vir, but I couldn’t help it. Unlike Johnathan, I didn’t hate him, and I knew I’d never be able to bring myself to do so. Which made it much harder to resist the temptations of our bond.
Regardless of how I felt, I wasn’t going to let myself get drawn into it. Aaron would just have to suck it up and deal with it. The one thing I absolutely did not have time for was ego-stroking. Not him, not Vir, not any of them. I was too busy to stroke that or anything else of theirs that might need it. They would just have to suck it up for now and play nice, because neither of them had a claim on me.
If I was going to choose one of them—and even that wasn’t guaranteed—it was going to be my choice, which had nothing to do with their wants. And once I got rid of the Soulbond, I would finally be able to figure out what those wants were without outside interference. And wouldn’t that be nice?
My attention stayed focused on Aaron, though, as I came to a decision.
“What’s up, boss?” he asked.
“I need to ask you something,” I said. “And I won’t ask you to explain your answer, because I know you want to keep your privacy. But I need you to answer it honestly. Can you do that?”
The low conversation that had struck up between the other members of his team died as the seriousness of my attitude registered home with first the team leader, spreading to the rest of them. They were all watching me now, and I could feel the tensions rising, a pressure on my skin as I stood strong under their combined gazes.
“I can try,” Aaron said quietly. “That all depends on what the question is.”
In the silence that followed, the fire crackled and snapped as branches burned, the fresh green wood making plenty of noise during its slow demise into ash.
“Can you and your men keep up?” I asked.
“Haven’t we been?”
“If we’re on all fours,” I said quietly.
Aaron’s eyebrows twitched, and I knew instantly what he was thinking, but he made no comment. Only very slight raising of his eyebrows, to which I didn’t react.
Beside me, Johnathan hissed in surprise. Tearing my eyes away from Aaron, I glared him back into silence. Aaron and his men were not human. Or they were some sort of enhanced human. Either way, they already knew about me, and so far, none of them had batted an eyelash.
In fact, they’d not so much as brought it up, which, now that I spent some time thinking about it, should have been an indicator. They weren’t surprised by the fact that I could shift into a wolf. And Aaron and Vir, they’d acted like they knew one another back in the temple when Aaron had shown up to rescue us.
“No.” Aaron’s response was slow, measured. “But we can move faster than we have been,” he added.
Interesting. So, they weren’t as fleet as a wolf. But they were able to move faster than humans. Which was good, because if Jo was in danger, we needed to get a move on as soon as possible. We couldn’t take our time getting out of the wilderness.
“I assume you’re good, right?” I said, looking over at Vir.
The god just nodded. It seemed like a silly question to ask, but I didn’t know if he had any stamina limits or the like on Earth. It was worthwhile finding out what my allies were capable of if necessary. By asking now, I wouldn’t be surprised later when there wasn’t time to discuss it.
“Okay, good,” I said, addressing everyone at the same time now. “Let’s move then.”
The team got to their feet and started moving to tear the tents down.
“Leave them,” I said. “Leave behind anything you don’t absolutely need.”
I looked out past them in the direction we had to travel. “We’re going to be back at the trucks by dawn.”
A wave of surprise washed over the team. That was going to be a long night, and in all honesty, I wasn’t sure we’d make such an ambitious goal, but I intended to try.
“Come on, get up,” I snarled, kicking Johnathan as I pulled off the tight black tank top that I’d pilfered from one of Vir’s magic trunks and began shaking out of my pants.
Johnathan gave me a questioning look as I stripped.
“I’ve been naked so often lately, I feel like a stripper at an audition,” I muttered. “I’m not going to run into the forest to get naked just because they might see a titty or two. Jo is in danger. That’s what matters most.”
By the time I finished reaming Johnathan out, I was naked. Though, despite my tough speech, I was facing away from the men. Just because I didn’t care if they saw didn’t mean they got a free show.
Eyes half-closing, I called to my wolf. It was the first time I’d reached out to her since the temple. She’d slept for a long time afterward, needing to recover her energy, but now, she came alert in a second, her energy racing forward as my body began to change.
It started the way it always did. The hair on my arms and legs grew lighter and thickened, turning a brilliant white. It was the opposite of Johnathan, who was swiftly becoming covered in a layer of fur as dark as the sky, a sure sign of his Aldridge heritage.
My attention wavered and was flung out into the forest around us as my body changed and my wolf took over, guiding us down onto all fours, our mind filling with a thousand scents and more, our eyes picking out details of the land around us that we’d missed, from simple things like fallen trees and patches of berries to the owl perched on a tree two hundred yards distant.
Free at last, our minds merged, we looked around at the rest of our little pack. They were ready, even Johnathan, our asshole of an ex. His giant sable-furred beast pawed at the ground. Apparently, it, too, was ready to roam. With a bark, we took off into the forest, leading the charge.
Jo was our friend, and we were coming for her.
