Hunted By Firelight by Krista Street
Chapter 7
~ WYATT ~
Muffled sounds drummed through my head. Cotton filled my mouth. And it seriously felt like my chest had been cracked open.
“Major Jamison?” a man said.
The foggy voice tugged at me. Then I was moving and vibrating. No, not vibrating, someone was shaking me.
“Major Jamison?” the same voice spoke again.
“If you would kindly step aside, Lex,” a second man said, his voice as smooth as velvet. “You may return to Charlotte. She’s still unconscious from the enchantment.”
A rustling sound came next, as if whoever’d been shaking me had moved back.
“Wyatt?” the second man said. “Please be a good chap and wake up!”
Ringing sounded in my ears at his loud tone, then my eyelids cracked open. A figure hovered above me, a nighttime sky behind him.
I blinked. “Bavar?” I croaked.
“That’s correct, my friend, Major Bavar Fieldstone at your service.” A flash of orange hair registered in my senses, but I groaned when pain split through my skull. Then a memory pummeled my mind.
Avery.
Robed men.
A spell.
Burning pain.
Then nothing.
“Avery!” I roared. I bolted right up to sitting, but Bavar’s hands shot out, gripping my shoulders.
“She’s okay. She’s here and safe.”
I inhaled. Pounding filled my chest. My heart. It was thundering against my ribs like a galloping beast. I rubbed my breastbone. The touch elicited an ache that hadn’t been there previously, but I didn’t relax until I caught her lilac scent.
It flowed to me in the night, like mist from a moor. My frantic heart slowed, my breathing returning to normal. “Where is she?” I rasped.
“With Charlotte. You both took some nasty hits.” Bavar gave a pointed look to where I was rubbing. “You took a spell directly to the chest. If you weren’t such a stubborn bastard who’s proven quite difficult to kill, I’d say you’re lucky to be alive.”
Some of the tension filling my shoulders lessened, but then I took in our surroundings. “Wait a minute, where the hell are we?” I’d expected to see the smoldering inn at my back and the street up ahead, but instead we sat in a field that stretched over gentle rolling hills. I swung around.
The capital’s lanterns burned brightly in the distance at least twenty miles away.
I faced my friend again, relief filling me. “Your squad got to the inn in time and saved us. Thank the Gods.”
Bavar settled back on his haunches, his hair disheveled and wild, as if he’d run his hands through it multiple times before I’d woken up. “Well, that’s not exactly what transpired, but we shall get to that in a minute. As for where we are, we are currently west of the capital near the Adriastic sea.” He pointed over a mound. “The wharf is just over that hill, and the capital’s storage warehouses reside over yonder.” He pointed north.
I winced when another slash of pain ripped through me. “What about Morris, how badly is she hurt?”
The fairy’s lips thinned. “She’s still unconscious and has a nasty wound to her shoulder, but we found her in time. Lex is tending to her. She needed a blood transfusion.”
“A blood transfusion . . .” It all came back then—the attack and my innate need to protect Avery, which meant I’d left Charlotte behind. Left her to die.
“Fucking hell,” I whispered. “I left Morris after she went down.” I threaded both hands through my hair even though the movement hurt. “I actually left her, Bavar.”
Bavar frowned, silent for a moment before replying, “What are you talking about?”
Shame flooded me, heating my skin. “When we were attacked at the inn, I panicked and lost it. Avery was in danger, and my wolf was urging me to save her—” I squeezed my hair between my fingers. “And Morris is a brand-new corporal who was in completely over her head. And what did I do? I abandoned her, all to save my mate.” That contradicted every code the SF stood for. We never left anyone behind.
The fairy commander’s frown deepened as his orange hair glowed in the moonlight. “That’s certainly something we shall need to discuss, but Corporal Morris will be fine so we have avoided a tragedy.” He paused, his brow furrowing. “I’m obviously missing something here, because I thought this assignment was not anticipated to be violent. If it was, Wes never would have assigned Charlotte to it.”
“No, we didn’t anticipate danger. We thought the threat to Avery came from the stars, not the ground, although it’s now become glaringly obvious the threat is from both places. And you’re right, Wes wouldn’t have assigned Charlotte if we’d known that. The only reason she’s even here is because of the history she shares with Avery.”
“So you’re saying this new threat came from within this realm and was directed at you?”
“Not me. Avery.” I worked my jaw. Just thinking about it made my stomach twist. “The attack was orchestrated to abduct her. There were about a dozen men working together. They all wore robes with hoods which covered their faces.”
He cocked his head. “Robed figures working in unison. Hmm, sounds rather cloak-and-dagger with a flair for the dramatic. Any idea who they were?”
“No, I didn’t get a good look at any of them, but I’m assuming they were sorcerers.”
“Did you catch any of their scents?”
I growled. “No. They’re using advanced cloaking spells. It was only my sixth sense that detected something amiss this afternoon, and I can tell you that if I hadn’t been on so many assignments and wasn’t so in-tune with listening to that sense, I never would’ve known they were there.” I described the sensations. “At least one of them was tailing me throughout the afternoon.”
“And Corporal Morris never detected them?”
“No, hence why she’s too green for this assignment.”
Bavar clapped me on the shoulder. “Well, it’s no longer just the two of you, and at least she’s fared all right. She may have taken a debilitating spell, which went right through her suit, but she shall live and make a full recovery.”
“It went through her suit? That’s why I smelled blood on her.” I frowned. “But only powerful sorcerer magic can penetrate our suits. We’ll need to check the database, see what sorcerers in the community are capable of that.”
Bavar stroked his chin. “Only thing, I don’t believe it was sorcerer magic that punctured her suit. It has a bizarre scent to it, and there are strange markings around the perimeter of the hole created by the spell, not to mention it singed the material green.”
My frown deepened. “But if it’s not sorcerer magic, then what is it?”
“That’s another very good question, my friend.”
I shook my head, thinking of the scrolls again. “Only then will we rise,” I murmured, then my eyes widened when I remembered the tiny circle of robed men in the drawing—the one Master Ambrose had shown us of the alignment right before Nicholas and I had whisked Avery back to the fae lands. “Shit! The scrolls hinted at this group.”
I told Bavar about the picture. “The tomes and scrolls also gave us cryptic warnings, but nothing specific enough for us to prepare or know who those supernaturals were.” I relayed the text about the starlight couple, the heir, and the gods being born, but my brain grew fuzzy as I tried to connect the dots.
Bavar patted me on the shoulder. “I’ll have Wes and Nicholas fill me in on the rest. I have to say, you look quite tired. When was the last time you slept?”
I sighed warily. “It’s going on three days.”
“And you were in the fae lands for a month before returning from your last assignment. How much did you sleep during that period?”
“Not enough. I know it’s affecting me.”
He made a noise in his throat, a mix between discontent and understanding. “She’s your mate, Wyatt. Don’t be too hard on yourself, although, you’re right. You fucked up. You shouldn’t have left Charlotte. But I also know that you only did that because of two things: your instincts to protect your mate at all costs, and how you’re currently so sleep deprived that your judgment is getting impaired. You’ve been able to control your instincts previously. I have no doubt the reason you weren’t able to tonight was because of your ragged state.”
“But we’re trained to be sleep deprived,” I growled.
“Yes, to an extent. But we’re not invincible. You can’t go weeks with little to no sleep and expect to be unaffected, so that’s why I’m ordering you to rest for the next few days. We’re going to a safe house until we can get a better handle on what we’re dealing with. Once we’re on our way, I’ll have Lex give you a sleeping draft so you can rest during the journey, and once we’re there, I’m taking over and you’re taking a much needed break.”
I opened my mouth to protest, but he beat me to it.
“Wyatt, your mate will be with you. She’ll be safe. My squad is fully functioning. Well, almost.” He glanced toward where Lex still tended to Charlotte. “Which means there’s no excuse for you to continue running yourself into the ground.” He paused, studying me. “Are we in agreeance?”
I remembered what Farrah had said. She’d seen the signs, too, and had tried to warn me, but I’d been too hell-bent on guarding Avery to listen, and because of that, Charlotte had almost died.
“Agreed.” I ran my hands roughly over my cheeks. Jesus, when did I grow a full beard?
I sat up straighter, searching for my mate again. Avery sat near Charlotte who was lying on the ground about a dozen yards away. Moonlight bathed them in white light. Several Squad Three members stood around them.
As if sensing my stare, Avery glanced at me. When we made eye contact, her lips parted, and my heart crashed against my ribs. Fear still coated her face, her eyes were wild with it, but something else wafted from her too.
I inhaled.
She abruptly turned, giving me her back as she picked up Charlotte’s limp hand. However, she subtly glanced at me a second time. She tried to hide behind her curtain of hair, but I felt her watching me, assessing me.
Despite trying to act as if she’d snubbed me, I caught the relief pouring from her in steady waves—relief that had only registered once she saw me awake and sitting upright.
That fragrance made my nostrils flare more. My wolf rumbled in pleasure. On the outside, Avery may be pretending that she didn’t care about me, but emotional scents didn’t lie.
I remembered the kiss I’d plastered on her mouth before I’d entered the collapsing building. And the things I’d said to her while she’d been under the dome. She had to know that she wasn’t a simple protectee to me.
So now the question was, what would she do with that information? At least she was relieved to see that I was okay, and not indifferent. It was a far cry from the fearful scent she’d carried after waking in the dome.
I finally dragged my attention back to Bavar. My head still pounded, but it had lessened since waking. Thanks to my enhanced healing abilities, I was already well on my way to recovery despite my body’s sleep-deprived state.
“So what’s the status of this assignment now?” I asked Bavar.
“Squad Three is officially on this case. Once Charlotte’s able to walk on her own, we’ll be moving to a safe house. My orders are to keep us in the fae lands and not to leave your side until this assignment is solved and closed.”
“And what about how we ended up here? You said we’d get to that later. It’s later.”
Bavar tipped his chin up. “Well, that’s where it gets rather interesting. According to Avery, she carried you both here.”
Despite my rapidly healing body, I was still certain I’d misheard Bavar, which indicated my brain was potentially suffering from a concussion. Because it’d sounded like he’d said Avery had carried me and Charlotte here, that Squad Three hadn’t brought us here like I’d originally assumed.
“Your squad isn’t the reason we’re here?”
Bavar shook his head. “No. We only found you all via the tracking hex woven into Morris’s suit. And given that both you and Charlotte were unconscious when we arrived, I don’t believe Avery’s lying. She must have carried you both here.”
“She didn’t have a portal key hidden away somewhere?”
“That was my first thought, too, but she’s insistent she’s never owned one, let alone used one.”
“But the inn is miles away.”
“Indeed.”
I inhaled, my heart thudding again. A tang of salt coated the breeze. “But how did she do that? That would require incredible strength and speed.” Even I would have struggled to do that as an alpha wolf.
But then I thought of the dome she’d encased herself in after the alignment, of the immense magic that had taken.
Bavar cocked his head. “She said she stopped time.”
“I definitely have a concussion. It sounds like you said she stopped time.”
“You don’t have a concussion, and that’s what I said.”
I shook my head. “What do you mean?”
He threaded a hand through his hair and recounted what Avery had told him.
I sputtered, words refusing to form on my lips.
“I know. It’s a lot to take in, but I’ve heard her new power is quite strong. Perhaps she’s telling the truth and she really did stop time, and perhaps that power is why those robed men are after her.”
I cradled my cheeks again. “What in all the realms has happened to her? How is this possible?”
“That I cannot answer, my friend, but the sooner we get to the safe house, the better.” Bavar stood and offered me a hand up. “We’re moving this operation to north of the capital, to the Shroud Forest. The magic there is particularly vexing. It makes it harder for others to track, which means we’ll most likely remain hidden for a few days from whoever tried to abduct Avery, but the journey will take a while. I wasn’t able to procure portal keys on such short notice, so Heidi will cloak us as we travel. We move after Charlotte wakes.”
“Right.” I stood and dusted the dirt from my pants, my mind still reeling from what I’d learned, then I approached my mate. Stopped time. Carried us here. But how?
I inhaled again, needing to scent her lilac fragrance. She may command otherworldly power now, but she was still my Avery, and I needed to be near her.
Her shoulders tightened when I approached.
I crouched at her side. “Are you hurt?” I asked gently.
My gaze skimmed over her features, taking in her wide eyes and soot-smudged cheeks. Charlotte still lay unconscious on the ground. The wound near her neck had a thick bandage over it, but no new blood seeped through it.
“No,” Avery replied. “Just . . . tired.”
“Bavar said you carried us here.”
“I did.”
“How? Charlotte and I are bigger than you. And how did you get us away from them?”
“Didn’t he tell you?”
“He did, but I want to hear it from you.”
Her hands trembled, and she clasped them together. “When I saw you and Charlotte on the ground, I thought you were both dead, and then the power inside me—it unleashed.” A fearful scent oozed from her pores. “And then time stopped, so I picked you both up and ran us away.”
I rocked back on my haunches, remembering the violet light in her eyes, the brilliance of her power, and how I’d experienced that strange feeling of time stopping and restarting when she’d first woken up.
Good Gods. What in the actual fuck?
“There’s something else. That tall robed one, he said he’s been waiting for me for thousands of years.”
I jolted, then glanced at Bavar.
“We’re already on it,” Bavar said. “I’ve sent this new information to Nicholas. The gargoyles are searching for answers as we speak.”
Satisfied, I rocked closer to Avery. “Are you okay?” I forced my fear down, but fuck, this was nearly out of the SF’s league. We’d never had an assignment like this before.
She nodded quickly but glanced down, twisting her fingers.
Heidi, Lex, and Bishop—several Squad Three members—were standing nearby listening avidly. I inclined my head, silently requesting them to leave.
They shared curious looks with each other but did as I asked.
Once it was just Avery and me, while Charlotte continued to lay on the ground, still unconscious from the enchantment that Lex had used to expedite her healing, I shuffled closer to my mate.
The urge to touch her was so strong it nearly overwhelmed me. “Tell me more about the tall one. Did you see his face? Can you describe him? Did you see anything that would help us identify him?”
She took a breath, the sound deep and shuddering. “No, his face was covered by his hood, so I only saw his mouth.” Her eyes widened. “His skin was a strange green color.”
Green color? I eyed Bavar to see if he was listening. He was. The fairy commander pulled his tablet out, sending that extra tidbit of information off to Nicholas.
“But then everything happened so fast that I didn’t pay much attention to it,” Avery continued. “After you carried Charlotte outside and they surrounded us, it all kind of blurs together. But that man, the tall one, he seemed to know me, and they were there for me, I’m sure of it.” Her wide luminous eyes flashed to mine. “But when they shot that spell at me, you jumped in without a second thought. You risked your life to save me.”
She wrapped her arms protectively around her waist, and a snarl rose in my throat at the thought of them threatening her, but I swallowed it down. “Go on,” I said gently.
Sparking power zapped softly on her skin. “The tall one ordered the others to take me. I thought you were dead, and that’s when I felt it. The power in me opened, and then time stood still. Everything stopped, but it was like the tall one was still there with me. He was the only one who was still aware of what was going on.”
My brows furrowed. “Can you describe that more?”
“Everything paused, went still, stood absolutely motionless.” She recounted how everyone had frozen, some even stopping in midair. “But his eyes followed me. He wasn’t as affected by it.”
I took a deep, ragged breath. I’d never heard of power like that or someone who had a trace of immunity to it.
“What’s wrong with me?” she whispered.
Before I could stop myself, I pulled Avery against my chest. Her scent flooded me, my nostrils flaring. “Nothing’s wrong with you,” I said gruffly.
Her body was stiff in my arms, so reluctantly I began to let her go, but then her arms grew softer, her body slowly melting against mine.
My heart ached—fucking ached—at the feel of my mate against me. Even though it’d only been a couple days since I’d last held her, it felt like eons.
“You would have died to save me,” she said quietly against my chest. “You didn’t even hesitate.”
I ran my hand up and down her back, soaking up the feel of her like a man dying from thirst. “I would give my life for you.”
At my raw declaration, Avery shook her head and began to pull back. It was agony to let her go.
“But why?” She peered up at me. “Why would you do that?”
Because I love you. You’re my mate. I live and breathe for you.
But I knew she wasn’t ready for that kind of brutal honesty. She didn’t remember me, didn’t know me. To her, I was a stranger.
Clenching my jaw, I replied, “You’re someone who’s very special to me. That’s why.”
Her gaze searched mine, as though if she looked hard enough she’d be able to see my memories, feel what I felt. Even though I detected her pent-up need to know what I did, she eventually shook her head.
“I wish I could remember.”
“So do I, Avery. So do I.”
∞ ∞ ∞
Charlotte roused an hour later, and we quickly mobilized. Avery stayed by her friend, helping her stand even though Charlotte acted like her typical self—tried to brush it off and act like she was fine.
But I still caught the slight tremor in her hands. As much as she was trying to pretend the attack hadn’t affected her, it had. And for good reason. She’d nearly died.
I pulled her to the side as Lex waited patiently behind me with the sleeping draft. As much as I loathed to take it, I knew I needed to. It would take hours to get to the safe house, and sleep was a good way to pass that time.
But before I did, I needed to speak with my former new recruit.
“Morris, I owe you an apology. What I did back at the inn was unforgivable, but still, I ask for your forgiveness.”
“Did you really leave me?”
Shame crept up my neck, so I locked my jaw. “I did. My focus was entirely on Avery. It shouldn’t have been.”
She crossed her arms. “She said she made you go back for me. Is that true, sir?”
“Yes and no. When I realized what I’d done, I was going to go back, but she also wasn’t taking no for an answer.”
Her brow furrowed, and she was silent for a moment. “She’s your mate, isn’t she?”
Her question was quiet, and didn’t end in sir. I knew she was talking to me as a fellow wolf—one werewolf to another. “She is.”
“Then I forgive you. I know you were acting on instinct. I also know from what I’ve been told that you’re sleep deprived and it’s affecting your judgment, and while I don’t know all of the details between you and Avery, I can see what’s going on, and I’ve come to know you well enough during my training to realize that you normally wouldn’t leave a fallen squad member behind.” She slugged me lightly in the shoulder. “Just don’t make a habit of it . . . sir.”
I dipped my head. “I owe you, Morris, and I don’t say that lightly. There aren’t many supernaturals I owe a debt to, but to you, I do. You can call that chit in at any time.”
The corner of her lips tugged up, and she dipped her head in return. “Noted. Having you in my back pocket almost makes my near death worth it.”
I grimaced, and she sobered.
“In all seriousness, sir, I get it. I do. Since I’m a werewolf who grew up in a pack, I understand all too well what male wolves are like when they want a female. It doesn’t mean that I’m not pissed at you at all. I am, but I also understand why you did what you did. But I’ll still gladly take that chit.”
I chuckled as relief filled me. “Something tells me you’d make a solid bargainer.”
She shrugged. “Perhaps I missed my true calling.”
Shaking my head, she and I joined the rest of the group. Avery hung back, watching us, and smiled in relief when Charlotte approached her.
“Lex, that draft,” Bavar said, nodding at the tall sorcerer.
As much as I hated not being alert for the ride to the safe house, I took the draft and downed it. The bitter taste was like eating grass.
“Jamison, you’ll be on my carpet. Everyone else, stay close.” Bavar directed the carpets into the formation he wanted.
Heidi, a witch in her early thirties who’d been with the SF for longer than me, mumbled an incantation under her breath and wove her magic through the air. It shimmered like twinkling stars and left a hazy dome around us.
To anyone looking at us from the outside, they would simply see the field and hear the distant crashing waves from the sea. An advanced sorcerer, or perhaps those robed men, would be able to see through her cloaking spell, but it wouldn’t be completely obvious. They’d have to be close, within a hundred feet, to detect us.
We could only hope that there weren’t more than the group who’d attacked us. For all I knew, they had spies stationed throughout this realm who would be watching and waiting.
Heaviness gripped my eyes as I stepped onto the enchanted carpet. Avery and Charlotte sat on the one in the middle, surrounded on all sides by Squad Three who had weapons drawn. I felt my mate’s gaze on me when I settled back. A memory of the kiss I’d given her, along with her relief when she’d realized I was okay, clouded my mind as the sleeping draft took hold.
Bavar activated the carpets with a sharp command, and as my eyes closed and darkness claimed me, we were off.
