Marked By Magic by Christa Wick
Chapter Four
Denver glancedup from the operations screen on his tablet to check Esme's condition. Her body swayed unevenly as the tactical van traveled over rutted asphalt on a county road. Her tired eyelids remained shut, that all-seeing sea-green gaze of hers hidden, though he sensed she was fighting to stay alert. He knew how exhausted she was, and how anxious she was about everyone and everything—other than herself.
Beautiful, stubborn mate.
There was more than enough anxiety to go around. Navarro's team had sent a status report. Otter had sniffed out where Oscar and Michelle entered the water, but neither the cub nor the latent had been spotted. With Silantra's casting failing to produce results, the team had widened their search area by splitting into two groups.
Better luck graced Denver's team as they tracked the Hunters transporting the wolf hearts and three latents. Locked on the wolf hearts, Esme's magic had pinpointed every change in direction the transport van took. But even that good news was peppered with bad because the route kept creeping closer to clan lands, raising the possibility of a new attack.
"Passed the turn for Gibley, boss," Jet said from his position in the lead vehicle, a black Camaro optimized for speed, but with a reinforced front end that made it effective for pit maneuvers. "Still heading roughly north on 11. Bastards slowed down, so we have eyes on them, but…"
"Yeah," Denver agreed. "That means they've got eyes on you—if they're looking. Tell Joelle to pass. Fray, take the lead. Copy?"
"Copy that, boss," Fray said from his position a few car lengths back from Denver's tactical van, his four-wolf team tucked into a dark gray SUV.
Denver looked at Esme again. She held the same position as earlier. Iris and Cade still flanked her, the witch-wolf busy casting with one hand while the other hand rested on Esme's thigh. A soft glow of purple that occurred whenever Iris used her wolf while healing a patient surrounded the point of contact between the two women. Cade also lightly touched Esme, his hand cupping her elbow so that she could draw strength from his wolf.
Denver's jaw tightened with the knowledge that all the efforts to heal his mate had been little more than the equivalent of bandages on a severed limb, the artery still gushing blood. Less than two weeks had passed between the capture and imprisonment of Camille before Esme started fainting several times a day. Before that, she had been physically weak and listless, with headaches like harpoons rammed through her skull and the once powerful mind it housed.
"Cancel the switch, boss," Jet said, his voice rippling with fresh excitement at the same time coordinates appeared on Denver's tablet. "They just turned down a gated road. We passed as they were putting a chain and lock back on. Dude at the gate turned his flashlight on us."
Denver zoomed in on the coordinates. The satellite image was blurred out. Quentin, or whomever his shell was, must have sent an owner privacy request.
The wolf clans had considered doing the same, but the end consensus was that blurring out that much land was like painting a bull's eye on their location. They opted instead for spreading out the homes in a pattern consistent with human development, using wards to misdirect and otherwise confuse anyone approaching at ground level, and building some key underground tunnels and bunkers.
"How far past are you?" he asked.
"About a quarter mile now." Jet answered so fast that he had to have his head half over Joelle Perry's lap as the distance ticked over a tenth of a mile at a time.
"Turn back," Denver ordered. "Stop a couple hundred feet from the gate. Take your bolt cutters—"
"No," Esme said, her head jerking upward until her face pointed at the van's ceiling and her eyes rolled back.
"Holy Crap!" Jet shouted. "Two tall ass trees just crashed somewhere in the area of the property's drive."
Esme's head rolled forward, her body threatening to slide off the bench seat. "I can feel Quentin. We have to take the latents on the drive or in the woods. If he gets hold of them and the hearts, I don't know what he's capable of. We need to ram the gate."
Her eyes rolled back in her head, her body slamming against the van's interior.
"Two more trees are down!" Jet said. "I hope that's us doing that and not them!"
"Group one and three," Denver said, signaling Jet and Fray's teams. "Ops van will crash the gate. Follow us in and be ready to hit the ground shooting."
He secured the tablet, then stood. Cade matched his movements, each of them shouldering their rifles before checking access to the multiple handguns and grenades strapped to their bodies.
"Zed!" Iris yelled at the young wolf in the front passenger seat as Esme collapsed against her. "Get your ass back here."
Zed bounded up with a twist. Iris handed off Esme, then went into the front where Colt was driving.
"Babe," Cade rumbled at the she-wolf. "What are you doing?"
"Seeing if I can bust the gate from here. Esme just took down four trees she couldn't even see. I should be able to obliterate a couple of hinges and a chain."
Denver watched through the gap between the two front seats. He saw the gate coming up. Moonlight illuminated its metal construction and revealed that its position was at the start of a broad bend in the road. The location was lucky. The van wouldn't need to drop any speed on the curve. The vehicle would have all the momentum it needed to crash through the gate if Iris couldn't take it out first.
"That's how you fucking do it!" Colt shouted as the gate blew off its hinges and landed on the side of the dirt road. "Mighty damn accommodating, Miss North."
"Don't suppose you can just knock their weapons out of their hands all at once?" Zed asked from where he propped Esme up.
Hitting the gas pedal, Colt shook his head. "Fuckers aren't getting off that easy. I want them armed when I shred their asses."
Denver checked on Iris. Body slightly slouching, she shook her head at his unvoiced question. She had taken a visible energy hit for the new trick she'd just taught herself, but she recovered quickly.
"Stop before the curve up ahead," she said, her hand thrusting in Colt's direction to land on his arm. "They're just on the other side and will hear us coming."
Denver repeated the order over his headpiece for the Camaro and SUV drivers. As the van slowed, he touched Iris's shoulder.
"Stay by Esme's side."
Iris nodded, then pulled her pistol from its holster, holding it in her right hand. With her left, she grabbed the door release. The van came to a stop. She and Colt threw open their doors and took up defensive firing positions as Cade and Denver exited the side door. Cade reached Iris first, providing his mate with cover as she returned to Esme and Zed.
The Camaro stopped to the left of the van. The SUV rumbled up fifteen seconds later and pulled off the drive on the right.
The sound of men shouting and women screaming echoed through the tall woods. With their enhanced hearing, the wolves could tell the Hunters were dragging the latents through the woods. But even their superior eyesight couldn't penetrate the shadowed interior of the forest at night.
"They're scattering," Cade shouted, one hand cupped around his ear. "But loosely angling northeast."
Denver signaled for Jet and Joelle to stay with the van, along with Iris, Esme and Zed. Then he ordered the rest of his team and Fray's to follow him into the woods.
Once they were out of sight, Esme stared at Iris.
"Are we really letting them go alone?"
Joelle cleared her throat. "Denver wants you here."
Ignoring the young woman, Esme kept her gaze on Iris.
The witch-wolf cocked the right side of her head, the brow and corner of her mouth lifting.
Esme winked at Iris then brought her hands up, the index and middle finger of each pressing lightly against her temples as she stared down Joelle. "And now he wants us to rendezvous."
Iris duplicated the pose then bobbed her head. "Yep, Cade just confirmed Denver's orders."
Joelle looked at Zed and Jet for support, but the two males peered into the darkness in the direction of the gunfire, their hands restless on their rifles.
"I'll need a little juice," Esme said as she stepped away from the van. Reaching Joelle first, she placed a palm against the back of the young she-wolf's neck. A few steps later, she placed the other palm against the back of Jet's.
Color returned to Esme's cheeks as she drew on the power of their totems. Zed and Iris took positions a little forward and twenty feet to each side as the group left the dirt drive and ventured into the tree line. A tenth of a mile on, they reached a narrow clearing filled with moonlight. From the other side, something or someone crashed through the underbrush. A figure burst through the trees. It was a woman. Red-haired and out of breath, she froze when she spotted Esme and the wolves.
Iris's arm shot out and grabbed the barrel of Zed's rifle, redirecting it upward half a heartbeat before he finished squeezing the trigger.
"That's Philia," she growled, then jerked a thumb at the redhead. "Get behind me and help with Esme. Jet, hurry your ass up here."
"You have the hearts!" Esme hissed as Philia reached her.
Nodding, the latent thrust a dripping leather satchel toward the witch. Releasing her grip on Joelle's neck, Esme grabbed the bag and passed the shoulder strap over her head. As the blood and leather made contact with her body, she visibly straightened.
"This way!" Esme ordered, pointing north. "We're going to head them off."
Eyeing Joelle's sidearms, Philia stabbed a finger in the she-wolf's direction.
"Give me one of those."
"Do you even kn—"
Seeing the fury that passed over the latent's face, Joelle snapped her mouth shut and handed over one of the three 9mm pistols strapped to her body. The latent immediately fired off a shot as two Hunters crashed through the underbrush from the same direction as Philia had just fled.
"Damn it!" Philia swore as the bullet hit a tree next to one of the Hunters. "I missed."
"I won't," Esme said, her voice eerily calm as she raised an arm and swung her hand in the men's direction.
Blue flame ignited their bodies, the vegetation around them spared as the Hunters quickly blackened and shriveled. An azure vortex lifted their ashes, the energy of the flame she had thrown returning to Esme. Blue light washed over her, the satchel protectively clutched against her stomach.
When the light disappeared, she seemed even stronger.
"Forward," she ordered.
