Witch Untold by Debbie Cassidy

Chapter Eleven

Wren was sitting on the sofa in the library, silver threads pooled on the floor at his feet, eyelids heavy with sleep. He rubbed his face with his paws as I approached and greeted me with a yawn that exposed his tiny sharp teeth.

Dorothy hovered close by, keeping her distance from Wren like I’d instructed. This was supposed to happen in a controlled environment. If what Conah predicted was true, then Wren would be a monster. He’d be a killer or working up to being one. Except he looked exactly the same as he had prior to being cocooned.

“Wren, are you okay?”

He pouted for a long beat, as if considering the question, and then nodded. “Wren feels okay. Is Cora okay?”

He sounded the same too. “I’m fine, buddy. You’ve been asleep for a long time.”

He frowned and rubbed his head. “Wren had a nap.”

I took another step toward him, Conah’s warnings conflicting with my instinct to scoop him up. “Wren, you’ve been sleeping for days. Do you feel…different?”

“No.” He blinked away the sleep and fixed his huge brown eyes on me.

Cuteness overload. No. No. Focus, Cora. Conah had said Wren would be changed, physically and behaviorally, but this was regular fluffy Wren.

Still, I needed to be sure. “Um…are you hungry?”

He shrugged. “Wren could eat.”

Okay, that wasn’t the gusto of the pre-cocooned Wren. “And what do you want to eat?”

Please don’t say people, please don’t say people.

“Hmmm … Cake? Can Wren have cake, Cora?”

“Oh, thank you!” Dorothy rushed past me and picked Wren up. “I knew you weren’t a monster.”

“Huh?” Wren glared at Dorothy. “Wren not a monster.”

He looked so affronted and so fucking cute that I couldn’t help myself. I bridged the distance between us and scooped him out of Dorothy’s ethereal arms.

I hugged him to me, reveling in his uniquely Wren aroma. “You’re not a monster, buddy. You’re fine. Absolutely fine.”

He nuzzled into me, his body vibrating with joy. “Can Wren have cake now?”

“Yeah, buddy, you can have as much cake as you want.”

* * *

Wren was okay.Conah had been wrong. Rare, for sure, but not unheard of, especially if Wren was different to the mogwai Conah had read about.

My tiny fae buddy clung to my back as I made my way to the atrium to meet Sloane and Lauris. The guys had been out when I’d gotten home to change. I’d layered up as best I could and slipped on my purple sheepskin boots with decorative buttons and a black wool lining. The tops could be folded over to create a large cuff, making the boots even cuter.

Wren insisted on coming to see me off at the atrium, and because I didn’t want him trekking back to the cabin alone, I’d called Tor. He’d promised one of the guys would meet us there to bring Wren home.

“Is Cora sure Wren can’t come?” he whispered in my ear.

I bit back a smile and reached over my shoulder to stroke his head. “I’m sure. It’s much too dangerous.” I needed to be focused, and I couldn’t do that if I was worrying about protecting him. He was brave, for sure. He’d saved my ass when I was attacked by the revenant, but he’d almost died doing it. No, he needed to stay here. “Tor, Leif, and Rune will take care of you until I get back.”

“But… Who will protect Cora?”

“I’ll be fine. I have Sloane, Lauris, potions, and a sword.” I patted the pommel of my blade. “I’ll be okay.”

Wren sighed, then lapsed into silence.

The atrium came into view and so did my crimson-haired mate. The Rover was parked by the gazebo and Leif leaned up against it, arms crossed, gunmetal blues fixed on me as I approached.

Fuck. He was probably going to attempt to talk me out of going. I didn’t have time for an argument or a heated discussion.

My wariness must have shown on my face because Leif held up his hands in surrender. “Not here to talk you out of going.”

“Good. Because you’d be wasting your breath.” I smiled to soften my words and didn’t stop until we were almost chest to chest.

“I know.” He sighed. “I wanted to see you before you left. I want you to know I’m sorry for being an ass earlier. The thought of you in danger fucks with my head. Especially when you’ll be so far away that I can’t get to you.”

I slid my hands up his chest and leaned in, tipping my chin up so my lips grazed his jaw. “I’ve been doing dangerous shit for years, Leif. I’m not a damsel. You need to remember that.” I pushed up on tiptoes and pressed a soft kiss to his lips. “I’m going to be fine. I got this.” I sounded confident, cool, and kick-ass, even though my stomach was trembling. “Do what you can to help Anna prepare for retaliation from the Sons of Adam.”

Leif brushed his lips across mine. “Tor’s on it. The area around the mansion will be crawling with shifters.” He kissed the corner of my mouth, speaking against my skin. “Anna’s given us special dispensation to enter the grounds if the Sons of Adam attack.”

I turned my head slightly, angling for another kiss. “They’ll be no match for shifters and gargoyles.”

“No. They won’t.” He pulled back slightly, his expression serious, telling me he wasn’t going to be distracted by my feminine wiles. “We can’t kill them, but we can fight them off with a show of power. Make them think twice about coming for you. I won’t let them have you.”

Except I was going to them.

Leif’s eyes dimmed, telling me he was thinking the same thing.

“If you’re done canoodling…” Sloane stood in the doorway to the atrium wrapped in a thick fur-lined coat and heavy-soled winter sheepskin boots with what looked like a merino wool lining and cuff. Her hands were gloved and the lower half of her face was covered by a scarf. She looked me over. “Seriously?”

“I wrapped up.”

She shook her head and reached into her pocket, pulling out another scarf and handing it to me. “You’ll need this.”

Leif took it from her and wrapped it carefully around my neck, tucking it in before pulling up my hood.

“Be safe.” He kissed my forehead.

I headed toward The Elite. “Lauris?”

“Should be here any—”

“I’m here.” Lauris melted out of the shadows, making me jump.

“Fuck, dude.”

He grinned. “Ready to kick some undead ass.”

“They’re not actually undead,” Sloane corrected.

“Whatever. It sounded good, though.”

“Wren come, too?” Wren asked again.

Sloane’s gaze flicked to me in a question.

I reached over my shoulder and gently dislodged Wren, swinging him round to settle on my hip. “We discussed this.”

He pouted. “Cora didn’t discuss. She ordered.”

“Can you please do this for me? Stay here so I don’t worry about you?”

“But then Wren will worry about Cora.”

I didn’t have time for this. “It’s how it has to be, Wren. You can’t come.”

Was that a flash of defiance in my little buddy’s eyes?

“Come on, Wren.” Leif approached and held out his arms. “I’ll bake your favorite cookies and we can watch Supernatural.”

Wren sighed and nuzzled into me before climbing down my leg and padding over to Leif.

“You got the portal?” Sloane asked me.

I pulled the coin from my coat pocket and handed it to her.

“It’ll stay open, but it’ll be safe on the grounds,” she said.

A gust of wind hit me in the face. The beat of wings followed and then Bador landed by the gazebo. His wings retracted and melted into his back. He folded his arms and swept his dark gaze over us.

Another beat of wings, and another figure landed on the opposite side of us. A gargoyle I hadn’t seen before.

“What’s this?” Leif looked from Bador to the unnamed gargoyle.

“A precaution,” Bador said in his rumbling voice. “Anna’s orders. An open portal must be monitored.”

“Good point,” Sloane said.

“Can we control where it comes out?” Lauris asked.

“The silent sisters will have made sure it’s a hidden, secluded spot.” Sloane flicked the coin into the air. It flipped, winking silver in the moonlight, and then flashed bright before tearing a mystical doorway into the fabric of our world. There was little finesse to this portal. Unlike the other portal the sisters had provided, this one wasn’t an actual door but a swirling whirlpool of silver and purple that crackled with energy.

Lauris and Sloane flanked me.

“You ready?” Sloane asked.

I nodded. “Let’s go get our people back.”

We stepped through the portal and the world fractured.

Ice bit at my face and filled my lungs as we stepped into a world that was an expanse of sparkling white under a miasma of shimmering turquoise and purple.

“The Aurora Borealis,” Sloane said softly. “It’s beautiful.”

It was like standing under a kaleidoscope on a landscape of ice and snow, forbidding yet majestic in its aloofness.

“There’s the town.” Sloane pointed to a skyline of twinkling lights. “Come on.”

We began to trudge toward civilization, leaving the portal behind.

Sloane was right. The sisters had pinpointed a spot far enough from the town to ensure the portal wouldn’t be found, but close enough for us to make it on foot.

Sloane huffed. “I estimate it’ll take thirty minutes to get there.”

My boots sank into the snow, which was deeper than it looked. “It looks closer.”

“This landscape can be deceptive.”

We trudged in silence for long minutes, the only sound the puff of my breath and the thud of my pulse in my ears until an eerie wail cut through the night, making my hackles rise.

Lauris stepped away from us. “I see something. There’s someone headed this way.”

I spotted the figure a moment later. It was moving fast and heading toward us.

Lauris took another step forward, and then another. “Wait. Is that—”

Purple hair streamed out from a furry hood. “Bramble? It’s Bramble!”

The eerie wail took form, hitting me with icy precision. “Run! Run, dammit.” Bramble waved her arms at us, then veered toward the town.

“Come on!” Lauris urged.

We broke into a run, as best we could in the snow. Bramble was here. She was okay, or maybe not, because she was running from something. Damn she was fast, light on her feet, as if the snow wasn’t even a factor. Had to be a pixie trait.

We converged a few minutes later with the town looming in front of us. I caught the flash of too-wide eyes and a pale elfin face, but even though we slowed down, Bramble didn’t.

“Bramble.” Lauris cut across Sloane and me, lifted her off her feet, and crushed her against his chest. “You crazy fucking bitch.”

She smacked at him. “Put me down, you lug. There’s no time for hugs, especially from you.”

He obliged, but I didn’t miss his hurt look.

Bramble looked over her shoulder, back at the winter wasteland. “They’re coming. We need to keep moving.” She broke into a jog and we joined her. Her urgency was infectious. “I don’t know what they are. Some new breed of monster, but there are so many and they’re headed this way. They can’t be far behind me.”

Monsters? “Not the Sons of Adam?”

“Feck those bastards. The Sons of Adam are vamps, these things are….I don’t even know what they are. Ugly as fuck and old. I felt that much.”

I wasn’t about to question her sanity. Monsters were real, and some might even class us in that group, but witches, shifters, gargoyles, and pixies were nothing compared to some of the shit that lurked in the dark.

We were the good guys.

“Okay, so there are monsters in Alaska, but what makes you think they’re headed for the town?” Sloane asked.

Bramble gave her a withering glance. “What does a predator do when hungry?”

“Feed,” Lauris answered for Sloane.

“These things are ravenous. I felt it. And the nearest source of sustenance is the town.”

“This makes no sense,” Sloane said. “Where have these monsters been? I mean, how come they’ve not attacked before. How is the town still alive? Maybe they feed off…other stuff?”

“I don’t know, do I?” Bramble snapped. “I saw the fuckers, and I ran because that’s what a sane person does, and trust me, there ain’t nothing out here to feed this lot. Nothing except what’s in that town. Walking meat sacks, blood bags on legs. It’s an all-you-can-eat buffet over there, and those toothy fuckers are coming for it, napkins tucked into their fecking collars, claws out.”

I noted how dark her eyes looked in her face. She was spooked, seriously terrified. And if something terrified Bramble, then it fucking terrified me, because that tiny bundle of crazy wasn’t afraid of anything.

I caught Bramble’s eye. “How many?”

She glanced my way and shook her head slightly. “If I had to take a guess, I’d say it was a fecking horde.”

I picked up the pace. “We need to warn people.”

The town loomed closer and a road came into view. We were almost there, and the monsters couldn’t be far behind us. Barrow had a rough population of around four thousand people. No one said it, but there was no doubt in my mind that we were all thinking it—how the hell would we keep four thousand people safe from a horde of monsters?