Cicely nodded her head before asking, “And Wester’s father?”
Abella’s eyes went blank as her mouth thinned before she said through clenched teeth, “He will arrive tomorrow afternoon. I believe he has a gift for Wester if I understood correctly.”
Her father never told her that the man who had captured her mother all those years ago was Wester’s father. She now understood why Wester seemed to have a grudge against her father because she believed it was heavily influenced by his father.
“We should be on guard tonight,” Abella said sharply her eyes scanning the woods around her.
“You think…” Cicely and Janie said together.
Abella shook her head as she admitted, “I’m not sure but I rather be safe than sorry because I don’t feel like getting captured again.” At her words, Abella stopped before she retorted, “Let me rephrase that: I’m not getting recaptured again.”
At her words, Cicely and Janie looked at each other before they turned their gazes to Abella seeing the light of determination telling them that she would fight until she was died, but she wasn’t letting them take her alive again.
“Let’s get some sleep,” Cicely said loudly. “First, everyone use a protective spell around the camp. We don’t want any uninvited guests.”
The women voiced their approval as each one began to mumble under their breaths as Cicely said a low chant and Janie sat down on the ground drawing a circle.
“I will go into a meditative state and keep watch for the evening,” she said quietly as Abella looked down at her with a frown.
“Will you be okay?” She asked gently squatting down.
Janie smiled a merciless smile before explained, “It is my gift.”
Abella didn’t say another words as she closed her own eyes and said silently the spell she used when they captured her although she reworded, Blue flame of justice protect us. Let those who wish to harm us suffer from your wraith.
There was a gasp among the witches as a few saw the blue flames spring up and Cicely’s eyes narrowed as she looked around the camp wondering who did it as her eyes landed on Abella whose eyes were still closed but she had braced both her hands on the ground.
As Cicely glanced back around the camp, she realized that each witch had a blue flame close to them. She glanced back over at Abella as she opened her eyes and Cicely saw that her grey eyes were slightly cloudy telling Cicely that she was using some of her own energy to produce the flames.
Cicely shook her head as she thought about how strong the young witch was already even though she still had some training to complete.
“Okay, everyone,” Cicely said scanning the group as they each began to get ready for bed.
“Are you okay?” She asked Abella as everyone settled down.
Abella looked over at her with hooded eyes but she said quietly, “I’m fine. Why do you ask?”
Cicely nodded her head but as she passed her whispered, “Don’t keep them going past daybreak.”
Abella only nodded her head as Cicely walked around the camp checking on everyone as they settled down for the night.
She passed by one witch not noticing how her eyes scanned the area her eyes with a narrowed look as she watched the blue flame dance around her but she had no idea which of the witches called it.
Cicely walked back by one more time and noticing she was still awake asked in a low voice. “Having a hard time getting some rest for tomorrow?”
The woman shook her head and lay down as Cicely walked back to her own spot before lying down.
The woman scanned the area one last time before she gritted her teeth in anger then she closed her eyes as she listened to the camp settle around her.
The next morning everyone was up and ready to go when Cicely called them all in the center of the camp.
Abella was standing in the middle and everyone looked at her strangely as Cicely said, “Are you ready to go?”
They all looked at each other as Cicely said softly, “Now, Abella remember what I told you. Focus on the room you were held in and then just bring us there.”
“Much harder than how you say it,” Abella murmured as she held out her hands waving them a little closer and Cicely nodded her head as they all looked at her.
Abella eased her breathing as she focused on the room the chain still hanging from the ceiling as if waiting for her and she let out a slow breath before she mumbled under her breath, Take us to the room.
She felt a whistling sensation and her head was spinning so she was surprised when she opened her eyes to see herself still standing in the middle of the group but now they were dead center of the room she had been held for two weeks.
“Wow,” Abella said on soft breath as she looked around the room and the others looked at her in surprise.
She collapsed slightly to the ground her head throbbing lightly and Cicely dropped down next to her.
“Are you all right?” She asked before she looked up tilting her head to the door in the corner of the room.
“Yeah,” Abella told her quietly. “I guess it takes more out of me when I do a group than if I am by myself.”
Cicely shook her head as she gave her a hand up and she said in patronizing voice, “Duh, Abella.”
Abella eyes widened at the retort and she bit her lip hard to stop herself from laughing out loud as she and Cicely walked over to the door on silent feet.
“Is he here yet?” She asked Janie who had her eyes closed listening to the sounds outside the room and she shook her head before she suddenly stopped.
Her eye flashed open and a dark smile crossed her face as she said, “He has arrived.”
Abella’s hand clenched into a fist as Cicely nodded her head to the others as they opened the door quietly. They were going to go out of the room in twos with Cicely and Abella being the last group.
“Ready, Abella?” Cicely asked her eyes on the door.
“I have to be won’t I?” Abella stated as someone walked by the door and Cicely nodded her head at Janie who gave a wicked snort before she headed out of the door.
The man was taken by the surprise as she encased him in some sort of barrier and his eyes were wide with fear as they eased out of the room. Abella looked at him with sympathy although she didn’t stop to help him as she doubted he stopped to help any of the witches him and his friends had taken, and tortured, over the years.
They moved quietly through the warehouse as Abella realized they were taking out the hunters as they came upon them. Some of the witches were merciless in their offense and Abella flinched more than once, but she followed behind without comment.
They had past one room when the door opened as one of the hunter’s walked out in a rush, and Abella reacted quickly pinning the man to the wall cutting off his airway as she recognized him as Pat the one who enjoyed the whip.
“Go ahead,” she mouthed. To Cicely, she added, “He was the one with the whip.”
Cicely nodded her head as she tilted her head forward telling the others to continue on. “Be careful,” she murmured as she past Abella following the others.
Abella’s eyes were hard when she turned them on the man and with a quick scan of the hallway she leaned forward and whispered, “You and I are going to have a little talk.”
He nodded his head as much as he could with her arm across his airway and Abella could see his eyes flickering from side to side as he tried to find a way out of his current predicament. She loosened her hold a little and the man smirked as he grabbed her arm twisting it behind her back before he whispered hoarsely, “I think I will enjoy our next session.”
Abella smiled before she moved faster her elbow going back in his solar plexus before she turned around and rammed her hand right into his throat, and the man’s eyes widened as he began choke.
Abella pushed open the door with her foot before she yanked him inside and after scanning the room, she closed the door behind her.
The room was dimly lit but the man in front of
her could see the glow of her grey eyes making them almost silver in the room.
“Like I said we need to have a talk,” Abella repeated as she reacted fast hitting the man back in the throat, and his breath came out in a long gust.
“What do we need to talk about, witch?” He tried to sneer at her but it came out in a squeak.
“Where did you learn that concoction you coated the whip with?” Abella fired at him in a quiet voice.
The man gave her a narrow look as he said smugly, “Did you get sick?”
Abella smiled before her fist came up hitting the man right in the face and both hard the crack of a bone.
“Not as sick as you will be if you don’t answer my question,” she warned her voice deadly soft thinking about each time that whip went across her back and how he laughed with enjoyment when she flinched.
“Wester found it in some book that was given to him by his father,” the man told her in a muffled voice. “I don’t know much else about it except his father claimed it would make a witch powerless.”
Abella kept her face blank at the man’s words knowing if she showed any emotion then he would learn that Wester’s father had been right according to what Cicely had told her during their journey here.
“What are you going to do now, witch?” He taunted her before he lunged to the side grabbing a knife that Abella hadn’t seen. Abella reacted quickly just as she did when she practiced with Janie; she grabbed his hand as it came down at her and with a hard twist, she broke the man’s wrist and before he could cry out she grabbed the knife, stabbing him in the throat.
As he fell to the ground, his eyes wide with astonishment the knife sticking out of his neck Abella closed her eyes briefly as she said a silent chant for what she had just done even though if she hadn’t, he would’ve killed her and enjoyed every minute of it.
She sighed heavily as she looked at him one last time before she walked back to the door opening it quietly and scanning the hall before she slipped out closing the door silently behind her.
She started moving quickly through the halls because something was urgently telling her that she was needed.
Cicely looked at the man in front of her as he laughed at her with shining emotionless hazel eyes.
“I don’t know how you found this place,” he told them looking at the other women as his son laughed. “But I have to admit that this is a good sight to see.”
Janie turned and spat at his feet while another lunged for him only to be backhanded by one of his men that they hadn’t accounted for.
“So you are the ring leader of this group, huh,” the man sneered getting in Cicely’s face and Cicely noted how old the man was getting.
“Old age is creeping up on you,” she taunted her eyes laughing at him, and his mouth twisted in anger.
“Abomination,” he growled at her, and Cicely smiled. If she had to guess, she was not much younger than the man in front of her and yet she looked younger than him by almost fifteen years.
“You use your witch powers to keep yourself young,” his son growled at them.
Cicely couldn’t help the laughter that came out listening to those words and the others followed her as Wester and his father snarled in rage.
Wester’s hand was already aiming for Janie’s face when suddenly Abella appeared in front of her catching his fist in her hand.
“Hi cousin,” she said with a hard light in her eye before she twisted his arm and sent him flying over her head, and Janie’s, to slam against the wall.
Her eyes went to the man standing in front of Cicely before she closed her eyes and taking a deep breath chanted a spell that she found in the books Jed gave her recently.
”Get her now,” Wester ordered in a ragged breath as he pushed himself to his feet.
Abella’s eyes flashed open as the men started toward her only to stop suddenly as if they were frozen.
“What are you waiting for?” Wester screamed at them panic in his voice now as his father stared at the young woman in front of him.
“We can’t move,” one man cried out before he was knocked off his feet as the earth shifted underneath him.
Abella smiled as Janie whispered, “thanks” as she along with the others moved past her to take care of the hunters. She noticed the bruising and bleeding that the witches had, but it wasn’t stopping them from attacking.
“So you are David’s daughter,” a voice said in her ear before she was knocked off her feet as the man’s fist went straight to her jaw.
She glared up from her back before she jumped to her feet feeling her jaw and although it felt bruised, she didn’t’ think it was broken.
She did feel blood running down from her mouth though and she spat it out as the man narrowed his eyes at her.
“I wonder if your blood will give me what I want,” he said thoughtfully watching the blood run down her jaw.
“What is that?” Abella asked him before she was attacked from behind as Wester came at her with a knife.
Abella sensed the movement behind her so she twisted out of the way but the knife grazed her cutting through the jacket and shirt she wore as Wester laughed.
“Did you really think that you could come in here and beat us?” He asked her on a waspish breath.
“It was a thought,” Abella said truthfully as he moved again knocking off her feet, but Abella rolled and came back up her eyes hard.
She knew that the other man was merely watching waiting for his moment to strike or more likely, testing to see how good his son was in the current situation.
Abella knew that the others were focused on their own battles catching Cicely out of the corner of eye going after a man that had been standing next to Wester’s father who merely stood there his eyes hard but watchful.
“Don’t worry about your friends,” Wester told her in a confident tone. “We will make sure that they are buried together.”
He came out her again and this time, Abella walked right into him sidestepping at the last minute before she grabbed his arm in an arm-bar. For a second they stood like that until Abella with as much force as she could deliver, she dropped slamming Wester’s arm hard against the table that he thought to pin her against. He screamed as his arm broke from the contact dropping the knife before he stumbled away. He cradled his broken arm as he looked at her with narrowed eyes before he reached behind him and pulled out a gun.
Abella froze for a second as he fired before she made herself fall backwards hitting the table before she rolled off hitting the floor hard.
She heard a scream after the gun was fired, but she didn’t have time to analyze who screamed as Wester fired more shots at her, and one shot grazed her arm as she moved out of the way.
“Damn,” she muttered realizing she had forgotten about the gun shot she heard when she had been captured.
She was breathing heavily noticing that other sounds within the room had stopped and she hoped that none of the others had gotten hit by the bullets.
“I guess after all, I still win,” Wester told her as he aimed the gun at her head.
“Wester,” his father called out but Abella could see in his eyes that he wasn’t going to listen to his father.
Abella closed her eyes and waited as she moved her hands quickly wondering if anything she did would stop her from dying in that moment.
Chapter 36
Caden watched the rogue pack in front of him his wolf itching for a fight as Stone shifted next to him stepping forward.
Be on alert, he told his pack knowing that Stone had already warned his pack at the same time.
“Well, look what we have here,” a man taunted stepping out from the woods a hard look on his face. “It is the Alpha of the Waterskin Pack.”
Stone crossed his arms over his chest as he said in low voice, “We are giving you a chance to turn around and head back.”
Caden observed the wolves in front of him quickly before returning his attention to their leader watching as he pushed himself
through the wolves around him, and Caden felt his wolf growl at his disrespect for those wolves.
When Caden and his pack arrived at Alpha Stone’s it was with the news that the rogue pack had left already so within hours of arriving, they were heading out again this time with Stone and his fighter wolves. It had taken them four days to catch with them almost ten miles away from the Everwood Pack which pissed off both Stone and Caden because they had wanted to keep the fight as far from the pack as possible.
The man laughed catching his attention again before he shifted and jumped at Stone. Stone reacted quickly as an Alpha shifting into his own before he landed on him and then the battle began.
Caden lost count how many times he bit and attacked the rogue wolves in front of him, but he also knew that he had some wounded wolves behind him.
Stone was still fighting with the man leader when suddenly there came a group of wolves from the forest one pure black and without stopping he interceded between Stone and the rogue leader.
Caden took out the wolf who charged him with a simple twist of his head crushing his neck before he turned his attention to the three wolves standing in the middle of the bloody field.
Caden looked around and his wolf howled at what he saw before him as he quickly scanned the area for his own fighter wolves and Stone’s men noting that they had wolves down. He wasn’t sure if they had lost anyone or not but he knew that it was probable which saddened him.
“You finally came out of hiding you damn coward,” Caden heard and his wolf whipped around as the wolves behind him started to gather together.
The black wolf stood there for a second before the wolf shifted showing a very tall man with green eyes although Caden could tell that he wasn’t young anymore. “What do you want, Emil?”
“You killed her,” the man screamed at him lunging forward in his male form only to be caught as he swung his fist at the man.
Caden watched as the man caught the fist in a tight grip before he said loudly for all to hear, “I didn’t kill her, you did when you decided to disobey your Alpha and go after the hunters. You took the best pack fighters with you leaving the pack defenseless.”
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