Mated in Mist
Page 11
“And it’s not just them,” Leah added, encouraged by Ryder’s words. He didn’t often speak to others, but when he did, it was because he had something to say. “The Coven and other smaller covens around the area are safe for now because they are in hiding as much as possible. Packs around the U.S. are still in hiding unless they’ve been forced into the public eye like the Redwoods and Talons. We’re far greater in number than the humans know, and that is creating fear on both sides. If we don’t stand together, we will fall apart.”
The room grew quiet after her and Ryder’s speeches before they began to once again try to formulate a plan. She knew the Alphas of the Packs had their own plans and were purposely not present at these meetings. She also knew the Coven had probably had meetings, as well. However, something good had to come of this. It had to.
Only she wasn’t sure it could happen if she were in the room for much longer. While the Talons had asked her to be there so they had a witch on their side, she wasn’t the only witch they knew. Hannah and Gina were also there in the back of the room, listening to everything unfold. She let out a sigh, and Ryder looked down at her. He took her hand and leaned toward her.
“What’s wrong?”
She blinked up at him and did her best to not lean forward and kiss him. Not only would it be stupid to do that in front of his family and Pack as they weren’t on the path to mating, but doing so in front of the Coven would only heighten the tension in the room. If they thought she was only there because she’d slept with one of the Talon Pack members, she’d be called a whore just as they’d called her mother one.
Her mother might not have known Luis was married at the time, but it hadn’t mattered when Darynda and the other witches cast their blame of the whole situation on her mother’s shoulders rather than Luis’s.
Just thinking about the past made her angry. She needed to think of the future—at least the welfare of the Pack and any innocent witches. Her own future was far murkier, and she would prefer not to think about that at all.
“I need some air,” she whispered. “I’ll be right back.” As quietly as she could, she pushed her chair back and made her way from the table. The witches glared at her, and the wolves looked worried, but she shook her head and pointed to the door. Odd that it was those unlike her in genetics, the wolves, who had her back while those who should have opened their arms to her pushed her away.
She made her way to the door, but Hannah and Gina followed her. She smiled at them, wishing she knew them better. They were both witches who lived within wolf dens. There were more than just these two, but they were the ones she knew a bit more because of their hierarchy within the Redwood Pack.
As soon as she stepped outside, she inhaled the fresh scent of the outdoors and immediately felt a little better. Not at peace, but at least not constantly on edge. Bram from the Redwoods, and Ryder’s cousin, Max stood guard outside. They both looked at her expectantly, and she shook her head.
“I’m fine. Everything is going…well, not good, but at least they aren’t throwing things. I just needed air.”
Max smiled at her, and she couldn’t help but smile back. Bram nodded silently then went back to keeping an eye on the perimeter.
“You doing okay?” Hannah asked when she came to Leah’s side. “I know that was a lot in there, and I’m surprised you didn’t smack a few of them. As it was, I had to keep my magic in check.”
“I’m fine,” Leah said. “I mean, I’m not going to be invited to any family reunions anytime soon, but the glares and accusations are better than outright offensive magic directed my way.”
“That sucks, hon,” Gina said softly. “I grew up within the Redwoods and never had to deal with a coven. My mother, my birth mother that is, mated into the Pack and left her small coven behind. Apparently, there wasn’t any love lost there. My younger brother Mark and I learned what we could from her magic-wise before she died. And my adoptive mother did her best to help, as well, though she grew up in the human world without knowing about our secrets at all.”
Leah knew Gina had been adopted by Kade and Melanie, the Alphas of the Redwoods years ago and had eventually mated a Talon wolf named Quinn. Since Gina was now the Enforcer of the Redwoods, Quinn had left the Talons to be with her. He’d also taken his son from a previous mating with him.
Leah had been with the Talons for long enough that she sort of understood the Pack dynamics, but she wasn’t sure she would ever get it all straight.
“I’m wolf and I am witch,” Gina continued. “So I never had to deal with the idea of mating into the Pack in order to keep my long life. I know some witches prefer to change into wolf instead of being one or the other in order to keep their lives long, especially if they were adopted into the Pack and not mated. Witches have the same lifespan as humans without the mating bond. With the mating bond, witches can live as long as their mate does, like Hannah. But humans need to change to wolves—a process that almost kills them, in order to stay long-lived with their mates.”
“I didn’t grow up with a coven either,” Hannah added. “My mother and I chose to open our herb and oil shop and just live as witches in the real world. The humans just thought it was our religion, or maybe that we were just eccentric.” Hannah winked. “I guess none of us had a normal witch upbringing, and now we’re living amongst the wolves.”
Leah sighed. “I don’t know how much longer I’ll be with the Talons, though,” Leah said honestly. “I don’t know if I’m a help or a hindrance. I don’t want to stay there if I’ll only cause problems.”
Hannah turned to her sharply. “But I thought…you and Ryder…”
Leah shook her head. “We’re choosing not to mate.” Goddess, why did that hurt to say? It shouldn’t. It was a rational decision. Ryder didn’t want to burden her with…whatever secret he held close, and she didn’t want to put a bull’s-eye on his back by mating him. It was better for both of them if they stayed apart.
And if she kept telling herself that, maybe it would make sense.
Gina pressed her lips together but didn’t say anything.
“I’m sorry,” Hannah whispered. “I didn’t mean to bring up such a sore subject. These days, there only seems to be those kinds of subjects, though.”
Leah snorted. “Pretty much. I can’t walk without running into an issue from the past, or one that isn’t quite finished in the present.”
“That’s the problem when you have centuries to live,” Gina said. “Lots of layers of history and not everyone is willing to share it.”
Leah ran a hand over her face. She opened her mouth to say something, only to come up short. The ground beneath her feet shook as a bomb—it had to be a bomb—went off near them.
Gina pulled Hannah under her as she dropped to the ground since the Enforcer was wolf and could handle most damage, while Hannah was only a witch. A witch like Leah. But Leah was too far away for Gina to protect with her strength. Another bomb went off, and Leah fell to her knees, the force of the impact in the air too much.
Bram and Max ran toward her but were thrown from their feet as another bomb went off. Leah pulled on her magic, trying to find out what was going on and figure out how to fix it; only she couldn’t concentrate. Her ears rang and her head pounded. Hands grabbed at her roughly, and she tried to fight; only she couldn’t. Something sharp pricked her neck, and she screamed. A hand went over her mouth, and her body felt heavy.
She tried to blink, tried to do something to save herself; only she couldn’t think enough to function.
She succumbed to the darkness with one thought on her mind.
Ryder.
Chapter Nine
The walls shook as what sounded like a bomb went off right outside the building. Ryder was on his feet in an instant, adrenaline coursing through his veins. His wolf raged, clawing at him to shift so they could find their mate and bring her to safety.
Leah.
Had she been outside when the bomb went off?
Shit.
It was no surprise to him that most of the witches ran toward the other door in the room. The one away from the bomb. A few witches followed Ryder and his crew, worry in their eyes, but their hands raised to use magic. There was even a pregnant witch who looked like she wanted to follow, but someone pulled her back. Ryder didn’t blame them for wanting the woman safe. She had to protect her young. However, he could blame all the other able-bodied witches who didn’t want to see if their own security team outside was safe.
Or perhaps they knew they were safe and this was all a ploy.
“Finn,” he called out.
Finn met his gaze and seemed to be on the same track. “Fuck. Got it. I’ll go with them. Just to make sure. Drake, with me.” The two ran after the witches to make sure they weren’t going to run off, in case they were the ones responsible, but he hoped to the goddess they wouldn’t be hurt in the process. The sheer fact that Finn had trusted his Redwood wolves out front with Ryder spoke volumes.
Ryder made his way through the final door and out into the chaos. Another bomb went off close to the compound, and he was thrown back into the wall, Brandon right next to him. His ears rang, but he just shook his head and staggered to his feet. He was pretty sure he had a few cuts all over his exposed skin thanks to flying debris, but he didn’t care. He needed to find Leah and the rest of his Packmates before it was too late.
As soon as he took a few steps, he spotted Gina on the ground, covering another person. From the curly brown hair covered in a layer of debris and dust, he figured the woman beneath Gina had to be Hannah. Brandon took off running and Ryder followed him.
“Gina!” he called out. He didn’t know where the enemy was, and with all the smoke and broken ground and trees around them, he couldn’t get a scent lock on the bastards. For all he knew, this was like the last time the Talon Pack had been bombed by human extremists. They’d used timed devices that could go off without anyone having to be near.
How they—whoever they were—knew the witches and wolves were meeting there was a question that would have to be answered.
Soon.
But first, he needed Leah and his Pack.
The fact that he thought of Leah first in all situations was not lost on him, but he’d have to deal with that later. Instead, he slid beside Gina and pulled her off Hannah.
“Let’s go. We need to get away from here.” His voice was firm, but he didn’t make it a true order. She wasn’t his Pack, and though he was more dominant than her, he didn’t want to use it and cause Pack issues. He fucking hated politics sometimes.
Gina lifted her head and met his gaze. A few cuts marred her face, but she didn’t look much worse for wear. She let out a little growl, but he didn’t feel that it was directed at him. “Every time I tried to move toward someplace safer, they let off another freaking bomb.” Brandon stepped closer to her, but she held him off. Ryder didn’t think the action was rude, just two friends who needed their space after a harrowing ordeal.
“It makes using magic a bit difficult when you’re trying not to hurt your Pack and you have no idea where to aim,” Hannah said dryly as Ryder lifted her into his arms. “I can walk just fine,” she snapped but put her arms around his neck. As she had two very dominant mates, he had a feeling she was used to wolves carrying her around when there was danger. She was a tiny witch that might be able to Heal others, but she couldn’t Heal herself.
He set Hannah down on her feet near the building and away from where most of the bombs had gone off. They wouldn’t be completely safe until they were behind the den wards, but it would have to do for now. Brandon came closer and looked over her cuts, but as they didn’t have a first aid kit on them, it didn’t do much good.
“Have you seen Leah?” he asked, his wolf frantic. Hell, he was frantic, too.
Hannah’s eyes widened and she looked behind him. “She was right by us when the first bomb went off. We all hit the ground and Gina covered me.”
Gina cursed. “Hannah was closer to me.” She met Ryder’s eyes. “I couldn’t reach Leah. I’m sorry.”
He would have liked to blame Gina for not covering his mate, but he couldn’t. And he needed to stop fucking thinking about her as his mate. She was not. But she was his, if only for the moment.
“Stay here with Hannah,” he growled. “Finn is around the back with the other witches. I’m going to find Leah.”
“Max and Bram are around here, as well,” Hannah said. “Be careful, Ryder. We don’t know who is out there. And don’t forget, I might not be able to heal like you, but I can still protect myself.” She raised her chin and he lowered his gaze in acknowledgement. She was right. Her powers were far stronger than any other witch he’d met. He’d just seen her on the ground and assumed the worst.
He left the two to protect themselves and find the others while he and Brandon went in search of Leah. It had been a few minutes since the last bomb, but that didn’t mean there wouldn’t be another one soon. As he searched, he shot off a quick text to his Alpha, letting him know what was going on. He wasn’t sure what the next step would be, but he did know that if he didn’t find Leah soon, he wouldn’t be responsible for his actions.
“Ryder!” Bram called out.
He turned toward the other wolf and cursed. Bram had Max’s arm around his shoulder and was practically dragging his cousin toward the compound.
“What happened?” He took Max’s other side and helped the progress. Bram could have easily lifted him since he was a wolf, but Max was just tall enough that it would have been awkward as hell. Brandon came up behind them, his body on alert in case the enemy was near.
“Bomb blew too close and the damn wolf pushed me out of the way,” Bram gritted out. “Knocked him out cold. He’s still breathing, and he should be fine soon I would think. But I’d get him to your Healer just in case.”
“Damn cousin,” Ryder muttered.
An SUV pulled in next to him and Ryder let his claws out, his wolf on edge. When Hannah opened the passenger door and ran toward him, he relaxed somewhat.
“Get him in the back,” she ordered. “I might not be a Healer for the Talons, but I can at least do what I can.” She met Max’s gaze. “We’ll get him to Walker. Your brother will be able to help him.”
Ryder nodded and helped Max into the back of the SUV. He was trusting his blood with the Redwoods, and yet he knew it was the right decision.
Gina had her window down as the car idled. “Finn and Drake are taking care of the other witches, though they claim they weren’t part of it.” She let out a snort. “I don’t know as I truly believe that. This is a bit too much of a coincidence, and I know our Packs didn’t do it.” She cursed. “But Finn can’t actually keep them there for long.”
Brandon let out a curse of his own. “He can try his best, but yeah, we don’t have proof. And frankly, this could have been the humans finding us on their own.”
“And we’re sure the bombers are humans?” Ryder asked, his mind on the fact that they still hadn’t found Leah.
“I scented humans near us right as the bomb blew,” Gina said. “But before I could do anything about it, I was knocked to the ground.”
“Get Max to my brother,” Ryder said, his wolf at the forefront. If he didn’t control it better, he’d shift right there and tear into the next thing that moved. “I’m going to find Leah.”
“I’m going with you,” Brandon said then turned on his heel. He and Ryder ran back to where Gina had said she saw Leah last and searched the area.
Ryder couldn’t scent a damn thing and it was killing him. “I can’t fucking scent her.”
Brandon let out a breath and knelt on the grass to get a closer look. “I can’t either. Whatever they put in the explosives added extra scents to them I think. Ones to
mess with our senses.”
“Fuck. That means they were not only aiming to kill us, but to hamper our recovery. Fucking humans.” He pushed at his wolf again, keeping his control on a thin leash. He couldn’t shift, not yet.
“Damn it, Ryder,” Brandon muttered.
Ryder turned to his brother and knelt beside him. “What is it?”
Brandon gingerly held up a small syringe between two fingers. “It has Leah’s scent on the needle.”
Ryder blinked once, twice, at the syringe, then threw his head back and howled. The mournful sound ended on a growl, and he had to take deep breaths so he didn’t do something stupid like run in a random direction to search for her.
“We need to find her, Brandon. The fact they took her isn’t a coincidence. Nothing is adding up.”
“Let’s spread out and find her scent trail,” Finn said as he came up behind them.
Ryder stood quickly and turned to the other man. He fisted his hands at his sides and tried to calm his rapid breathing. “They took her, Finn,” he bit out.
Finn reached out slowly and put his hand on Ryder’s shoulder. His wolf calmed somewhat, and Ryder’s eyes widened.
“You’re not my Pack, how did you do that?”
“Your wolf just needed another dominant wolf to be there. It’s not magic. Now take another deep breath and think. You can’t find Leah if you’re going off half-cocked. We will find her scent trail buried beneath the shit they pumped into the air. Once we do, we’ll follow it and find her.”
What wasn’t said was the fact that he hadn’t claimed Leah. He’d purposely tried to keep that distance, and now he couldn’t use the mating bond to try and find her. Though they’d slept together, her scent was buried beneath his skin. His past issues might have hampered his ability to find her. Fuck.
“We can’t kill humans,” Brandon added and kept his chin up as Ryder growled at him. “We’re still trying to act like we’re happy wolves that protect their own. I’m not saying we can’t rough them up for taking her, but the authorities might want to get involved. We still have to straddle that line until we know what laws are coming. Gutting the assholes where they stand might be what is needed, but we can’t.”