“But Mack said we—”
“I don't care what Mack said.” My wolf pranced, excited at the thought of another run. “I need to run.”
“Liam and Bryn—”
“Will be there when we arrive. I promise it will be okay.” I shifted into my wolf and waited for Luna to follow suit.
Once she shifted, the small silver wolf took timid steps, fear prominent in her gaze.
I howled and raced off. The wind whipped through my fur. The mountain air flowed into my lungs.
Ah, this is what I needed.
Luna chased after me, each step more confident than the last. Her wolf's nervous nature told me she wasn't one with her wolf. Had she never experienced what it was like to be one with her wolf? I would have to delve into that…later.
For now, we ran.
Chapter Nine
Connor
“Son of a bitch!” The curse escaped my lips as I stepped around Aylin's kicked-in door. The floor creaked beneath my heavy boots. The light layer of frost cracked with each step.
The distinct smell of sulfur and rotten eggs floated in the air. My nose twitched and my stomach churned. I kicked aside a couch cushion and waded through the disarray.
The cabin's furniture lay demolished and tossed. Window glass crunched under my boots. The kitchen air reeked of the smell. I pulled my shirt up over my nose and tried to breathe through my mouth.
The gas burners were turned on high, but the pilot lights were all blown out. I flipped each knob to turn it off. The click of the burners made the hair on the back of my neck stand straight up. Someone meant to do damage with this vandalism. It was meant to either send a warning or cause harm, but I'd be damned sure to find out which one.
My need to ensure the place was empty drove me down the hall. My brain told me Aylin wasn't home. She was running. My heart said, 'Make sure.'
I looked through every room. Each one made my stomach sink further.
Nothing had been left intact. Luna and Mitch had taken advantage of Aylin's hospitality.
I hurried back down the hall where the shattering of windows drowned out the beating of my heart. Someone was helping the vapors escape, but the smell was still overpowering in the tiny space.
“Run!” A man tugged on my arm, jerking me forward. “C'mon. It's about to blow!”
What in the—? My mind took a split second to comprehend what he was saying. Blow? As in boom?
“Shit!” I raced for the door.
The man's steps pounded ahead of me. As I leapt through the opening, a loud bang resonated. I became airborne. Heat scorched my clothes and singed my skin.
I hit the ground like a Prius ramming a Mack truck. Unfortunately, I wasn't the Mack truck.
“You okay, bro?” The man's voice sounded distant, as if he spoke through a pool of water.
I pushed myself into a sitting position. Bright orange flames engulfed the house. Black smoke barreled into the air.
“Fuck!” I turned to the man who had saved me. I recognized the beach blond hair through the dusting of ash. His golden-brown eyes appeared to glow against the blackened residue. “Mike,” I shouted, my ears ringing from the explosion.
“Mitch,” he corrected.
“What the fuck you doing here?” My voice strained against the forced effort to speak.
“I came to check on Luna. Bomb, BOOM.” Mitch made hand signals like I couldn't make out his words. I could, but why was he whispering?
I wobbled forward. Vertigo made my first few steps difficult, but then I righted myself. I clenched my fists. “You did this?”
“No!”
“Then who?”
Mitch raised his hands in peace. “I don't know, man. You were already here when I arrived.”
“You aren't supposed to be on pack property.” He just saved my life, but he had almost killed Aylin months ago and would never receive any respect from me.
“Well geesh, I just saved your sorry ass.” He spoke my thoughts aloud.
“Doesn't change our past. You need to leave now.” Power radiated through my body and the bond's silvery gold hue wrapped around my body like a vice. The comfort from the glow replenished my strength.
Thankfully, Mitch started to walk away before I glimmered like one of those girly vampires in the movies. But should I let him leave? What would Liam do? He would hear him out.
“Fine, you have five minutes.” I gritted my teeth and prayed that I wouldn't hit him during his explanation.
Turning around, he ran a hand through his hair, the bleached highlights reflecting the sun. Why any man gets highlights is beyond me.
“Luna's special,” he said, pacing back and forth. His nervous energy rolled off him in waves.
I thought of the silver wolf and the woman with platinum hair. Of course, she was special. “We all are.”
“Ha, ha!”
My skin chilled with his evil laugh. A satanic snicker that would make Gabriel wince. Mitch had fallen off his rocker. A perfect Jekyll and Hyde. He ran another hand through his hair, causing the short tendrils to stand on end.
“I don't understand. She's a shifter. I get that. What makes her so special?” I braced myself, preparing for a fight if Mr. Hyde made his appearance.
“Huh, Gabriel would never produce one as ordinary as a shifter.” Mitch's face turned red, and the vein in his neck throbbed.
I wasn't sure if he aimed his anger at me, shifters, or himself. How had Bryn had ever been friends with him? I just didn't see it.
“She's one of a kind. Her moth—” Mitch staggered backwards and clawed his throat. “Moth—” He choked.
“Hey!” I stepped forward, trying to reach for him, but couldn't get within ten feet of him before my body was slammed backward from an invisible force field.
He gasped for air, and his face turned blue. His hands squeezed his throat.
I tried again. A whoosh of air escaped through the barrier. After a final pop, I was able to approach Mitch. I tried to pull his hands away, but he screeched. Mr. Hyde came to play.
A high pitch whistle squawked. I slapped my hands over my ears.
Mitch gulped. Slowly, he moved his hands from his neck and shied back. “He…is…here.”
His gaze darted around the woods, then back to the burning cabin. His stance straightened as if nothing had happened. Did he lose Dr. Jekyll's serum? Or did he have more personalities to surprise me even more.
“Who? Gabriel?” I asked.
“Who else would do this?” He pointed to Aylin's destroyed home.
You?
She would be devastated. Her life had been in that home. Now, she possessed nothing. Just the clothes on her back. I wanted to punch something. Someone.
Mr. Hyde squeaked again. No reason for me to do anything. He was doing enough damage to himself without my intervention. The man was certifiably crazy.
“Will you stop choking yourself?” I asked.
“Not. Me.” He spoke between rasps. He swung his hands forward then twined them behind his back as if doing some strange stretches.
“O. Kay.” I spoke each syllable slowly and looked around. I saw no one but Mitch.
The color returned to his face, but his tightened posture and clenched jaw indicated that he still fought whatever power had overtaken him. I wanted to ask who would have the power to control him. To almost strangle him, but I didn't want the answer. Only one being would want to kill him. Gabriel.
I switched gears, because now, I was curious. Was Mitch controlled because he tried to reveal what Luna was, or was that just a coincidence? “So, Luna's special, huh?”
“Yes, very. I have to go. He's coming.” Mitch started to run. He leaped. His body contorted as he started to shift. Before the transition was complete, a flaming arrow pierced his half-man, half-mountain lion body.
The lion's gut-wrenching hiss turned my blood to ice. The howl of the dying sickened me. At the edge of the woods, a dark figure vanished into thin air. But Mitch's moan prevented
me from chasing the intruder.
I ran forward. The flame from the arrow burned the skin around the lion's heart. Blood seeped from the wound to coat the frosty ground. “Shift back. The magic of the shift may slow the wound's progress.”
The mountain lion turned eyes full of pain on me. He laid his head on the ground.
“Fuck, man! Don't give up.” I tried not to yell, but damn if my voice wasn't a little higher than normal.
Moments ago, the bond's tendrils had mended me, healing all the aches and pains from the explosion. And I had witnessed Bryn's healing powers. That's how she had saved Aylin months ago after the accident.
The wreck.
That Mitch had caused.
The shifter's breathing became rapid. I was screwed either way. With my right hand, I yanked the arrow free. Then, I placed my left hand over the wound and tried to call forth the magic of my bond.
The imprint glowed. The tendrils circled around my hand, but wouldn't move toward Mitch. I cursed. I chanted. I prayed.
Nothing worked. I slammed my hand to the ground.
“Damn it, shift!” I screamed and shook Mitch.
Bryn would be upset if he died. Hell, I was upset, and I didn't even like him.
The thready beat of his heart slowed.
Crap!
The cat's neck quivered.
“C'mon, someone help.” I wasn't sure to whom I spoke, but I pleaded anyway. I couldn't save him. I was a shifter. Not a healer. I wasn't Bryn. I wasn't Aylin. I was just me—a man who accidently became bonded. What power did I have?
“Well, isn't this a sight?” a cheerful voice sang as her towering hair wobbled.
“Nadia?” Was she like my fairy godmother or something? She had a tendency to show up whenever needed.
“In the flesh, my child. It appears you've gotten into quite the mess.” She glanced from the cabin to Mitch's dying body. Her eyes softened.
“Can you help?” Sweat burned my eyes as I continued to call forth any magic I might possess.
“An Augur is never supposed to interfere with one's true path.” Her voice faltered and her eyes misted. “But, yes, I will help you.”
“Thank you,” I replied. What else did you say to someone who would help you save the life of one you didn't trust, one who could be the downfall of your pack? Your brothers? Your lover?
Nadia waved away my gratitude with the swipe of her hand. “I'm not doing this for you.”
She knelt before Mitch, her pink dress billowing in the wind as she moved. The chilly air had no effect on the warmth radiating from her body. Without touching his body, she moved her hands together, like a steeple. She hummed an ancient chant. Even with limited power, I felt her magic. The power encompassing her was something I had never experienced before and doubted I ever would again.
Mitch's wound closed millimeter by millimeter.
When the wound faded into a scar, he shifted back to human form. Nadia's power gave his skin a pure and robust energy, an angelic glow.
Sort of like the tendrils connecting my and Aylin's bond. Would she be that forceful? Like Nadia. I wasn't sure how to take what I had just witnessed. Bryn's power wasn't that strong and effortless. I didn't even think Gabriel had that much strength. But Nadia made it look like a piece of cake.
Mitch grinned at her as if he hadn't just knocked on death's door. “Nadia.”
“Tsk! Don't you Nadia me, Mitch. You've been late for work every day this week. The bakery's short-staffed since Bryn quit and got herself hitched.”
“Yes, ma'am. I'll try to do better.”
“There is no try.”
I watched the banter, completely confused at the turn of events. Maybe Nadia had a touch of Hyde in her as well. I cleared my throat. “Hmm...”
“Well, spit it out, son.” She waved her hand in a circle. The wind picked up its pace, causing a ring of snow to form around her. Did she do that on purpose?
“Huh…huh.” Few women made me stutter. “Hmmm, you said that an Augur couldn't interfere.”
“And?” Snowflakes fell in rapid succession, racing toward the cold pull of the ground.
“So, why did you save Mitch?”
“Because you will need him in this battle.” She jumped through the hoop of snow and vanished.
Chapter Ten
Aylin
My wolf raced through the woods as if her tail were on fire. The run satisfied her inner soul, but I became weak, my power draining with each step my wolf took. The tighter the black char coiled around me, the farther it divided me from my wolf. I thought the evil had been destroyed; instead, the black tendrils smothered me, trapping me.
I gasped for breath, trying to find the balance with my wolf, but she howled and ran faster. Does she know I’m in trouble? Ensnared within her mental walls?
My small silver companion whimpered as if she felt my turmoil.
Trouble!
My wolf slid to a stop. Her hackles rose. She prowled the small circle, eyeing the young pup, face lowered, tail erect. Danger! She growled.
A loud explosion echoed in the distance. Black smoke billowed into the crisp air like a volcano erupting. The explosion was near my home. My wolf barked, but stood her ground. Home? My human? Protect! My wolf’s confusion filtered through the bond, but she couldn’t hear me. She couldn’t follow my lead, because I couldn’t reach her. It was as though our single essence was divided and placed in opposite parts of the world.
Protect Aylin. My wolf repeated the mantra, looking for a threat. She stopped her roaming gaze on the pup and growled. Enemy.
“No!” I tried to reach out to her, but no words escaped my mouth or mind. Our language no longer the same dialect.
I fought the blackness trying to encompass me, but it drew tighter. I tried to call my essence forward into the physical human form. Nothing happened. Stepping into the spirit realm that housed my wolf was always easy, but I couldn’t bypass the barrier. Instead, I watched as my wolf’s spirit paced around the small frame, waiting for me. Waiting to unite as one.
My wolf’s whine became more nervous with each passing moment. Her fiery aura dimmed. I smelled the char as if I had inhaled the smoke that blanketed the sky – the taste bitter on my tongue.
Protect Aylin.
From everything.
Snap.
A twig broke behind us. My wolf whirled around to face the assailant. Spittle flew from her mouth as she growled, poised to protect me and Luna.
A young man held a bow with a flaming nocked arrow. He quivered. The bow shook, the arrow swaying from side to side. Sweat beaded on his face as he slowly pulled back the string.
Did he think an arrow would stop my wolf? She pounced, snarling.
“No!” Luna's shift was seamless, unlike her shift in front of the enforcers, Mack and Cole. She jumped between my wolf and the boy. Her hands held up in front of my wolf in a clear stop signal. “He's a friend. Tommy, lower the arrow. She's who I called you for.”
“Luna, thank the heavens!” The boy-man's voice trembled.
Danger, protect my human.
My wolf lunged, but plowed into an invisible wall in front of Luna and toppled backwards. Standing, she shook her fur — the cold snow doing little to cool the rage building inside my wolf. Even I sensed her anger and confusion.
Threat. Save. Protect.
My wolf attacked again.
But she crumpled about ten feet away on a soft pile of snow. She stood and shook once more, snow flying from her fur like rain. She tilted her head in confusion.
Was Luna that powerful or were my wolf and I that weak?
“No!”
Luna was telling my wolf not to protect us, but the man had an arrow aimed at us. Okay, he swayed like a leaf in a windstorm, but that didn't make the arrow any less lethal.
“Tommy, lower your weapon.”
The boy shook, but released the arrow and shoved it into the snow. The flame extinguished with a sizzle.
Luna sniffed the air. “Is th
at thing laced with poison?”
Thomas flushed.
“Oh, never mind. We all need to work together to save Aylin.” Luna's quiet voice chilled me to the bone.
Save Aylin. My wolf glared at the young man, but didn't attack. Instead, her lips curved, showing him the sharpness of her canines.
Oh, finally. Luna’s words held my wolf at bay, as if my wolf sensed Luna’s words suggested help.
“Thomas, how on earth did you find us here?”
“I followed your essence.” He shrugged his shoulders as if tracking someone was a normal part of life. “Second, the arrow isn’t laced with poison. It’s marked with white snakeroot. How else am I supposed to fight off creatures like”— he looked at my wolf — “crazed wolves?”
“You're not.” Luna tsked. “And you shouldn't be messing around with that crap. You could end up on the receiving end of it.”
“I'm a pro.” His voice rose.
I tried to imagine this wobbly kneed, young man as a professional at anything, and couldn't.
“Listen, I think Aylin is being tainted either by magic, poisonwood or both. It's preventing her from shifting back.”
“And it's choking me!” I tried to shout. My wolf stifled a howl. Maybe she could sense the turmoil I faced since I could not shift back or meet her in the spirit realm.
“Hmm.” Thomas tilted his head and approached with caution.
My wolf pawed the ground, excited with the prospect of help.
He shone a bright red light in our eyes. She yipped at the searing sensation that pierced our brain. “I think it's a combination of both.” He grabbed her snout and forced us to look into the torture device again. “Yes. It's black poisonwood, which would typically only cause an allergic reaction to the skin, but it's amplified probably by very ancient dark magic. I can see it encircling your friend's life source. She's smothering slowly.”
Luna shook her head. “That's what I was afraid of. The shift probably made it worse. I can't read her like I did before. We need to extract it and soon.”
“How'd this even happen?” He forced my wolf’s eyes to his. It felt as though he read the depths of my soul through her eyes. I no longer saw a young man, but a well-versed wizard. His deep red hair and freckles made him appear harmless, but he was far from it.
The Half Moon: Soulbond Series Book 2 Page 7