The last puzzle piece clicked into place. It was as I suspected. “The same witch we are dealing with. It has to be.” I kept my eyes on Crimson’s. “She’s the one that’s been dogging us this whole time. Well, that’s a fine pile of troll shit.”
I turned my back to the shifters, my mind racing. There was only one way we were going to deal with this now, and I knew it right to the bottom of my feet.
All out war.
Chapter Twenty-Five
In the end, we added fifteen shifters to our nineteen souls already in the caravan, nearly doubling our size in one swift move.
Crimson happily settled into her role as my beta. I set her and the other shifters to getting food first as we were running low on supplies, having lost some to the gargoyles. Mac helped smooth things over with the few men who gave the new shifters hairy eyeballs.
All those bad feelings were smoothed over, though, when the shifters brought down a large elk with enough meat on it to feed the caravan for a week.
We circled the trucks, and got two fires going, and set the meat to cooking. Everyone was in high spirits, laughing and talking while they worked. It was . . . weird.
“I can’t believe this is going as smoothly as it is,” I said quietly to Mac.
“Don’t jinx it.” He grimaced. “They are behaving right now in part because they aren’t sure what to make of you. Or if the witch is going to show up and take us all out while we sleep.”
“Thanks, that was exactly what I needed,” I said. “On that note. I need to speak to Crimson about her previous master.”
I found Crimson at the second fire. I crooked a finger at her and she hurried toward me. “Yes?”
I cringed. “Seriously, don’t start acting all submissive. I need you strong, okay?”
She straightened a little. “Sorry, it is ingrained in me. What do you need?”
“Tell me about the witch. You said her name was Madeline? Did you ever see her work her magic? Does she have a weakness you know about?”
Crimson drew a slow breath. “Yes, Madeline is her name, or at least the name she gave us. She is powerful. I’ve seen her destroy shifters with the flick of her hands.”
I frowned, working through the spells I knew. Nothing that would kill a shifter like that. I swallowed hard. Shit.
There weren’t many witches out there that could match me for strength before I was bound, that was what I had been led to believe . . . but what if my mentors had been wrong?
And now, all I had was my freaking black magic that would do whatever the hell it wanted. Although, it had removed the control aspect of Madeline’s bonds.
Survival, it whispered. Of course. If I died, the magic died with me.
Nausea rolled through me at the thought of going face to face with a witch who, when I was at my strongest, I would struggle to hold my own against. I tamped the fear down. No, I was a fighter. I would find a way to deal with Madeline.
“I’m sorry, we spent as little time with her as possible,” Crimson said. “If I think of anything else, I’ll let you know.”
I nodded, and she went back to the fire.
Mac came up beside me. “Anything helpful?”
I shook my head. “If you call finding out I’m probably going to have the floor mopped with my face, sure.”
He took my hand and led me to the fire. “Then you better fuel up.” He held a hand out and a plate piled high with a slab of meat, and a pile of wild greens called to me. I took it.
He was right. There was nothing we could do but be as ready as we could.
*_*_*_*
By the morning, I had the rudiments of a plan worked out. I called everyone together, shifters and humans alike. They were bleary-eyed and there were more than a few jaws cracked wide with yawns.
I held a hand up, drawing their attention. “We know the name of the witch who has been coming after the children, after me, and after the shifters. One problem for all of us. Madeline will just keep coming at us if we don’t do something. Agreed?”
Crimson nodded, as did the other shifters. The humans, on the other hand, looked confused. Richard, though, closed his eyes. He wasn’t stupid, he knew where I was going with this.
I drew a breath, committing us to a path there would be no coming back from, but I knew in my belly it was the only way.
From the back of the supply truck came a ragged scream. We all spun but it was one of the shifters that was closest. He reached in and held Tristan up by his hair as the man writhed against his bonds, awake for the first time in days. The voice that tore out of his throat was not his, but a woman’s.
“I’m coming for you, Pamela. You and your little cat too!” He screeched a peal of laughter that went into octaves his throat couldn’t possibly make on its own. His body began to seize and shake, foam spilling out of his mouth and down his front. I stared, unable to look away as Tristan died right in front of us.
The shifter lowered his limp body to the truck bed. “That’s Madeline for you.”
Chris pushed past Richard, clutching at her belly. “Why chase after this evil? She’s clearly powerful with more allies than we have. We should run.”
The fear in her was clear to see and reflected in more than one pair of human eyes. I shook my head. “No matter how far we run, she’s just going to keep coming at us, attack after attack. Wearing us down until she has what she wants. Chris, she doesn’t want the kids just for shits and giggles. She wants their blood.”
She gasped and went pale. Richard slid an arm around her waist, holding her up. I turned back to the group as a whole.
“The only way to protect ourselves from further attacks, from losing all our lives, is to face her. If we let this go, and try to outrun her, which by the way we’ve already proven we can’t do, she’ll whittle away at our numbers until there’s nothing left of us. We’ve been lucky so far, but it’s time we make our own luck.”
I caught Mac’s eyes and he gave me a smile and a nod of encouragement.
Here we go, time to throw the dice. “My plan is simple. We send one of our birds to her with a message. Let’s end this now. She can no longer find me. The bond that switched from Crimson to me that held the pack to Madeline is gone.”
Yay for black magic.
“What kind of message?” Crimson asked as she gestured toward one of the thinner men in the group. He had dark hair and eyes, and a beak of a nose. If he hadn’t been a bird shifter I would have been shocked.
He put a hand to his chest. “I am Paul. I will gladly relay the message.”
I turned to the man. “Tell her I’m done playing. If she wants the children, me, and the shifters, then she has to fight for us. And be careful. No doubt she’ll try to kill you right there.”
He nodded. “I will be careful, my Alpha.” He spun and shifted, turning into a dark brown hawk that climbed high into the sky before I could change my mind.
“What, no,” Chris shouted. “That’s a terrible idea. Don’t draw the demon right to us!”
Crimson turned and looked at her, and I thought I saw a bit of pity in her eyes. “She cannot win against Pamela. I trust our Alpha and so should you. Your fear is unnecessary.”
Her words only served to fuel Chris’s anger. “This is outrageous. Richard. You can’t turn our entire caravan over to a bunch of supernatural creatures who would rather see us dead. We’ve seen what the shifters are capable of. They can’t be trusted. We can’t align ourselves with them. What we need to do is keep moving. Lie low, and we will escape this Madeline person on our own. Send Pamela and the shifters away, use them as bait for the other witch.”
My eyebrows shot up. Damn, I didn’t think she’d go that far.
Richard turned to her, anger plain on his bearded face. Fire burned in his eyes that I’d never seen before. Clearly, he’d had enough of her insubordination.
“Because that’s worked out so well for us in the past, Chris? Why are you so eager to be trapped in that truck again, with wolves throwing
themselves at the window? Why are you so anxious to be facing down full-sized trolls with nothing but three scared toddlers to defend yourself with?”
It was harsh. But her attitude pulled down the morale of everyone.
Chris wasn’t going down without a fight, though. “So, you would throw our children away as some kind of sacrifice to your new supernatural friends? To prove you are worthy of their love?” She spat at his feet. “You disgust me, Richard. I wish to God this child was someone else’s.” She turned and stormed off, back to the tent where the kids were.
Shock filtered through me, and I realized it wasn’t just mine, but Mac’s too. Fuck me sideways, that was harsh. Even for Chris.
I opened my mouth to say something, but Richard waved a hand at me. “Don’t worry about her. She’ll calm down. I’m going to blame this on the hormones.”
I wasn’t sure how I felt about her feelings being dismissed that way, but he wasn’t wrong about not worrying. We had bigger problems to deal with than a single upset member of the caravan.
“This place is as good as any. I will wait for her on top of the bridge, in plain sight with the shifters at the edge of the clearing. In sight, but not too close.” I pointed at the bridge. “I want two of the trucks here, visible, but most of the caravan will be waiting on foot up the road with the third truck.”
Richard shifted. “What about the kids?”
I swallowed hard before I answered, because the truth made me queasy. “I will need at least one of them close enough to be seen.”
Richard again closed his eyes. “Frost has risked his life once. We will leave Ruby with the group closest to the battle.”
Crimson stepped forward. “I will protect the child personally. She will not be harmed while I live and breathe.”
My throat tightened. This was how a pack worked; this was how a family worked. My emotions got the better of me, and I had to take a second to keep the tears at bay.
Oka would have been so happy to see this change. Not only in me, but in those around us—that we were working together. Let’s hope we could make it last beyond the day.
“Then it’s decided. We set up now. Get things laid out. We don’t know how long it will be before the bitch shows up for her ass whooping.”
Crimson laughed and clapped a hand on my shoulder. “I like you better every day.”
“Thanks?” I said. I waited for the humans to disperse before I called Mac and Crimson back to me.
“If it looks like I’m going to lose, you need to haul ass. She will reclaim you and decimate the caravan and kill the kids. Don’t let that happen,” I said. “Do you understand?”
“But if we stay close, we could fight with you. Help you. Keep the caravan safe,” Crimson argued.
I looked over my shoulder, feeling that itch down my spine that I was sure was Madeline trying to find me. My magic chuckled and wove up and down my spine, keeping it clear of her touch. “This will need to be handled witch to witch, I’m afraid.”
“Why? Honor needs to be cast aside here. There’s no place for it where survival is in play. You are too young to understand.” Crimson shook her head.
I laughed at her. “I’ve seen more battles in my eighteen years than you, I guarantee it. Trust me that I know how to win a fight.”
Goddess, I was being cocky, and I knew it, but they had to believe me, they had to trust me. Even if I didn’t think for a second I was going to survive what was coming.
She kept her eyes on the ground, her head lowered. But she didn’t argue, which was good. I drew a breath and went on. “It’s not about honor, Crimson. It’s about distractions. I know Madeline would take those I care about out first. She will use you against me. Maybe even force you to fight me, and I won’t kill my friends. Let’s be real, you wouldn’t be able to stop yourself if she gets her claws into you again. As your Alpha, I am keeping her from taking the pack. But if she gets close to one of you? Then all bets are off, and I can’t let that possibility play out. Stay at the edge of the road, let her see you but no closer. She cannot be allowed to reclaim your pack. That’s not a request.”
Crimson lifted her head, a frown etched on her mouth, but she gave me a nod, relenting.
Around me, the caravan and the shifters ran to get themselves in place.
“An hour or two at best,” Crimson said before she left my side. “If Paul survives, he will be back soon, and then she will be hot on his tail feathers.”
She held her hand out to me and I took it, clasping my fingers around her wrist as she did the same. “You can take her out,” Crimson said. “I believe we were brought to you for this reason.”
I wanted to tell her she was right, but I knew my own abilities and they were not up to this. I was going to die. I kept those thoughts held tight to me, so Mac wouldn’t see them. He’d try to save me and then he’d die too, and I couldn’t let that happen. The caravan needed him. I nodded at Crimson but didn’t actually agree. “Go.”
I had no idea how powerful this witch was, but clearly, she was no slouch to earn a pack of shifters to her name, hold down a troupe of gargoyles, and a full pack of werewolves. Fuck me, the more I thought about it, the more Chris’s idea to run seemed like the better option.
“May the Mother Goddess be with us all,” I whispered under my breath as I turned and walked toward the bridge and the death I was sure waited for me.
Chapter Twenty-Six
The bridge creaked as I stepped onto it, the wood worn from years of passage. I opened my senses to the world around me, picking up on not only the elements, but the shifters ranged around me.
They were mine now. I was their Alpha. I snorted and turned as I felt Mac approach.
His eyes were deadly serious. “I cannot leave you to fight her alone.”
I smiled, though it was tough. “It will be magic on magic. If anything, I will need to draw on your strength. Which means you need to stay back with everyone else.”
Magic on magic.
Laughter curled through me, up my spine. My magic knew it was going to be loosed again.
Embrace me.
He frowned. “Would Oka let you boss her around like this?”
My heart twanged. “Oh, she would argue, but it is only logic I’m pointing out.”
“I’ll split the difference,” he said. “I’ll be between you and the trucks. Close enough to help if you need me, not so close I will get in the way.”
I reached a hand out to him and he tangled his fingers with mine. I stepped off the bridge and he caught me in his arms without asking. He pressed his mouth against my head. “She’ll try to use you against me,” I said into his shirt.
“Maybe. But she can’t cut the bond we have. Anyone outside the elemental world doesn’t understand how it works with familiars.”
I leaned back and looked into his eyes. Questions swirled through me, catching me off guard. Had he loved his charge that he’d cared for before me? Were these emotions I felt from him based solely on the bond of familiar and elemental? Or was there something real here, something more than what he had to do?
He smiled. “Ask me all of that after this, okay?”
The screech of a hawk cut my answer short.
A whoosh of wings and the brown hawk landed on the bridge railing, then hopped down and shifted back onto two legs. Paul stood from a crouch, blood trickling from his nose. “She’s coming. But it’ll be on her own time. She’ll keep you waiting, I think.”
I reached a hand to him. “Are you okay?”
He bobbed his head once. “She hit me with a rock as I winged away. Could have been worse.”
He was right. It could have been. I put hand on his shoulder. “Good job. Go to Crimson. Stay back as much as possible.”
I waited for Paul to leave before I spoke. “On her own time . . . that could be hours. Days even.”
Mac grunted. “It’s to be expected, I suppose. She knows we are waiting.”
“Stay with me until she shows,” I asked so
ftly. “And if . . . if I go down, will you try to help Oka?” When, that was the truth. When I went down, if he could help Oka, that would be everything.
Funny how knowing I was walking into a battle that would end with me dead I was calmer than any of the other fights.
Mac kept an arm around my waist. “You aren’t going down, but to ease your mind, yes. I’ll help that sassy cat if the worst should happen.”
Relief flowed through me and I lowered myself to the ground. Mac raised an eyebrow. I shrugged, unable to explain what I was doing. Because they couldn’t know.
Using spirit to travel was, in the past, something I could do with no problem. Now, it would rock me to the core and leave me defenseless against Madeline. But it was the only way to keep her away from my pack.
I drew a breath, prepping myself. This was going to get ugly fast.
“Get them moving, right away, okay?” I smiled up at him, knowing the edges of my mouth trembled, fighting to keep what I was doing from him until the last second.
He frowned and then understanding flashed through those blue eyes. “Wait, no!”
I drew another breath as he reached for me and I pulled spirit through my body like nails on a chalkboard. I screamed as the pain blasted me from all sides. Like being sent down a set of river rapids, bouncing across the rocks, fighting to breathe through it long enough that I could focus on Madeline’s name. I had her name, and I could find her anywhere she was.
I could protect them all by going to her and surprising the shit out of her. If I hadn’t been hurting so much, I would have smiled.
“Madeline,” I whispered as I rode spirit through the ether. I didn’t close my eyes, I didn’t dare.
I caught an image of the elemental who held my power. “How is she doing this?” he roared, pointing at me and then he was gone, and the world wavered around me.
As it settled, and I released spirit and slumped to the side, barely able to stay sitting up, my hands blooming with bruises and two fingers crooked—broken. Well, that was a nice addition.
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