“
I’m going to rip your heart out before
you touch her!”
I growled.
“
Jack, please don’t let anything happen to
you!”
I could hear Astrid’s rapid heartbeats. Her
voice lost its unnatural calmness that’d been there just a moment
ago. She was terrified, not for herself, but for me.
Suddenly, my inner senses caught a faint
feeling of Liv and Tristan speeding toward us. Not their scent, not
their sight. I
felt
them coming. This hard-to-describe inner
sensation was an arbitrary skill I could rarely count on, but it
had happened to help me here and there in times of great peril.
I knew Liv and Tristan had just left
Rosenthal, and with their great speed, they would be here in about
ten minutes.
My eyes quickly scanned over the vampires.
They didn’t seem to sense we were soon about to have company.
I continued walking toward the vampires in a
slow, steady pace, with Astrid just a half step behind. The
vampires stopped advancing, assessing our positions. I turned
slightly to Astrid and her head came into my peripheral vision.
Astounded, I caught a glimpse of her dark-blue, wizard eyes.
“
It looks like the asanni has joined the
team
,” she said in a light, almost humorous voice that sent
shivers down my spine.
Dear God, what was she trying to do?!
“
Damn it, Jack, I’m not leaving you here!
Where is their weak point? Where should I aim!?”
“
I’ll take the leader and that chubby one
on the left. They are the strongest. You must run! That’s an order,
Astrid! Run now!!!”
I was now yelling at the top of my lungs,
as if the sheer volume of my voice would make her change her
mind.
“
NO! Where are they weak?! Tell
me!”
“
Neck! Break the neck! Watch out for your
throat and don’t let them bite you! Watch out for weapons! Take
that one on the right wing!”
Then I heard her murmuring something in her
wizard’s tongue.
“
Jack, jump and roll over me!”
“
WHAT?!”
“
DO IT!!!”
I knocked her down and we rolled several
times, moving away from the vampires. They were so surprised by our
unexpected movement, they looked almost comic.
When we separated, two identical wolves stood
in front of them.
“What!? What’s that!? I told you to grab him
first!” the tall vampire screeched. “She’s a witch! Look what she
did! They both look like him! Which one is she!? Take them both!
Take them both!!!”
Inside my head, I heard Astrid’s soft, calm
voice.
“
The hell you will... Matri Agni nauh
mehakhal khetar... Matri Agni nauh mehakhal khetah
...”
Every single hair on my body shot
upright.
I understood enough of Prakhart to know what
she was murmuring. Fire spell. Mother Fire, be my shield… I’d heard
this spell once or twice before, during the war with Warren. Only
the most powerful wizards could use it safely. Oh, God!
“
Astrid, no! NO!!!”
“
IT’S SHOWTIIIIME!!!!”
Bursting into flames, Astrid charged toward
the enemy with great speed. The two vampires on her right stood
petrified as a huge, fiery blue-orange ball launched itself toward
them.
Astrid had told me she could create an
illusion of fire, even real fire-balls, but that was child’s play
compared to this. God Almighty, what was she doing!?
As I catapulted myself onto the biggest one,
the leader, I saw one of Astrid’s targets dropping to the ground.
The other one pulled out a knife and zigzagged toward the woods.
Astrid followed him.
My vampire was strong, and we struggled for a
while, but my blood was boiling and it didn’t take me long to find
his neck. The bones cracked between my jaws. I didn’t let go until
my teeth tore his head off.
I turned around and jumped on another one. He
was dead before I broke a sweat.
My teeth still sunk into his bones, I lifted
my eyes to scan the suddenly quiet battlefield.
Two dead, one on the ground in unknown
condition. The last one had almost reached the woods, only to be
stopped by Liv. She didn’t need to fight him physically. The
strength of one of the most powerful Tel-Urughs was in her eyes.
She looked at him, and the next moment he collapsed soundlessly on
the grass, like a rag-doll.
“It’s over, Astrid.”
I looked around and stopped dead.
Astrid lay motionless on her side, her red
fur covered with blood.
“
Astrid?!”
My heart froze. My brain turned to stone. My
lungs stopped breathing.
I’d had several close shaves in my life, yet
I had always somehow managed to escape. Oh, God, tell me you didn’t
save me then just to kill me today. I won’t live without her. I
can’t…
Everything stopped and I was sure I did die
for a moment. And then I heard the fast, fluttery beats of Astrid’s
heart.
And my own heart started pounding again.
BY THE time Jack reached Astrid’s limp body,
Tristan already knelt beside her. He pulled out the knife from her
thigh and passed it to Liv.
She sniffed the blade. “Tranquilizer. He
didn’t want to kill her, just to incapacitate her.”
Jack immediately changed back to human form
and crouched down to his motionless bond-mate.
“Will she be okay?” Jack said. His voice was
sounded raspy and parched.
“She’ll be okay, Tristan said calmly. “She
lost some blood but the wound’s already healing.”
“Why is she unconscious?”
“Sleeping juice, blood loss, the energy she
used. That’s exhausting. She fought, did she?” Tristan said,
smiling. “What a girl!”
“Liv, bring me some clothes from the cabin,
please,” Jack said. He lifted Astrid’s head and placed it to his
lap. “My God, I thought you were... Oh, Astrid, don’t do that to me
ever again!”
He looked up at his friend. “Tristan, you
sure she’s okay? I couldn’t hear her heart for a moment.”
“Her heart never stopped, don’t worry. You
were scared, Jack, that’s why you didn’t hear it.”
“She used her wizard powers in her wolf
form—”
“That’s fantastic!”
“And she cast a Fire Spell, Tristan! Turned
into a damn torch in front of my eyes!”
“Holy shit! There’s only a handful of wizards
strong enough to use that.”
Liv came back and tossed a pair of jeans at
Jack. “Why are you surprised? It was clear from the beginning she
was a mighty wizard.”
Jack put the jeans on and then gently lifted
Astrid in his arms.
“Holy smoke, isn’t she big!” Tristan said.
“She impresses me all over again.”
“When is she going to wake up, Tristan?” Jack
asked.
“Soon, Jack.” He looked at his wife. “Can you
take care of this mess, honey? I’ll go with Jack and Princess.” He
pointed to the unconscious Tel-Urughs. “Shall I take these two with
me?”
“Bring that trash to the cabin. We’ll have a
little chat later.”
Liv grabbed the severed head of the leader
and lifted it up. “Tristan, do you recognize this one?”
“Frank Sotto, one of Warren’s lieutenants.”
He turned to Jack. “Do you remember him?”
“Didn’t have the pleasure until this
morning,” Jack said. “I heard about him, though. They called him
‘Mad Frankie’.”
“Well, it’s ‘Dead Frankie’ now. We should’ve
hunted him down long ago. Shit happens when you are too soft!
Bastard!” Liv said, throwing the head to the ground.
Tristan grabbed the two unconscious bodies by
the collars of their shirts and dragged them unceremoniously to the
cabin. “Liv, shall I leave them sleeping?”
“Just don’t kill them, Tristan, before I talk
to them. I can always do that later,” Liv said with a sneer, baring
her perfect white teeth.
JACK CARRIED Astrid to the cabin. He gently
lowered her down on the bed and sat by her side. Tristan took her
pulse, checked her temperature and dressed the wound. Almost
unnecessary—her strong, healing blood was dealing with it at an
impressive speed.
“We got a phone call from Copper Ridge,”
Tristan said. “Our informant said Frank showed up at Copper Ridge a
few days ago. The other three came a day after him. Our friend
tried to keep an eye on them, but only this morning she figured out
they weren’t there anymore. She phoned us immediately.”
Jack ran his fingers through his hair. “Damn
it. It seems they’d tagged Alec, and then followed us. And I didn’t
have a clue.”
“Jack, Liv and I checked the entire area. It
was all clear. They weren’t here before you two came; Liv would’ve
tracked their scent. Tel-Urughs are good at covering it, but not
good enough to fool Liv. We only found traces of human scent, which
is normal, but not even close to here. Liv masked Astrid’s scent,
because Astrid still doesn’t know how to do that.”
Jack’s hand gently stroked Astrid’s thick
fur, stopping every once in a while on her chest to feel her
heartbeats. They were strong and steady.
“They masked their scent darn well. I smelled
them just a moment before I saw them. Normally, I’d have sensed
them within a five-mile radius. God, they knew when she was most
vulnerable,” Jack said softly.
“That’s a not big secret, Jack.”
“I need to see Darius Withali as soon as
possible. That lunatic of his father must be stopped before he does
some serious harm again.”
“We’re ready, Jack.” Tristan let out a deep
breath. “Jack, it was Rowena who called. She tipped us off.”
“I thought it might have been her.”
“Now I’m going to find some food for Astrid.
She’ll be hungry when she wakes up.”
A FEW minutes later, Astrid stirred and
opened her eyes. They were still blue. Astrid the Wizard stayed
close.
“
Jack…”
He heard her soft voice.
A big lump swelled in Jack’s throat. “Hey,
love… I’m here. Everything’s fine,” he said and cupping her head
between his palms, kissed her warm, soft muzzle. “I’ll be the first
werewolf to have a heart attack, you little rascal.”
“
Ah, first my red dress, and then
this.”
She laughed weakly. “
I fought well, didn’t
I?”
“Like a true Alpha, and a great wizard. And
if you ever do that again, I’ll throttle you. You ignored my direct
orders.”
Astrid lifted her head and sniffed the air.
“
Tristan and Liv are here
.”
“They got a call from Copper Ridge. Liv
stopped the last attacker, the one that knifed you.”
“
I dropped my shield too early. I
should’ve paid more attention to that knife. What about the first
one?”
“He’s alive. Bit burned, though.”
“
I couldn’t kill him, Jack. He was so
scared.”
“Of course. That’s okay.”
“
The other two?”
“Dead.”
“
Oh... Jack?”
“Yes, sweetie?”
“
I’m hungry.”
Jack pressed a soft kiss on the crown of her
head. “Tristan’s making something for you.”
Astrid sighed and closed her eyes. When she
opened them again, a soft, amber gaze met Jack’s eyes.
Tristan came in with a bowl in his hands.
“Does your Highness prefer her dinner served in the dining salon,
or here in the casual comfort of her chamber?” he asked,
smiling.
Jack voiced Astrid’s reply. “
As long as
our faithful subjects stay here to entertain us
.”
“In your case, your Royal We is totally
justified!” Liv said as she entered the room. She walked to the bed
and sat beside Astrid, stroking her head. “How are you,
darling?”
Once again, Jack translated Astrid thoughts.
“
Good! Oh, you should’ve seen that Tel-Urugh’s face when I
spontaneously combusted... What happened? How did they find
us?”
“We don’t know,” Tristan said. “Our source in
Copper Ridge didn’t know about Seth’s plans until this morning. She
phoned as soon as she heard about it.”
“Oh, Astrid, I’m so sorry that you and Jack
had to fight them alone. We should never have left you,” Liv said
bitterly.
“Stop it, Liv. It’s my mistake,” Jack said.
“I should have let you come with us. I should have brought Alec and
Drew here. God, we even slept outside!”
“
Now will you stop whining, all of
you!”
Jack heard Astrid’s fiery voice in his head. “
Nothing
happened! They wouldn’t have hurt me. It’s you, Jack, who could
have been injured or killed! Don’t do that to me ever again! You
hear me? What if they managed to take me with them? Half of Red
Cliffs, Liv and Tristan, my grandparents, Ingmar and his friends,
everybody would be there within a day to take me back. We can raise
a small army on short notice, for Pete’s sake, so stop fidgeting! I
didn’t risk anything! You risked your life today! Please, please
don’t be so reckless ever again!”
A tremor shook Astrid’s body. She let out a
sound equivalent to an angry human sob, saturated with postponed
fear.
The Blakes looked at her, alarmed.
“Take it easy, Astrid! You’ll change back
before it’s time,” Jack said in a soothing voice and stroked her
back. “I’ll promise whatever you want, just calm down. Hey, where
did I stop last time with that Cohen song? Aha, here...”
Jack leaned toward her head and sang softly
into her ear.
She cracked a small, wolfish smile. “
Oh, I
love that part. It’s so sexy.
”
“You’re a very sexy beast, did I tell you
that? I love you so much, Astrid.”
“
I fell in love with you after the first
two lines, Jack
,” Astrid said, already calmer, “
the night
you sang them into my ear for the first time.”
Liv cleared her throat. “I’m going to talk to
my captives. Please ignore any excessive noise that we might make.
I won’t kill them, don’t worry, Astrid,” she added, recognizing a
warning in Astrid’s amber eyes. “I’ll just scare them until they
drop dead.” She uttered a short, dry chuckle and left the room.