I shake my head desperately, but he holds my hair tight so I can’t look away.
“You have magic, Alisha,” he says. “And you’re going to open that portal for me.”
“No,” I whisper. “I can’t. I don’t know how.”
“I’m sure you’ll figure it out,” he grins, pressing his thumb into my wound.
I shriek with pain, almost blacking out, but he pulls me to my feet and shoves me ahead of him.
We haven’t gone much further when I see light breaking through the trees ahead. We’re coming out of the forest into an open plain, and have been traveling roughly east, so I assume it’s the desert ahead of us.
Before we can break through into the open, Paul pulls me back and holds me in the shadows while he looks around. Open space rolls out in front of us, and the desert is beyond it—but right in front of us is a massive stone circle.
While Paul checks our surroundings, I examine the stone. It’s huge, maybe a hundred yards or more to the other side. Ican’t see much, but it appears to have strange symbols and lines carved into it, almost like a maze.
Kind of like the silly mazes on placemats like we used to do on our dates…
Paul shakes me, and I fall hard onto my knees. He presses down on my injured shoulder, making me gasp with pain.
“Okay,” he says. “I have to go out and take care of these soldier boys and the white coats. You sit here and be a good girl now. I’ll be very cross if I have to hunt you down.”
“Okay,” I mutter, trying not to cry.
Paul digs his finger into my wound again, and I almost pass out. When the black wave settles, he’s right in front of me, glaring into my face.
“Remember what I said,” he hisses. “I almost want you to run away…to fight me. If I have to chase you down like prey, my bloodlust will be running hot, and I might have to delay my ascension for some entertainment of a more…base nature.”
The look in his eyes is terrifying, a cold, cruel light I’ve never seen before. I nod, my throat so tight I know I won’t be able to speak.
“Good girl. I’ll be back soon.”
He takes two steps away, tearing off his clothes to shift into his wolf form. He doesn’t bother with stealth, just tears straight into the nearest man. The soldier calls for help, and as the others run towards them, Paul swings the guy around, making the gun go off and mowing down half of the others with a spray of bullets. Paul laughs as they fall, laughing even harder as the others try to flank him.
I have to do something!
All around me, small tendrils have curled from the bushes, gently stroking me. I can feel the energy rising around me, and I suddenly realize I might actually have some control over my powers, now that I’ve practiced a little.
I have no idea what to do, even if it works, but I have no other choice. I sit down as comfortably as I can and try to relax, focusing on the warm light inside and the answering green glow of the plants surrounding me.
Immediately, a warm glow of power begins to hum in my chest, and my pain fades as light sings in my veins.
Chapter 23 - Brad
Even though I desperately want to follow the trail straight out into the woods, there is too much going on for me to do something so selfish. I know that even Alisha wouldn’t want me to put anyone else in danger to save her, so I run back through the house and get in the truck, heading for the center of town.
Since it was my job to call everyone together, I expect I’ll have some work to do before I can go after Alisha. But to my shock, the elders are already gathered. Scarlett and Grace are there, too.
“What are you all doing here?” I ask as I jump out of the truck.
“We were on our way down to the lower quarter when Grace started getting the feeling that magic was moving nearby,” Scarlett says. “Rex called me and told me about what was going on, so I called Gen and got everyone to the town square.”
“I called the elders,” Gen says. “And we set up some emergency shelters. Apparently, the movement of the spirit is powerful enough that a lot of people are feeling it.”
“Has it moved?” I ask, and the others shake their heads.
“We don’t know,” Scarlett says. “Wolf’s Shadow are supposed to check in—”
“And we’re here,” Luke says, entering the square on the opposite side. “Sloan has had trouble finding enough men to deploy. The ones sent west are headed back this way, the squad in the mountains has no news, the heat signature has died, and we can’t get an answer out of the rock troop.”
