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“I warmed it up, then I let her have it. I don’t think she thought I would risk falling. Of course, I’d rather be dead than held captive by her. Besides, I knew I had a pretty good shot at you catching me.”
“Except like an idiot I raced into the mist when she took off with you and got dragged into a serious bout of confusion.”
“You did not! What a rookie move and what were you thinking?”
“Reacting is the word you’re looking for. I tried to launch after you both, but that damn mist is fast-working and powerful. Fortunately, she took most of the mist with her, but it still took me a minute to recover.”
His lieutenant, Paul, drew close, hovering a few feet away. “Mastyr, everything okay over here?”
“We’re good. What’s going on in the square? Any sign the bitch has returned?”
“None, but I wasn’t far when I saw Hannah and Margetta explode into a blaze of light. I’ve never seen anything like it.”
“Is that what we did?” Hannah asked, looking up at Paul.
“It lit up the entire countryside and she was still burning when she took off. I don’t think we’ll see her for the rest of the night. But we’ll stay on patrol.”
Jude, still holding Hannah in his arms, rose to his feet. She slid her arm around his neck. Can we really go home for the night? I’m about done in.
Me, too.
To Paul, he said, “Contact Longeness and let all our troops, shifters included, know what’s going on. But I want everyone patrolling until dawn. As for the wedding at Chelana, I want a medical team over there to make sure everyone is all right. You’ll take care of things for me?”
“Absolutely. But what do I tell the wedding party and their guests? How much info do I share?”
Jude had been debating this from the first, just how much to let his people know. He understood full-well there would likely be a media backlash against him because of what had happened here tonight. And it would make splashy headlines: ‘Bride Faces Death on Her Special Day’.
He made his decision. “I’ll bring in Frida and her team of PR specialists and let them decide what to do. In the meantime, just let everyone know that help is on the way.”
He got Longeness back on the com and ordered him to send his PR team over to Chelana. “I won’t be able to answer any questions tonight, but I will tomorrow. In the meantime, have them try to keep the Kellcasse Chronicle from going overboard in its write up.”
“Done. But just so you know, I alerted Frida the moment you mentioned Margetta was at a wedding.”
“Thank you for the foresight. I owe you one for thinking ahead.”
“You’re welcome, Mastyr.”
With that, Jude launched into the air, holding Hannah tight once more. She trembled now, not surprisingly.
“You smell lik
e cabbages, Jude. You’ll have to have your coat and leathers cleaned after this.”
He smiled that of all the things she could have said to him, even that she could have railed at him about dragging her into this mess and risking her life, she talked about getting cabbage stains off his leathers.
He nuzzled her neck, even while flying. “And you smell like fire with just a hint of roses and the seashore underneath.”
She laughed but hugged him tighter still.
He flew her back to Castle Island, cradling her in his arms. She shook, but he understood the cause. Battle could do that to anyone, not to mention a mile-long flight straight down.
Dawn was hours away yet, but he refused to put Hannah in jeopardy one more time. He’d take her back to the Castle and spend the rest of the night with her there. Hopefully, the day as well. She’d been through a lot and needed her rest.
While in flight, he contacted Reese, requesting a squad to patrol the Castle Lake just in case Margetta made a way-too-speedy recovery. He doubted she’d be back tonight, but he wasn’t taking any chances.
Once daylight came, Margetta as predominantly fae, would need to seek shelter as well, so he felt fairly confident that he wouldn’t have to worry about her killing mist until the following night.
Jude, though I don’t like to mention it, I sure hope your fridge is stocked because I’m starving.
