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“Tell me everything,” she said. “Again, I’m supposed to help you, so use me.”
As he spelled out the atrocities underway at his compound, he watched her jaw grow tighter and tighter. He’d half expected her to break down and weep, maybe even change her mind about joining him in Savage.
Instead, she dipped her chin. “I’m ready, Fergus. Let’s go kick Sydon’s ass to hell and beyond.”
CHAPTER FOUR
MARY’S HEART POUNDED as Fergus held his arm wide for her. She stood with him on her back deck, the night sky showing a few stars despite Phoenix’s light pollution.
She stepped onto his right boot, unable to believe she was actually going to fly with Fergus all the way to Savage.
His sawdust voice hit her ear and sent chills over her shoulders. “Now, slide your arm around my neck.”
She felt dizzy as she lifted her arm and did what he told her to do. When he pulled her tight against his body and his wolf heat cascaded over her, she’d never felt more secure. “So, you’re going to take me high into the air?”
“I won’t go too far up, just enough to escape detection by the average eye.”
She was close enough to smell his wolf scent, which had the effect of making certain parts of her shiver and ache all over again. Deep within her abdomen, she felt that same strange tug which didn’t make sense to her. It felt sexual, yet not. It felt connected, oddly, to her heart, and she had no idea what it meant.
But it felt more wolf than fae, part of the sharing of inexplicable alter characteristics with Fergus that she doubted she’d ever comprehend.
As he rose into the air, she tightened her hold on his neck.
Fergus switched to telepathy. Don’t choke me now. But she could see that his lips curved.
Despite how nervous she felt at flying for the first time, she eased back on her grip. He held her firmly around the waist so she knew she was safe.
She forced herself to relax and take in the view. Over a month ago, when he’d carried her to safety, she’d been unconscious. Now, she could have a good look at the western section of Five Bridges.
So much of our land, she said, staying mind-to-mind, looks like we’ve been battling with tanks, mortars and grenades. There’s one stretch of well-kept suburbia, then next to it a hundred feet of torn up cement and asphalt with weeds growing through.
I think you’ve described it exactly.
He shifted direction slightly, easing more west than south. They’d soon reach Blackwater Bridge, one of the five main, tri-part bridges in their province, connecting the human part of Phoenix with both Revel Territory and Savage. Even at a distance of two miles, she could see the well-lit bridge and the searchlights indicating the border between the U.S. and Five Bridges.
I love the view from here.
Levitating is great, Fergus said. And I’m wondering if that’s something you’ll be able to do soon. Juliet can. She gained the ability when she’d been working with Brannick to get you out of Roche’s operation.
Mary wondered the same thing. She and I had a discussion about it. Nothing had shocked Juliet more than finding out she could take to the air.
Two juxtaposed emotions ran through Mary at the same time. The first was a desire to fly just like Fergus. But the other, which seemed more profound, was knowing what she’d lose by not being wrapped up in his arms.
It was probably in this moment, more than at any other time in the past twenty-four hours, that she realized she was in trouble with Fergus. She felt a deep affection for the wolf and an accompanying desire to stick close to him despite the fact that he was an alter wolf living in a horribly violent territory.
She didn’t respond to Fergus’s observation about the potential for flight. Instead, she gestured with her free hand to the southwest. I can see the tree-line of the Savage pine forest. The Gordion Compound is located the opposite direction, though, isn’t it?
Yes, near the eastern edge. Like your home, some of my pack residences border the Graveyard. Though we’re not quite south enough to be close to Elegance Territory. Another pack rides the spellcaster border.
She sensed the sudden tension in him. She knew why. Wolves really didn’t get along with witches or warlocks. The enmity ran deep.
Early on in Five Bridges’s history, there’d been a series of wars between the two species that ended with mass casualties on both sides. These frequent, bloody conflicts had caused the U.S. Government to separate all five territories from each other with ditches and barbed wire. Some estimated the amount of wire used could stretch across the United States and back. She thought it was an exaggeration, though maybe not, because the province looked in many places like something from World War II newsreel footage.
She knew they were heading to the portion of Savage allotted to the Caldion Pack, led by Warren. The only thing she knew about his compound, however, was that he’d built in the densest part of the pine forest. Half his pack lived in cottages around the compound but with underground living spaces called dens. The other half resided in the compound itself in dozens of apartments, also belowground level. The Gordion Pack’s compound had a similar set-up.
In more recent years, Savage Territory had become a quieter part of Five Bridges. But she’d learned enough of the history of the province to know that early howling issues had created enormous tensions between Savage and the rest of the territories.
Wolves howled.
