AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I shifted to human, and Kyle did too. I was covered in sweat from stress and heat. “Is it the high warlock? Where the fuck is he?”
Kyle didn’t answer, he just looked anxiously back at our burning town.
I grabbed his arm. “Kyle. We can rebuild. This is nothing. We need to work out if this is an honest-to-goodness normal fire, or if its driven by magic. Is it the high warlock, or not?”
“I don’t know,” Kyle answered. “Maybe we need to find the Alpha. Find out if anyone has seen the high warlock.”
I nodded. The Alpha was a good idea. “Let’s go.” We stayed in human form and raced back into town once more. Out of the corner of my eye I noticed our new house was still in one piece. I shut out any worry for the structure and tried to concentrate.
If it fell, we would build Monique a new, bigger home.
And ifwefell together today, I was sure Michael would look after her. My heart broke at the very idea of leaving my mate on this earth without me, but her safety was all-important and I trusted Michael to protect her with everything he had.
We found the Alpha with my dad at the Alpha’s small shack. At least, what used to be his shack. The whole thing was a pile of ashes.
“How did this happen?” I asked, grabbing hold of the Alpha’s arm. “Was it an accident? Or is the high warlock here?”
The Alpha turned towards me, his face pale beneath a layer of black soot. “He’s here. They both are.”
“Who’s both?” I demanded, shaking him a little. He looked somewhat dazed.
“The high warlock and another woman. Frail-looking,” my dad said, wiping sweat from his face.
I glanced at Kyle. He nodded as I said, “The high witch. He brought his wife with him.”
I let go of the Alpha and turned to study what I could see of the town. We needed to find them. Was there a particular direction the attack was coming from?
My eyes traversed the burning houses as my dad came up to stand beside me.
“What do you want me to do?” he asked.
It took a second for the shock to wear off. My father had never asked me for even a direction before now.
I straightened my shoulders and took a deep breath. “I need you to look after the rest of the pack,” I said. “Keep them safe and out of the way. Move them into the forest if you need to. But clear them off the streets. Kyle and I have to stop the high warlock, and when we do, it might not be safe for anyone nearby.”
I went to move away but my dad caught my arm. “Do you know why he’s here?”
I inhaled sharply, the smoke in the air becoming heavier. It was beginning to choke my lungs and burn my throat. “I don’t know for sure, but I’d say he’s here for me. And Kyle. And maybe even to exact revenge on Michael and Monique for running off. But they’re gone.”
Again, I went to move past my dad but he stopped me. “Xander. Be careful, son.”
I grabbed my dad up in a fierce hug. “Just get everyone out. Okay?”
Then I released him and started running. The high warlock was here. Somewhere.
Our cottage.
The thought came out of nowhere. I yelled at Kyle to follow me before jumping into the air. I shifted mid-way and landed with my paws in the dirt, already running. The high warlock would have senses similar to other para-normals. Perhaps not the high-level sense of smell like a shifter had, but he’d know where Michael and Monique had been. Surely their magic would leave a signature of sorts.
And Michael was his son, after all.
I bolted through town, around yet another burning house and came to a skidding halt outside our cottage. The current one, not the new one we’d just built.
On the small porch was a newly created swing, and in it, sat the high witch. She looked just as spaced out and weird as I remembered.
There was no sign of the high warlock until the front door opened and he walked out in all his magnificence. A long purple jacket and rose-pink shirt graced his body, while his hair was coiffed so high he looked ridiculous.
Our pack was literally burning to the ground, the air filled with the sounds of crackling wood and screaming children. And there he stood, looking calm and faintly annoyed, as out of place as a unicorn in the supermarket.
