Book 3, Chapter 8

“Look, I think it’s pretty obvious that we wouldn’t have made it if you didn’t show up when you did, with food and all. Even more, you took care of the people who were after us and made us feel safe. We owe you a debt I’m not sure we’d ever be able to repay.”

“Mountain rescue is what we do, ma’am. Besides that, Kate,” the Alpha meets Kate’s eyes and smiles. “I mean, you’re pack. For you we’d happily trek all over these mountains.”

Kate’s cheeks flame and she mumbles too quietly for me to hear. Len and Marcos don’t have my problem and chuckle. 

Carmelo turns back to me. “There’s nothing to repay. What your fiance is trying to do, brokering peace between my kind and hers? It’s us who owe a debt, which we plan to pay just as soon as we get you ladies to safety.”

“Yeah, about that.” Now that it’s time to state our case, my mouth goes dry. I cough and a shifter hands me a canteen of water. I nod my thanks and take a deep swallow. “Look. I hear you. I do. And I respect where you’re coming from. But you need to understand something. Short of tying us up and sitting on us, you can’t stop us from looking for our mates. Jo, Mac, Chris - they’re in trouble and it’s bad. You know it, we know it. If you take the time to ‘get us to safety’ it could be too late to save them.” I meet Marco’s eyes. “You are absolutely right. We aren’t up to it right now, but we aren’t without resources. Janelle is going to help us get back to fighting strength. And it wouldn’t be the first time I’ve been out-gunned.” I study the cave floor, trying and failing to gather my rampaging thoughts. Then I shrug. What’s the point? The chances of me really getting through to them are slim. I might as well just lay all my cards on the table. “I don’t know what we’re going to face when we get there. We may or may not be able to help, assuming we can even find Jo’s place. You could help us find them. Together, we’d have a fighting chance against whoever is behind this attack. So if you are really vested in helping us, this is our ask. Come with us. Guide us. Help us.” I look at each of the wolf shifters in turn. “Make no mistake. With or without you, we’re going to that summit.”

With only stony faces meeting my gaze, I shake my head and start to get up. Time is flying and now that I have a plan, now that I have hope of seeing Jo again, I don’t want to waste another second. 

Carmelo makes a staying motion and swears. I sink back down to the floor. He growls low, the threat raising the hair on the back of my neck. “I don’t appreciate being dictated to. I’m cutting you a lot of slack since you’ve been through so much.

But I swear. You’re as stubborn as a damn mule.”

Even knowing the wolves will hear me doesn’t stop me from mumbling, “Not the first time I’ve heard that, actually.”

Len covers her laugh with a cough and Marco shoots her a warning look. Carmelo’s eyes flash gold as they hold mine. “I’ve absolutely no doubt about that.” He slaps his hands on his denim-clad thighs and digs his fingers into the powerful muscles there.

Marco frowns at Kate. “I expected more sense out of someone Mac chose.”

I turn to Kate, curious what she’ll say. “And I expected more sense out of people who claim to care about her.”

Len chimes in with, “Are you seriously questioning our commitment to saving Mac?”

The three of them start talking over top of one another, the volume growing louder and louder. 

Then two things happen at once that brings the argument to an abrupt end. Carmelo barks, “Enough!” at the same time the cave is suffused with golden light, as if sunlight broke through the mountain of rock in the back of the cave. I cover my eyes with my hand, the sudden empyreal radiance making them water with its intensity. Squinting through a slit between my fingers, I turn to the source. 

Emma sits cross-legged on the cold stone, hands held loosely in her lap, her back ramrod straight, her head bowed. Vaporized gold pours from her body, so strong even her winter clothing can’t snuff the light. Its rays chase the darkness in every crevice, filling the cave with bright warmth. Iridescent ephemeral wings, like those on a dragonfly sprout from her back. But unlike her father’s corporeal wings that he can use to fly, Emma’s are only a suggestion. Whether as half-fae she isn’t able to produce them fully, or she’s choosing not to at this moment I don’t know. I didn’t even know Emma had this much ability. I note rustling movement behind and around me, as if many more bodies occupied the cave than before, but I can’t tear my gaze off of my best friend.

She’s always been beautiful, always had that movie-star quality to the perfection of her features, the porcelain of her skin, the luster of her thick hair. When she was taken by evil fae, they did something to her, drained some of that exquisite quality from her life force, leaving her striking still, yet diminished. Now? Though Emma’s body doesn’t transform as her full fae father, Mr. O’Shea’s did, it’s as though everything that made Emma celestial before the kidnapping is back.

Emma slowly lifts her head and opens her eyes. Turquoise orbs study us, shiny in the golden light. No one speaks. I can barely even hear anyone breathing. 

Slowly, the blazing light diminishes, just enough that my eyes stop streaming. When she addresses us, her voice is quiet. “My father had a premonition before we left. He warned me of danger, and that things would be hard.” She smiles and I can tell she’s focused on me. “He told me to trust Libby. That she would always be true. That she will know what to do.”

Heat fills my cheeks and I blink at her. What? Mr. O’Shea said that about me? What does she mean I will know what to do? Doesn’t she know I’m just as at sea as she and Kate are? Rather than answer the questions in my eyes, she turns to the people around me, her face growing hard. “You saved us. We owe you a boon. But don’t misunderstand. We don’t need your input. What we do next is not up for negotiation. Libby has a plan and only a fool would discount her. You may not like our plan but I don’t think you are foolish. So, if you truly want to help us, if you actually want to broker peace with the vampire, quit arguing and support Libby.”

Emma closes her eyes. I stare her until the delicate wings fade from my sight and Emma’s golden light dims to nothing. Someone clicks on a lantern and the blueish LED feels cold as it re-illuminates the darkened cave. Emma opens her eyes and her normal blue ones meet mine. The corners of her mouth lift in a small smile. She answers my unspoken questions with a nod. 

I’m still reeling when someone behind me clears his throat. With effort I tear my eyes away from my remarkable best friend and turn back to Carmelo. The look in his eyes makes my cheeks heat again, but I lift my chin. If Emma’s father, the most powerful of all fae, believes in me, I’m not going to let some Alpha wolf shifter cow me.

He shakes his head and rubs the back of his neck. “Alright ma’am. If that’s what you want, you’ve got it. We’ll do it your way. We’ll get you there safely. I don’t know what we’ll find, and I can’t guarantee your safety once we arrive.”

Wait. What? He’s going along with it? I swallow and try to keep the tremor out of my voice. “I understand.”

“But I need to make one thing clear. The only way I’m willing to do this is between here and there? I’m in charge. I’m willing to listen to you once we get there, but if I think something is too dangerous I’m going to tell you so.” He looks around the cramped cave now stuffed with wolves who were drawn by Emma’s brilliant light show. He exchanges nods with a few. “I’ll trust your gut but we’re soldiers. Some of us literally. It’s likely we’ll be walking into a war zone. We must be prepared to fight.”

I clear my suddenly dry throat. War zone? Fight? I’ve been so focused on getting to Jo that I didn’t even think about what we could be walking into. “That’s a deal.” Yeah, this time I couldn’t have stopped the tremor in my voice if I’d tried.

It takes about a half hour for each of us to finish drinking Janelle’s blood. For optimal healing, it’s best not to let the blood sit around for any amount of time. And our needs are different. I only need a few drops. Kate needs the most, but since I’ve had experience drinking blood before, both of them asked me to go first. Janelle obligingly holds her wrist up to a fang, then directs the drips into a few sips of hot cocoa. By now I’m so used to taking blood for my injuries it doesn’t phase me. I toast Janelle and knock it back like a shot, making Emma snort. Within a couple of minutes I’ll able to sit up straighter than I have in days. Already pains all over my body are subsiding, including one on my wrist I can’t remember getting. I shrug and smile. “Next.”

Once Kate and Emma are feeling better, there’s a flurry of activity as we all get geared back up to go out in the frigid day. We don’t have much to do. Janelle gives me the coat and we pull gloves and hoods back on. Emma had the hardest time with the blood which surprised me considering the man she’s in love with, Chris, is a vampire. Kate, like me, knocked hers back with more bravado than I had my first time. For some reason, she felt more pain immediately after taking the blood, but Janelle explained it sometimes happens, especially if the injury is a major organ, like a brain. The pain didn’t last, though and now the three of us are in the best shape we’ve been in since the wreck. 

While the drive to find Jo calmed a bit, now that we’re all healed and ready to go, I feel like I can’t wait another second. Nervous energy sets my leg bouncing as I wait. I suppose I could get up and go outside and wait. Despite my anxiety, however, I’m not keen on getting so cold again. Pain free and warm and even somewhat rested makes staying put seductive.

As if we’re all of the same mind, the three of us start making our way to the cave opening. Once I hit the ground, Carmelo nods at me. “We have about four good hours of daylight left. We’ll make the most of it before we have to camp. I know y’all have been traveling at night, and why, but it’s easier, and safer, to travel in the daylight.” He hands each of us a few energy bars. “Eat whenever you feel the need. You’re already down too many calories and it’s going to get worse before it gets better. No matter what, we stay together. If you need to stop or slow down, you have to speak up, otherwise I’ll just keep us moving.” He looks at each of us in turn. Satisfied with our nods of assent, he turns and yells, “Form up!” Then he turns back to us as pack members quickly arrange themselves into rows. Those on four legs take the outside, while the two-legged wolf shifters take the middle. They leave a wide space between them. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out where we are going to walk. Still, he feels the need to jerk a thumb over his shoulder. “You’ll walk there, in the center of our formation.”

Watching him walk away, I grouse under my breath, “Gosh, thanks. We never would have figured out where to stand.” Emma and Kate snicker as we trudge through the snow. 

The second we weave our way through the outer edges, Carmelo calls, “Move out!” and once again we start walking in the snow. It’s better in the daylight, and having half a dozen feet already tamping down snow makes the going easy as pie. I can’t believe they’re all just tramping through the snow like that, and look around expecting to see compacted snow. But the only place snow is beaten down is right in front of us. Everywhere else, whether on two legs or four, they barely leave a trail. Emma, walking beside me, see’s me looking around and comes to the same conclusion. We smile at one another. The Alpha must not think there’s a reason to hide any longer. I sure won’t complain. It wasn’t even this easy to walk at the end of our little train behind Janelle. I certainly won’t look the gift horse in the mouth. Compared to the last few days, healed, fed, rested, and an easy path? I feel like I could walk for days.

Now, that’s not to say I wouldn’t be upset if they had snowmobiles or something like that we could sit down in and move faster. A helicopter wouldn’t be bad, either. Now that we’re on the way, now that I know every step brings me closer to Jo, I want to run. We nearly do, he has us walking so fast. But even though I have more energy than I have I have had in days, I would be just as happy not to ever have to walk in snow again.  

Thinking about Jo, imagining our wedding, hoping the odds are in our favor and we’ll find them all alive and well and wondering why we walked so far, soaks up the time as the sun slowly sinks to the treeline. When Carmelo says, “Make camp,” I’m not the only one relieved to stop. Since everyone seems to know what they’re doing and we’d likely be in the way, Kate, Emma and I step aside.

“I don’t know about you, but I much preferred that to what we’ve been doing the last few days.”

I rest my fat-gloved hand on Emma’s shoulder. “Yeah, well, food and rest make all the difference, don’t they?”
Kate chuckles. “You said it. Wow, I mean I had all this energy when we first started out. You didn’t tell me vampire blood would have that kind of an effect!”

I grin at her. “It’s kinda nice, isn’t it?”

Emma scoffs. “Kinda is like the hugest understatement ever, girl. They should totally bottle that stuff. They’d make a fortune.”

Janelle looks over at us in alarm and the three of us bust out laughing.

“Don’t y’all let any other vampire here you say that,” she warns.

My laughter subsides and I shrug my shoulders at her. “Not like we’re going to do anything about it. Vampire are safe from us.”

Janelle covers the distance in a flash. Her eyes flash red and she gives me a hard look. “I’m serious. If somebody even heard you thinking like that, it wouldn’t matter if you’re joking. Promise me. Now.”

“Geez, Janelle. Okay, okay. I promise,” Kate says. 

Emma frowns. “We were just kidding around.”

I study Janelle’s face. The tight lines around her mouth, and eyes, the look in those red irises. She doesn’t look angry. She looks scared. “Janelle? What do you know?”

Janelle shakes her head at me. “Better you don’t know. Trust me on this. Even in jest, those are dangerous thoughts. Tell me you won’t try to tease Jo or Niall.” She looks at Emma. “Nor Chris.” She turns back to me. “Not even Louis. I mean it.”

I swallow. “O-Okay, Janelle. I won’t even think about it again. Promise.”

Janelle rolls her shoulders and neck. Then with a terse nod, she turns on her heel and walks off to help set up. We exchange glances, but the fun the three of us felt is gone. In it’s place, worry for Jo comes back in full force.