Page 90 of Marked By Night

“Shall we make a run for it?” I ask resolved to our fate as I reach for my switchblade in my pocket and flick the blade out. There is no way I’m going down today.

“There’s no other option. Quickly now, they’re starting to approach.”

“On three?” I ask and he gives me a slight head nod.

“One. Two. Three!”

We whip open our doors at the same time, making a mad dash through the only opening they left for us. For some reason, it seems like a trap in and of itself, but I don’t have time to question it.

I feel rather than see Hemsworth leap through the seat and out the open door of my car. He makes it to my side in two large strides. Then jumps, ripping the throat out of an attacker on my left before I can. The man is definitely not one of those mindless golems from the festival. Blood splatters everywhere, threatening to bring the lunch Vin and I ate up.

I know in my heart that Vin could outrun me with his shifter speed and leave me behind, but he doesn’t. He stays with me and there’s no time to decipher why.

I work my legs harder, pushing my extra strength into them and demanding they work faster. The underbrush crunches under our heavy footfalls, snapping twigs left and right. If they weren’t already on our heels, I’d scold myself for being so loud, but they know exactly where we are and we need to lose them.

Decisions, decisions.

“On your left!” Vin shouts and I jump to the right, avoiding a well-aimed orb of magic.

“Fuck, they’re pushing me today. How far out are we from the ward?” I ask.

“Too fucking far,” he grumbles.

We’re forced to separate as a tree forms in our path. When we’re around the tree Vin’s eyes widen and he opens his mouth to yell at me but it’s too late and he’s already rushing toward me. My heart wrenches painfully as an inky black orb hits him, and he cries out in pain, tucking his arm into his chest.

“Vinson! Are you all right?”

The fucker totally took that orb for me.

He moves the arm covering it and I gasp when I catch a glimpse of his injury. The skin is already turning an angry red as blisters pop up and the veins turn black before my eyes. I don’t even want to imagine what it would’ve looked like if they had managed to hit him somewhere vital, or me in the chest where it was aimed.

My intuition warns me seconds before a harsh battle cry sounds off behind us, and the number of orbs being thrown our way triples. Now neither of us can focus on anything but sensing where the orbs are and dodging them.

Somehow, I lose track of Vin and Hemsworth in the commotion, which is not good. Not at all. All my defenses are screaming at me to find them.

A large oak tree appears on my left, and I dart behind it, resting my back against it to catch my breath. I’m also silently hoping Vin or Hemsworth will pass by and I can rejoin them.

The first thing I notice while I’m sitting still is the forest is eerily silent and the orbs are no longer whizzing past me. I’m not stupid enough to think I’ve lost them because we haven’t hit the ward yet, which means they’re still out there somewhere.

“Well, well, well. Look what the shifter brought me,” a dark voice singsongs, their tone dancing with amusement.

Every single muscle in my body tenses when I hear that slimy voice I never wanted to hear again. There’s a shift to the right seconds before I’m being tackled and we’re rolling. The twigs and vines scrape my skin harshly, cutting me open with each roll. I try to stop my momentum, but it’s no use and we eventually crash into a tree.

My switchblade is knocked from my hand from the force of the impact, leaving me without a weapon, and my side twinges with pain.

I’m up on my feet in an instant, despite the dizziness overriding my senses as I search the area for him, but I’m alone. Arms band around me from behind and I throw my elbow back into his sternum, making him grunt and let go.

Instead of getting away, like I’d hoped, he grabs a fist full of my hair and yanks me back to him. Unlike with Kaos the sharp sting only pisses me off and rage starts coursing through my veins.

He chuckles and the sound grates on my nerves. “I want you to know, the Elders awarded me this privilege. As soon as I dispatched that shifter a week ago, I went to them and asked if I could be the one to lead the search party for you.”

Oh, Gods. Vin’s black eye and his use of the termpackagepops into my mind. I’d bet my last dollar Tyler was the package.

“My team has been waiting outside the ward this entire time, and look, you were stupid enough to leave without your mates. Did you think a dog and a lowly shifter would be enough to stop us from taking you?”

“Fuck off, Tyler. Let me go and I’ll think about sparing you.”

Not really, but he doesn’t need to know that.

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