Page 93 of Elora and the Crow

“If you shift in here, I’ll call security!” Gretchen snapped. “Both of you stop it right now!”

Cece watched in dismay as the two men disappeared into the stairwell at the far end of the hall. She stared at Judd and Tori, tussling in the hallway as Gretchen shouted at them, before Cece dropped her coffee, turned, and bolted toward the stairwell at the other end of the hallway.

* * *

Her lungs screaming for air,Cece burst out of the hospital’s back entrance. She scanned the area wildly, looking for any sign of the two men and Elora.

“No, God, please no,” she muttered as she ran down the sidewalk toward the dimly lit parking lot. Slender birch trees and a few of the old-fashioned lamp posts that were so popular in style lined the sidewalk. The lamps glowed with a dull yellow light as Cece tried not to slip on the icy sidewalk.

The hospital door opened behind her, and she instinctively darted off the sidewalk to hide in the shadow of an enormous pine tree. The two men stepped onto the sidewalk, Elora hanging limply in the blond one’s arms.

As they started down the sidewalk, Cece took a deep breath and stepped out from under the pine tree.

“I don’t know who the hell you are, but take my friend back to her hospital room right now.” Cece stood in front of the massive men. Could they tell she was terrified? Probably.

The men stopped beside one of the birch trees, staring silently at her. The dark-haired one glanced at the blond before sniffing in her direction. “She’s only human.”

The blond shifted Elora in his arms. “If she’s your friend, then you‘ll let us leave with her. We’re trying to help her.”

“Bullshit,” she spat. Her fear had spiked her magic, and it flowed hot and wild in her veins. She clenched her hands into fists as the birch tree’s slender branches shivered and bent toward the two shifters.

“We don’t have time for this,” the dark-haired one said impatiently. “Your friend is dying. Move, little human, or I’ll make you move.”

“Fuck you,” she snapped. “Take my friend back into the hospital, or I’ll make you wishyouwere dying.”

A grin crossed the blond one’s face. “She’s got balls for a human, Briggs.”

Briggs snorted. “Or no brains.”

“Did you just call me stupid?” Cece said. The magic snapped and sparked in her veins, and it felt good. It felt… right.

The thin birch branches slithered closer to Briggs, and he grunted in surprise when they wound around his arms and his thighs. He studied them before staring at the blond man. “Witch?”

The blond nodded. “Definitely a witch.”

Briggs turned back to Cece as the branches wound tighter across his thick biceps and massive thighs. “Walk away, little witch.”

“When your oaf friend returns Elora to the hospital, I’ll release you. Until then…” She flicked her hand, and another branch slid around Briggs’ thick neck. It tightened, and Briggs rolled his eyes.

“For fuck’s sake,” he muttered. “Hudson, let’s go.”

He flexed his arms, snapping the thin branches around them like rubber bands before grabbing the branch around his neck and tearing it in two. He stepped forward, his thigh muscles bulging, and the branches around them tightened before giving way like the others.

Well, shit. He had to be a bear shifter for sure… they were the most powerful of shifters.

Maybe he’s a dragon shifter. Maybe you’re about to get burned to a crisp.

She staved off the hot fear that wanted to appear. He had no streaks of colour in his hair that all dragons had.

He could dye it, Cece! For fuck’s sake, both you and Elora are about to be dead.

“Stay back!” Cece demanded, her trembling limbs and voice betraying her fear as Briggs stomped toward her.

Before she could react or even stumble away, his big hands spanned her waist, and he lifted her. Cece gasped as her magic became a bright, glorious green fire. Her back arched as the addictive power sizzled through her. Green light erupted from her hands, and the enormous pine tree beside them made a creaking groan.

“What the fuck?” Briggs said when its thick branches shot toward them. The branches wrapped around them both, lifting them off their feet and dragging them toward the trunk. Briggs twisted in the tight grip, somehow turning enough to protect Cece by taking the force of the impact against his left shoulder and hip as they slammed into the tree trunk hard enough to make him grunt and wince.

The tree’s needles poked Cece’s face and body as she stared wide-eyed at Briggs. The branches weaved together in a circle around them until the branches and needles were so thick and dense they hid them from Hudson and the rest of the world.

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