Page 91 of Mated Exile

There's a stream towards the west. It runs parallel to the hunting trail that leads to the mountains. I'll head out there, away from the fighting, so I can catch them off-guard.

Roarke points out,Someone will have to watch your back. We can't lose you like last time.

The image of the first battle hits me, this time from his eyes, and I feel as well as see his mournful fear as he realized I was gone. My heart squeezes.I'll bring someone with me. Maybe two someones?

Finn paces over to hip-check me, throwing his lot in. Bastian starts to as well—but Roarke holds him back.

You're an experienced fighter. I need you at the front of the fight, taking apart as many vamps as possible.

Lance chimes in, his voice layering in over all the others.I'll go.

I suppose I'll go with Niall,Kieran says, shaking his fur.Someone should scout ahead, make sure the vamps haven't hit us from the other direction. I'm the fastest runner.

I can't argue with that. On our patrols, Kieran has been showing just how far he's come now that he's not consumed by vamp venom on a nightly basis. The morning training with Bastian is already paying off, courtesy of his shifter body and a little hybrid magic from me. His wolf lacks the bulk of Lance's or the brutality of Bastian's, but he more than makes up for it with an incredible speed.

Other wolves chime in with their own assignments, their voices nudging in through the effortless web Roarke weaves among our minds. Soon we've split up, and paced over to the edges of the Mating Circle towards our assignments. Roarke's group faces north, Niall's faces south, while Finn, Lance and I face west, between them.

Reaching out with my awareness, I snag Finn and Lance's minds, drawing us into a little communication bubble. It's a little wobbly at first, because I haven't practiced this much, but feeling Roarke do it while we're in wolf form has helped. We tense at the edges of the Mating Circle's boundaries, facing a horde of rotten-smelling, hissing, snarling, and disgusting vampires.

I still don't see the vamps I was expecting. No matter. We've got a fight to win.

Get ready,Roarke warns us all.On three. One, two...

We all leap out of the Mating Circle at once, attacking the vamps from different sides. There are fewer of the horde in front of Finn, Lance, and me. I feel the two males at my side, close and protective, jaws snapping and claws raking over fleshy limbs.

It makes my stomach churn to close my mouth over reaching hands and rend flesh. As the blood pumps in my veins, and sprays from rotting stumps, I get used to it. Hands tipped with claws rake at my side. Fangs close over the air near my muzzle. I spin and dance between them, kicking and clawing, leaping and biting.

Together the three of us shoulder through row after row of vamps. Once we're through the thick of them, we burst through the other side and race towards the trees.

I hear the sound of fighting behind me, but resist the urge to turn and look. Instead I let my awareness tell me that everyone I love is still alive, fighting like beasts and clawing the demons back.

That's enough, for now. As soon as I'm able I'll give them more. We pause only for a moment, as a vampire comes at our left side. Finn tears away to lap on him and rip his throat out, then spins and returns to my side.

Legs pumping and paws skimming the ground, we race through the darkness with keen eyes and strong hearts. Even the scratches and tears to our skin are already healing—we're wolves, after all, and this world is ours.

I can hear the distant sound of a stream gurgling. Within moments we're at its side.

Skidding to a stop, I check to make sure that we weren't followed. Thankfully the vamps are mostly concerned with the larger groups of werewolves for now. They haven't noticed me or come after me—yet. So I shift back into my human form.

Finn follows after me, then Lance, until we're all standing on two feet at the edge of the stream. I take a deep breath and reach down to peel my shoes off.

"Skin contact with the elements is supposed to help," I explain, in response to Lance's raised brow. "I'll need to really anchor myself in the earth in order to tap into my full powers. Got my six?"

"Always."

Finn retorts, "If your six is your back, and Lance has it, then I'll protect you from the other side." He leaps over the stream and faces the dark woods, arms crossed over his broad chest. "Do what'cha gotta do, Dollface."

My pulse thrums at the sound of my nickname in his mouth, and already I'm thinking of what will happenafterthe Summit. Needless to say, it's something I'm looking forward to quite a bit. Those thoughts will have to wait, though—there's work to be done.

Wading forward into the slowly-rushing stream, I wince and hiss between my clenched teeth as the cool water surges over my bare skin. It washes over my ankles as I wade a few steps into the water. The stream's bed is a soft silt with slick green things growing. Digging my toes in, I close my eyes and anchor my spirit to the earth beneath me.

The earth reaches up eagerly to grab hold of me, like a long-time friend giving a big hug, or a familiar lover dropping a kiss on my cheek. Warmth suffuses me, so different from the curse that wrapped around my skin. As I let my magic ripple outwards in the air, feeling at its currents, my eyes open and I swear I can see the silvery form of a spirit in the distance.

I blink, and it's gone, nothing but my imagination. Shaking it off, I reach for the pack's connections with the land. They're thin and thready. A little bit comes from Finn and Lance, more from the Glass Pack members fighting the vamps, but too much time has passed since the alpha died, and the curse had already taken its toll before then. Niall's guess about our northern border was right—it's worn thin, ripped to shreds in certain places. The vamps got in, and they'll return if it isn't repaired.

Thankfully we have time to fix all of that. Right now, we need themout.So I let my awareness travel downstream with the water's flow, towards the places where the creek's size swells. Mountain runoff and seasonal rain has fed it well this spring. It curls lazily through our lands, stopping to form a lake further west, then continuing on as a fat riverbank.

For now, though, the creek is all I can seem to concentrate on. It should be more than enough. Gathering my strength and breathing deep, I pour myself into it the way I have into dozens of small plants and glasses of water with Bastian, practicing the more instinctual parts of my element-based magic.

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