I hear a scream echoing throughout the room, breaking my trance.
I know that voice like none other. “Jazz!” I yell.
Valerie’s Gift
*CELINE*
Irushoutsidetofind Liam’s warrior that came with Desmona fending off a group of rogues. Marius is cornered by a guy in a dark cloak and seems to be unable to move or shift. Fuck.Harmony,I mind-link my beta.Help Liam’s warrior!
Of course, Alpha,her strong wolf rushes toward the cornered man and lunges toward one of his attackers.
Marius‘ attacker has erected some kind of barrier around them both, which is preventing my warriors from getting through to help. I know I should jump to his defense immediately, but I’m ashamed to admit that I’m hesitating for a split second.
I force myself to shake off the feeling. He’s still my friend’s brother and another friend’s son, and no matter how hard I try, I can’t hate him. Closing my eyes, I let my senses take over. Danica stirs inside me, growing stronger as her senses sharpen and enhance.
Time slows down around me, and I can feel the cool, hard asphalt steadying under my paws as I walk silently toward the man. Is this what Jade meant when she said I could communicate with the spirit world and use both my surroundings and nature’s element such as wind, earth, and water, to guide me? I keep moving forward, deciding to put faith in my instincts.
At first, the barrier tries to push me back, but Danica’s instructions give me the confidence to try again.Go, just walk forward,Danica’s voice echoes through my mind.Pretend like the barrier doesn’t exist. I feel something has changed in her, there’s something in her voice and in the nature of her existence. She’s still Danica, but somehow, more.
Suddenly, a pathway opens up through the barrier as if it was waiting here in front of me all along.
I lunge forward, attacking the man who is trying to kill Marius. He has no time to defend himself as he’s too surprised by my attack to realize I got through his barrier. His bones crush beneath my paws. My plan to capture him alive falls flat, unfortunately, as I watch his head smash against the asphalt of the parking lot. He’s not coming back from that.
I step back, taking a moment to come back to myself.Alpha, are you alright?Harmony links me.
Did you get hurt, Alpha?one of my warriors asks.
Another one looks at me in awe.That was so cool. How did you do that?
There is no time for this now,I answer them shortly.Make sure there are no more rogues around!
Once my warriors are busy, my gaze shifts toward Marius. His eyes are wide, and he looks shocked, but he’s also showing a hint of guilt.
There’s no time to exchange words with him or even ask if he’s alright. I hear more commotion coming from inside the restaurant and rush back through the door just in time to see Aryanna and Desmona fighting a young witch. She screeches in pain as Ari lands a direct hit to her chest. The witch looks around in panic, probably noticing that she and the remaining rogues are outnumbered. Ari lunges to try and stop her from escaping, but the young witch disappears into thin air at the snap of her fingers.
I don’t have time to linger on her escape though, and instead, race to help some warriors with the few remaining rogues in the room. It was a fairly easy job, I realize, and somewhere in a corner of my mind, I get the feeling it was a bit too easy.
“Alpha!” Marcel calls out, pulling my attention away from the scene.
Marcel is on the ground next to Valerie and holding Jazz in his arms. As I look closer, I see that Jazz has blood coming from a wound in her stomach. “One of the rogues attacked her,” Marcel growls between gritted teeth.
I shift back, slipping into a shirt Harmony throws at me before hurrying towards Jazz. Aryanna pushes past me, falling to her knees beside her mate. “Jazmine,” she blurts out, panicked. “You’re hurt!”
I kneel down beside them to check Jazz. Val has her hands pressed against the wound, eyes wide in panic. Her skin starts turning even paler than usual, once again looking like she’s made out of fine china. Suddenly, her breaths become labored like she’s been running, while Jazz, on the other hand, appears to be calming down. “Val,” Jazz whispers as she tries to get up, only to be held in place by Marcel. “Valerie, I’m… I’m fine.”
“What…?” Marcel stutters.
Aryanna’s hands quickly move to her stomach before carefully moving Valerie’s hands aside and checking on her mate’s injury. Apart from the spilled blood, there is no sign of a wound anymore.
My eyes widen. Jade, my great-grandmother, was right in her assumptions. I catch Val in my lap as she slumps down from exhaustion. She’s a healer, one of the very few wolves who have the power to heal others.
“She is here,” Valerie mutters tiredly, barely conscious.
“Who?” I ask, alarmed.
Valerie points towards the door leading to the restaurant’s kitchen. The light there is off, lulling everything into darkness, but in the darkness, I can just make out a pair of glowing eyes. “She’s the one who was watching us before,” Valerie whispers. “At Marcel’s house.”
Silver eyes look straight at me, and for a moment, I think I can see the outline of a smirk in the darkness. I’m up on my feet instantly, ready to lunge at her with my senses on full alert, but before I can move, she disappears. “Fuck,” I curse.