Page 50 of Kidnapped Rejected Mate
Since the first fire, Xeran has hired even more guys. In fact, Felix is the head of a second squad now. But for something like this, a mission this important, he’s with us.
And it’s just the five of us. Just like it was on our little firefighting squad back in high school, before Xeran left and Declan took over. Before everything went completely to shit.
Normally, we’d be talking, laughing, trading a few jokes as we made our way to a fire. But it’s like after all these years, we’ve finally hit our limit. Finally, let the little spark of joy die out inside of us.
We just trudge along silently yet quickly, each of us in our own thoughts. Our hands linger near our nozzles, our eyes scanning the horizon for any sign of where the daemon fire is, where it will be moving next. If we’ll even be able to predict its path before it’s upon us.
This is not the first time something like this has happened—not even close. It’s like the town has been plagued with this kind of frantic, middle-of-the-night searching from the moment that first fire started. The consistent burning puts pressure on everything, everyone. Makes the bad guys a little bolder. Makes it harder for good, upstanding shifters to make it through the day.
And, as we run through the trees, growing nearer and nearer to the scent of the daemon fire, the smoke getting thicker around us, I have an absolute certainty that it all ends tonight.
One way or another.
Chapter 26 - Aurela
“You scared the shit out of me.”
“Yeah, looks like we scared the shit out of her, too,” Valerie says, gesturing to the spot Tara occupied just a moment before.
Val is in her pajamas. They all are, their hair messy like they just rolled out of bed, their faces scrubbed clean of makeup.
A breeze blows through the clearing, and we all shiver, staring at the empty spot, the half-finished lollipop in the grass.
“How did you know I was up here?” I ask.
“Felt the pull,” Phina says, not tearing her eyes from that spot. “And just…knew. Something was up. Just like that first night.”
We’d never made a plan to meet on the ridge that night, so long ago. It was like all four of us just felt the same tug, the same calling.
Exactly the same kind of pull I’ve had to resist for the past fifteen years.
“And we’ve figured a few things out,” Maeve says earnestly, her eyes darting between the four of us.
“More like Maeve figured a few things out,” Phina says, her eyes bright as she looks at our friend.
Valerie puts her hand on my back and draws me into the group, and we huddle together like a football team, voices low.
“I—I’ve been thinking a lot about Tara and that night,” Maeve says. “I can’t fully explain why, but I think we’re going to need to go to the ridge tonight.”
Valerie opens her mouth, then shuts it, and I know without asking that she was about to ask why.
Phina shifts uncomfortably, glancing at all of us. “You think that’s where Tara is going to be?” she asks.
“Yes,” Maeve says. “I think she brought us out here for a reason. Last time, it was by calling me, but it was Aurela she really wanted.”
“And now she has me,” I mutter, because I haven’t been able to stop myself from sleepwalking out to the woods.
“It would be just like her to want us out at the ridge,” Valerie mutters. “Just like that night. So dramatic.”
“I think I have an idea of how we can stop her,” Maeve says. “But I want to check with you all to see if what I’m thinking is right.”
“What are you thinking?” I ask, heart thudding.
But instead of answering that question, Maeve just says quietly, “Felix thinks Tara is feral.”
“So does Xeran,” Phina says.
Valerie nods along, as though she and Lachlan have been thinking the same thing.
