Page 91 of Severed By Magic

It was already four-thirty, so we weren’t losing much time.

We went back to the house, and Sai and Kaden made dinner while Niall double checked all the spells he put in place before sitting next to me with Theo on my other side.

I sat up.

Well, I attempted to, but I had Theo's arm draped across my chest, making it hard to move. I shook his arm. He stirred, rolling over to the side and spooning Niall.

“Guys,” I called in the darkness. I couldn't be the only one who you heard that noise. How were Sai and Kaden still sleeping?

“Guys, wake up!” I pushed on Sai and Theo’s shoulders, making the entire bed rock.

“What is it?” Kaden asked first in a groggy voice.

“I heard something outside.”

“The alarm?” Niall asked, rubbing his face. He slid off the bed and pulled on his jeans.

“No, there's no alarm, but I heard something. I'm not sure what.”

“I'll go check.” Theo crawled to the foot of the bed and headed out to the hallway.

“What's going on?” Sai finally spoke, his voice rough from sleep.

“Saige heard something outside. We're going to go check it out,” Niall explained.

“Wouldn’t the guards have been alerted?” Sai yawned.

“What did you hear, exactly?” Niall asked.

I looked to the window. “It sounded like footsteps, like they're really close.”

“Inside or outside?” He inquired while pulling on a shirt.

I shook my head, pushing away inappropriate thoughts about his abs. “Outside. I could hear the snow crunching.”

I was grateful I didn't have to explain myself. How I was able to hear that enough to wake up when neither Sai nor Kaden did?

“Where's Theo?” Sai asked as he sat up and looked around.

“He went to go check everything out,” Kaden said. “But he should have been back by now.”

The tension in the room built, finally meeting my own.

“I’ll be right back. Niall, can you get the window for me?” Kaden shifted into his hawk as Niall cracked open the window enough for him to get out.

Sai quickly got dressed, but I stayed in my pajamas just in case I needed to shift, if I could get my cuffs off.

Niall closed his eyes before looking back at me. “The protections and barriers are still in place. They shouldn't be able to get to us.”

That was a good sign, but it didn't bring as much comfort as it should. There was a shadow by the window, and Niall opened it a bit again just as Kaden flew inside, shifting back so he could land on his feet.

“The two guards outside are down. It looks like they've been tranquilized.”

Niall took a step forward toward the edge window, without putting himself in front of it. “They had to have been shot from a distance. My barrier spells haven't been disturbed.”

Kaden nodded. “I saw about twenty wolves surrounding the house.”

“Where's Theo?” I asked, feeling like he was avoiding that.

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