Page 77 of Fire Touched

‘Come on.’ Moira tugs my horse’s reins. ‘I can’t stand this. Let’s go.’

While Katherine, Ella and Ivy ride north, Moira and I are headed south, Elijah and Carter are going west. We’re all headed into danger, my mate’s group the most. I try not to picture the Air Pack greeting them by ripping the oxygen from their lungs.

Chapter Thirty-Eight

Carter

Mounted on horseback, the group slowly separates. Katherine, Ivy and Ella cross through the boundary, making the dim, golden light flicker as it allows them to leave. I turn my steed around without a backward glance. Elijah and I came here to bid the others farewell, but our exit lays on the other side of Terran.

My body is still healing from the beating I took from the Earth wolf, Timmen. I try not to grunt or wince as I lean forward slightly—my shoulder aching—and dig my heels in to spur the horse forward. I don’t have much experience on horses. Courtney loved to ride, though, so I at least know how to steer one.

No doubt having trouble tearing his gaze from Moira, Elijah catches up a few moments later. We ride through Terran, and I hope their people are not all too glad to see us leave. Killian assured us we were leaving this place with Earth Pack as our allies, though I can’t help but think that doesn’t really apply to me. It was Killian’s hand Verron shook, not mine.

Elijah keeps pace with me on my right. I have no interest in talking. Not yet. My shoulder is in agony, despite Killian’s efforts to heal my wound with a heated blade, the pain remains, and the rough jostling of riding is not helping. It’s going to be a long journey.

In some ways, I can’t believe my luck that Ella and I finally… I sigh. Now, we’re separating. I remind myself that each couple has been split up, and that I’m certainly not alone in my anguish over it.

Elijah and I pass through the barrier. We’re officially in open lands. Unprotected. Though I’m not sure how protected we were in Terran, anyway. The others might have landed on the side of friendship with Earth Pack, but not me. I was just the add-on that came with them. I think Earth Pack are glad to watch me leave.

The sun rises slowly, its heat warming my back as we ride. Elijah follows, trusting that I know the way to my pack, though it hardly feels like ‘mine’. The thought of my uncle and… Courtney ruling there makes my stomach turn. I’m not brave enough to examine the relationship I once had with her, but I’m relieved, in a way, that it felt wrong for a reason.

Not like I feel with Ella.

There are a thousand things Elijah and I could talk about, but my jaw is set so hard against everything going on in my head and the pain in my shoulder, I don’t think I could pry it apart if I tried. I don’t know how long I can travel on horseback like this. I hate the idea of having to take breaks.

I glance back at Elijah. I know the others now all consider him a friend, and Killian and Katherine seem to think we’re one, big happy family, but I still often feel like an outsider. Unless I’m with Ella. I glance down at the opal bracelet we each wear. It doesn’t make me one of them.

Elijah might be a nice guy, but that doesn’t mean we’re friends. It doesn’t mean he’s going to like what I have planned.

Aquam is three days’ journey from here, but that’s not where I’m going. Not yet.

Ella’s voice rings in my ears. My mother sold me to the headmistress of the household, so I had to earn my keep. There are slave traders roaming free in my territory, selling people, hurting them. I was one of the lucky ones. Elijah’s plan might be to go directly to the alpha estate, to find out when or if they plan to move against us, but this can’t wait.

I steer us in the direction of the estate, but plan on stopping short of my old home. I suspect the largest trading post is a tavern run by a man named Orllen. He’s infamous around my estate for running a backroom brothel, and he’s always been the shadiest man in our lands. If I had to guess, I’d say he’s capable of slave trading, too, or at least housing them in the back rooms, an unofficial inn to only those he admits.

Elijah doesn’t notice. He makes no attempt to talk with me.

When I glance at him over my shoulder—biting back a wince as the movement tugs at my wound—his eyes have a faraway look in them. He’s probably thinking about Moira. Good. The less he pays attention to me and my plans, the less he’ll get in my way.

He seems to be letting me lead, anyway, so he doesn’t even question when we stop by a stream and dismount for a break. I take his canteen and fill both of them in the stream.

Elijah dismounts, absently tying the horses’ reins to two nearby trees, letting them rest and graze. He stands about, looking lost.

‘Sit,’ I murmur, tossing him some food.

Elijah sits, eating and drinking.

I’m glad for the quiet. In his silence, I get to enjoy the rumbling of the stream as the current rushes over the rocks. I sip at my canteen, still gritting my teeth against the pain in my shoulder. I was too proud to ask for medicine. Maybe I can find some at the tavern. I might have to.

I eat the sandwiches, wondering who packed them for us. Probably Katherine. I sigh into the slight breeze wafting from the stream. I already miss her. I miss the bond we used to share. Though things are vastly different between us now, and how they started. I’m much happier with us being friends, but she’s important to me.

I know she’s had it rough lately. I wish I had been able to comfort her better after that bizarre drowning. I do not plan to forgive the Tide Witches for their crime. All I can deduce from their actions is that they viewed their hybrid as a threat. Someday, I hope she’ll be comfortable using her water powers again.

I glance at Elijah. He’s hardly eaten. I look at him harder. There’s worry in his eyes. Moira’s going home to her pack, though. She’s in far less danger than the other girls. Why should he be so worried? I don’t want to risk breaking his reverie, though. I know it’s selfish, and a better friend would ask him what’s wrong, even if I can’t really help.

Instead, I get to my feet and nudge him along. We feed and water the horses, then untie them and mount-up again, my shoulder screaming in protest as I lift myself up into the saddle. I kick the horse to spur him forward. Elijah follows along silently, his gaze turned inward.

The morning sizzles by in a wave of uncomfortable heat. Now that we’ve left Terran, it seems that whatever the earth keeps there to maintain near-perfect weather (except for the storm which accompanied Timmen’s attack) does not apply out here.

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