Page 8 of Cursed Magic

Still, I would keep my nose out of their argument because getting involved would only cause more problems for the six of us—er—no…

Not the six of us.

Briar and me.

I couldn’t start thinking beyond Briar and myself. The Grimstones weren’t my pack or my responsibility. I had to get my sister away from all this chaos and keep her safe. I couldn’t lose her.

Yet, thinking about leaving Ryker and his pack made an uncomfortable knot settle in my stomach.

I couldn’t contend with that now. Not while everyone was tired, injured, and still at risk of being attacked at any second. I wasn’t even sure what had held our attackers back, and whatever it was couldn’t last forever.

I tried to pick up my pace as I passed the vampires, but my body wouldn’t cooperate. Stress, fighting, and injuries had taken their toll. The ground underneath me seemed to shift like there was an earthquake, but no one else seemed panicked.

If the shadows caught up with us now, I wasn’t sure I could fight them off. Whatever had happened back there to make them withdraw had been a gift from Fate, which made me nervous.

The bitch had never liked me—she had to be setting me up for an even worse scenario.

Keeping to a quick jog instead of the run I wanted, I continued toward the vehicle. The panting of Gage,Xander, and Kendric and the sounds of Briar’s footsteps drove me forward. We were making progress, and I needed to focus on that.

My shifter hearing perked up when I heard Raven clear her throat. “If you want to have a conversation about what duties you three are in charge of and what decisions I can make, now isn’t the time to discuss that, seeing as we both agree that you all need to remain here. We should take that up later, upon your return to the mansion, so we can include the queen herself in the conversation to ensure there are no misunderstandings on any of our parts. Wouldn’t you agree?”

Despite the exhaustion weighing down my body, I felt the corners of my lips turn slightly upward. Martin had intended to use his authority to put Raven in her place and embarrass her in front of the guards, but she had stood her ground firmly. Maybe it wasn’t just alpha wolf-shifter men who had the problem—maybe small-dick syndrome was an issue with men of all species.

There was a long pause until Bella huffed. “Fine. Until then, the three of us need to handle this situation.”

I wanted to roll my eyes, but I didn’t have the energy to spare, so I just kept moving forward.

A few minutes later, Raven caught up and kept pace beside me. I expected her to speak, but she didn’t. We ran through some trees running parallel with the road that formed the border between the territory of the Shae lands and the state park, which meant the vehicles were less than two hundred yards away, hidden by thick trees and brush.

I glanced at her and asked, “Is there something you want to say?”

She took a quick breath. “No. Why?”

“You can run a lot faster than I can, so I figuredthere’s a reason you’re staying behind with me.” Especially when Kendric was ahead of me, carrying Ryker.

She snorted, not sounding half the lady she appeared to be. “You won’t like the answer, so it’s probably best if I don’t tell you.” She arched a perfectly sculpted eyebrow.

Disappointment made me falter. “You don’t trust me.” My wolf whimpered and snarled within.

We’d spent a decent amount of time together while I’d focused on Briar’s and my pack bond to locate my sister’s general vicinity before the alpha meeting the Blackwoods had called. We’d wanted to show up and shock them enough to trick whoever was holding Briar into giving himself away, and we’d accomplished that. I’d thought Raven and I had established some goodwill between us. Clearly, it had been one-sided.

“What?” Her jaw dropped as we made our way through the woods. “That’s not it at all. You look as if you could crash at any second, and I don’t want you to get any more injured than you already are.”

My head spun. I didn’t know whether to thank her or placate my wolf by telling Raven we were fine, so I did the worst possible thing and remained silent.

The oaks and pines around us thinned out, revealing the black SUV Ryker and I had driven here. The three cars the vampires had loaned Gage, Xander, and Kendric also sat untouched. They’d taken separate cars so they could scout out the three packs in this area and determine who was holding my sister. Of course it had been the pack that I’d least expected…one that my pack had spent time with occasionally.

Briar leaned against the black Ford Charger, taking deep breaths as Kendric and Xander lay on their bellies,keeping Ryker on their backs. I quickly noticed that one person was missing. “Where’s Gage?”

“I think he went to shift.” Briar gestured toward a sizable oak tree about fifty yards away.

As if Gage had timed it perfectly, he stepped around the tree in human form, dressed in a black shirt and jeans. “I figured we all need to shift to drive these vehicles back to the mansion.”

He was right. We couldn’t leave the cars here in case humans stumbled upon them. No vehicles were allowed off-road in the woods. The last thing we needed was human park rangers knocking on the door of a gigantic mansion full of vampires and asking questions.

But first things first. “I can drive the SUV. Let’s get Ryker in so we can get him some help.”

I jogged to the black Suburban and opened the back door.

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