Page 88 of Forgotten Arcane

There’s no talking, or time to tell them that they should surrender or die, they just begin to attack. They outnumber us, but not by a lot, and I practically dance through them, my swords slicing through any wolf that tries to attack.

When I spot a wolf going after Logan, who is already fighting another one off, I surprise myself when an inhuman growl leaves my throat. Several of the guys’ heads turn in my direction briefly when they hear it, but I don’t have time to read their expressions, as everyone has to turn back to whoever they’re fighting, and I continue to race toward Logan, who is now fighting both of the wolves off.

He's doing really well, awesome actually, but I’m not risking it.

Getting close enough, I launch myself, so I land on the wolf’s back, and swing Asael, slicing through the neck of the wolf with ease before he’s even had the chance to try and knock me off.

Logan shifts and rips out the throat of the one that’s attacking and then shifts back with a huge grin on his face, “Thank you. That was fucking awesome.”

I grin, “Anytime. Speaking of . . .” I point over his shoulder, and he immediately spins, his claws slicing clean through the neck of the attacking wolf, who is still in human form.

Looking around, I realize that they’re all dead.

“Good work, guys,” River says, once he’s shifted back, and so have the other wolves.

We all look around the space.

“Where the hell are they?” Dare asks. “There’s nowhere to stash them here.”

“Not that we can see,” I point out with a frown.

“Neith’s right,” Doc says as he looks around too, studying everything closely in case we’re missing something obvious.

“Neith,” Van starts, and I look over at him. “Why don’t you try to use your magic to find them?”

I could smack myself. Why the hell didn’t I think of that?

Nodding, I immediately call on my magic, asking it to show me where the rest of the pack is, and at the last second, remembering to ask it to make sure that the map is in my mind and not in front of me.

The magic quickly does what I’ve asked, and when the location comes up, I frown.

“What’s wrong?” Coen asks.

“They’re underneath us,” I reply.

“Dead?” Logan asks, sadness permeating his tone, as his shoulders slump.

I shake my head, “No, they’re not dead. One of them hasn’t got long left, and the others are hurt. Some of them are worse than the others, but there are thirty women, one man, who is the one that’s near death, and forty-twochildren down there.” I pause, and everyone is staring at me like I’ve grown a second head. I don’t blame them. My maps have never been that specific or detailed before, and I’m pretty impressed myself. I look at Logan, “Does that sound right?”

Logan nods, “Yes, that’s the right number. Asher, the beta, must be the one that’s near death.”

“How do we get in, Neith?” River asks me.

I start walking, following the map in my mind, and nearly walk straight into the cliff face in front of me. Glancing down at my feet, I nod.

Stomping my feet, everyone’s eyes widen when there’s a hollow sound that echoes back. “Here. There are tunnels that lead further in, and they’re at the end of one of the offshoots.”

“Let’s get this open,” River says, and I move out of the way, just as several jeeps come crashing through the woods and pull to a stop.

It occurs to me that they must have followed their noses and our scent trail to get here, since we had Dare, and he was the only one who knew where this place was. It just didn’t occur to me earlier to wonder how they were going to follow us.

“I’ll fill them in,” Logan says quickly. “And get them all prepared to look after the wounded.”

“We’ll head in first, and as soon as we know that it’s safe, we will lead those we can out, and the wolves up here can come and help us with the more wounded,” River says.

On the map in my mind, the body that is the beta, Asher’s, suddenly appears to get fainter than the others.

“Shit.” I curse, “Guys, we need to hurry up. Asher is fading quicker than I thought.”

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