Page 29 of Rejected Nanny Mate
At first, I thought that maybe I had jumped the gun and been a little too paranoid. There had only been a single report about a magic surge from one of my scouts, and that was nothing new. The only thing that had been different was that the scout insisted that the surge was moving. That had never happened before, and while the surge still dissipated like usual, it gave me a bad feeling. I felt better knowing Rose was with Nayeli and Scott, but I still wanted to investigate on my own before I brought her back home and relaxed.
I sent a squad of my wolves to one part of the forest, while I decided to search the area closest to my house on my own. I was restless, the sinking feeling getting stronger with each passing hour, and I knew I had to see for myself that there was no real threat before I would believe it.
After dispatching the wolves to their mission, I hung up the phone and made my way outside, planning to shift andsearch the forest on four feet. I hadn't checked the time, so I was surprised to see Gwen putting her work things in her car, getting ready to leave for her shift.
“Gwen,” I greeted, and she startled a bit, looking up.
“Hi, Joe. Is everything alright? You look worried.”
“No,” I sighed. “I'm just not sure.”
“Can I help?”
The idea of her going and searching for the surge made me feel almost sick with worry. Absolutely not. I didn't want her to get involved if I could help it. “Not really. Just call me as soon as you get to the cafe, okay? If you don't hear from me by the time your shift is over, go to Nayeli's instead of coming home. Wait for my call before coming back here, okay?”
I'd said too much. Gwen shut the car door and looked at me, concerned, planting her hands on her hips. “What is going on? Is this about the pack business you said you had to handle?”
“Yes,” I admitted, not wanting to lie to her. “Look, I don't know anything for sure yet, but my guys have seen a magic surge headed our way. It's moving, and I don't know why. But the last thing I want is for you or Rose to get hurt. So just please, please be careful and stay out of the forest.”
“I promise,” she said, nodding. “If anything comes up, I'll stay at work or go straight to Nayeli and Scott.”
“Thank you,” I breathed. “I have to go.”
“Okay.” She twisted her work apron between her fingers, looking down at her feet. “You be careful too, okay?”
I smiled despite the worry growing in my gut. “I'll do my best, but—”
Gwen must have sensed the surge before I did, because I saw her head jerk up and her eyes go wide. The pressure of the magic hit me a fraction of a second later, and I whipped around.
The surges were mostly invisible to the naked eye, but they distorted the air around them, much like heat emanating from the blacktop. I could see the forest behind us rippling as the surge rushed forward, heading right towards us.
Everything moved in slow motion as I lurched forward, grabbing Gwen by the arm and pulling her to the side, just as the surge struck where she had been leaning against the car, making it rock back and forth from the force of the strike. It was moving, just like my scout had reported, but more alarmingly, it appeared the movements weren't random.
Because when it didn't manage to take us out, the magic looped around, heading back towards us once more.
“Run!” I yelled, grabbing Gwen by the wrist and pulling her toward the treeline.
Gwen stumbled at first, but she got her feet back under her and managed to keep pace with me as we fled into the woods. The surge picked up speed, hot on our heels. We'd managed to get a bit of a head start, but the surge was gaining. I grabbed Gwen again and dove behind a tree so we could catch our breath, letting the magic rocket pass us.
“I've never seen one do that before,” I growled, my eyes scanning the forest around us.
“I've never seen one move like that at all,” she agreed, her voice a little shaky. “But Joe, I can feel it. The magic. It's strong.”
“Yeah, no shit,” I snapped, and then winced, not wanting to snap at her. It wasn't her fault, and it was just my nervesgetting the better of me. “Sorry. We need to find someplace to hide.”
“How the hell are we supposed to hide from a magic surge?”
“I have no idea, but we're going to try.” I looked her over, taking in her wide, frightened eyes and how fast she was breathing, both her hands pressed hard to her chest. Something was wrong with her, but we didn't have time for me to figure it out. We had to get the hell out of there, because even in the brief time we took to hide, it had turned and started towards us once more.
There was one thing we could do that would make us faster and dampen the fear that was taking her over. It would make it harder for us to communicate, but our goal was pretty damn clear. Get away without having that thing slam into us.
“We need to shift,” I told her, looking around wildly. “We're closest to Jayce's territory, so we'll go that direction and see if crossing the territory lines confuses it or makes it go away.”
“Good plan,” she panted, her eyes closing. I knew she was fighting her instincts, not wanting to reveal her weakness to me. Her face was pale, her lips a little blue.
“Just breathe, Omega,” I commanded, and she gasped, her eyes popping open, the pupils dilating. The command wouldn't hold her for long, not while the magic was this strong. My only hope was to keep her moving, and hopefully, we could get the hell out of there before she passed out. “Shift and go. Run like your life depends on it.”
I shifted and leaped away, hoping that the movement would help her pull herself together enough to get a grip and follow. For a split second, I was terrified. What if she didn't? What if she couldn't? But the thought had no sooner entered mymind than Gwen's smaller, tan-colored wolf joined me, and we raced through the trees.
