Page 93 of Shifters Unifying
“Are you sure you don’t want me to send for my warriors?” she asked again as she shut off the engine.
I shook my head. “We have to behave as though we have unidentified traitors in our midst.”
“Surely, they’ve all been discovered.”
“We won’t know who they all are until Acheron is dead… sent back to hell where he belongs.”
She fell silent. Then she slid from the drivers’ seat, made her way around the vehicle, and opened the front passenger door of the single, modest four-wheel drive vehicle East Nuttal owned. Their clan was neither affluent nor trying to be.
Neither of us spoke as we approached the safety of the warded space. In the quiet, an audible tumult spilled out from inside. The cacophony made my stomach flip flop. Maybe a week had been too long to leave them stewing. Ominous lightning flashed on the horizon.
The thunderhead was no match for the storm brewing within. Lightning flashed lit up the darkening clouds. Thegathering place had been warded, protected from attacks. However, I wasn’t sure if the invisible barrier was waterproof, so I hoped it wouldn’t start pouring before I managed to captivate the audience. Besides, the last conclave location still succumbed to Acheron’s attack.
Izzie, John, Oliver, and Blaze had all come along to show off what I’d taught them about shifting, and they huddled near the entrance, a group of young people who still didn’t quite know their place in the shifter hierarchy at large. All four of them wore clothes and still averted their eyes.
I shook my head. I’d acted that way that once… a lifetime ago. “You go on in, Salali. I need to have a word with them,” I said, inclining my head toward the four young ones. When I stepped in front of them, they halted. “Can I talk to you?”
“All of us?” Blaze asked, tucking a strand of her blue hair behind her ear.
“Yeah, I have a plan, and I need your help.”
John crossed his arms, not really old enough to pull off the stern look he was probably going for. “What’s your plan?”
“John, stop. Don’t you know she’s the multimorph? That meansshe’sin charge of everything. Not you,” Izzie cautioned. “You heard about all the shit she’s done, and all the shit she did in the last week. She could probably snap you in two. With magic.”
“No, it’s fine. It’s a reasonable question.” I gestured toward the young woman. “I’d like to link with the four of you to show the council what I can do and what we can do together.”
John frowned. “Are you going to fling fireballs or something?”
“I probably could,” I said glancing at the dark clouds. “Maybe throw some balefire or some lightning.”
Izzie’s eyes went wide. “Balefire? You can fling balefire?” Her eyebrows lowered over her eyes. “Whatisbalefire?”
My shrug was the only answer I had. I didn’t actually know what balefire was made of, just took everyone’s word for that being what I’d flung back when Giselda and Tossle were bickering over the bit of ground between them.
John’s gaze narrowed. “So, what is it?”
“It’s like a ribbon of energy, liquid fire, not that much different than lightning, but less… zappy,” I finished, finally. “At one point, Acheron used it to kill Logan, but I healed him.”
“You healed death?” Oliver asked, smoothing his fingers over the thin beginnings of a new mustache. “Is that really possible?”
“Well…” I paused, trying to put my words together in a way that wouldn’t promise something I wasn’t able to do. I wasn’t some supernatural savior who could resurrect the dead. “I was able to heal my fated mate, knit his chest back together, and make his heart start beating again. I think it worked that time because of the link between us… and his body hadn’t even gotten cold, sooo….”
“So…?” Blaze pressed.
I shrugged. “I’m not sure that’s healing death. Not exactly. And I’m not sure I can do that with anyone else.” I took a deep breath and released it. “But none of that is really what I wanted to discuss.”
“Then what?” John asked.
“I need to link with you four, do some fancy shit, and then basically prove to all the alphas and the attendees that linking through me is a good way to protect the clans. Despite what they may have heard or what they may themselves believe.”
John shook his head and dropped his arms. “I’m not sure?—”
Blaze snorted. “Shut up, John.”
Izzie grinned at her friend. “Ignore him. He thinks he needs to dad the rest of us because he’s the oldest… by twenty days.” She added an eye roll. “We’ll be glad to help you, Emma. Weknow how important it is that everybody gets on board with your plans to beat Acheron. Besides, we owe you.”
“It’s not like any of us knew what to do with our newfound abilities, and you helped me shift for the first time, so…” She took a breath. “Yeah, we owe you, and you did some crazy-awesome shit back in Nuttal.”
