Page 89 of Pack Ruin
“She made me swear it on the moon. Did some scary blood magic shit, too.” He rubbed at the palm of his hand. “First off, I had to make a vow I wouldn’t kill the pup when it came. And I’d name it after her.”
“The pup?”
“Some sort of magic thing. And I did, didn’t I?” He started to laugh like he’d just told a joke. “Even though that bitch dieddoing the spell, I did what I promised. Never did kill the pup. And named her—well, I never could remember that gal’s name. But I got close enough, I guess.”
“Florida?”
“Florida Witch,” he finished, then collapsed in laughter that held more than a hint of madness.
I stood silently and glided to the door, pressing the keypad to let myself out. By the time Callaway heard me, it was too late. I was outside, and all I could hear was the muffled thumping of him throwing himself against the wall.
A wall I was clinging to as agony wracked my body.
She had been injured. Attacked by an entire pack, it felt like, from the searing phantom pain all over my body.
The pain abated for a few seconds. Then, a thousand miles away in Alabama, all hell broke loose.
But I felt every lick of the flames in the sterile, quiet hallway where I lay.
39
Tenebris
FLOR
Iris exhaled heavily as we watched the last Southern shifter vanish into the trees. “Well, time for us to scoot on back to the cave.”
The other two shifters with Glen had already headed off, and I saw two young males—Bo and Leroy, from the way they moved—greet them and help them carry him down the middle of the street.
“Don’t worry about the Heir,” Iris murmured, watching him go. “He was breathing, and he’s young and strong. There ain’t anyone in the hunting grounds but us now, anyway. They’ll get him to safety, and get him cleaned up.”
“Good.” I needed to know at least one of my mates was safe. Iris tried to lift me again, but let out a pained sound that had me stopping her. “Don’t. I can walk.”When she set me back down gingerly and stepped away, I was pleased to find that was true. I was still in pain, but not dying.
What worried me more were the hidden wounds I suspected were there, though I couldn’t feel much in my bonds. The deadspot where Grigor’s little tendril of a connection had been now felt like what I imagined an amputated finger would. Luke’s bond was weak and staticky, like somebody had poured a bunch of metaphysical cement all around it.
Glen felt weak, but was getting stronger. He was pulling power through me, somehow, even while he was unconscious. I was glad; I had a feeling if he knew what he was doing, he’d stop. He needed whatever Brand could give him.
My heart lurched. Finnick… Finnick felt distant but quiet, like he was asleep.
The bond with Brand, though, was slowly roaring back to life, like a souped-up car on a gravel backroad. I could almost feel the vibrations of his energy beginning to fill me again. He was coming closer every minute, and fast. My spine was still not good, but I could walk again. Knowing he was on the way gave me the strength to say what I had to.
“I need to go back.”
But Iris wasn’t having it. “Bullshit, Flor. You’re running on fumes. And smell like them, too. All it would take is one match and you and I’ll both go up like a whole packet of firecrackers.”
I had to get her to understand. “I won’t fight. But I can’t run away when my pack is fighting for their lives.” My pack and my family. If Sergeant and Mama died, and I hadn’t tried to help… It all felt wrong.
Iris was silent for a long moment. “Your pack. You meanthispack? Southern?”
I almost laughed. “Yeah. It’s a shithole, but it’s my shithole.”
“Damn, I wish I didn’t know exactly what you mean.” She let go of me, watching me sway for a moment, before we started back through the trees, side by side.“You always did get back up,” she whispered. “Every time they knocked you down. Every time anyone came for you. You got back up and got stronger.”
I glanced at her. “Didn’t know anyone noticed.”
She laughed silently. “The girls did. We watched and wanted to learn. If there had been another Del, one who could help the rest of us, train all of us unranked girls, things might have been different.”
“Another Del?” I whispered as we got to the edge of the trees. We both stopped, in awe. Shifters fought in both forms, and with every weapon they could. Aluminum baseball bats swung and caught the firelight in the darkness, along with swords and knives.
