Total pages in book: 134
Estimated words: 126030 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 630(@200wpm)___ 504(@250wpm)___ 420(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 126030 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 630(@200wpm)___ 504(@250wpm)___ 420(@300wpm)
“Good God,” I ground out, pointing at Drex. “Someone make sure he isn’t moved or bothered.”
I hit another basajaun with a spell, then another, and planted myself in front of the resident shifters.
“Would you stop?” I yelled, blasting another basajaun and sending him flying backwards.
Slowly—much too slowly—the scene calmed down. Tristan flew just out of reach of Dave with his hands in the air, claws glistening. Broken Sue had his thick gorilla arms wrapped around Phil’s middle to keep him from joining the fray, and Ulric and Jasper picked themselves out of the dirt.
I put my hands out to the sides, exasperated. “What in the hell is going on, guys?”
The basajaunak all looked around at each other. It was Dave who spoke up.
“The vampire said you’d need him and started off toward you. You tasked me with making sure no one followed you, so I figured I’d better follow him and try to stop him.”
“I followed him”—Phil pointed at Dave— “because that seemed like the right thing to do.”
“I followed Phil—“
“Okay, okay.” I held up my hands.
“And then we heard a battle through the trees,” Dave went on. “You had our connections closed, which meant you didn’t want us to know about it. We figured you needed us, because you always do that when the odds are tough and you’re afraid we’ll get hurt.”
“You do,” Her agreed. “It’s a big flaw. We’ve thought for some time that you should work on it.”
“Do you like this guy?” Indigo called. She was standing beside Niamh, who’d brought over a fold-out chair and her cooler and was currently watching the prone alpha. “Niamh says you like this guy, and you want him healed, but Austin Steele looks banged up, and I’d rather help him if I have a choice.”
“Oh.” Phil scratched his chest. “And we brought Indigo because…well, she asked.”
“Does this mean I can come out now?” Fred called from the roof of a van down the way.
“Why?” I said to myself, wilting. And then, because there were certain things you really didn’t want to lose sight of, I looked skyward. “Where’s Cyra?”
Everyone looked around. Ripping open the connections, I took stock of the situation. I spotted her and pointed. She was going to their homestead, I’d bet.
“Onnn it,” Tristan said through his gargoyle teeth before blasting skyward.
The gargoyles, at least, had kinda followed directions, as had most of the shifters.
“Yes, heal him, please,” I told Indigo, shooing the basajaunak away from the resident shifters. “I’ll work on Austin.” To the basajaunak I said, “It was a challenge between Austin and the other alpha, which is normal, and the connections were closed so that you didn’t overreact and come here when you shouldn’t.”
“Ah.” Dave nodded. “Well, if you didn’t have that terrible habit of cutting our connections when you’re in grave danger, we wouldn’t have been confused.”
“True,” Her said.
I shook my head, motioning them away. “Give these people some space. They’ve probably had enough by now.” I turned to the beta, who was still in her animal form. “I’m really very sorry. I’m the weak link in this leadership outfit. We work great together in battle, and they do what I say, but outside of that…” I flared my arms. “I mean, we can’t even form a straight line. It is what it is.”
None of them shifted into their human forms, and I didn’t blame them.
“The line thing is embarrassing,” Phil said. “I heard about that.”
I pointed at all of them, my face stern. “Back off. Go hang out in the trees and wait for us to put this to rights.”
They complied, and I turned to the resident alpha. Neither the beta nor their shifters tried to stop me. Then again, they probably didn’t want to incite the basajaunak again.
Indigo sat cross-legged beside Drex, her hand on his shoulder. I knelt by his side.
His eyes fluttered open, tightened from pain.
“Hey,” I said softly, using my bedside manner. “You’re going to be okay. I left the pain because I don’t want you moving around. You need to lie still for a while longer so your wounds and broken bone can properly stitch, but if you promise to do that, Indigo can make you feel okay while you heal.”
His eyes focused on mine before roaming over my face and landing on my lips. “Alpha Steele is incredibly lucky to have found an angel like you.”
I gave him a smile. People always let their guards down when they were hurting and grateful to be healed…until sense crept back in. “Stay still, okay?” I said. “Indigo is going to take over from here.”
Austin was standing near the Jeep, straight and broad and hurting like hell. How he looked so composed when he could barely stand, I would never know.
“Here you go, miss.” Mr. Tom met me at the Jeep and held out a purple cloth. A muumuu, obviously. He wore one currently, having shifted at some point to help out.