Gifted - The 5 Book Paranormal Romance Box Set Page 50
After a short distance, I called for Dana and Sarah to stop, which they'd almost done anyway. "Dana, we're going to need some light, and maybe that's how you can best help during all this. If you can just use your zaps to light the area around us...just by shooting them into the sky or something, then Sarah and I can see to take aim and shoot at any Angels and red-eyes we see."
Dana said she could do that. "My zaps may be weak, but I can do them almost continuously. I'll start doing them right now, and we can keep on heading north."
Sarah suddenly shook her head forcefully. "No, we can't. I can't, anyway. I just wasn't cut out for this, guys. I can't fight any sorcerers or wolves. I'm turning around."
She began turning to do just that, but I grabbed her by the shoulders to stop her. "No, wait, Sarah. Just wait. You can do this. This is what you've been training for. This is what you said you wanted...to get a fresh start as a fighting Gifted. Now you've got it."
"Max is probably so scared back at the house without me, though. I flew out the door so fast I didn't even have a chance to kiss him goodbye. I could hear him barking as I ran up the lane."
"Well, I didn't get the chance to kiss Sunny goodbye, either, but that doesn't even matter. Our dogs are part of the reason we're doing this. We need to keep them safe. Them, and everyone we love and care about."
"But-"
"No, Sarah. No buts. You're an incredibly strong Gifted, with enough power in your zaps to bring a wolf down with a single one. We need you. I can't and won't force you to stay and fight if you truly don't want to, but just think about it for a second. Just think about how you now have a chance to be the Gifted that you weren't able to be back in Wisconsin. You now have a chance to be the Gifted that you know you can be. So, do you still want to turn around, or will you stay and fight? I need your answer right now."
Responding not at all how I expected, which was verbally, Sarah suddenly gasped, shoving me aside, and fired off a zap at something behind me and Dana. Even before I could turn to look, she began shouting, firing off another from her other hand. "Wolves! Red-eyes!"
I'd already whipped around and had seen them in the distance, lots of them, maybe even a dozen, their glowing red eyes revealing their presence in the dark spaces between the trees. They were maybe only fifty or sixty feet away, not that I was able to gauge distance well in the dark.
I began zapping along with Sarah, and after that, everything somehow felt like it was happening a world where time had been greatly accelerated. Dana lit the night sky with her zaps, which, I realized, in addition to allowing Sarah and I to see better and aim better, would alert our wolves to our position. The red-eye wolves began charging, some of them snapping their jaws, and some of them snarling.
Zapping faster than I'd ever seen anyone zap before, and with brighter light, too, Sarah immediately felled several of the charging wolves. I took down a few myself and levitated several others, sending them flying up to the treetops, one right after the other, then letting them all drop to the ground simultaneously. A shriek from Dana pulled my attention away for a moment, and I saw two more red-eyes charging through the trees from the east, heading right toward her. Probably acting on instinct, she'd fired off a zap at one of them, but it had zero effect, not even slowing him at all. A second zap of the same wolf, however, surprisingly did have an effect, and he began staggering, then fell. Meanwhile, I'd levitated the other and had let him fall, and he now appeared to be unconscious on the ground, though with both of his red eyes still open.
Within probably just a minute or two, Dana, Sarah, and I had nearly all the wolves on the ground. Only four remained standing, ones who'd been felled but had already gotten up again and were now slowly creeping toward us, shaking off their zaps. One of them was snarling, sharp teeth glinting in the light of Dana's skyward zaps.
I told her and Sarah that all we had to do was just get these remaining wolves down and keep them down. "Our wolves will be here any second to finish them off for good."
I hoped.
Sarah and I returned to zapping action, each quickly dropping a wolf. Sarah then moved onto another, and when he fell, he began seizing and foaming at the mouth, looking like something out of a horror movie on the darkened forest floor. Meanwhile, I was working on levitating the last wolf remaining, who was also the largest. However, I just couldn't lift him more than a few feet. My zaps to him earlier hadn't stopped him, either; they'd just briefly slowed him. I was starting to think that he might be a shifter named Richard Stark, the leader of the red-eyes, based on how I'd heard him described. He was supposed to be the biggest of them all, with the brightest eyes, and he was also said to be the strongest.
Sarah and I both began zapping him together, but we still couldn't bring him down. He just paused with each zap, snarling, as if highly annoyed but not hurt. At the same time, some of the other wolves around had begun rising to their feet, and I had to turn my attention toward them, levitating them, zapping them, and then letting them drop to the ground. When I was able to refocus on the wolf I thought to be Richard Stark, he was now several feet closer, maybe only twenty feet away from Dana, Sarah, and me. He'd still been able to continue creeping forward, despite a barrage of zaps from Sarah.
Glancing over at me, she shouted with panic evident in her voice. "Maybe we should just run!"
"No!"
I hadn't shouted no in response to what she'd said; it had just burst out of my mouth when I'd seen a grayish shape, subtly glowing silver, gliding through the trees toward us, feet not even touching the ground. The red-eyed shape, clearly an Angel and not a wolf, had already been zapping when I'd shouted. Sarah might have even already been hit when I'd shouted. Now she was on the ground, screaming in pain. Dana was on the ground, having been zapped as well, before I could even raise a palm to counter-zap the Angel.
However, within a split-second, I hit him, already ducking to avoid being hit by a zap that he'd shot at me almost simultaneously. From a crouch, I zapped him again, then again, stifling a shriek of terror when I saw that the wolf I thought to be Richard Stark was now charging toward me, running full-speed, snarling. Another wolf was snarling, though, and it didn't sound like any of the wolves near me who were staggering forward, shaking off their zaps. This snarling was coming from a wolf who was flying through the trees, ready to attack, enraged. The massive wolf that was likely Richard Stark turned to look at the same second that my zaps finally brought the Angel down. A blink later, a dark, snarling shape had tackled Richard Stark, bringing him down to the ground.
Knowing that the attacking wolf was surely Cameron, Elliot, or a member of their pack, I didn't waste any time in turning my attention to the red-eyes creeping in on me. Now without Dana's illumination, the wolves' glowing eyes were the only targets I had to shoot for, making my task difficult, but nonetheless, I started picking wolves off, one by one. Meanwhile, near me to my left, Sarah was staggering to her feet, already shooting zaps of her own. Not a moment later, Dana also got to her feet, illuminating the area with a feeble zap skyward, allowing Sarah and me to see a little better.
Soon, all the red-eyes were down again, joining the Angel, who'd remained down, and Haverwood wolves were flooding the area.
Knowing that they were going to soon finish off the red-eyes and the Angel via decapitation, I told Dana and Sarah that we were only going to be in the way. "Let's get out of here."
Along with them, I began dashing back in the direction of the lane with my legs suddenly feeling heavy as lead. I'd also suddenly become incredibly tired, realizing that expending supernatural energy during practice and during actual battles were two different things entirely.
I got the feeling that Sarah and Dana were both just as exhausted as I was, because neither of them spoke, other than to both respond in the affirmative when I asked if they were okay. Then, once we got to the lane, they both at once asked me if I was okay, with Sarah apologizing for not asking me sooner.
"I guess I'm still just a little shell-shocked.
..not thinking straight."
With the realization that we were all okay and out of danger finally hitting me, I suddenly brought us all to a stop by grabbing their arms. "Guys...." Experiencing a rush of some deep-down last reserve of energy, I pulled them both into a hug. "I'm okay; the two of you are okay; and all three of us just survived our first fight as a strong, unified group of Haverwood Gifteds."
They both hugged me back hard, seeming to experience their own rushes of energy.
Then, Sarah patted my back, sniffling. "No, we didn't just survive. We kicked ass."
Laughing, Dana and I both agreed, and just then, noise coming from somewhere down the lane made us break our hug and look. Illuminated by zaps someone was sending up to the sky, a group of at least a two dozen Gifteds was rushing toward us.
One of them was yelling, asking where the red-eyes were. "We're ready for them!"
When the group of Gifteds reached Sarah, Dana, and me, Sarah told them that, hopefully, all the red-eyes that had attacked were now dead. "Dana, Jayme, and I fought them all off until our Haverwood wolves arrived on the scene to kill them."
A few young women murmured their disappointment that they wouldn't be able to fight, but Maggie, a Gifted I'd met just briefly, cut them off. "We'll just have to be faster next time, guys. But right now, I think congratulations are in order. Three cheers for Jayme, Dana, and Sarah!"
Several Gifteds echoed her enthusiastically, some clapped loudly, and then the group at large brought Dana, Sarah, and me into an enormous group hug.
A short while later, while Dana and Sarah gave the group a rundown of the fight, I sat down at the side of the lane, just needing to get off my heavy, tired legs for a second. My head felt heavy as well, as did my eyes, so I decided to close them for just a few seconds with my head on my arms and my arms on my drawn-up knees.
Somehow, improbably, considering all the excited chatter nearby, I fell asleep. Whether I did so for a few seconds or minutes, I had no idea. The next thing I knew, I found myself being carried in strong arms, and I opened my eyes and saw Cameron's face, the thin sliver of moon giving me just enough light to see that it was him.
Now I was wide awake. I had just a couple of things to ask him.
CHAPTER 12
First off, while he carried me down the dark lane to our house, I asked Cameron if all the Haverwood wolves were okay, and he said yes.
"Can't say the same for that group of red-eyes and that Angel, though. They're all dead, even the red-eyes' leader, Richard Stark. I killed him myself."
"So that was you who got there first and tackled him?"
"That was me."
He'd just answered my second question, though in his answering, he'd confused me. When I'd left the house, I'd been almost certain that Cameron was the traitor that the government wanted, just based on the fact that he'd left the house before the attack, like maybe he'd gone to meet his red-eye friends and lead them toward Haverwood. Also, according to what Brent had told Elliot on the phone, the red-eyes had gotten through the northern guard while Cameron had been reconfiguring the guard and moving people around, quite conveniently, I'd thought. All signs had seemed to point directly at Cameron as being the one I needed to report to Cynthia.
However, now I wasn't so sure. If Cameron was the traitor, It made no sense that he'd rushed in to kill Richard Stark, leader of the red-eyes. Unless he wanted the title of red-eye alpha himself, I thought. In that case, what he'd done made perfect sense. Maybe he'd calculated the whole thing specifically so he could take Richard out, planning someday soon to take his spot and become alpha of the remaining several hundred red-eye wolves.
I really didn't know what to think anymore. I still had my suspicions about Cameron, but at present, he was planting such tender kisses along the side of my face that my gut was all but screaming at me that there was no way he could be the traitor. He just wasn't dark-hearted enough. He wasn't dark-hearted at all. At that moment, I could almost feel it in my very bones.
After a few more kisses, he spoke in a low voice near my ear, still carrying me down the lane. "You're the bravest, kindest, strongest, most beautiful woman I've ever met in my life, Jayme. You're just phenomenal. Women with even a fraction of your qualities and your beauty are rare."
With some strong emotion suddenly welling in my chest, I just looked into Cameron's eyes with my own eyes filling with tears.
"Cameron...please tell me...."
I caught myself, to my horror realizing that I'd been about to ask him to tell me that he wasn't a traitor, that he wasn't secretly working with the Angels and their wolves.
"Tell you what, Jayme?"
Miles beyond exhausted, I couldn't think.
"Please just tell me...." I paused, willing my brain to work, to come up with anything other than what I'd almost blurted out. "Please just tell me that you'll come into bed with me and hold me all night once we get home. I just want you near me."
I really did. In fact, being held in his arms was making me feel so good, so safe, that as tired as I was, I didn't think I'd be able to fall asleep if he didn't stay with me and hold me all night.
Dipping his head, he brushed a soft, tender kiss against my lips. "Though I wish I could, I can't stay with you all night. Elliot is leading a group of our wolves in a chase to hunt down at least a dozen of the red-eyes that escaped us and headed northeast. Some of our shifter friends in Michigan are going to help us by sending them back our way. It may take days until we're able to track them all down, but we're going to. We're not going to let them return to the others at their encampment. So, in an hour or so, once all the carcasses from tonight have been buried, I'm going to lead some of our wolves to join Elliot's group. Others will stay here to guard the village."
"Well, if you can't stay with me all night, will you at least hold me until I fall asleep?"
I could hardly believe what I was saying. I had strong suspicions that Cameron was the traitor, yet I was asking him to hold me until I fell asleep. Although, I reasoned, maybe that was because while I had suspicions in my head, I just wasn't feeling them in my heart.
Once again, Cameron brushed a tender kiss against my lips. "I'll hold you until you fall asleep."
We soon reached the house and went inside, where we were enthusiastically greeted by Sunny. After I'd given him a few pets with what little energy I had remaining, I changed into pajamas, and Cameron got into bed with me and pulled me into his arms. I didn't even get to enjoy the feeling of being held by him for very long, though, because I was out like a light within a minute.
When I awoke late the next morning, I was in bed alone. I did, however, have a visitor in my room. Sunny was by my bedside, barking in short bursts just inches away from my face, clearly trying to get me out of bed to take him outside to use the bathroom.
The day passed with no sign of Cameron or Elliot. Then, another. By the morning of the third day, I couldn't deny that I missed them both terribly, Cameron maybe just slightly more than Elliot. I missed their deep voices, their scents, and the feel of their arms around me. I also missed our time in the bedroom together. I especially missed that.
However, maybe more than anything, I missed the way they both made me feel when they each looked into my eyes, telling me how beautiful I was. Usually, one or the other did this after lovemaking, sometimes both, and it always made my heart feel light as air, just to know that such incredibly handsome wolf shifters found me as beautiful as I found the both of them.
One moment in particular kept popping into my mind during the days that Cameron and Elliot were gone, and that was when, the night he'd carried me home after the fight, Cameron had told me I was the bravest, kindest, strongest, most beautiful woman he'd ever met in his life. I just couldn't stop thinking about the sincerity I'd heard in his voice while he'd said this, and the look of unmistakable sincerity I'd seen in his eyes. It may have been dark out, but the tiny sliver of moon had been enough for me to see that Cameron had truly meant what he'd said.
I was either going to have to toughen up my heart and carry on with my task, maybe asking Cameron and Elliot some leading questions to gauge their reactions in an attempt to get information about which of them was the traitor, or I was going to have to call Cynthia and tell her that I just couldn't do it. And the thought of doing that after she'd expressed such faith in me was one I could hardly stomach. not to mention that I felt duty-bound to discover which alpha was loyal to Haverwood and the entire country. After all, in doing so, I'd be helping to keep numerous people safe, particularly my family back in Hastings. If the disloyal alpha was never caught, this might lead to the Angels and red-eyes eventually being able to break through Haverwood and make it to Hastings, as they'd long been trying to do. And this was truly a thought I could hardly stomach.
By the time Sunny and I had walked up and down the lane several times, I'd resolved to keep trying to move forward with my assigned task. I wouldn't call Cynthia. Not yet, anyway. Not until I could tell her that I was ninety-nine percent certain that I knew which of my two lovers was convincingly only pretending to be loyal to Haverwood and their country.
My new resolve to keep on trying to move forward with my task, though while doing a better job of guarding my heart, was tested the moment I walked in the door. Cameron and Elliot were home, talking out in the kitchen and making breakfast, if the smell of cooking eggs was any indication. It was all I could do not to race into the kitchen and throw myself into whichever man's arms were closest, but, knowing that probably wouldn't help keep my emotions in check, I didn't. Taking a few deep breaths, I followed an exuberant Sunny into the kitchen, smiling when I saw Cameron at the counter pouring coffee, and Elliot standing by the stove holding a spatula.