Chapter 109

Dane

“Evelyn!”

I saw her get swept away. I lunged and snapped, trying to catch her by the scruff of her neck. But she was too far, and she disappeared beneath the water of the stream. I ran after her, doing my best not to get my feet swept out from under me, too. That wouldn’t help anyone.

She was pushed almost a quarter of a mile downstream, to a flatter place where the banks were low again, before I saw a figure reach into the water and haul her out. I snarled and pushed harder, ready to defend her from whoever it was. I hoped, maybe, it was one of the strange wolf women who’d led us here.

I found Evelyn on the bank, braced over her rescuer, who was on their back beneath her. I heard Evelyn snarl…

Then I came around her and saw the soaked banner of pale blond hair, the pale skin, and the wide, lilac eyes. Aurora! I shifted into a man, pushed Evelyn to the side, and then she was in my arms. I crouched and cradled her against me, trying to hide the way my whole body shook.

“You’re here. Thank the goddess. They didn’t lie. You’re here,” I whispered.

“Dane,” she whispered. Her face was wet. From tears or from the stream, I had no idea.

Water droplets smacked me in the face. I looked up. Evelyn had trotted a few steps away then shook water all over us. She gave me a glare. “Call for me when this touching reunion is over. It won’t go far.”

Then she disappeared through the trees. For a moment, I looked after her in shock. A week ago, she would have stayed glued to my side instead of giving me a single second alone with Aurora. I’d spent years thinking I knew Evelyn. Lately, I wondered if I did at all. If she had ever allowed me to truly know her.

Then Aurora’s soft hand was against my cheek, and every thought of Evelyn fled from my mind.

“Dane,” Aurora whispered. Her eyes were red and swollen. So, she had been crying. Hard, from the looks of it. It was no wonder. The twins were still missing, and she’d been taken, too.

I brushed my thumb along her cheek. “Are you hurt?”

She shook her head. It looked like she was fighting herself over what to say. Finally, she said in a rush, “I escaped him. He doesn’t know. He has so many wolves, Dane. And something… else. A witch or some other kind of strange spell caster. We have to get out of here before he comes looking.”

I growled. “We can leave. Right after I kill him.”

“No!” she forced me to look at her. “There are too many. Another time. Please. I just want to go home.”

She took a shaking breath, and her eyes filled with a hope it broke my heart to see. “Have you found Seraphina and Tristan?”

I lowered my eyes and shook my head. “Not yet.”

She swallowed. “If the Reeds do have them, we might know soon.” She reached into her pocket and pulled out her book. “I was able to read this while he had me. Dane, we have to get back. The timing… the ceremonies we need to do to find the other two chosen, they have to be performed on a full moon. The relic has to be retrieved on a new moon.”

The sky was hidden in this thick valley forest, but I glanced up anyway. The moon was barely a hint of silver that showed through a thin place in the canopy. “The full moon is tomorrow night.”

She nodded. “And if I know my grandmother, her ultimatum stands. She’ll want all of this done this month, or she’ll force me to go home.”

“All right. We’ll make it.”

“But I can’t shift,” she said with tears in her eyes. “How can we get there? I’ll slow us down.”

“We’ll make it,” I insisted. “We’ve come too far and given up too much to fail now.”

She stroked my face. “I have to believe you. Being with you again makes it feel like the last few days have just been a dream. But I have to—”

She tried to say something else, but only a strangled sound came out. She cursed and tried to speak again. The same thing happened.

Alarm bells went off in my head. “Stop. Don’t speak. Whatever it is, you can tell me when you’ve regained your strength.”

She panted and shook her head. “I can’t—”

She made strangled sounds again. Tears fell down her face faster and faster.

“It’s okay,” I said. I pulled her close to me again and kissed the tears from her cheeks. “We found each other. We’ll get out of here. Coleridge will never touch you again.” I wiped tears from her cheeks with my thumbs. “You’re mine. Not his. No matter what he’s done, nothing can change that.”

For some reason, that made her cry harder.

Then, in the distance, I heard howling and the sounds of a hunt. Evelyn ran back into the clearing. “You’re going to have to cut this short,” she said. “The Fall Line wolves are out there, and they’re hunting us.”