‘How’s my mom doing with Creek?’ I tried not to think about my baby, but it was hard, I missed him so damn much it hurt. I felt emotional whenever I thought about him too much, so I just tried to push him from my mind.
‘Great, Willow is helping her, and Creek and Daisy have become best friends.’
I smiled, a tear slipping down my cheek at that.
‘Hunting going okay?’ I switched gears. Twenty thousand people was a lot to feed. We’d brought what dwindling provisions they had from the bunker, but it wouldn’t last long. My magic seemed to have healed the land, but I wasn’t sure how that translated into actual food to feed that many people.
‘We are already smoking elk meat in excess,’ he replied. ‘The blueberry fields are ripe with fruit.’
Another relief.
‘Astra? Is she okay?’
‘Alpha, everything is fine here. Astra is well and walking among the people again. Don’t worry. I’ll contact you if we have a problem. You just focus on bringing your mate back.’
I sighed in relief again. ‘You’re the best. Thank you.’
After that, I met up with Sage and helped her break down the tent. A tent was a luxury compared to what we’d gone through in the Dark Woods. Water treatment tablets, freeze dried food, all the stuff she’d packed was way more than we needed out there.
“Thinking about our time in the woods?” she asked as she shoved the tent into the saddlebag on the horse.
I nodded. “Do you miss it?”
She chuckled. “I do. Is that weird? I mean the woods were constantly trying to kill me, and before I met up with you I was starving half the time, and scared, but then … there was a peace there, ya know? Our little cabin by the creek.”
I bobbed my head. “I know.”
“But let’s not ever go back there.” Sage scrunched her face and I laughed.
A pang of sadness struck through my chest at that: never see the cabin where I birthed Creek again? I guess not, huh? Why would I ever go back there?
“But we could build you and Sawyer a little cabin on the creek in Paladin Village,” Sage offered, probably noticing my sadness.
I beamed. I hadn’t really gotten to explore Paladin Village as much as I’d liked to. I knew there was a creek and so much farmland to explore. I was alpha of a place I hadn’t really spent much time in.
“I’d like that,” I told her, my bottom lip trembling as I suddenly became emotional.
“Hey.” Sage gripped my shoulders. “We’re going to get Sawyer back. I promise.”
I nodded, wiping my cheek. Now that I’d envisioned a house on the creek with Sawyer and our son, I didn’t want to give that future up.
“Now, let’s go steal a horse buggy,” I said, and we both burst into laughter.
Sage grinned. “So many things I never thought we would casually say.”
With our mood lightened, we walked our horses over to the thick trees behind the barn and tied them up. Then we hiked up to the back door and around the side to a large storage shed that Marmal had told us held the wagons.
“Time to walk through a wall,” I told Sage as we ducked behind the storage shed. I could hear two men talking at the front, so I was going to send my wolf in first.
I pulled off my cuffs for two seconds and my wolf jumped out of my body and through the wall like it was no big deal, then I slipped the cuffs back on quickly. Shifting my awareness to hers, I was suddenly looking at a giant storehouse of animal saddles, bridles, cages, and carts and wagons of varying size. This was exactly what we needed! The giant front double doors were wide open, but two men were standing there talking loudly and clearly hadn’t smelled or heard my wolf.
The two men were very large. We were going to need a small distraction to lure them away, not one that would tip them off that we were about to ambush the place but enough to make them run off into the woods for a few minutes so I could get the wagon out.
I wished I could mentally talk to Sage in human form. It was annoying to have to whisper as a human and try not to be heard.
“Get ready to run with the wagon,” I nearly mouthed, trying to speak as low as possible to her as she stood beside me. She nodded and I blinked back to my wolf’s awareness.
She already knew the plan, since we shared the same mind.
‘Be safe,’ I told her.
‘I’m faster than them,’ she replied.
My wolf totally had an ego. Or I did, I guess. Great.
Without wasting another second, my wolf solidified and slammed into a nearby cage to make it rattle. Both men stopped talking and spun, just as she darted out of the barn between their legs.
“Oy! A wolf got loose from the barn!” one of the men said and took off running after her.
The second man stayed where he was, watching the scene unfold. My wolf pounded the ground as fast as she could, and it was clear the one dude wasn’t going to be able to catch up with her.
Come on, go help your buddy, I thought.
“That damn troll woman is useless!” the second man growled, slamming the double doors of the shed shut and taking off into the woods.
“Let’s go!” I whisper-screamed to Sage, and pulled my attention fully to my human form. We burst around the front of the storage shed and yanked the doors back, running inside. We needed something big, big enough to carry Pearl and us and not break our horses’ backs.
“That one!” Sage hissed, and we ran over to a large sturdy wooden carriage. It was tented with some type of lightweight material that would conceal us.
Perfect.
It had four giant wheels, and then two long poles to connect to the horses’ saddles. I grabbed one stick and Sage grabbed the other and then we heaved it forward.
Holy Mother.
This thing was heavy, but it was our only way through Dark Fey Territory until we could steal a car in Light Fey.
Come on…
Inch by inch, we heaved it forward, stopping to move other junk out the way. We were too slow, I could hear the men’s far-off voices, and knew they might just give up on catching my wolf and come back. Without a second thought, I ripped off the cuffs, shoving them into my cloak pocket, feeling my magic flaring to life under my skin. With a grunt, I yanked the wagon forward and dragged it at super speed out of the storage shed.
“Whoa!” Sage yelled and scrambled to get out of the way as I almost dragged her under it.
“Sorry,” I whisper-screamed, unaware of how much strength and speed I had at the moment. I dragged the cart behind the shed and back down the hill to where our horses were grazing while Sage covered our tracks behind me. Magic pulsed through my body in electric waves and my heart pounded in my chest. I felt like the Hulk on steroids.
When I finally stopped, panting and feeling lightheaded, I slipped on the cuffs quickly and looked at my friend. She was watching me with wide eyes.
“The fuck was that?” She looked at my arms as if she expected them to grow in size.
I laughed nervously. “Magic, I guess.”
Sage just shook her head. “Incredible, your powers are getting stronger.”
Were they? Or was I just starting to discover them all? Since the moment I found out what I was, everyone was trying to suppress my powers or hide them. I wondered if I was able to just be free and use them, what I would be capable of. I probably should have tried in the woods, but I was too busy learning to trust my human side and getting food and looking for the cave to bother with magic.