Sorcha's Wolf (21 page)

She scrambled on all fours around to the other side of the tree barely holding back the scream building in her throat at the idea that whatever had grabbed her was right behind her again. Without her power, she couldn’t do much, but she could feel the uneasiness of the earth under her body at whatever had attacked her. Fear pumped enough adrenaline through her that she felt like her heart might explode.

The weather had cleared, at least for the moment, enough for her to see that there had been more snowfall down here than on top of the mountain. She was in the ravine Alex had pointed out, but at the bottom now, not up top.

Down the slope from her, she saw movement not
on
the snow, but
under
the whiteness. She patted the ground, frantically searching for a weapon while keeping her eyes on the burrowing clump of white. Her fingers found something and she pulled at it. A branch. It would have to do. She tucked it in her jacket, stood then climbed the tree, not sure she wanted her feet hanging down for whatever it was to grab, but absolutely certain she didn’t want to be on the ground with it either.

From above her, she heard a shout, maybe her name, maybe not, but she could tell it was Alex.
He lived
. So whatever was after her wasn’t after him as well.

“Stay back! I’m fine!” she warned.

The ground suddenly surged upwards ten feet. She climbed higher and pulled her branch free, holding it as her only defence. Laughable, but that was life. She perched on a limb, stranded in a tree like a child, while something swirled and slowly took the shape of a monster complete with glowing icy blue eyes and sharp, white teeth.

Holy Danu. What was it?
She almost dropped the tree branch, but she tightened her fingers, determined not to let this—some Abominable Snowman—be her end.

When it howled at her and swept closer, she took hold of her stick with both hands and swung at it with all her might. Except, when she did, she didn’t factor in that the swirling whiteness would merely let her break right through without any resistance.

She tried to keep her balance but her momentum tumbled her forward off her perch and she landed painfully at the thing’s feet. The air rushed from her lungs and she barely rolled out of the way, as it made a grab for her. Its massive paw solidified into ice—and the reason for her burning ankle became clear. It hadn’t been fire around her leg, it had been freezing ice.

She dodged away from it. The thing roared, flinging a blast of cold and wind straight from its centre right at her. This was no beast controlled by a mage. This was something else altogether. She scurried out from under its gigantic feet, hearing Alex’s call growing closer.

“Stay back! Stay back!” she shouted, but over the wind blasting her from the snowy creature, she didn’t know if he heard her or not. Faster than she could follow with her eyes, the creature spun and toppled her to her back. It grabbed her around the ankle again and dived downwards, right into the ground, dragging her with it. She spotted Alex for one brief second before whiteness covered her face, blocking him and the mountainside from her view.

She fought as best she could, kicking and jerking her foot, trying to free herself, but icy cold settled over her, feeling as if it was freezing her solid. The creature ignored her. It tunnelled deep, too deep for the few inches of snow layering the ground, and the farther down it went the heavier her limbs became.

Abruptly she remembered Gwyneth. She ripped her gloves off with her teeth and patted her pockets, battling the monster with only half her attention as she searched through the layers of clothing to reach her jeans, not sure where she’d put the talisman. The cool metal met her fingers and she tightened her fist around it and prayed the Fay could hear her.

“Gwyneth, I have need of you!”

Nothing happened. Not a horn call. Not a whisper of their song. Nothing.

Blackness replaced the white surrounding her and she felt the monster roar, burying her under what felt like tons of snow.

Chapter Twenty-One

“Call Agni!” Alex roared, watching the spot where Sorcha’s face had disappeared. He launched himself off the side of the mountain and landed next to where he’d seen her. Immediately he heard Markee’s soft landing next to him. He ignored Markee and started digging. “What was that?”

“How the fuck should I know?” Markee yelled back.

“Call the demon, damn it!”

“I am, settle the hell down!”

He shot Markee a look when his gloves hit rocky soil through the snow. Sorcha was nowhere.

Markee’s eyes widened and he gripped a handful of his light hair. “Shit, shit, shit!”

“Yo, what the hell are you two doing?”

Alex jumped to his feet and dragged Agni closer by his jacket. The demon’s nostrils flared in anger, but he froze when Markee put a hand between them.

“Look, Sorcha just got taken by the Abominable Snowman, so cut him some slack, right? Alex, drop the grip we need him,” Markee growled.

Agni’s eyes narrowed, but Alex dropped his hand, not backing down. “She’s mine, just remember that. Now, where the hell is she?”

“What? How am I to know that? What the—”

Agni broke off, and they all turned at the sound of horns and the sudden surge of bells on the wind. Within seconds, the Fay emerged like magic from the snow-covered forest. Through the swirling white, Alex spotted Moon. Next to him, Agni jerked as if someone had hit him, but Alex ignored the demon and pointed at Markee.

“You stay right there, that’s where she was last.” As soon as Markee nodded, he raced off to meet Bethany—Moon—halfway towards her before he realised Agni was at his side.

Moon glanced at Agni with a worried frown, then focused on him. “We heard Sorcha’s call, Alex. What—?”

“You heard Sorcha’s call? That’s all the fuck you have to say?” Agni bristled at her.

Moon paused, and turned to face Agni fully. The impact of her chilly stare hit the demon as if she’d shot him with a gun. The demon staggered backwards two steps before he caught himself.

“Agni, I see you are well.”

“You see I’m well? You, damn you, you…you have been gone centuries!” The outraged recognition in his tone would have been humorous if Sorcha wasn’t even now stuck beneath the earth, swallowed by a snowstorm.

Alex turned to grab Agni by his damn jacket again. The demon’s eyes were flooding black, his features hardening in a pre-demon rage. Alex decked him in the side of the head and tackled him to the ground, hauling him up to within inches of his face. “If you get Sorcha killed because of your rage, I will make certain you suffer before you die, demon.”

Agni blinked and his irises chilled out to his normal light brown. As Alex waited until Agni’s face lost some of the sharpness. As soon as it did, Agni blinked, and shoved Alex off and stood, making a big show of brushing the snow off his pants. “Fine, whatever the fuck, you’re right. We need to find her.”

Alex pulled Moon to his side, motioning to the snow where Markee stood. “She’s disappeared over here. A—” He paused, unsure how to explain, but Gregory stepped forward. Tall, broad shouldered and dressed in the war gear of the Fay on their hunt, Gregory faced Agni, then him with a calmness that settled some of the panic riding Alex. Gregory would know what to do.

“The creature was a snow demon, or more precisely, it is now. At one time it was the spirit of this season, in all its joy, but with the disappearance of so much of its land, it has turned sullen, feeding off the life force of the unsuspecting.”

Alex growled and pointed at where Sorcha had disappeared. “Sorcha is in danger, damn it, I don’t need a history lesson! Just get her the fuck out of there!”

Moon gripped his arm. “We will, Alex, we will. She won’t perish from the world this way, I assure you.”

His heart settled to a slow run instead of the gallop it had started since he’d first watched Sorcha pulled down the mountain by the snow. “Aye, tell me what I should do.”

“We will find the creature and bring it to our lands, allowing it the peace it needs.” Gregory stepped around him, the Fay, including Moon, following. He watched as Agni’s attention centred on Moon, his eyes sharply accessing. Pieces of a puzzle fell into place. Agni was the reason she’d hidden away in the Fay realm. She’d always been close with the fire demon as a child, he recalled. Had Agni always known she was his? Had she left knowing he was her mate? She’d been so young, was that possible?

Agni sensed his look and turned, his face hardening, but not in rage. This time he looked resolute as he walked by, a few steps behind Moon. He might be determined, Alex guessed, but Moon was strong, and if the demon had wronged her, he might have hell to pay before he ever got another chance at her.

“We go in here,” Gregory called.

Alex rushed to Gregory’s side, confused by his words. The Fay was ancient, even if they looked the same age, he made Alex feel young by comparison, but this? This wasn’t what he’d expected. “Go down where?”

The Fay nearest him started singing in a low, solemn tone, reminding him of the druids from ages past. Slowly under their feet, the stone began to tremble and a crevice opened revealing a downward shaft of earth littered with more white. Moon jumped into the chasm, raising her arms and singing to the Earth—or so it appeared. The snow lifted, blew aside to clear a path for her as she walked. Two more Fay followed. He heard Agni grumble something to Gregory about Bethany not needing to go first. Gregory laughed lightly and responded that Moon always did as she chose.

Ahead of him, the Fay slowed and parted revealing Moon motioning him closer. “Sorcha lies ahead. She’s unharmed, but tread carefully while we deal with the creature.” As she spoke, she drew her longbow and arrow. Pride filled his chest at her strength.

“You make your pack proud, Moon.” He gripped her arm and moved ahead of her, keeping his back to the tunnel wall. Two feet in he spotted Sorcha huddled on her side, her knees drawn to her chin, her body covered in a light dusting of white. Heart in his throat, he raced to her, not breathing until he curled her in his arms and felt the warmth of her breath against his cheek.

“Sweet Danu, lass, you scare the hell out of me.”

He didn’t expect her to respond, figuring her silence for unconsciousness, but she burrowed against his neck and murmured, “I’m not trying to.”

His heart felt too big for his chest as he hugged her tighter. “Aye, I dinna doubt that. Let’s get you out of here, eh?”

“Aye, out of here, Alex. I’m freezing.” She was too. There were crystals of ice on her eyelashes. More snow had settled inside her open jacket, not melting against her pale skin.

“Go, Alex, we can do the rest. Call us again if you have need,” Bethany said from where she led the others down a side passage. Agni gave him a frown and stepped closer.

“Sorcha, you are good?” Agni asked.

She nodded, but also whispered, “Yes, just freezing.”

Agni met his eyes. “Markee has explained the plan. It might work. See that it does and that Sorcha doesn’t suffer again, wolf.”

Sorcha tightened her freezing cold fingers on his neck, stopping Alex from responding the way he’d like. Instead, he took off, fearing Sorcha’s icy chill as much as he’d feared her heat.
How many times would she come to harm in his care?

“I have to give you the antidote soon,” he said.

“I know, but first warm me, Alex.”

“Aye, I will.”

She settled in his arms then, trusting him to see to her, as she let herself drift into sleep. He would have panicked, but Gregory simply shook his head at his concern.

“She sleeps from the ice and snow. More than likely he buried her alive, and until we came, she would have been without much oxygen.”

Alex’s heart felt like it tripped and stuttered at that.

“Warm her, see she rests, and she will be fine,” Gregory said, frowning at her in a way that made Alex want to ask what was wrong. “This potion, it is strong. Do you believe she can break it in time to save you both?”

Markee shifted from foot to foot next to him. Alex shot him a look, but Markee shrugged and frowned.

“Markee did not have to tell me your plans for revenge, Alex. You must ask yourself if the past is worth the price of your future.” Gregory nodded to Sorcha. His grey eyes focused on her for a bit of time before he said, “She is fine, Alex. Simply care for her.”

Alex tightened his arms around her, suddenly feeling as if he’d swallowed glass.

“I should go. Agni should not be left down there, eh?” Gregory asked, slapping him on the back. “He’s not known for his patience.”

With that, the Fay stepped into the hole, murmuring something as he walked, and the opening closed with a loud crack.

“Shit!” Markee stepped back as if he might step on the Fay by mistake. “What was that about Agni? We need him, right? Why did he stay down there? He agreed to your plan, just as you said he would.”

“There’s no time for that now, Markee. Gregory will see that Agni gets out safely. Go scout ahead and then give me three days with Sorcha before you come.”

Markee rubbed a hand through his short hair silently. “It’s still a crazy plan, Alex. Even with Agni on board, it’s still nuts.”

“It’s the only one we have. He wants her. There’s not a chance I will let him live now.”

Against his throat, Sorcha murmured his name.

Retribution wasn’t the only reason for wanting Zith’s blood on his blade. This witch, so light and soft in his arms, now drove him.

The real fight, he knew, had just begun, and Alex planned on winning.