Matefinder (18 page)

                I came to and was aware of
whispering. I opened my eyes and saw that I was lying on a bed in a hotel room.
The council members surrounded me, and Kai was inches from my face as usual. I
had a splitting headache.

                “Ten hours.” Kai breathed, and
his eyes turned yellow.

                I grabbed my head. “Huh?”

                “You were unconscious for ten hours.
Don’t ever do that again,” he scolded.

                “I don’t plan on it. Talk softly.
My head is killing me.”

                Jane stepped forward. “Aurora, I
saw everything. I projected your vision of the mates to the wolves in
attendance here today. I withheld any knowledge of the Shaman’s prophecy about
the vampire war. That, I have only shared with the council.”

                She pulled at the hem of her
shirt anxiously.

                Kai’s face looked strained. His
father wore an angry expression. I tuned into our pack bond and felt something…
Rage.

                I sat up straighter. “What else
aren’t you telling me?”

                Kai held my hand softly. He spoke
through gritted teeth. “While we were away here at the conference, the vampires
kidnapped a female from our pack. It happened right after you collapsed.”

                “No!” I screamed, and my blood
ran cold. “Who is it? Who did they take?”

                I knew before the word left his
mouth. I could feel her energy through the pack bond.
Fear.

                “Emma,” he whispered.

                I started to sob. How dare they!
She was pregnant. She was ours! The lamp on the side table near the bed
suddenly exploded. Everyone flinched except for me. My chest was rising and
falling as I tried to contain my rage. A fine mist leaked out from my pores.
The vampires were sending us a message. They were sending ME a message. How
dare they take a pregnant female from MY pack. I felt murderous. A painting flew
off of the wall and crashed to the floor.

                “Aurora!” Kai barked. I looked
up. Two of the council members had shifted into their wolf forms and the rest regarded
me fearfully. Kai’s father was the only one who looked intrigued. I closed my
eyes and took a deep breath.

                “Take me home, Kai. We need to
get Emma back.”

***

                The second we landed at the
airport in Portland, Kai was on his phone. The pack had been frantically
following vampire scents all day but it hadn’t led to much. They found a few
well known vampire bars and covens, but none that had Emma. She was taken from
her home. Max and Devon nearly died trying to protect her. They were still
recovering.

                We pulled our car up to the
house. The entire pack was there. We had pulled in all of our peripheral wolves
and every wolf from Portland. We had received a call from Shamus that he would
send some of his wolves to help us get Emma back. Kai stood on a picnic table
in the backyard and addressed the pack.

                “Someone has been taken from us
today and we will not rest until she is back home. A pregnant female member of
the pack is the most cherished, the most loved. The vampires have sent a
message. They intend to wipe out our race.”

                The wolves shouted out in rage. A
few shifted and howled.

                “That isn’t going to happen. I
protect what is
mine
and Emma is MINE! She is yours!” Kai roared and his
Alpha magic rippled through the pack bond sending a murderous rage with it. I
had to fight the urge to shift. My wolf wanted out. I had to find Emma. I could
vaguely feel her through the bond and what I felt wasn’t good. If they hurt
her, if she lost her baby… I couldn’t even think about it.

                An idea crossed my mind. I broke
into a run as Kai shouted my name. I ran from the backyard and towards Emma’s
house and burst through the door. I went into the bathroom she shared with
Devon and found what I was looking for, her hairbrush. The tiny red hairs gave
me hope.

***

                Sylvia came the second I called.
She didn’t come alone. She brought two other witches with her. Shamus had
driven from Seattle with his wolves and we all gathered around our living room.

                I approached Sylvia. “The
vampires have taken a pregnant female member from our pack. We have to find
her. I have Emma’s hairbrush. I want you to do a spell to find her location.”

                Sylvia looked calm but the other
two witches seemed nervous.

                Sylvia nodded. “This morning we
were sent a message from the vampires as well. They told us they were waging
war with the wolves and if we interfered, they would burn our coven to the
ground. Similar messages were given to other covens across the country.”

                Kai nodded. “We understand if you
need to protect your coven.”

                Sylvia smiled. “Threatening to
burn a witch doesn’t exactly make us like you. Vampires have always acted above
us. They think they are the strongest race. Our coven will help you and any
other wolf packs in need.”

                I stared at the two witches she
brought with her. “And do you agree?”

                The older of the two nodded. “I
won’t lie. I sense trouble for our coven if we help you. Witches are supposed
to be neutral. But what’s neutral about watching an entire supernatural race
get wiped out? Who will protect the humans if the wolves are gone? We must take
a side, even if we don’t live to see the results.”

                Sylvia’s eyes flared white. “We
will live. Everyone always underestimates a witch.” The hairs on my arms stood
at her statement. Kai looked at me thoughtfully.

                Sylvia grabbed the brush from me.
She spread out a map of the United States and pulled a pendulum from a black
velvet sack. One of the witches walked around the room pouring a circle of
white salt in a ring, encasing the wolves and witches inside. Sylvia pulled a
few hairs from the brush and wound them around the pendulum. She turned to Kai.
“I need powerful blood for this spell.”

                He extended his arm and she
sliced him, taking a few small drops onto the point of a sharp, clear crystal.

                The three witches stood in a
semi-circle, holding hands around the map.

                “This casting is blessed. Protect
us from harm or prying eyes. With the power of three, I invoke thee!” Mist
poured out of the three witches’ hands and I inched forward. There was a circle
of mist hovering above the map.

                Sylvia took a deep breath and
chanted. “A wrong has been done, help us make it right. Find this girl, on this
night. The vampires stole her from her bed, we offer these hairs from her head.
Point out her location, show us now. Help us find her, show us how!”

                She hovered the pendulum over the
map and it spun wildly. The witches were holding hands in a circle above the
map. The last witch had a hand resting on Sylvia’s shoulder to complete the
circle while she held the pendulum. Mist was starting to move in a funnel above
the witches’ heads.

                “We’re being blocked,” Sylvia
grumbled.

                “Dark witches aid these vampires.
Black magic keeps their location secret,” another witch said.

                “No!” I shouted and the mist
started seeping out of my skin. This wasn’t happening. Emma would be the first werewolf
in our pack to have a child. She brought so much hope and happiness to this
pack. She was such a sweet person. She had become my best friend. We weren’t
giving up that easy.

                Sylvia’s eyes met mine and
something unspoken passed between us. I walked towards the circle and placed my
hand inside Sylvia’s and held the pendulum with my other. I felt another hand
clasp over my shoulder. The new circle was complete.

                “Emma is ours. We’re not giving
up on her. She’s a good person and no amount of dark magic can conceal her from
me!” I shouted.  A blast of mist shot out of my hand and the spinning pendulum
stilled. I heard the wolves suck in a breath and I glanced over to Kai.

                He looked disappointed.

                ‘I’m still a werewolf. I’m just a
witch, too,’
I told him
.
He pursed his lips and nodded.

                I looked down to where the
pendulum was pointing: Los Angeles, California. “Gotcha,” I said. If she was
hurt, heads would roll. Who was I kidding? Heads would roll either way.

                Just then, I saw the face of a
dark-haired witch in my mind’s eye. I grabbed my head and shrieked. Sylvia
broke the circle and tossed the pendulum into a pile of white salt. “Be gone!”
she shouted and the pressure in my head eased. The dark-haired witch was gone
from my mind.

***

                Kai and Shamus stood together
addressing their packs. Everyone had come together in an effort to go after
Emma. Kai had ordered forty-five wolves to stay back and protect the territory.
If this was a trap, we didn’t want any more wolves getting taken while we were
gone. Sadie was out of town on her honeymoon. Kai tried to get me to stay back
but I insisted on going. Devon was healing nicely and Kai allowed him to go. Kai
went into the basement and returned with two large duffle bags. He unzipped
them and pulled out a crossbow, silver stakes, and various other weapons.

                “Whoa!” I exclaimed. “You’ve had
these this entire time?”

                Kai nodded. “We have never needed
them before. Vampires and werewolves generally leave each other alone. Guess we
will be carrying them more often.”

                He began tossing them out to
select wolves in the pack. He gave a bag to Shamus. “I want half the rescue
party to be human with weapons and half on all fours. These bloodsuckers will
pay for taking Emma.”

                We were on the way to the airport,
seventy-six wolves in all. Kai had his hand protectively on my thigh. I played
with my engagement ring that I had strung on a silver chain around my neck.
When I had shifted at the council meeting, it had fallen to the ground, later
retrieved by Kai. I didn’t want that to happen again. Most of the mated wolves
had rings around their necks and tattooed rings on their fingers. Since I was
immune to silver, I thought it might make a nice secondary weapon.

                “If I could lock you up in the
closet and leave you behind, I would. But then you wouldn’t trust me and I
couldn’t live with that,” Kai told me.

                I glanced at him and took a deep
breath. He smelled so good.

                “We’re getting Emma back,
together,” was all I said. Truth was, I had a horrible feeling. There was a pit
in my stomach and something told me we should turn back.

                “With all of the flying we have
been doing, I might invest in a plane. Luke has his pilot’s license.”

                We had pulled around to a private
entrance of the airport, where the private planes were kept. One of Shamus pack
members was going to sneak all of our weapons on our private chartered jet. We
dropped the bags off with him and made our way to the main entrance. It was
late and this part of the airport was all but deserted. A man in a nice suit
approached us asking for our names and the name of our private pilot. There
were about fifteen SUVs in our party. I glanced in the rearview mirror at the
line of cars behind me. As Kai rolled the window down, I got a whiff of
something. Vampire. Kai must have smelled it too because instead of talking to
the man, he gassed the car and charged the gate. The metal doors scraped
against the car and I heard a thump on our roof. I glanced behind us to see
dozens of vampires raining down on the cars from the roof of the airports small
side building.

                “What the hell! Can they fly?” I
asked Kai as he swerved hard to the right and the vampire holding onto the roof
of our car tumbled off. Kai, myself, Devon, Max, and Isabelle were all in our
car.

                “They can jump really high, kinda
the same thing.” Kai got on his phone. He started speeding towards a long plane
on the tarmac. The cars behind us made a barricade by parking themselves
sideways to block the vampires from coming near the plane.

                I looked at Kai. He nodded. We
were going to have to save Emma alone. Just the five of us. “Go! Start down the
runway!” he screamed to the pilot over his phone. Luckily Kai had told me the
pilot for hire was a wolf or this might be hard to explain. The plane started
rolling and Kai slammed on the breaks. We opened the doors and got out of the
car and started running. The door to the plane opened and a stewardess put her
arm out and lifted Izzy up into the plane. Next was Max and then Devon. Max
reached his arm out for me and I was about to take it when I heard Kai scream.
I turned around to see a vampire on Kai’s back; he was biting Kai’s neck. I
shifted instantly and changed direction. Max was screaming my name as I lunged
through the air and pulled the vampire off of Kai as he shifted into his wolf
form. The vampire took one look at me and smiled. Then he glided into the air
away from us and back into the bigger fight. What the hell? Since when do they
run?

                I could hear Max screaming now
and looked to see the planes wheels just barely leave the tarmac about 100 feet
away from us. The door was open. Kai and I shared a look. We took off running.
I had never run so fast in my life. I almost tripped over my own paws, I was
running so fast. I reached the plane first. With one giant leap, I lunged in
through the small opening and scraped my back. I rolled and tumbled, smacking
my shoulder into an interior seat.

                I quickly moved out of the way as
Kai soared through the air and landed hard. He whimpered but seemed okay. The
vampire bite on his shoulder was bleeding. It oozed a blackish fluid. I began
shifting back into my human form when I noticed that the female stewardess
smelled like a human. She pulled a first aid kit from an upper cabinet and laid
it in front of Kai. Once we had both shifted I looked at Max. “Get us some
clothes. Did the weapons make it on the plane?”

                Max nodded. “Weapons are here,” he
told me and threw us some clothes.

                I looked at Kai. “You got bit by
a vampire. What does that mean?” I was hoping it didn’t mean what I thought it
did.

                He smiled. “Very painful. Will
take a few days to heal. But I will be fine.”

                I let out a relieved sigh.

                I looked again at the stewardess.
She didn’t seem fazed. She was making cups of ice for drinks.

                “It’s okay, I’m a Duff,” the
woman told me.

                “A Duff?” I began to clean Kai’s
wound.

                The girl spoke up. “My parents
are witches but I was born without magic, a lower class citizen in the witch
world. I make my living by serving the supernatural community but I have no
power.”

                Oh.

                Kai spoke to my mind. ‘
Some
dark witches put curses on other witches’ unborn children. These children are
born without magic but are given the knowledge of the supernatural community.’

                ‘That’s horrible.’

                He nodded.

                Izzy spoke up. “So what the hell
was that? Why didn’t we see them coming? Do you think the pack we left back at
home are okay?”

                Kai seemed to consider this. “I
can sense the feelings of the wolves we left behind on the mountain. They are
worried for Emma but not under attack. We left enough members back that they
should be okay if the vampires do attack on the mountain. We know that
territory better than anyone. Everyone will protect Tristan and the kids. Don’t
worry.”

                Izzy seemed assured at his words.
Just then, we all felt it. One of our peripheral wolves, Joey, who had come to
the airport with us, was killed. It was like a string was being pulled through
my body and out of my heart. His pack essence was gone. Kai screamed and the
stewardess dropped a glass which shattered everywhere.

                The vampires were picking off our
already small numbers one by one. We flew the rest of the way to Los Angeles in
silence.

                The stewardess handed Kai a
satellite phone. “It’s the Los Angeles Alpha,” she told him.

                Kai groaned. He hadn’t had time
to stop and ask our permission for coming into his territory. Someone from the
pack we left back must have called him. If he was calling us, it wasn’t good.
Maybe he was denying us permission. Anger flared up inside me. I growled
lightly. Kai silenced me with one look.

                “Hello, Kristoff,” Kai grumbled
into the phone. By his tone of voice it didn’t seem he thought this would be a
good call, either. After a few seconds Kai sat up straighter. “Excuse me?”

                I leaned in trying to listen but
the noise from the plane was too loud.

                “Well, we would appreciate that.
Thank you. We should be landing shortly.” With that, he hung up.

                We all stared at him, waiting.

                “The Los Angeles Alpha will be
sending a few cars and ten of his strongest men. They have sniffed out the
vampire hide out and want to help us get Emma.”

                Max made a low whistle.

                Kai looked at me. “Werewolves
usually keep to themselves and fight to death over protecting their territory.
It seems now that they will do anything if it helps you, Aurora. Kristoff sends
his thanks for finding his mate.”

                I swallowed. “Whatever helps
Emma.” I searched the pack bonds. She was still there but the connection was
weak. If they drugged her or hurt her. I couldn’t even think about it!

                ‘I’ve tried to contact Emma
multiple times. I’m being blocked,’
Kai told me, ‘
so is Devon.’

                It was that witch! The one who
saw me looking for them. If I had trained with Sylvia maybe I could break
through and reach Emma, give her hope. I tried to send her a message but felt
nothing. I glanced over at Devon. He looked so lost.

                “We are beginning our descent,” the
pilot said over the speaker.

                No witch, no vampire, no
supernatural could hide Emma from us now. I could feel a blood-thirsty craze
start to hum just under my skin. Emma was an innocent and she would be saved.

***

                Sixteen was a good number. It was
the year I got my freedom from my drunken father because I had gotten my
license and an old beat up car. It was the amount of money I had in my bank
account before I started Safe Haven. It was also the number of wolves we were
about to barge into the vampire den with and save Emma. We had surrounded the
old house on Melrose Ave and I could smell Emma inside. I also smelled witches
and vampires. A lot of them. It was dusk out. I had been told on the ride over
that dark witches did spells on powerful vampires to give them sunlight
immunity, so attacking in the daytime didn’t increase our chances.

                Kai turned to me now and placed a
silver stake in my hand, it had a rubber grip to protect werewolf skin. “You’re
a good fighter; you will be a bigger help to Emma in human form. You go in
last.” It was a command but his eyes held a vulnerability. He was trying to
protect me. As long as I helped get Emma out, I didn’t care. I nodded and
gripped the cold stake in my hand. He began to shift and I took a deep breath.
I had never been religious, what kind of God lets kids get abused? But I sent
up a silent prayer now. Please let Emma be okay. Let her baby live.

                Just then, the most haunting howl
cut through the night and I saw Devon smashing through a side window in his
wolf form. Kai followed right behind him. The fight had begun. I crept around
the side of the house where one of the Los Angeles pack wolves had smashed in
the front door. I heard hissing and screaming. Two vampires fled the front door
on fire. Before I could take a step towards the front door, a cold hand clamped
around my neck.

                “Aurora, dear, thank you for
coming. I am Layla, queen of the North American vampire clan. You should be
honored to be in my presence,” a female voice said behind me. I wasted no time
in acting. I grabbed her palm while throwing myself forward and flipping her
over my back. But just as quickly, two heaving hands held my arms down and
shoved my face into the dirt. The female I had thrown was crouched now and
peering at me with her head tilted to the side. Her hair was strawberry blonde
and fell to her waist in waves. She was pale and her eyes were black. Her fangs
stuck out pressing on her bottom lip. She inhaled deeply and smiled. “You know,
people that fight back always taste better.”

                My heart was hammering inside my chest.
I wanted to call for help but I didn’t want to take any help away from Emma.

                “This was always a trap, wasn’t
it?” I asked her. She knew my name. She seemed ready for me.

                She smiled as I was jerked to my
feet and made to stand.

                “You were always the prize, yes.
Your blood can give all of the vampire women in my command the power of
fertility.”

                My stomach dropped. No. ‘
Kai!’

                The dark witch that I had seen in
my mind’s eye walked around from behind me. She smelled like witch and smoke, like
clove cigarettes. She ran a bony hand through her long black hair and cackled. “I
have blocked you from communicating with your pack. It’s just us.” A fine mist
covered the both of us and I knew she was right. Layla, the vampire queen,
smiled at the dark witch.

                A black van turned the corner
just then and came to a screeching halt behind us. Men dressed in all black
military gear suspended from nearby trees and repelled down to street level.
The vampires hissed. I took in a deep breath. Humans?

                The humans advanced with silver
pointed cross bows. I swallowed hard. They wore all black with a white symbol
embroidered on their chest. They looked like hunters. Seasoned supernatural
hunters.

                ‘Kai, run! Human hunters.’
I pushed the thought out
with a little bit of what I hoped was magic. I saw mist leaving my body. I
hoped the message went through.

                A few of the humans raised their
crossbows, just as the witch threw her hands in the air and black smoke
exploded into my vision. I took in a huge breath and started coughing. I
couldn’t see two feet in front of me. There was black smoke everywhere and it
was burning my eyes. Someone grabbed me from behind and started pulling me
backwards. I rammed my heel into what I thought might be a groin and was rewarded
with a moan. Then I was hit with a hard object at the base of my skull and
blackness took me.