I grinned up at him, the adrenaline already pumping through my system. Declan was at the edge of the cave now. He reached up and pulled himself over the cave ledge. Without a word to the others, Dev and I took off, leaping in the opposite direction, going down. I heard Padric yell behind me and Declan curse righteously from above, but there was nothing he could do now except the job.
Dev and I tumbled down a short hill. My husband pulled me to his chest and shielded me from the worst of the rocks and sticks with his big body. When we stopped, he was on his feet quickly, lifting me up with him.
Just in case the fuckers missed our little trip, Dev held up his gun and blasted two rounds in the air. The sound split the silence, cracking through the valley.
Every wolf in the area turned toward the sound, and Halfer’s head snapped around. Even from the distance, I could see the triumphant gleam in his eyes as he raised the paw over his head and the pack shifted as one great predator toward us.
“Shit, that’s a lot of wolves,” Dev said, shaking his head. “If we get out of this alive, I will be expecting payback for all the terror. I plan to take it out on your soft, sweet body.”
“I have no doubt.” I took his hand and began to run, but not before I saw that brown wolf taking his shot. As I turned, Zack was leaping onto the guard, his teeth at the man’s throat.
I ran as hard as I could, trying to keep up with my husband’s long legs. It wouldn’t be long before Daniel was awake. We just had to stay alive long enough for Declan to do his job or Danny to wrestle the paw away from Halfer.
“Follow me,” Dev yelled as he started to run even faster but not in a straight line.
He zigged and zagged across the field because the wolves were not our only problem. Already one of the humans with Halfer was beginning to take shots at us. He was at a disadvantage. We had rolled down the hill and into the valley so we were on flat ground. The man with the rifle needed a sniper position and he just didn’t have one. Dev was making us a hard-to-hit target by constantly changing our path.
My lungs started to hurt as we ran because I’ve lived most of my life at sea level and my body was sadly human. Dev wasn’t even breathing hard yet, but my chest was burning and I could hear the wolves behind us, thundering through the valley, desperate to finally get their teeth into me.
I made the mistake of looking behind me and they were eating the distance between us like a single ravenous beast. They were going to catch us before Declan or Danny could save us.
Dev scooped me into his arms in a graceful move. He never stopped running, simply held me to him and ran as fast as his long legs would carry him. I looked into his eyes and saw Bris there. He winked at me and Dev’s body started to move faster than I had ever seen him. He’d told me he could strengthen Dev. I thought he meant strengthening his magic. Now I understood he made Dev stronger in every way. He was faster, stronger, more capable.
I locked my arms around his neck and turned so I could see behind us. Declan had his bow taut, waiting for that perfect shot. We only needed a moment more. I watched Declan, so focused on his target and then suddenly, we were falling and blood bloomed across Dev’s shoulder.
We tumbled, Dev falling first to his knees, trying so hard to keep me safe even as the bullet lodged in his bones. Dev or Bris, I wasn’t sure which, seemed unsure of what had happened.
“Goddess?” he asked, and now I was pretty damn sure who it was. “What is this thing?”
“It’s a bullet,” I told the fertility god who probably had never been shot before. More than likely he’d never seen a gun. From what I understood, he’d been dormant since long before someone decided to use gunpowder as a propellant.
“It hurts,” he said. “I do not like it.”
It wasn’t going to hurt as much as being torn apart by wolves. I tried to scramble up and pull Dev with me. They were close now, too close to run from. They would catch us with no trouble. I could run as fast as possible and get pulled down anyway, or I could spend the last minute I had in his arms.
“I love you,” I said, throwing myself around him. I held him close not caring about the blood. I really wanted to get eaten first. I didn’t want to watch it happen to him.
“I am sorry, goddess,” Bris’s voice said sadly. “It doesn’t seem fair. I wanted more time with you. I don’t want to go back to the darkness.”
“Give me Dev,” I ordered as the wolves reached us. Like the wolves they were, they circled us, not content to just rip and tear. They liked the terror. “I want my husband.”
Bris closed his eyes, acquiescing to my wishes, and when they opened again, Dev was there.
“Help me up, sweetheart,” Dev ordered.
I shook my head. “There’s nothing we can do now.”
He was looking, searching for anything he could use. The wolves were too close to throw up a barrier. We would get caught in it, too, and be torn apart by the vines and thorns. There were no trees within reach for Dev to command. His arm hung useless at his side anyway. Dev always used his hands when he called forth his magic. We were caught, and there was no way out.
I thought about Dev and Danny and the baby that might or might not be in my body. Could we have made it work? Could we have had that odd little family?
It didn’t matter now because the biggest wolf in the pack had broken from the circle. He charged forward, a locomotive of power and muscle and killing rage. I was in front of my husband, my back to his chest, and he wrapped his arms around me, an instinctive move, nothing that would stop the wolf. Dev shrank back from the teeth and claws, trying to take me with him.
I felt hot breath on my face and knew this was my last moment. I felt Dev’s warmth at my back and was glad that would be one of the last sensations I would feel. The wolf growled his triumph and opened his mouth to tear out my throat.
And stopped.
The enormous black wolf sat back on his haunches and surveyed the space around him as though trying to figure out just where he was and why he was about to eat these two people. He was calm now, and the confusion was obvious in his dark eyes. All around us the wolves were coming out of the artifact’s control. They stumbled and shook their mighty heads as though trying to clear the magic from their systems.
My eyes flew to the cave, and I watched as Declan swung down from his perch, a look of enormous superiority on his face. I watched as he called his guard, and ten Fae appeared at the cave’s entrance. Almost as one unit they turned to where Dev and I sat among the confused wolves. Declan pointed and I had no doubt it was me he wanted brought to him. If I let that guard take me, I would be held far from this fight and perhaps taken to Faery against my will. They were surely being ordered to stop me from doing something stupid.
The trouble was I still had stupid things to do, and I wasn’t about to let some royal guards stop me. I still had a job to do. I stood up and helped Dev. “We have to get that paw before Halfer takes it again.”
He nodded and despite what had to be the agonizing pain in his shoulder, he took my hand and started to run toward the camp where Halfer and that artifact lay.
Even as we ran, I could hear the gunfire and the screams of men.
I smiled fiercely because I knew beyond a shadow of a doubt my Danny was awake.
Chapter Thirty-Three
I looked at Dev who was struggling now, his body so strong but he’d lost blood and the bullet was still lodged in his shoulder. Even as I watched, his body was trying to heal itself. Dev took Daniel’s blood, too, and the vampire blood didn’t think about the fact that no one had taken the bullet out. It simply healed. I wanted to wait, but that guard was making its way across the field and they weren’t heading into the important fight. They made a beeline for me.