87. Anna

87

Anna

It took nearly an hour for me to knit my spell back into place and darken my bonds to Jax. Finn had prowled nervously the whole time, waiting for something to attack us. By the time I was done, we were both exhausted, and there were only a few hours until dawn.

We shifted and ran, trying to cover as much ground as possible. Jax was coming for me, and we had to get to the coven before he did, but he'd be moving slower and tracking scent. Finn took us all over the mountain to disguise our path and cross as many bodies of water as possible. By the time we found another hunting shelter, I was starving and freezing.

"This was Dr. Ramirez's cabin, but he's moved on by now. Get some sleep. I'm going to hunt for dinner," Finn said.

"You need to sleep. I can hunt," I said as I gathered strength. I'd slept more than Finn, and he looked like he might drop any minute. "Really, I'm fine. I can grab a couple of rabbits."

The door suddenly opened, and a figure stepped in. "How about I feed you and you two idiots can tell me what you're doing dripping water all over my floor," a man rasped before he narrowed his eyes. "Finn? What are you doing back here?"

"What are you doing here?" Finn countered. "You're supposed to be moving from place to place. Maeve will be out for blood."

Hector shrugged. "Let her find me. I'm too old to run now, and my lady is safely off this mountain. I've done what I was supposed to do and given you a fighting chance."

He turned to me and smiled softly. "Anna Kipling, is it? I've heard you don't like it when people call you Andrea. Or, I supposed it's Anna Bishop, now."

"There was never a formal ceremony," I said warily.

The doctor nodded. "You two both look exhausted. Anna, you can take my bed, and Finn, you can sleep out here. I'll make some dinner, or I guess breakfast, and then the two of you can explain what you're doing in my cabin."

Finn didn't seem to have any issues trusting this man, and he had given us all the information that we needed. Too exhausted to do anything else, I stumbled to the room where he pointed. It felt horribly wrong to sleep in another man's bed. When I closed the door and smelled the doctor on the sheets, I couldn't do it. Instead, I shifted back into my wolf form and curled up on the floor. On the other side of the door, I could smell Finn's wolf. He was sleeping just on the other side.

Protecting me.

Closing my eyes, I thought of Jax. His pain and panic and fury. I certainly never thought he'd let me just walk away, but he'd been the one to shut me out first. To leave me cold when I'd begged for him to talk to me, to open himself up to me.

All I wanted to do was light a fire in the fireplace, curl up in his arms in front of it, and talk about our future. Put together a nursery. Read some baby books. Admit they probably weren't going to help us raise anything and laugh. Believe that love would be enough to get us through.

Fucking prophecies. All witchcraft had done was fuck up my life. What I wouldn't give to never let it touch my life again.

Sleep claimed me, but it brought me no peace. I dreamt of Jax, of how he was always just out of reach, and I cried.

The smell of roasted chicken, vegetables, and potatoes woke me up, and when I shifted and dragged myself out of the room, Finn was already at the table. He and the doctor were talking in low voices, but they both turned to me.

"You look like hell," Finn commented.

Hector immediately smacked him on top of his head. "Show some respect. That is your alpha's mate," he snapped and smiled at me. "I know you're on edge, but I hope you'll join us for dinner before you bolt."

"She's not going anywhere without me," Finn said quietly.

Pulling out a chair, I sat down. "My stomach is not about to let me miss this meal. Thank you. Are you raising chickens somewhere?"

"I did up until a couple of weeks ago. Someone got in and stole them all. It happens," he said with a sigh. "I'll get more in the spring, but I'm happy to share the last of my frozen stash."

"Thank you, and thank you for your honesty with Finn."

"He told me about Lucy. I hope that evil woman pays for what she's done," he said darkly.

"She will," Finn said confidently.

I scarfed down the food, loving every bit of the flavors and heat warming my belly. The doctor watched me the whole time. "I don't mean to pry, but I don't know of any man who would let his mate roam these woods when she's pregnant."

A werewolf's sense of smell could sometimes be so annoying. "Jax doesn't have any say in what I do."

Hector snorted. "Ah, so I suppose I'll be seeing him in a little bit while he tracks you. And for that very reason, you aren't going to tell me where you're going."

"I'm sorry," I told him. "I don't mean to put you in a difficult situation."

"It's all right. I know life hasn't been easy for you. I hope you find what you're looking for, and you get your happily ever after. That you both do. Finn here even has a mate. I'm proud of that."

My eyes widened. How did he know that? I could see it on Amelia but not on Finn. Instead of protesting, Finn looked down at his plate and studied it. "Finn?"

His cheeks reddened. "I might have spent the night with Amelia before we left," he said gruffly. "But nothing has changed."

"Oh, so you fucked your mate and then marched off to die? That's classy," I snarled.

"It's none of your business, Anna."

"The hell it's not! She's my friend, Finn, and she's been twisted up in knots over you for weeks! I have half a mind to drag your sorry ass right back to her!"

"But you can't because you know we're not done. She deserves to be put first, Anna, and I just can't give her that."

We glared at each other until the doctor cleared his throat. "It seems I may have put my foot in my mouth. Let me refresh your packs. Is there anything else I can do to help?"

Hector gave us some food and directions to a path he thought would be relatively safe. I still wasn't inclined to trust him, but if he wanted to harm us, he could have handed us over while I was sleeping.

Finn shifted immediately, clearly not wanting to talk to me on the journey. Rolling my eyes, I did the same, and my wolf shook off her stress and unease. She didn't like that I was getting further and further away from Jax, and no matter how much I tried to explain it to her, she still believed that I should trust him.

After everything she'd been through, I sometimes wished she was a little less trusting, but when it came to Jax, she believed in him whole-heartedly.

It only took us six hours to reach the first spell trap surrounding the coven, only it had already been triggered. I could see the remnants of the magic, but it wasn't active. Lifting my head, I sniffed, but I couldn't detect any wolves nearby. With a chuff at Finn, I shifted and dressed.

Finn's wolf looked at me.

"I'm literally standing in a magical trap, but it's been deactivated. I know it's just the Mother here, but I don't like that she hasn't reset it," I told him. "Be careful and don't stray from me."

He pressed up against my side, and we made our way further up the mountain. When I caught sight of another trap, I placed my hand on his fur. He stilled, and I walked over to the trap and knelt by it. Another one deactivated.

"It's still just the outer perimeter," I muttered. "Maybe she's focusing on the inner perimeter."

We moved slowly, working our way up. More dead traps, and then I saw a sight that chilled my blood. A dead trap and a dead wolf.

We were close to the coven. Why hadn't she fixed this? Finn walked over and sniffed the wolf before growling. For a moment, I thought it might still be alive, but when I touched its fur, I knew why Finn was upset.

There was still just the barest hint of warmth in the wolf's body.

We kept a slow pace until we found a second wolf, and that's when I dug into my bag for my flare gun, and we started to run. I'd seen this before, when my father had followed me and threw wolves into the traps to deactivate them.

There wasn't a speck of magic around the coven den, and the door was wide open.

Either it was abandoned, or the Darkwyn Coven had been attacked.