I ran to it, hitting Antonio’s number as I threw the door open. It was Antonio, and he wore that expression. The one he had worn outside the cave before we had left on this journey. I shut my phone before it fell through my suddenly limp fingers.
He walked inside, shutting the door behind him. “I can’t find Cahal anywhere. I think he went hunting.” He bent, grabbed my boots, and threw them at me. “I can tell by your face you know Ezra’s in trouble. Get your shoes on.”
I dropped, shoving my boots on, lacing them up, my heart pounding so hard I could barely hear, but in a shaking voice, I asked, “How bad, Antonio?”
He stopped in his tracks, staring at the wall. “Now you ask?”
“Yes.” It was so soft, I was surprised he heard me.
“If it’s what I think it is…it’s bad,” he muttered, sidestepping Bonnie — who growled at him as he dug through my bag — grabbing my red fur coat and tossing it to me. “I’m going to try to find Cahal again, and possibly Merrick and Jacobs after I drop you off.”
My fingers shook as I stood, throwing the robe over my bra and underwear I had on, only managing to button the top one before I gave up on the others. “Is he going to live?”
He ignored me, opening the case of my gifted Cizanos. “You’re going to need these.”
I yanked them out but dropped them on the bed, quickly strapping my gun to my thigh before grabbing them again. “Antonio…”
His lips thinned. “There’s no more time for questions, Lil.” Antonio reached out a hand, touching my hair and returning it to neon red, and he pointed to Bonnie, who returned to appearing like a lion cub. “Grab her.” As I did as told, he ordered, “No matter what, do not release me or try to pull away. Do you understand?”
“Yes.”
Antonio slapped a hand on my shoulder. “This might take a few minutes.”
I rested against him and had to shut my eyes, he glowed so bright. Sound ceased to exist as we went to a…well, what could only be perceived as a void. It was a golden open space, Antonio the only thing I could see. Bonnie growled in the circle of my arms but didn’t move, behaving.
After what felt like five minutes, I asked into the nothing, “How much longer?”
No response.
After what seemed like another five minutes, I asked, “Antonio?”
He squeezed my shoulder, but there was no verbal response.
I waited, staying perfectly still. He was carting not just himself, but two other living beings through this void, while searching for Ezra. I supposed that had to take some concentration. I focused on my breathing and closed my eyes, figuring that darkness was better than opening them and expecting to see something. It was fucking claustrophobic, screwing with my Shifter senses.
After another five minutes, I began to feel a breeze. I sighed, sucking in the scent of fresh pine and grass. And blood. I froze. Lots of fucking blood.
My eyes slammed open, but there still wasn’t anything to see. Sounds came next. Screams and cries of pain began breaking through the silence in intervals. I stayed silent, not knowing where he would set us down from this void, uncertain of what we were stepping into. Ezra had only said there were a lot of Coms, not the layout of the location. And then we were in a forest, the wind whipping around us, blowing my robe and hair about.
Antonio let go of my shoulder. “He’s straight ahead. Follow the sounds of the pain.”
Abruptly, he disappeared.
I sat Bonnie high on a branch and ordered her to stay, before my head fell back and I howled my demand. I could hear there were too many Coms ahead. I needed reinforcements. The type with sharp, deadly teeth, and this was a damn forest.
They came.
Even more came.
Within a minute, I had over one hundred wolves of all shapes, sizes, and colors standing before me. I didn’t fear them. Not one bit. Every single one of their heads lowered in submission as my eyes glowed, and I growled, sending my will into them.
Kill, by means of anger and protection.
They all growled, peering past me. I didn’t worry for Ezra. He could run fast enough to escape them.
But the Coms couldn’t.
I grinned and turned, running full force toward the music of warfare, the wolves following behind. Coming out into a clearing, I saw what looked like a tiny town. The kind with only one street for its downtown, maybe four buildings long on each side, each two stories high, and a gravel road at the end leading through the thick tree growth. There were no houses surrounding the area, just the stone buildings. At the edge of the street, toward the gravel road in a large clearing where a picnic table sat, were at least two hundred Coms. Way too many for this little town with probably a population of fifty.