Star Cursed (Zodiac Wolves #2)(16)

When it was time, I grabbed my bag and knocked on Mira's door. Her bedroom had a balcony that I thought we could use to get onto the roof, since escaping on ground level wasn't an option with all the guards on patrol. They still might see us climb up, of course, but I prayed luck would be on our side tonight.

“Are you sure about this?” I whispered. “This is your last chance to stay.”

She gripped her bag tighter. “No way. I'm not staying without you. This isn’t my pack, and these aren’t my people. You’re my people, Ayla."

"What about Aiden?" I asked.

She hesitated, but then squared her shoulders. "He would want me to do this. And I doubt the Pisces alpha would let him be hurt—Aiden is his nephew."

I hugged Mira briefly, overwhelmed by her loyalty to me. Mira had been a constant in my life, and I was so glad she was going to come with me tonight. “Thank you,” I whispered. "Once we're back with the Ophiuchus pack, we'll get Aiden out of there, and they'll protect both of you. Now let’s go. The sooner we can get out, the more time we’ll have before someone comes looking for us.”

If this was successful, no one would think to start looking for us until tomorrow, when they noticed the house was empty. For now, they'd think we were sleeping, with the house quiet and dark. Or so I hoped.

Mira nodded and opened the sliding door to the balcony. She peered outside and hissed out a breath. “Crap. They’re in wolf form."

That was unusual. They were normally in human form as they patrolled, but maybe they were being especially vigilant tonight with the ceremony tomorrow. Shit. We still had to try though. It was our only chance.

Mira slid out onto the balcony first, watching carefully. I waited inside, antsy and thrumming with energy. Finally, there seemed to be a break in the wolves milling around the first floor, pacing circles around the entirety of the house. Mira crouched down and leaped, grabbing onto the roof above her, using her shifter strength to propel her higher. I watched her struggle to lift herself up, and went out to give her a boost. She tumbled onto the roof, making a lot more noise than I'd hoped, and immediately ducked down out of sight.

I pressed myself back into the shadows as one of the wolves twitched his ears toward us. After a moment, he shook his head, almost as he would have if he’d been in human form, and went back to circling. When it was clear again, it was my turn, and I gathered my strength and jumped. Mira scooted back to give me room to hoist myself up. I almost overshot, expecting it to be as much of a struggle as it had been for Mira, but I’d forgotten that I had a lot more training than she had. She gaped at me as I catapulted onto the roof with one great heave and then tucked into a silent roll.

“Where did you learn to do that?” she whispered, so quiet I could barely hear her.

"Kaden taught me," I whispered back.

Mira shook her head, a little smile on her face. I’d told her about training with Kaden, and she’d watched me warm up and go through a few basic routines a few times. I’d kept up my routine every day, just like Kaden had told me to. Even though he wasn’t here to teach me more, it still felt right. Like a promise. I’m coming back to you.

I turned and stood up once we’d gotten to the center of the roof, where Jordan’s guards wouldn’t be able to see us, even if they looked up. I tilted my face toward the moonlight and closed my eyes, letting the soft silvery light soak into me. A sudden rush of power went through me, infusing every cell of my body with magic.

I opened my eyes quickly, reaching over to grasp Mira’s hand. I didn’t even know if this would work, since I'd never tried to teleport anyone with me before, and it had been days—weeks?—since I'd used my magic...but I had to try. I gathered the power inside me and moved.

When I blinked, we were on the next house over. I could hardly tell the difference, except for the position of the trees and the sky. This roof was exactly like the roof of the house we were in, and there was a row of more houses just like it, forming a path for me. Like stepping stones.

Mira's hand gripped me so hard my fingers hurt. She'd slapped her other hand over her mouth, and her eyes were huge in her face. She looked like she might throw up, but at least it had worked.

“Thanks for not screaming,” I whispered.

Mira slowly lowered her hand and grinned at me. “That was...wow."

"Ready to go again?" I asked. She nodded, and I let out another burst of power, and then we were on the next house’s roof. Over and over, I hopped through the moonlight, dancing across unsuspecting shifters' roofs as we made our escape like some sort of midnight fairies.

Finally, we were two houses away from the edge of town, and no one had caught us yet. I paused as I glanced over at the last house. There wasn’t anything beyond it, just the endless stretch of desert, somehow even harsher in the moonlight than it was in the sunlight. This was where my plan got a bit murky. Mira believed that Phoenix was southwest of us, but wasn't certain of that, and we weren't sure how long it would take us to get to another town where we might be able to get help.

I saw a car parked on the street below us. That would be the fastest way for us to get out of here, with less of a scent trail to follow. “Do you know how to hotwire a car?”

Mira frowned at me. “Why would I know how to hotwire a car?”

"Fair point." I gazed out at the rugged landscape before us. "Wolf form it is then."