Mated Girl (Wolf Girl #4)(16)

With that, Pearl stood, climbing out of the giant cage and standing to her full height just outside of it.
Holy shifter.
She was huge. Like … definitely not going to fit in the wagon huge. She stood over twenty feet high, her head almost touching the barn roof, and her wings weren’t even outstretched yet. Her gaze darted around the burning barn with paranoia, and then suddenly she swooped down, grabbing the back of Marmal’s shirt with her teeth and lifted her into the air with a squeal. Flicking her head backward, she tossed Marmal onto her back and then took off for the open doors, running on her talons.
Holy shitballs.
‘Get out of there,’ I told my wolf. Pearl clearly had an instinct to protect Marmal, but not my wolf, whom she didn’t know from any other animal there.
My wolf ran for the entrance, where I was waiting as people and animals passed me in a panic. She darted through the terrified animals like she was stuck in a maze, when suddenly a sharp pain shot up her back as someone grasped her by the skin and lifted. The second Trip pulled my wolf to his face and sniffed her, my human-self tried to rush forward and help her, but there were so many people blocking the entrance in their urgency to escape.
“You look familiar,” he growled to my wolf, walking quickly toward the exit as his barn burned behind him and the freed animals ran for their lives.
Switching back to my human perspective, I looked over my shoulder to try to locate Sage or Marmal, and gasped when I saw a shiny blur of white take off into the sky above me.
Pearl had gotten out, and now she flew, with Marmal on her back!
“Follow them!” I yelled down the embankment at Sage, who was riding as fast as she could on our horse and buggy to get up to the main road. I wasn’t even sure she heard me, but I couldn’t waste any more time or Trip was going to hurt my wolf. Pushing through the crowd, I finally broke into the smoky barn and stopped a few feet inside just as Trip ran for the exit.
Trip took one look at me and stopped dead. He stood in the doorway of the smoking barn and wrapped his fingers tightly around my wolf’s throat until she couldn’t breathe.
“It’s you,” he growled.
Motherfucker.
Without another thought, I yanked my cuffs off and threw my hands outward. An unseen force slammed into him, flinging him backward into the burning barn. My wolf went down with him and I surged forward, past the panicked people and animals. My wolf went spectral and wriggled free of Trip’s grasp as he attempted to stand up, and then she bolted toward me.
‘Run!’ she said.
I didn’t need to be told twice. Pivoting where I stood, I kept my cuffs in my hands and took off at vampire speed with my wolf hot on my heels. I blasted past the scared animals and screaming fey, troll and Ithaki, and caught up with Sage in no time. With a giant leap, my wolf sucked back into my body and I snapped the cuffs on.
“I almost shot you!” Sage grumbled as I appeared quickly at her side. Reaching out, she extended her arm and then pulled me up onto the moving horse carriage.
“Where the hell is Marmal? Did she get away?” Sage peered behind us at the smoking barn that was now in the distance. So she hadn’t heard my order to follow them.
I grinned and pointed up to the sky.
Sage looked upward at the shiny white dragon with a tiny brown dot on its back and her mouth popped open. “So … it can fly…” she said.
I grinned. “Yep.”
Jumping over to my horse, I look the reins and we urged them to go faster. The ride was rough, the carriage bulky, and Trip was no doubt not going to stop looking for us. I chewed on my lip. “If Pearl can carry Marmal all the way to Magic City Prison, we don’t need the carriage,” I told Sage.
She nodded. “I agree. Cut it loose. We’ll go faster without it.”
Without another word, I went to work cutting the ropes that tied the carriage to the horses’ saddles. We had to slow them so that they didn’t get hurt, but I made quick work of it.
“Ready?” I asked.
Sage gripped her horse’s reins tightly and I hacked the last rope loose on either side, seconds apart. It swayed left, since I cut that rope first, and then right, before finally crashing to the ground. Our mares picked up speed then, and I almost fell off with the sudden haste. Clinging to my mare with my thighs, we burst forward with double the speed and set off for Light Fey City.
‘Sawyer, I’m almost there. Are you still okay? You’re not answering me.’ I knew it was probably pointless, but I had to try.
I was beyond relieved when he answered. ‘Sorry, love. I got thrown in solitary for the day.’
My stomach turned to knots at that. ‘Why? What happened?’
‘Got in a fight. Someone jumped my roommate. Had to help him out.’
I’m one day away from breaking my felon hubby out of jail and he’s getting into fights! ‘Well, I wish you weren’t fighting, but that’s good that you protected Walsh,’ I sent back.
He bristled between our bond and I could feel pain in my shoulder and under my left eye for a moment before he sucked it all back into himself. ‘No, love. My roommate isn’t Walsh. They would never let us room together. It’s Luka … a vampire.’
I froze, clutching the horse between my legs tightly. ‘You went to solitary for a vampire?’
Sawyer sighed inside of my head and I kicked myself for starting a fucking fight when we had such little time to talk.
‘He’s not like the others. He’s saved my ass more times than I can count over the last year. I need you to trust me. He’s family.’
Family! Geeze. A vampire and Sawyer becoming besties? That was … weird. I blew air through my teeth. ‘Okay, I trust you. Is there anything else you can tell me that would help me get you out of there? Like how far is Walsh’s cell from yours? What floor are you on? What’s your schedule?’