Wildfire Griffin (Fire & Rescue Shifters: Wildfire Crew #1)(68)

Even if she couldn’t help Rory herself, she could bring him help.

A bolt of pain stabbed through her chest, so sudden that she thought she was having a heart attack. She dropped like a shot deer, gasping with shock.

“Edith!” Wystan was on her in a second, stripping off his gloves. His cool fingers pressed against her pulse. “What is it? What’s wrong?”

“Rory,” she managed to force out. The mate bond twisted around her heart. “It’s Rory. Something’s wrong. Don’t wait for me, go, hurry!”

Can’t leave you. Fenrir swelled into his hellhound form, the elastic straps on his harness barely managing to stretch far enough to accommodate his greater size. He crouched down on his belly. Up, Stone Bitch.

Wystan and Blaise grabbed her arms, bodily lifting her onto Fenrir’s back. She grabbed hold of his harness straps, clinging on for dear life as he bounded forward. The others kept pace, running far faster than any human athlete.

The mate bond stuttered like a fading heartbeat. She gripped tight to it, as hard as she gripped Fenrir’s harness.

We’re coming, she tried to send to him down their bond. I’m coming, Rory!

…no…

It wasn’t her thought. She knew it was his. It sounded like he was shouting from a very long way away, his voice echoing up weakly from some deep, dark chasm.

…No…stay away…NO!

She clenched her jaw, refusing to listen to that faint, agonized plea. She was coming for her mate.

Whether he liked it or not.

Fenrir broke into ringing, full-throated barks, like a hunting hound scenting its quarry. There!

They broke out of the undergrowth onto the line they’d cleared earlier. Her breath caught at the sight of a limp form sprawled on the ground.

Wystan was already there, rolling the collapsed man over. His hands moved swiftly—then stilled.

“It’s Seth,” he said, looking up at them all wide-eyed. “He’s dead. And he’s…mutated. Just like the hawk was.”

Callum’s head swiveled. “This way!”

He swerved off the fireline, vaulting over a felled tree. His body stretched in mid-air. When he landed, it was on four hooves.

Edith grabbed onto Fenrir as the dog surged after the copper-red pegasus. A silver glimmer caught her eye. Despite everything, a jolt of sheer wonder went through her.

Oh, she thought, awe-struck. He is definitely a real unicorn.

The shining, pure-white creature moved with such grace, he seemed to float through the forest. The moonlight glow of his horn cut through the swirling smoke. Blaise and Joe clung to the unicorn’s back, half-hidden in his streaming mane.

Ahead, she saw a flash of yellow through the trees. Rory was lurching through the forest like a drunk, all of his usual fluid grace lost. He moved with an odd stop-start rhythm, freezing in place for a second and then hurling himself forward. It was like he was fighting the same sort of compulsion he’d laid on the rest of the squad.

“Rory!” she yelled.

He spun round, eyes widening. His mouth stretched in a strange, thin-lipped smile.

“Good,” he said—and then he stiffened, his head twitching in a quick, sharp jerk. “No! Go away!”

Fenrir yelped, his paws freezing. Unprepared for the sudden stop, she tumbled from his back. By the time she’d rolled to her feet, the rest of the squad had retreated, leaving her alone.

She could tell it wasn’t by choice. Fenrir was snarling, his jaws flecked with foam. Callum and Wystan stamped and snorted, equine ears pinned flat back against their heads. Rory’s words must have been an alpha command.

But he couldn’t command her.





Chapter 34





“No,” he forced out, blood filling his mouth as he fought for control of his own body. “Edith, no, run!”

She did, but the wrong way. She ran toward him, her braid flying behind her, a look of fierce determination on her freckled face.

Oh, yessss.

The voice hissed through his mind, vast and alien and amused. Cold, scaled coils curled round his soul, crushing and silencing his griffin.

Your mate. He couldn’t stop the whispering foreign presence from slithering through his memories. It chuckled as it picked over them like a vulture tearing choice bits from a carcass. See her come, so brave, so blind. Shall I welcome her?

Another’s will curved his lips. Not of his own volition, his arms lifted, spreading wide.

He barely managed to wrench himself aside before Edith flung herself into the trap. He took two jerky steps away before the thing grabbed control back from him, forcing him to stop.

“Rory, what is it?” To his relief, Edith hesitated. Her gaze searched his face, skipping past his eyes.

Hissing laughter filled his ears. She can’t look into your eyes, can she? She can’t see me here. How delicious.

“What’s wrong?” She took a step closer, reaching out to him. “Please, talk to me. I don’t know what’s happened, but I can feel how much you’re hurting. Don’t shut me out.”

How much she loves you, the voice taunted him, as he fought with every ounce of his will to keep his distance from her. How much you’re hurting her, refusing her touch. How exquisite her pain will be, when I close your hands around her soft, fragile neck.

“No,” he gritted out. He jerked his hand away from Edith again. “No!”