Shadow Witch

Chapter 28

There was a slight nudge on my shoulder. It startled me awake, I shot up to a sitting position to see a smiling, light brown eyed, girl staring at me.

"Lily! I'm sorry you startled me."

"Sorry, I saw you laying here and just needed to talk to you before they came to get you."

"Oh?" Looking around the sun was setting casting long shadows.

She then embraced me into a hug, nearly knocking me over. I had to use one of my arms just to hold us up.

"Thank you so much!" Her voice was shaky. "If you ever need anything, please ask me. I owe you everything." She was starting to cry, and I placed both my hands around her. These two were so similar I can see why they fell in love.

Someone cleared their throat behind us, looking up it was Ryker. Lily let me go before moving away, going to stand next to him. She gave him a light kiss on the cheek before she went back inside.

"We need to go."

I stood up slowly, giving a small thanks for the shade and protection I left with Ryker. I followed him to the front of the manor. It was filled with men and women talking and bickering. They were all coming with us to the Northern Kingdom. Cassius men stood off to the side, and he and Vern were at the front, along with Erik. Ryker went to his father and I went to Cassius.

"How is this going to work? We couldn't possibly make it using carriages."

"No, we will be running this time."

I chocked on the breath I was taking, "What?" I looked back around, and I could see some of the shifters already changing. There were a few vampires among them but not many. I wasn't allowed to transform into my own shadow wolf form because he didn't want them to know about me. "If I calculate this right it should take me a month?"

Cassius just chuckled before coming close. He quickly scooped me up in his arms, cradling me in front of him. Oh dear, my cheeks flushed.

"Cassius this is a little atypical of you."

"Just be sure to keep your head against me."

He turned to King Vern and nodded.

Vern turned to his men, "Alright everyone you know the plan and route. Head out!" Immediately the rest shifted. I saw Ryker turn into a massive black wolf, that explains the black towels. His brother, beside him, was a massive white wolf, what a funny pair.

Cassius turned to his men and just moved his head slightly, and they were off. Everyone was gone in a flash. I immediately grabbed Cassius shirt and pulled my head into his chest. Instantly I felt air pushing me against him. I could only imagine I was slowing him down. Getting this close to him again I could smell him, he smelt so nice, it relaxed me quite a bit. I felt a small rumble in his chest, I felt my face turn red, oh man I totally said that out loud. Sighing and relaxing into Cassius I decided to shut my eyes and just wait until it was over.

When we stopped, I felt Cassius arms tighten around me and my body wanted to fling forward. He let me stand, it took me a minute to find my footing, but he didn't seem to mind me using him as a balancing post.

Everyone started to appear around us, so he was fastest even with me. Looking around I could see we were no longer in a peaceful area. This place was dark, the clouds rumbled above us with no rain. The mountains were behind us and the land ahead of us was rock and decay.

"Aviana," I turned back to Cassius. He passed me his cloak that he had worn when we first arrived at Vern's manor. "Keep this on and the hood up, and at all cost don't look up." He flung it around my shoulders and buttoned up the front. It was so unusual I was stunned into stillness.