Those In The Forest

Part 71: Ivy

We all sat in Bryce's car, thinking over what the witch had said to us, from her giving us all the information we needed to find Reagan and who was involved in her kidnapping to Reagan's future if she lives through this.

          "What do you mean I can't come with you? You said if I helped, I could tag along through all of it." Byrce huffed and glared at Celia.

          "That was before we knew for sure that witches were involved. This is bigger than just locating a kidnap victim. Lives are at stake—lots of them. If Alan, the man who kidnapped Reagan, has her in his grasp for too long, my Runts will get sick. They will die. She will die. Alan will use her until he can no longer. Doing whatever he wants to her could hurt other packs as well." Karina argued with a slight snarl.

          She was furious. Not being in complete control of this, her natural protective instincts felt threatened.

          Bryce clenched her jaw. "What did the witch say? Where do I go until we fire this all out?"

          Lennox groaned. "Avah will take you back to our cabin-"

          "Excuse me?!" Avah yelled in outrage. "Fuck no!"

           Lennox ignored her and continued, "You will wait there. I'll be able to talk to her about what's going on. She'll keep you safe." Lennox looked away from Bryce and at her mate. I'm sure a silent conversation was being had, probably Lennox pleading for Avah to stay with Bryce, where it would be safe.

         Away from my insane sire.

          It's in her nature to want to keep her mate safe. It's in all of us. It's why it hurts so bad that we failed Reagan in keeping her safe.

          There were tears in Avah's eyes. She exhaled hard before speaking. "Fine." That was all she said before silence washed over the car.

          "I keep calling out to her," Iris said through the bond. "Silence has never felt so draining before."

          Panic attacks weren't something our kind had to deal with, but this whole thing. I feel like my entire body is about to explode. All I want is to climb out of my body and relax. I'm tense we all are. And if we don't get to our mate soon, I might fucking snap.

          I'll rip Alan's throat out myself.

          "I'm going to assume I don't get much of a say in this, do I?" Bryce asked with a sigh.

          "No," Rose said with a growl.

          Too much time passed with Reagan not in our arms, too much time with her in the enemy's hands. Now, knowing his plans for her, things are a bit more intense.

          "You'll drive back to the parking lot to the trail you picked us up at. Avah will shift, and she will take you to our home. As she said, Lennox will communicate everything she needs to with Avah so that you Nd her are still involved." Celia explained.

          "Phones usually don't work up in the mountains. What if we can get ahold of any of you?" Bryce asked, her heart racing. She was really worried about Reagan but was trying her hardest to corroborate with us.

          "We don't use phones to communicate," I started. "Mated werewolves can speak through a bond. Being mates is a very intimate thing for us; we are connecting in so many ways," I said softly. I was trying to go about this in a way that didn't spook her.

          Reagan was oddly very understanding of our kind, our ways, and how we go about things. We couldn't be sure Bryce would feel the same way.