The Aftermath ✔

10 WHAT IS WRONG WITH IT?

Eli gnashed his teeth as Slade was guided from the house by the hand fisted in the back of her hair. Manny left no room for arguments once he'd secured the ailing gorilla.

"No need to lock it," he told Eli. Once he tossed Slade down, he declared, "We will take a carriage."

"A winged carriage? With what barter, genius?" Slade mumbled.

Manny didn't appreciate her tone. "Well the harpy said two hours, so it will be an hour and a half from now. And it does not matter which direction we go in." He looked up, satisfied. "Flying would be fast. The wolf will run. The harpy will fly and I will take little sister. Do not separate." He scooped Slade up with a grin. "And we all know what happens if you do." He began to float. "Oh, and wolf, you need not worry about masking your scent. The bear I killed last night and scattered around here will guarantee your hiding place is hid no more."

After he flew up and his silhouette meshed against the moon, he snapped at the harpy to take flight.

Trixie looked worse for wear as she held her jacket in both hands and flapped her wings.

Maybe she was wishing for the same thing—to have the sick feeble Manny back.

Once they faded from view, Eli hooked his kilt around him like a cape and shifted. Sure enough, the scent of bear blood hit him like a bat.

That fucking asshole.

He would have lamented it more but said asshole had Slade and by extension, Trixie. As instructed, Eli ran, giving little care as to covering his tracks.

They traveled no more than ten minutes before Trixie dipped low, far too low, and two minutes later, she grazed the road, stumbled, and crashed to a halt on the asphalt.

A landing in the dirt would have been too much to ask for.

If Eli didn't know any better, he would have said she behaved like a Fae—too heavy to fly. As they were distant cousins, Eli hurried to help her up.

"Trix? Trixie?"

A minute later, Manny touched down and practically dropped Slade as he rushed to intercept.

Unlike Eli who crouched, trying to help Trixie to sit up, Manny, on the other hand, put his hands on his hips and asked, "What is wrong with it?"

Eli bit down his response. Eventually, he confessed, "I don't know. I don't know what's wrong with her but I do know you being here's no help."

"Well, get it up. We are in a hurry. Whores wait for no one."

Teeth bare, Eli pounced, shifting mid-jump. Something caught his cape. Trixie trembled as she struggled to stand, still with a good grip on the white fabric.

"No, wolfie. I'm fine."

Eli allowed his human form. He barely got the kilt around him as Slade staggered toward them a well. Between her and Trixie, this was all a pitiful undertaking.

"We should turn back," Eli insisted.

"To where?" Manny looked smug. "To your man cave that is about to be overrun? Huh?"

"We can't," Slade said. "If we don't follow the vision, Trix pays." She ruffled the harpy's head with affection. "And I'm not that sick of her yet."

Trixie nodded. "Thanks, boss."

But they didn't move otherwise. The highway stretched on in either direction with no signs of life.

"We can't walk there," Manny concluded. He looked from Slade to Trixie and back. "And I carry no harpy. So you will have to fly."