Don’t suppose I can stop you.
No. You can’t.
She shut the communication down and loped north through the forest until she was parallel to the bar. She raced across the field, her cloak still tight, then leaped onto the pitched roof. Four paws sure helped to gain quick stability.
From her new vantage, she could see all around the bar and down the street. Margetta was using both feet now, all healed up. Olivia wished now she’d torn out the woman’s Achilles ten
don, or maybe her heart. Of course, she had no way of knowing the extent of Margetta’s powers and a full-on attack would have been foolish. Better just to bite and run.
The battle was going strong with several Invictus pairs lying prone on the street, either dead or so severely wounded they couldn’t move.
The wraiths who had been attempting to create the heinous Invictus bonds now flew near Margetta, swirling in wild paths twenty feet above her head.
Margetta, however, no longer appeared to be interested in the battle on the street. Instead, she shifted direction entirely and moved toward the forest. She appeared to be searching for something on the ground.
Olivia knew instinctively that Margetta was somehow tracking her.
But how?
Of course, the good news was that for all her power, the Ancient Fae still couldn’t see through Olivia’s cloak. Yet, it seemed clear that Olivia had left a trail of some sort behind her, a mark the Ancient Fae could see.
She was safe for the time-being because Margetta was moving slow, so she reverted her attention to the street battle. Scanning the surrounding area, she saw several Invictus pairs moving in, just as the Ancient Fae had ordered.
She pathed to Zane, I see Margetta’s troops now, Mastyr. They’re closing in.
Olivia watched as Zane brought down another Invictus pair, then drew away from the battle enough to scan the skies.
Ready. Do you have numbers and locations? He then shouted to his team to prepare for incoming.
Olivia gave specifics, Two pair have just entered the back door of the bar. Three pair are coming in from the north, and five from behind my house. She shifted to the south. Another three are moving up the street.
Thanks, Olivia. She heard Zane start shouting out the locations of the advancing Invictus. His troops moved seamlessly into place.
Needing to check her own back trail, she turned and caught sight of Margetta coming out of the forest directly across from the bar. Oh, shit.
What? Zane asked.
Margetta is on my trail. But I’ll head north.
Be damn careful, Olivia.
I will.
Margetta was halfway to the Elf Lords Hideaway, her gaze still fixed to something she could see on the ground.
Olivia whirled and leaped to the roof next door. Margetta levitated at almost the same time to the roof of the bar and slowly moved to the edge, where Olivia had just been.
The battle on the street had grown noisier, but Olivia didn’t dare look anywhere but at the Ancient Fae.
Margetta lifted up and glanced at the building next door. A split second later, her gaze landed on the exact spot where Olivia stood, where her paws touched the roof-tiles.
It was clear that Margetta could see some kind of trail that her paws were leaving behind.
Olivia could hear her own heartbeat rushing in her ears.
Margetta smiled and leaped, but Olivia bounded off the roof and back into the forest in a single leap.
She turned and watched Margetta move slowly in a circle then fix her gaze once more on something only she could see. Yet, to Olivia’s vision, there was nothing there. Olivia checked the same location and it was as she feared: The exact place her front paws had landed when she’d leaped into the forest.