Something was growling. A wolf maybe? It sounded far away.
“Is that Xander?”
“Go, go, go!” Kyle ushered me from the truck.
He took off towards the edge of the cliff. I hurried after him.
At the bottom of the incline, stood a familiar black wolf, with Michael draped over his back. I gasped and covered my mouth with my hand. Michael wasn’t moving.
The wolf howled and Kyle grabbed my arm. “Can you get them up here?”
I checked my magical energy again and there still wasn’t much there. But as I stared down at my men, my worry and anger grew. Michael was hurt and Xander would never be able to carry him up.
“I can do it.” I reached inside of myself, gathered what power I had, and tried to infuse it with my love for the two people I needed to save.
The strain was stronger than I’d anticipated. I almost fell to my knees, but I dug my nails into my palms and pushed my magic harder.
The love boost did the trick. I managed, somehow, to bring them up to the top of the cliff.
I staggered over to them. “Michael! Xander! Are you okay?”
Kyle put an arm around Michael and lifted him off Xander’s back. Xander shifted back to human, panting hard and covered in sweat.
He looked at me and placed his hands on his lean hips. “Thanks for the lift. Wasn’t sure how I was going to manage that.”
A lump clogged my throat, but I managed to choke out, “Thank you for going back for him. Is he...?”
“He’ll be fine.” The same dark look of pain passed over Xander’s face that I’d seen in Kyle’s expression in the car. Xander was also upset with me for marrying Michael, but I would have to deal with that later.
“What do we do now?” I asked them. “Where do we go?”
Michael groaned, conscious now but slumped against Kyle. He was pale.
“Drive to Capucho,” he said, his voice a little hoarse. “It’s about half an hour away from here. I have a place there. A safe place.”
Xander nodded. “I saw a sign for that town when we were driving here.”
“Let’s go,” I said, keen to get as far from the high warlock as we could.
Kyle and I helped Michael into the truck as Xander dressed in clothes he had in the trunk.
I climbed into the back with Michael, and Kyle got in the front. Xander drove, and I was grateful that it was still early afternoon. We could navigate the roads more easily in the light.
We drove through the forest and hit the highway. Lightning cracked overhead, then a heavy rain started.
“Whoa, where did that come from?” Kyle said, leaning forward and staring out the front windshield. The wipers screeched as the rain grew even heavier.
I sighed. Even here, Michael’s dad had magic, it seemed. “It’s the high warlock. Definitely.”
We drove in silence, until a sign signaled we’d reached Capucho.
Michael’s eyes were closed, his head leaning against the window, so I reached out for him and gently squeezed his arm. “Michael. We’re here. Which way now?”
He opened his eyes, his skin a gray pallor. “Left. Here.”
He directed us to a small cottage, with a pretty garden and an ornate white door. It was only a single story, but had the shimmer of magic upon it so could be bigger on the inside.
“Park as close as you want. There are wards on the door, but they’ll unlock for me.”