Blind Salvage: A Rylee Adamson Novel(11)

To be sure, I Tracked the three possible culprits. I couldn’t feel Berget or Milly, which told me they were both still on the mainland, across the water.
Faris though, he wasn’t far at all. From the direction his threads pulled at me, he was at Jack’s place; I Tracked Jack. Faris was right on top of him.
Every instinct in me jammed up my throat and tried to force me to turn around. I wanted to protect the old Tracker, even though he’d been a total dick. Damn him, and damn my innate tendencies. No, Deanna and Will were with Jack, I would have to let them deal with the vampire. Though how the hell he’d managed to get so close to Jack during the day was beyond me.
Liam moved silently to my side, and thoughts of Jack had to be pushed to the back burner. “We have to plan this. We can’t just run in like you usually do.”
My spine stiffened and, irritated, I glared up at him. “What’s your plan then, Boss?”
His jaw tightened for a split second, then relaxed. “Whatever is up on top of the battlements will alert the giant when we’re seen. We need to take them out first if possible, and then we can slip around the big bastard and into the castle.”
“You don’t know that they—whatever they are—will alert him.” I crossed my arms. He’d been a supernatural for less than two months, for him to think—
He shrugged. “It’s what I would do. Why put myself in danger if I had a giant to do my dirty work for me?”
Damn it. Time to swallow my pride.
Liam was right.
“Pamela.” I reached out and touched her shoulder, drawing her back to us. “What kinds of spells have you got that might be able to help us here?”
She sucked in her bottom lip and frowned in thought. “I could start a fire. Or cause an earthquake.”
I was already shaking my head. “No, something quiet and stealthy. We need to get by that giant without him ever waking up if we can.”
She lifted her hands, palms up. “Everything I’ve learned is destructive and rather loud. And I don’t think I could pin him” —she pointed to the sleeping giant— “down, he’s too big.”
I glanced out again toward the castle. Where we stood, we were still hidden by the trees. But the minute we stepped toward the castle, we would be in the wide open, exposed to everything across the open field.
There was no way to make this easier. The front gate was the entrance through the veil; there was no other entrance from here. We had no choice, we had to go in that way or we would have no shot at getting home. Fuck, this was not going to be easy.
“I think we’re going to have to just make a run for it.”
Liam snorted. “What happened to having a plan?”
“This is a plan, not a great one, but do you see any other way? Cause if you do, let’s hear it.”
The three of them were silent. That’s what I thought. No, it wasn’t a great plan. Shit, I knew that. But what other choice did we have?
I fingered the handle of my sword. It looked to be about a mile between us and the castle. I knew that I could run it in under ten minutes, and both Liam and Alex could outstrip my time with ease.
Pamela though, was not as fast as us.
“I’ll pack her,” Liam said, surprising me. No, really surprising me. Not because he knew what I was thinking, but because of his willingness to let Pamela so close to him.
I didn’t question him though, just nodded.
Pamela chewed on her lower lip, and Liam turned his back to her so she could climb on. This was about to get interesting.

The little witch hadn’t even climbed on his back and he was already sweating. Maybe he just needed to prove to himself that he could handle being around a witch. No, he needed to prove it to Rylee so that he could work with Pamela. Even though she was young, she was a part of Rylee’s team. A part of their pack.
Going to one knee, he crooked his finger at Pamela. Her blue eyes were full of distrust, but she drew close and put herself behind him. Her fear lay heavy on the air, sweet and cloying, and he drew it deep into his lungs, the wolf in him waking up.
Bite her. Break her neck. Taste her blood.
She hopped onto his back and he stood, grasping her legs with his hands, tight, but not crushingly so. Every scrap of control he had was going into not throwing the kid from his back and ripping her apart. Breathing slow and even, he focused on Rylee.
She watched them, her tri-colored eyes taking it all in. He gave her a small nod. There was no doubt that she could read him and see just how difficult this was for him. He could see her thoughts before she spoke them, but she could do the same to him.
With a sharp movement, she turned her back on them. In a way, it was a compliment. Rylee trusted him to take care of Pamela. Trusted him to control himself and his wolf.