Before I could even process his words, the doors to the courtroom slammed closed.
Two men walked over. I jumped to my feet. “No! Please. You can’t take him.”
The steely faces of the men didn’t change.
“Leave him alone!” I stood in front of them, stupidly believing that would stop them.
“Move out of the way, girl.”
“No.” I shook my head and crossed my arms.
“I told you to move.” One of the guards moved toward me.
“It’s okay, Mary Anne.” Gage tried to reassure me, but his words didn’t change the fact that I wasn’t moving.
“I’m not letting you go.”
“You’re a stupid little slut aren’t you?” The man stepped closer and shoved me across the courtroom.
Just as quickly Gage transformed and snapped out of his handcuffs, lunging for the man who’d pushed me.
“He’s a Dire!” the man yelled before becoming what appeared to be a giant silverback gorilla.
“Protect Mary Anne at all costs!” Hunter’s words were the only ones I heard as all hell broke loose in the court room. “Get her out of here Gage, now!”
Hunter transformed, followed by the others.
I barely had time to process it before Gage growled. Somehow the meaning in his growl came through to me, and I grabbed on. He sprinted out of the courtroom with me holding on for dear life. He took the stairs in a blur with several of the Dires flanking us. A few guards jumped toward us but Denny held them off. We reached the top floor, and Hunter cleared the exit. At the last moment someone with giant black wings tried to stop us, but Gage leapt straight over them, and we dashed out into the street. He kept running until we were at least a half mile from the courthouse.
We were free.
Chapter Twenty-Four
Gage
Can’t stop running. The mantra swam through my head as I fought to keep my strength alive while carrying Mary Anne on my back. No distance was great enough to keep us safe, but finally exhaustion won out, and I had to stop.
I came to a stop in the woods on the side of the road, and Mary Anne stepped off. I transformed back. Everything else faded away as my human eyes took in Mary Anne. She was okay, and we were together. We were in a world of trouble, but for now we were together.
“Gage.” She fell into my arms.
I wrapped her up in my arms and pressed my lips against hers. The exhaustion disappeared as I tasted the lips I’d been missing for weeks. Her arms wrapped around my neck, and I quickly deepened the kiss, discovering that something had changed. Things were even more intense, even sweeter.
I reluctantly broke the kiss. “We have to keep running.”
“You are in no shape to run.”
“We don’t have a choice.” I glanced over my shoulder. We were hidden in the swampy brush, but someone could find us at any second.
“We need to find the others. Hunter needs to finish changing you.”
“Right now I only need one thing.”
“What?” She watched me eagerly.
“You. I need to keep you safe.” I stared into her beautiful green eyes.
“We could go back to the camp.”
“What? Are you crazy? What if they know that’s where we’re staying? They seem to know everything.”
“They can’t know everything since they thought you were a Were. Besides, even if they do know, would they really expect us to go back there?”
I smiled. “You’re a genius.”
“Actually, I’m stealing Hunter’s idea, but it works. Besides, as little as I want to see the other Dires again, we can’t give up that chance.”
“I know.”
“Think you can run us back there?” She looked at me nervously. She was afraid of pushing me too far.
“Absolutely.”
“And I’m really supposed to get on your back again?”
I smiled. “I know it’s not luxurious, but do you have a better idea?”
“How much further from the cabins do you think we are?”
“Ten miles or so.”
“That’s too much.”
“What else can we do?”
“They’re going to be looking for a wolf.”
“So?”
“They wouldn’t expect you to be a human.”
“I’ll be naked and it’s broad daylight.”
“This is New Orleans.” She pulled off her jacket. “Make something out of this. I have an idea.” She walked down to the road.
You’d have thought getting kidnapped by the witches would have made her nervous to hitchhike, but Mary Anne did it like a pro. It didn’t take her long to get a guy in a pickup truck to pull over.
“Do you need some help, miss?” A man called out from the driver’s seat.