Refuge(149)

As soon as I kissed him back, the tension drained out of him and his mouth became soft and searching. I responded in kind, my heart swelling with love. My body felt like it had been starved for oxygen, and being with him was like taking a deep breath of air. I felt my Mori sigh contentedly and whisper solmi, and I trembled when it reached out and embraced Nikolas’s Mori for the first time. An answering shiver ran through Nikolas. It was wondrous and frightening to know how deeply connected we were in that moment.

“Damn. Get a room, you two!” Jordan exclaimed, breaking the spell holding us. My whole body grew warm in embarrassment, and I pulled abruptly away from Nikolas. The bewildered look he gave me as he let go told me I wasn’t the only one deeply affected by the kiss.

Jordan let out a whistle. “Wow, I think you guys melted the snow.”

“Shut up,” I muttered, scowling at her. I darted a glance at Roland and Peter, but it was impossible to read their expressions when they were in wolf form. I refused to look at Chris, whom I suspected was enjoying the whole thing despite his weakened condition.

“You missed all the fun,” Chris quipped hoarsely to Nikolas. He teetered, and I moved to support him again, but Nikolas nudged me aside and took my place.

Jordan poked me in the side as I walked past her. I stopped, and she leaned in close to my ear. “Two swords. Smoking hot.”

Blushing furiously, I went to help the boy witch up from where he had fallen when Jordan let him go to fight the vampires. He was still shaky, and his eyes darted around him in fear.

Nikolas’s face hardened when he noticed the Hale witch for the first time. “I can guess what happened,” he said harshly.

“No, you can’t, my friend. You really can’t,” Chris wheezed. “Now, can you please get me somewhere I can lie down before I pass out?”

“It looks like you all could use a trip to the healers,” Nikolas replied. His eye narrowed when he spotted my torn and bloody sleeve.

“It’s just a scratch. I can hardly feel it,” I lied. Now that my adrenaline levels were coming down, my arm was starting to hurt like crazy. “We have to go find the people who were out on patrol. They ran into this guy,” I pointed to the witch, “and we need to get to them as soon as possible.”

“We will find them,” said Tristan in a voice I barely recognized. I turned to see him, Celine, and Desmund behind me looking like they were in a lot better shape than me and my friends. Tristan’s mouth was a hard line, and I could feel his tightly controlled anger. “I am relieved to see you are all safe. Go to the healers and I’ll talk to you when I get back. Maybe we can piece together exactly what happened here tonight.”

I chewed my lip, hating what I had to say next. “It was Michael. He helped the vampires.”

“Michael?” Tristan could not have looked more shocked, and he wasn’t the only one. I understood how they felt. It was hard to imagine the sweet, quiet boy hurting anyone, let alone betraying us to our enemy.

Jordan made a sound of disgust. “Little bastard led us right to them. If he’s not dead, I call dibs on finishing the job.”

Tristan shook his head in disbelief. “Why would Michael do that?”

“It’s not his fault,” I said, and everyone stared at me like I had lost my mind. “The vampires got to him somehow and convinced him they had his twin brother, Matthew. They promised to let him go if Michael helped them.”

“Still no excuse to betray everyone you know,” Jordan replied irately.

“He’s messed up, Jordan.” I understood her anger. Michael’s betrayal cut me deeply as well, but he was obviously delusional and in a lot of pain. The saddest thing was that no one had seen it and helped him before it was too late.

“Where is he now?” Celine asked, and I was surprised she sounded almost civil toward me.

I told them where we had entered the woods and gave them a brief overview of how we had ended up in there. “One of the vampires hit him pretty hard, and I’m not sure if he’s alive. We had to leave him.”

“We’ll find him if he’s still out there,” Tristan said grimly. “You go to the healers. Nikolas, we could use your help if we have men down out there.”

Nikolas nodded, and Jordan took his place supporting Chris. His eyes met mine for a moment, and I knew he was making sure I was okay before he left. It wasn’t until I smiled and nodded that he turned away and the four of them headed toward the woods.

Left alone, our group limped toward the main building. We passed dozens of vampire corpses, revealing the sheer size of the force that had attacked us. Most of the vampires had been new, or the outcome would have been a lot different. At least we knew now why so many people had disappeared in the last month. The Master built a disposable army to send against us. What they lacked in speed and strength, he’d hoped they would make up for in numbers and the element of surprise. It had almost worked.