Skyborn(36)

"Operation: Save Sloane, was a success. We're celebrating," Keegan said.  "Besides, with our metabolism, the buzz will be gone in less than an  hour."

I just laughed and Eva's hand reached out and grasped my shoulder  lightly. She leaned forward and whispered in my ear, "We're going to see  my friend now, honey. The druid I told you about. He's the only one  that can help you now."

Logan didn't seem to like that, because his grip on my hand tightened. I  stared straight ahead as a lump of fear formed in my chest. Now that  she mentioned it, I noticed we were driving away from Arizona and  towards San Francisco. Holy shit, I was going to willingly meet and  possibly train with a druid. Why else would they be bringing me to him  if not to train with him?

‘Don't worry. I'll protect you,' Logan spoke softly in my mind.

I whipped my head to the side and just stared at him. ‘We need to lay down some boundaries for the mind speak thing.'

He grinned. ‘Mind speak, I like that. Eva can make it so you don't  project so loudly. It happened with the whole pack at first. Dom is a  closet Prince fan.'

I grinned. Good to know.

‘Just give me privacy until then, please,' I told him.

He nodded. ‘Unless you try to run away again. Then I'm going to be all up in your mind.'

I smirked and leaned closer, laying my head on his shoulder. My dragon  pulsed, sending warmth down my legs as I breathed in his scent.

‘I'm never leaving you again. I promise.' My heart couldn't take it if I  did. It was the last thing I said to him before I fell asleep, with  Mittens on my lap.



"Sloane!" Logan was shouting, shaking my shoulders. I jolted awake,  looking around frantically. I had fallen asleep in the front seat of the  limo, and now we were pulled over with the entire pack outside of the  car. My side of the car's door was open and Logan was leaning over me,  shaking me.

"I'm awake! What's wrong?" Then I saw it. Gear's bird was lying in Nadine's lap, his wing bent at an odd angle, nearly torn off.

"Should he shift?" Nadine was asking Eva.

"No way! His arm could sever. Stay in bird form, Gear." Eva pointed a  finger at the falcon and then crisped her suit, turning on me.

"You!" She pointed.

I shrank back as if I was being scolded by my mother. "What did I do?"

Eva's face softened. "You need to tell me everything about that spell  Jeanine did on you. I think it was a two-part spell. One part to keep  you from transforming and one part tracker."

At the word "tracker," my insides dropped and I felt sick. "No," I said, in denial.

"Quickly! Tell me." Eva waved her hand and now Danny was standing next to her; he was all ears.

"She had a  …  a jar and she was putting stuff in it. Umm  …  a match-"                       
       
           



       

Eva cut me off. "Tell me it wasn't a spell where you had to breathe in  smoke?" Eva's face and hands were frozen as she awaited my reply.

I just winced and Eva and Danny both let a curse word fly.

"She didn't know! It's our job to teach her these things," Logan said in my defense, stepping closer to me.

I sighed. "What did I do?" Oh God. Was Gear going to be okay? The look in Nadine's eyes gutted me.

Eva motioned for me to stand. "Get up, honey. The druid is tracking you  and they will be here any moment. I need to remove the spell and it's  going to hurt like the fire of a thousand suns, but it's the only way I  know how."

Logan stepped in front of me, blocking the car door. "No way! We'll kill the druid and find another way."

Keegan stepped beside Eva. "What if that druid brings his boss? That's  right, what if Ardan is on his way and we all die and your mate can't  even shift and fly away? We need to remove the tracker spell. Now!"

I reached out and let my hand stroke Logan's arm. "It's okay. I got  myself into this. I need to face the reality of it." I was a major wuss  with pain. Like, bump my foot on the edge of the couch and scream like a  dying cat wuss. But I would do what needed to be done to keep the pack  safe.

Logan sighed, resigned. His body moved to the side, opening up room for  me to stand just in time to see Danny turn to Eva. "What are you  thinking of doing?"

Eva looked at me sadly and then turned to Danny. "A complete blood eradication spell."

I could tell from the way Danny winced, every muscle in his body  flinched, that this would hurt like nothing I had ever experienced.

"Feel free to just knock me out first," I said nervously, using humor as  my fallback, but secretly hoping someone would just hit me over the  head and knock me out for reals.

"You need to be conscious for the spell to work dear." Her voice held a  sadness and I knew she didn't take pleasure in what was about to happen.

Logan slipped his hand in mine, glaring at Eva, no doubt wanting to intervene.

‘I got this,' I told him, but his face didn't change.

Gear's falcon gave a soft caw and I frowned. "Can we help Gear? Do you need a scale?"

Last time, one of Logan's scales had fixed Nadine right up, so maybe we  could patch Gear first and then hit me with the pain of a thousand  burning suns.

Eva was rubbing her hands together to warm them. "Gear will be fine.  I'll heal him next. This must be done now. They've been following us  ever since we left the club. Gear says they are about twenty minutes  behind us. We need to break the spell and get back on the road."

I looked around. We were in the field of a heavily-treed rest stop and  it was pitch black. It must have been the middle of the night.

I dropped Logan's hand and stepped forward. "Do it." I flinched, balling my hands into fists and tensing every muscle I had.

Eva looked at me and then at Keegan. "Hold him," she murmured, and Keegan rushed forward to pull Logan back.

"Hey, what the hell!" Logan yelled, fighting his friend.

"I'm sorry," Eva muttered, and clapped her hands together loudly. When  she pulled them apart, there was a yellow glowing geometrical shape  between her palms. "I'm going to cleanse every one of your cells of any  magical spell. They will all be broken, including the one I put on you  to cover your scent."

I just nodded, feeling the urge to run. Knowing something was going to  hurt and willingly walking into it was against my self-preservation, but  I forced myself to stand there. As she held her hands over my head and  brought the yellow glowing geometric shape over my face, a white-hot  pain seared my skull. A scream tore from my lips and it haunted me to  know that it was my own. I didn't recognize the sound.

"Hold her!" Eva yelled, and suddenly arms were around me, holding me up,  keeping me from falling. My sense of smell told me it was Sophie.

"You got this," Sophie said firmly in my ear as her grip around my elbows tightened.

Eva moved the shape farther down my face towards my neck and the pain  intensified. "No, stop!" I screamed, as the searing heat nearly brought  me to my knees. A black smoke was coming off of my face, and I had a  horrible thought: Was she burning me? I could hear commotion behind me  as Logan struggled against Keegan's hold.

"Eva!" Logan growled, and I knew his dragon was close to the surface.

Eva looked like she was in pain herself, her forehead covered in sweat,  her hands shaking. "Danny, ground me," she called out, and Danny rushed  up behind her, placing a hand on each of her shoulders. The moment his  hands touched her, he winced.                       
       
           



       

Blackness was creeping at the edges of my vision as I swayed on my feet.

"Keep her conscious or it doesn't work!" Eva yelled to Sophie.

Sophie shook me. Hard. "Stay awake, buttercup!" she said through gritted teeth.

My entire head felt like it was being squeezed in a vise, and at the  same time like someone had thrown boiling hot water on it. My dragon  flared to life then, lending me some of her strength as another wave of  pain crash through me. Eva brought the yellow shape to my heart; black  smoke was leaking out of my every pore. The burning was causing me to  have a full-blown panic attack. Was I going to light on fire?

"What. The. Hell. Is. This?" I said between labored breaths as the black smoke left my skin and floated towards the sky.

Eva moved the geometrical shape down to my abdomen and I whimpered,  sagging against Sophie's chest, pain exploding in my belly. I couldn't  take any more. I couldn't. This pain was as if every single cell in my  body had been cut in half, electrocuted, and then burned.

Eva's face contorted in agony. "This," she said with great effort, "is black magic."