Delta’s gray eyes flash. “We’ll fight about this later. You—”
“We’re wasting time. We need to go check our place,” Alder interrupts, his jaw tickin’ with worry. “We’ve been gone from our portal too long,” he says, and I know he’s worried that the attack is happenin’ back home. I can see the tension pullin’ at the corners of his eyes.
“Let’s go,” Rafferty says with a decisive nod.
A second later, we all shift away, and I blink around as the location comes into view. We’re on the same grassy hills that I’ve come to know so well, the house off to the left, and the graveyard and bar ahead in the distance. It’s strange, I almost expected this place to look differently, given everythin’ that’s happened since last I was here. But it doesn’t, it’s the same piece of land that butts up against swamp water.
Delta immediately leaps for the air, and I quickly do the same, but just as we get our wings workin’, hands reach out and pluck us right out of the sky.
“What the fuck, Jerif?” Delta demands, wigglin’ in his grasp, but he just growls at his mate, a firm grip on her waist.
I turn around to see Alder has a hold on me, but his eyes are lackin’ any of the rage that’s in Jerif’s molten gaze. Alder just looks worried.
“I’m not being reckless, I’m being smart,” Delta snaps at her mates as they all move to surround her protectively.
“How the fuck is it smart for you two to go off alone?” Echo asks incredulously. “Did you forget that you’re being hunted?”
“No, but we’re fast when we fly,” Delta argues. “For all we know, the attack isn’t happening here either. Medley and I can fly over and see what’s happening, and then fly back to let you know what’s going on before you guys could even make it over there,” she defends. “We’d be able to get a visual and form a plan.”
“And what if it is here?” Rafferty counters. “You and Medley would be targets until we can catch up!”
“We’ll stay out of it from the air,” she promises him. “But if somehow we can’t evade, then we’ll deal with it. It’s not like we’re defenseless,” she says, liftin’ her scythe at her side to punctuate her point.
“She’s right,” I say, but I’m not lookin’ at Delta or her mates, I’m lookin’ at mine. “We’re not human, remember? You keep tellin’ us that in our trainin’. We’re Annuli. Half demon, half angel. We’ll be careful, and we’ll be smart, but you’re gonna have to trust us.”
Flint’s fists curl at his sides, but he watches me with an indiscernible expression on his face. I wait a beat. Two beats. Three. Finally, he lets out a long-sufferin’ sigh that seems to weigh on his shoulders. “Alright.”
I’m so surprised for a moment that I don’t even feel Alder let me go. “Hurry, Medley. Go see and then come right back. We’ll be right behind ya,” Flint says, and I give him a proud nod, my chest fillin’ at his trust—at both him and Alder lettin’ me do this small thing to start bein’ who I’m meant to be.
“I got this.” Without hesitation, I leap up in the air. I hear the other guys start arguin’ below, but then Alder tells Delta’s mates that they trust me, and that’s that. It’s clear when Delta doesn’t join me that this is still a battle she’s gonna have to fight with her mates later, but for now, I can do this small task on my own.
I fly like a missile in the direction of our gate, hopin’ against hope that I’ll find everythin’ okay, and if not, that I can hold off until the others get there. I realize as air rushes past my face that I need to practice carryin’ someone while I fly, because that would solve some issues that could arise in the future if I ever need to scout out things again. I pass the house first, a pang of longin’ in my chest at the sight of it.
With my scythe firmly in my grip, I glide over it, shootin’ straight for the hill ahead and the buildin’ that houses the gate. But as soon as I get closer, I can tell that there’s nothin’ wrong here.
I turn around and fly over the bar just in case, but nothin’ is happenin’ there either. I circle around all three spots again, just to determine for sure that there’s not a soul around or a thing out of place, and then I race back in the direction I left the group and find them just past the house, sweat slicked over Delta’s face as she silently fumes, her and Jerif not even lookin’ at one another.
Relief washes over Flint’s and Alder’s faces when they see me, but it’s quickly replaced by concern once again. I land beside them, and I can feel the rage simmerin’ in my sister, who promptly pushes away from her mates and makes her way toward me.
“Nothing?” Alder asks.
I shake my head. “Nothin. Whatever y’all are feelin’, it ain’t happenin’ here either.”
The guys share a look.
“So it’s not our gate and it’s not yours,” Delta says.
“Come on, we need to check the other one,” Echo announces, and then everyone spins and races for the safe zone just outside of the portal’s wards so we can shift again.
Just as we get there, Alder reaches out a hand, and I immediately place mine in his and then reach out to Delta, just in case her protective mates try to leave her behind. I know we’re goin’ to a different portal, but I haven’t heard anythin’ about it or the Guardians there, and I have no idea where it is.
I don’t get time to ask any questions before Alder pops us away from the familiar humid Georgia air. In the next blink, we’re gone from home, and we’re standin’ on a hill that’s just big
