"Thanks," Faith wasn't sure how much this Marc guy knew about how she held off the attack. Did this Aldric guy tell him? Aldric had seen her shield, had addressed her by some funny word, but she had the vital importance of keeping her magic secret at all costs drilled into her from a very young age. The idea that anyone besides Crissy knew about it was making her stomach hurt.
"Anyhow, like I said, Aldric sensed those rogues and went chasing after them, and when he found you two, he brought you here for safety's sake instead of continuing his hunt," Marc said. "He was very serious about making sure you were both safe and sound. He put you in his own room where nobody would dare to go, left me on guard in here and sent a few others to patrol around the woods outside, and then went to meet up with Tamika to see if he could track down your sister. Kaylee was very worried, and he promised to find her. I hope she didn't go back to the cabin." Marc looked truly concerned about that possibility.
"So..." Faith blinked slowly. Everything felt foggy, almost like Marc was talking in half statements. "So Aldric– the guy who showed up in our cabin and killed two monsters and moved way the hell too fast– brought me and my niece here to what? Hang out? Have a sleepover?"
Marc chuckled. "Well, he sure as hell wasn't going to leave you there all alone. He said that you went down like a house of cards in a strong breeze. And he killed five of them. There were two inside and three more circling the cabin."
"I..." Faith carefully set her mug down because she wasn't sure she was going to stay upright much longer. This was a lot to take in, and her vision was starting to get fuzzy.
"Okay, Faith. I need you to breathe, okay? Breathe with me, nice and slow," Marc's voice was suddenly coming from somewhere right in front of her face. She felt a hand on her shoulder and another guiding her hand to what felt like someone's chest. "That's it. Feel me breathe and try to match me, okay? In and out."
Faith focused on breathing like Marc said, and after a moment she blinked the fog away. Marc was crouched by her chair, holding her hand to his chest so she could feel him breathe.
"What the hell have we gotten sucked into?" Faith whispered.
6
"So, Aldric. You've got a hell of a lot of explaining to do, my friend," Tamika dipped her head slightly in a show of respect as she climbed into his truck, the beads in her braids clacking softly, one tinkling like a bell.
Aldric took a deep breath and considered what to tell her. He wasn't going to tell anyone but Marc about Faith's magic unless he needed to. Certainly not before he could discuss it with her. It was too significant, and if the information was overheard by the wrong sort of person, it could put her and her niece in danger. Even though he trusted Tamika completely, it was not his secret to reveal.
Although, it was possible that secret was the reason they were attacked in the first place. He scowled at the thought that those two were being hunted, but the idea gave further urgency to his search for Christina Latham.
"Woah, that's a scary face. Now tell me what's got you hissing like that. You flash any more fang in town and we're going to start having bigger problems," Tamika's voice cut through Aldric's thoughts and he startled. “And I don’t think I’ve ever seen your eyes go red like that, not even when you go hunting.”
He took a deep breath and held it, counting backward from five to regain his control. He felt his fangs retract and released the breath slowly.
“I find that I am angry about the situation. Miss Kaylee and her aunt were attacked, inside their cabin, by rogue wolves,” Aldric said slowly. "I got there just in time to kill the rogues that were attacking them and after Faith lost consciousness from the effort of her defense of Kaylee, I took them both back to the clan house for protection."
That should cover it for the most part. It was the truth, after all, just without a few key details.
He felt, rather than saw Tamika raise an eyebrow at him.
"A human woman held off a rogue wolf on her own while wrangling a child?”
“Two. Two wolves. Three more outside circling the cabin,” Aldric said. “It was no random attack.”
The shock in her face said everything, but that didn’t stop her. “She faced off against five rogue werewolves? I would imagine she passed out. I'm shocked as hell that she isn't dead,” Tamika said. "what aren't you telling me?"
Aldric didn't answer. He pulled the truck into a parking space behind the hardware store and turned to his friend and second in command.
"We need to find Cristina Latham. She goes primarily by Crissy, according to Miss Kaylee. I have a photograph of Kaylee, and I have her scent and Faith’s– I brought small samples of them for you as well– but we didn't linger long enough at their cabin to get anything of Cristina's. I am hoping that it will be a simple matter of walking through the shops looking. She was supposed to be buying baking supplies."
Tamika raised her eyebrow at him again, but let the subject drop. "So with a little luck it will be a matter of poking around the grocery for a minute."
"Indeed."
“But you don’t think it will be so easy, do you?” Tamika’s eyes sparked with understanding.
“I do not,” he answered. “I have the suspicion
