Freed Wolf

53 Damsel of Distress

Jace POV

"You're sure this is the right area?" I ask Chris, scanning the strange landscape around us. I'm used to dense forests, clean water, and open fields; this place looks like Mother Nature chewed it up and spit it out.

Brackish water and mud dominate the ground, making for slow going forward progress. Half the trees are dead but stand there defiant with their bare branches while vines and rotten branches block us further.

"It's where Sasha told Jess to look," Chris replies with a sigh.

We spent the morning working our way down to this hidden swampy valley where Sasha's sister is apparently holed up in their grandmother's cabin. The plan sounds simple in theory, slip in and rescue the damsel in distress.

Except it's not.

This damsel is out to kill any wolf she sees because Dimitri kidnapped her sister. What's worse? This damsel is a pissed off powerful witch.

'I don't like this,' Phoenix warns me. 'Dealing with witches never ends well.'

'We can't risk her falling into Dimitri’s hands, and she may be able to help us make a universal link for battle. More importantly, Jess asked us to protect her,' I say, instantly feeling him relent.

'Who's going to protect us from her?' He whispers as he slinks back to the recesses of my mind.

Sasha told Jess countless intimate stories and memories between her and her sister to try and help us get through. Jess passed them on to Chris, who shared them with me and Xavier. In the end, he decided it would be best to go with just us to not look threatening.

Good luck to Jude, sounds like he's the next Alpha of Still Waters.

'Who would even want to live here?' Xavier links as he struggles to cut a path through vines.

'The cabin was abandoned,' Chris chimes in. 'Apparently the sisters planned to use it as a safe house if anything ever happened.' 

'Well, this is ridiculous,' Xavier grumbles.

'I can smell smoke, so we must be getting close,' I link, nodding up ahead.

A small shack comes into view surrounded by craggy swamp trees. The footing is less than ideal with the ground being boggy with rocks and vines everywhere.

'Remember the plan,' Chris warns.

'And try not to die?' I add with a sarcastic laugh.

"You have till the count of three to turn back before I put you all down, mutts," a woman yells.

'We're fucked,' Xavier groans.

"Mira?" Chris calls, stepping out into the open with his palms up.

"Death it is," she snaps. Without warning, the ground ripples in front of Chris like a wave, throwing him back into a tree.

"Sasha sent us," I call out, scanning the area desperately to spot her.

"Lies," she hisses. My skin tingles as the hairs on the back of my neck stand up in warning. No sooner than I duck, the tree I was hiding against blows apart.

'Anyone see where she is?' Xavier asks, brown eyes scanning wildly.

"Fuck," Xavier snarls as the ground starts to suck him down. His eyes go wide in panic as he struggles against the boggy ground that’s threatening to swallow him. He's sunk to his knees and sinking like a stone as he thrashes. I toss him a branch as I look for the woman causing all this havoc.