Hayden Spells Trouble

Chapter Five

When Samiyah woke up the next morning she immediately knew something was not right. The room was freezing. Her teeth chattered as she went over to the window. Ice covered it and managed to break it open, creeping through the gap. She searched for any signs of Elanil's magic. The weather was natural, for lack of a better word. She let out a relieved sigh. The door opened and she spun around.

Atian's face was flushed and he was wearing a leather jacket. He held a duffel bag. "The car won't start."

"Great." It was hard to speak. "What's....What's in...the bag?"

He opened it and pulled out a coat. He threw it to her and said, "My sister called. Down there's...even worse. It rained hard at night. Now, it's a desert."

Ideas rushed through her head as she put on the oversized coat. Only one made sense. The elves were at war. She couldn't think about that. Instead she forced herself to move over to the bed. Wrapping the covers tighter around Katherine, she tried to remember the innocent girl she watched grow up.

Maybe I left too soon. I should've waited until she could come with me. Her stomach churned. What if I can't save her?

"Are you okay?"

Samiyah nodded. Picking up the hotel phone, she dialed the SBPD. The movements felt robotic. She wasn't surprised when she got an answering machine. She hung up and redialed. She repeated this until she got Jaegar's assistant and pack mate, Demetrius. He heard her voice and immediately forwarded the call.

"Where are you? What's going on?" Jaegar's voice was hard but full of worry.

Samiyah gave a high, nervous laugh and her voice was choked as she explained. When she finished he let out a deep breath. She could imagine him rubbing a hand over his face.

"Where's Oliver now?"

"Don't know. Haven't...felt him...since." She clamped her lips closed. She hadn't met to say that part out loud.

He growled. "Sam, I'm coming to get you."

"Okay," she said in a meek voice. She hung up the phone.

"Didn't go well?"

Samiyah sat on the bed next to Katherine and drew her knees to her chin. Tucking the coat around her legs she said, "It went well. I called my alpha." She didn't mention that telling Jaegar she might've bonded with another alpha while he was worried just complicated their day. Atian was already giving her an odd look.

"So it's true. What did I get into?"

"Been asking myself that for the last nine years."

**

Katherine woke up to find Samiyah gone and Atian watching the news. A second later the cold hit her and she pulled the covers tight around her. The first pangs of hunger began to stir. Her body ached.

"Where did...my sister...go?"

"Downstairs." His response was dispassionate.

Katherine winced, more affected by his tone than his words. It made her determined to get him on her side. "I wish I'd known.... I'm not... cut out...for this."

"You knew nothing?" He sounded skeptical, but curious.

She latched onto that. "No! A year...ago...I was looking...at colleges. Then, I met...Nathaniel."

Atian's eyebrow arched but that was her only cue to continue. In broken sentences she explained how she'd been impressed by his money, he was self-made. Katherine was sure to sound embarrassed. She stared at him from lowered lashes as she explained how he taught her magic, how she wasn't sure she should but her mother encouraged doing whatever she had to. When she spoke of the moment he proposed, it was real emotion that made tears spring to her eyes.