Rejected Mate and Following Fate novel Chapter 80

I exhale and almost cry with relief and turn to pull my hands from Carmen, who no longer has reason to hold me back.

“Are you coming?” I ask her warily, legs shaking from adrenalin, and weakening with relief as she nods, gesturing back to a hold all on the steps she must have zoomed together before hyper speeding down here. She goes and retrieves it, and we head for the passenger door of the truck, her climbing in first with me last to sit on the double seat side by side.

“Glad you could make it.” Meadow smirks knowing full well she almost gave me a heart attack minutes ago. No remorse whatsoever in her tone or her amused expression.

“Sometimes I really don’t like you!” I point out, hand over my chest to calm my heartrate, glaring at her scornfully and she laughs

“Ahhh but hamera, you love me more than life.”

“So where are we going?” Carmen cuts in, impatient already and I can feel the anxiety swarming from her in getting to go already. There’s a smog of impatient in her manner and a restlessness that seems a little unnatural. I can’t imagine what she feels today but it’s coming across in subtle hostile tension.

“New Mexico, Chica. Sierra is going to call us when we are almost there to pinpoint where exactly. Right now, we have a rough town to aim for, but Sierra is going to keep using a locator spell to get us right to her when we arrive.” Meadow pulls out her cell and shakes it for Carmen to somehow prove that Sierra knows how to use such things before sliding it back into her pocket.

We packed our bags last night and stowed them in the truck, so we really have nothing to wait around for. Sun is coming up; the homestead will start to wake soon, and we need to move before that happens. Least amount of hold ups and we can focus on what’s to come.

I told Sierra not to see us off, or else I wouldn’t go. I’m worried about her being alone to cope as Luna in my absence, no support, not even the subpack here to help and advise her and I know that seeing her looking so lost would have swayed me. I’m hoping it’s an uneventful two or three days for her, or however long we are gone and that the fog sitting around the perimeter keeps the pack in their homes and out of her hair. There’s nothing else for them to do until we know more and whether we can do something. It’s a waiting game where they have all been told to stay home, stay calm and let us do what we have to do.

They have enough fresh supplies for the month, and we still have our animals, our dried stores and ability to produce some of our vegetables in the homestead greenhouses we set up months ago. We can stay put, stay safe without needing to leave the grounds for four weeks, providing nothing else happens. It’s the best thing for them all to do.

I’m startled back out of my thoughts by the truck starting up again and I spot Tom getting out of the way, his accompanying two wolves who are going on perimeter patrol this morning showing up beside him and I can see the question in their eyes as they spot who is in here. I hold my breath, paused in alarm because I know that the mind link gossip will start doing the rounds sooner than later.

Meadow is the military leader after Colton, I’m Luna, and here we are abandoning them right after their Alpha fell to a spell. I know it looks bad, and they will panic, but they have to trust I’m leaving to try and fix this.

“Good luck”! Tom pack links us, and I catch the side eyed suspicious looks he gets from his mates, but they say nothing, just watch us turn out of the gravel drive and head towards the opening and out into the fog.

I can almost taste their fear and anticipation as they realize we don’t intend to stop where clean air meets emerald mist, but as soon as we cross the boundary, I lift my hands in readiness to push the fog away should I need too, and we lose all contact with those inside.

Like an invisible barrier it cuts off Tom’s mind link and that of the rest of my pack. For the first time in 6 months all those subtle feelings and vibrations I am so accustomed to, the emotions of my people that follow me every day, they all fall silent like I just stepped into a soundproofed chamber and it’s intense, feelings of being swept over by a veil of cold. All that’s left is the tension and silent apprehension of Meadow and Carmen, suddenly intensified as they no longer compete with all the other feelings around me, and I blink back out of the rear window on the back door as the fog surrounds us and envelopes us out of sight of the homestead. A sense of loss, heightened worry and a sadness that I’m leaving them.

“Well, this was something I didn’t think of.” Meadow cuts into my thoughts sharply, and pulls me back to face the front window, glancing to her furrowed scowl and her newly aggravated mood.

“What?” I frown at her and look out when she nods ahead at the misty view feet in front of us and I click right away at what she’s hinting. We can’t see a damn thing, not even the road. Despite the fog near the boundary seeming thinner and almost transparent in places, it seems coupled with morning mist from the mountains, damp air and dull light, it’s killing vision beyond four feet.

“That’s why I’m here” I point out and lift my hands to part the smog. Splitting it apart enough to clear our view for a couple of hundred feet and giving us a an almost uninterrupted path to follow, pushing it out as we go. It’s eerie and deathly silent out here, a strange atmosphere of surreal and with the sun peeking up to bring a little warmth to the green air, it’s an almost haunting atmosphere. It reminds me of a memory, many moons ago when the mountain fogs stayed around the valley for three days and no one could see a foot in front of them while the noises of daily life echoed spookily around.

“Where do you think they are?” Carmen quips in and I squint my eyes to the side to look through the density and shrug. Knowing I can feel the presence of others out there, tingling my sixth sense at a distance but not enough to decide if it’s them I can feel, or the homestead behind.

“I don’t know, I can’t really feel any of them for certain. There’s nothing but emptiness and shallow vibrations.”

I spoke too soon, and almost as the words leave my mouth, the truck shudders at the rear, like we were kicked with something hard and heavy, as something fast collides in a weird kind of way. It reverberates through the metal of the vehicle and sends shivers up my spine, widening my eyes in alarm.

Meadow almost loses control of the wheel for a second as she tries to right our wobble and floors it as fast as she can. I push myself out of my seat and dash into the rear of the truck to peer out the window, to see if I can see anything, but I also have to keep my hands splayed to the front to keep the fog parted so she can see where she is going. My heart racing and perspiration forming across my forehead as my stress levels skyrocket. It truly felt like something was thrown at us.

Carmen follows me with haste and peers out too, wiping the condensation which is starting to collect form our combined heavy breathing as we are rocked again with another strong shockwave. This time though even though it causes the side of the truck to wobble, it doesn’t veer us from our path and a strange mystical air ripple travels down around us in much the same way the rune border can move when hit with the enchanted pack.

“Look” Carmen grabs my arm and shakes me, pointing to the far left out of the very corner of the window and I spot the wolves running parallel just inside the fog around us. They are keeping up speed to meet ours and one takes a running leap at us again. Only this time we see it. The bouncing off the invisible forcefield much like they do with the homestead boundary and sending another violent thwack of energy through our vehicle. Although we are hit, it’s like we have a forcefield and we shudder, but the barrier takes most of the impact so we can keep going.

The spells working, for without it they would have taken this truck down in one run and no doubt be all over the top of us and ripping through the metal with their claws. They are barely denting the surface of the strange orb around us and as long as Meadow keeps us on the road and going, they won’t be able to do a damned thing. Well unless they figure out that throwing trees and boulders might take us down, but they are so focused on chasing, intent on pursuing that they don’t seem to stop to find non enchanted items as weapons. I wonder if the fog has pushed instinct and chased away logical thinking, as Colton would definitely have thought of an alternative attack had he not been under a spell.

“Is that Colton?” Carmen squeaks, pulling my thoughts of him to reality as a dark black shadowy wolf, bigger than the rest and defined by his darkest fur and forbidding presence, runs at us and makes a leap for the roof.

I cower instinctively, waiting for the impact of his sheer weight and brute strength but it doesn’t come, and we catch sight of him rolling to the ground on the opposite side of the road, as though he went right over the top of us. He obviously couldn’t get on the roof, swayed by the protection, but it doesn’t stop him from chasing us regardless.

“Yeah…. That’s him.” The words stick in my throat bitterly, and I have to look away as tears blind me, pain surging in my chest and crushing my heart at the angry vengeful wolf coming at us again. He’s determined to derail our vehicle. Colton isn’t in there anymore, only darkness and fury and a mind set on destruction controls that powerful body and I can’t bear to look at him and see someone so familiar, someone I love and worship, trying to destroy us.

“What do we do?” Meadow seems locked onto the window in front of her, veering around wolves who try and get in our way but are pushed aside by our invisible forcefield, unable to tear her gaze away from the high-speed maneuvers. I check I’m still keeping the fog open for her to navigate through and raise my shoulders in a shrug, overwhelmed at the numbers of them swarming at us from all angles. The mist is not getting any thinner but it looks like we’re heading out onto the road to the main route. Still getting out even if we’re being chased.

“Keep going… pray they give up. Try not to run anyone over in the process.” I state loudly, catching the determined look on Carmen’s face and then the stiffening posture of Meadow in the driver seat. The air around us thick with tension, subtle fear seeping out, anxiety tainting the oxygen, because we have no idea how to process what’s happening right now. All three of us gasp loudly, rocked in reaction by a sudden jolt as we’re thrown sideways violently inside the back of the truck. I barely catch myself as I go sprawling across the smooth floor, grasping for a hold, and Carmen catches me by the waist and yanks me against her as she braces us to one of the beds. Meadow screeches at us to hold on to something with a frenzied croak.

“They jumped in front of me, I think I hit him! I did hit him, them…God knows how many but….I hit HIM!.” her voice breaks, tears evident as her pain saturates her emotions, her face crumbling as her brows hit her lashes and she struggles back a sob. I crawl to the front seats as carefully as I can, trying to not let my forcefield down so the fog stays separated and cling onto the back of the seat to squint at her. “It was Cesar….it was my baby. I’m sure of it.” She mumbles on in distress, her voice wavering and her grip is so tight on the wheel that her knuckles are white and solid.

“You know he’ll be fine. He’s in wolf form, even under a spell he should heal.” I try to soothe her but the intensity of her heartbreak seeps into my own soul and I slide down beside her on the seats, overwhelmed with heaviness and the urge to break down and cry too.

“I hit my mate with a truck, chica …. there’s no going to be fine when he finds out I did that. He will unbind me and send me packing for sure.” She stubbornly wipes away a tear and gasps as another fleeting wolf form jumps in front of us again, causing her to swerve left and I’m thrown against the door this time. I see the collision of the wolf hitting the side, but the forcefield makes it feel like we just grazed bushes and he spirals off in a horrifying manner, like a spinning top. If I hadn’t seen it for myself, the wolf being bounced away from a devastating impact, I would never have believed we just hit an eight-hundred-pound animal in full fury mode.

“What the fuck are they doing?” Carmen spits out and comes to sit back up front with us, both of us clipping on our belts as a precaution because this is far from over. I’m already bruised all over from being thrown around and I’m starting to get weary from holding my powers up and onwards to keep the path clear.

“Trying to stop us and failing. They don’t seem bright enough to realize they can’t.” I point out.

“So the spell made them stupid?” Carmen verbalizes my suspicion and I shrug, deflated, and searching the fog and the moving figures for the one wolf I want to see yet don’t since he jumped over us back there. I don’t know how to feel, knowing he’s there, despite not being able to feel him, but he’s intent on chasing us.

“I would say they’re more like on auto pilot. One thought, one urge, and all other reason has flown away.” It’s the only way I can describe how they are right now and Meadow nods, wiping her soggy face and pulling herself back together with that fierce aura of command kicking in now her shock is dissipating.

“The spell has them looking for wolf blood, no matter what stands in their way. They don’t seem to think beyond that. It’s pure instinct and no sense of being able to calculate beyond it.”

“Are you sure that’s what they’re doing? I mean has anyone actually tried to see if they will do anything to us?” Carmen looks form her to me, severe doubt written all over her face, which only pushes me to doubt myself what’s happening here.

“Do you wanna get out and see, chica? I will happily oblige in opening the door and throwing you out to test this theory. See how long you last in the fog.” Meadow snaps at her and Carmen rolls her eyes, sitting back bitchily and crosses her arms over her bust in a haughty manner. Anger and dislike pouring into her eyes which are piercing like daggers in meds direction. Strangely, despite being the last thing we need it’s somehow comforting to see them behaving like they used to and normalizing things for a second.

“I think what they’re doing now, is proof enough. If they wanted something else, I doubt they would be attacking.” I try for a gentler approach, but Meadow and Carmen are sat in stubborn silence and both stare right ahead as we progress. The atmosphere turns frosty and I sigh to shake off the battle of these two stubborn femmes. My arms are getting sorer by the second due to holding them up with intent, and my energy is waning with holding my powers straight and steady for so long to keep the fog clear. I wonder how much further before we are free from it and I can take a small breather. I’m not used to using my gifts for long stretches of time, usually only quick bursts.