My Brother’s Mate
Chapter 42

Emily's

POV

Our first day of traveling went pretty well. We traveled until the sun was setting, then we made camp. Liam and I put up our tent and built a fire. It's actually kind of nice. I've never really been camping before and siting here next to Liam in front of a fire is really nice. Liam holds my hand as we watch the flames reach for the sky.

"One day down, four more to go?" Liam says.

"Ugh when you put it that way, it sounds awful." I tease.

"Ok so explain more about these factions to me. I want to understand everything."

"Alright, well we can start with the Dawn of the Tribrid."

"That's this group?"

"Yes, they interpret the prophecy as meaning that I am the beginning of something new. That I will remake the world. The group Luther is a part of us called the Blood Seekers. They believe my blood holds power they can harness for themselves. They basically want to farm me for my blood. The next group is call the Blood of the Pure. They believe I am the end of the world. The prophecy says a Great War, great fire and great death will come to the land. They believe I will cause it."

"But you don't know who they are?"

"Who who is?" Hiroen asks as he takes a seat across from us.

"The Pures. I haven't met any, or at least not that I know of." I say.

"Well, you probably have. A lot of wolves are Pures. In fact most the councils are Pures. I am surprised we haven't encountered them yet. They are more powerful and better organized than the Seekers." Hiroen tells us. I think back on his memories of when the Pures killed Miranda's coven. I feel his loss and sadness.

"So you think they a bigger threat than the Seekers?" Liam asks.

"I would say so. But when we get to the mountains we will be better guarded."

"Have you been there?" I ask.

"Oh yeah, I've spent a lot of time there over the years."

"What's it like?"

"Oh it's beautiful, couldn't ask for a better view. The city is populated, but not by too many. I have a feeling it will start to fill up."

"Why?"

"When word gets out about you, people will come." Hiroen gets up.

"I will leave you two. Get some sleep, we still a long journey ahead of us." Hiroen leaves.

"We should go to sleep." I say. Liam stands and offers me his hand.

"Sleep it is." I fall asleep wrapped in my mates arms.

The next morning we get up and pack up camp. Packing up was a little annoying. It's hard to do things when your cold and tired. After breakfast we were all on our way. The weather warmed up as the sun grew higher in the sky. It felt nice outside and it made the journey easier. Hiroen lead the pack, Samson rounded out the rear, and Liam and Cyran helped in the middle. It was nice to see them all working together. We walked for several hours before taking a break for lunch. I was sitting with Liam and Carmen. "So how much longer?" Carmen asks Hiroen.

"Oh don't answer I don't want to know." I exclaim.

"Why?" Liam asks.

"Unless the answer is, we're here. I don't want to know."

"Fair enough." Liam says. The wind blows and I catch a scent of something. I shift my attention to the woods behind me.

"You ok babe." Liam asks. I close my eyes and listen. I zone out all the noise around me and focus on the woods. SNAP. I hear.

"Someone is out there." I mind link Hiroen. I open my eyes, stand, and face the woods.

"Someone is out in the woods." I tell Miranda. The group falls quiet. I don't even notice, but everyone else is standing and looking where I'm looking.

"Cloak is still up." Miranda says. We have the cloak up when we stop, but not when we are walking. We are sitting ducks out here. I want to go out there and see who it is, but I know that's not a good idea. Suddenly a blue ball of light comes hurling towards us from the woods, followed by werewolves. I look over at Liam who has already shifted into Lucas and looked ready to fight. Vasylia knocks the blue ball of light back hitting one of the wolves with it. More balls of light come from the woods.

"They are trying to disrupt the cloaking spell." Miranda cries out. Witches from our side cast spells and send out fire balls aimed at the wolves. But the witches in the woods send fire balls right back in the direction ours came. The wolves are almost to the cloak boundary. There is a wolf coming close to me. I close my eyes and thrust my arms out palms outs casting a force that pushes the wolf back and slamming him into a tree, breaking the tree in half. The top of the tree lands on the wolf. Behind the tree I can see a man casting the blue balls of light. A blast of electricity flies past me and I see it strike Carmen. She is thrown backwards with a cry.

"Carmen!" I yell and rush to her. She is face down. I roll her over to look at her wound. There is a charred black mark across her left shoulder and across her chest.

"Carmen? Carmen!" I hold her lifeless body in my arms. I feel the swell of tears in my eyes. I check for a pulse but don't feel anything.

"The cloak spell won't hold." Ryfin yells. If the spell falls they will be able to target whoever they want. I can't hold back anymore. I feel my body tense with anger as I stand. I walk to the edge of the spell.

"Emily! What are you doing?" Hiroen shouts. I kneel down and spread my fingers through the dirt and close my eyes.

Hiroen's POV

I watch Emily kneel in front of the spell boundary. Then suddenly the earth begins to shake and rumble. Oh no, she's using magic too great for her body. There were three more wolves heading towards us. I brace for them to clear the spell line. But all of a sudden the ground starts to open up. Large cracks in the ground open, swallowing up two of the wolves. The cracks whipped through the woods, taking the witches deep into the earth. The last wolf stops charging when he realizes he is the last one standing. He takes off in the opposite direction. I look over to Emily, who is glowing orange and yellow. She is using too much magic. The ground continues to rumble, causing my footing to become unstable. She needs to stop the earthquake spell. I rush to her, but Cyran beats me to her. Cyran pulls Emily up from the ground and the spell is broken.

"Emily!" Cyran shouts. Emily turns and places a hand on Cyrans chest and he is thrusted straight back across the field.

"Emily!" I draw her attention to me. Her eyes are clouded and dull.

"Emily!" Liam shouts. Immediately her eyes cleared and fluttered before she fell to the ground. I hurry to her side.

Liam reaches her before I do.

"Emily?" Liam says to her.

I feel for a pulse and feel a faint heart beat. I pull out a power crystal and place it in her hand. I close her fingers around it and close my eyes. I move the power from the crystal to Emily's center. I feel her breath even and her pulse quicken. "She will be fine. She just used a lot of magic." I tell everyone who has gathered. Liam picks her up and carries her to a wagon. I look around at the land. The cracks look like lightning shooting out from where Emily was standing.

"She used too much magic." Miranda says behind me.

"She just needs to learn to control it." I say.

"She won't survive using magic that powerful."

"She will in time."

"I just hope we have time Hiroen." I turn and face her.

"How many have we lost?"

"We lost 5, but many more are wounded. Carmen didn't make it." Miranda looks to the ground. I know she liked Carmen, we all did.

"I hate to say it, but we are sitting ducks here. We need to move before anyone else comes back."

"I know. We will bury our dead and load the wounded onto wagons. We will be slower now."

"I know. But we need to get to the mountain."