My Brother’s Mate
Chapter 43

Arthur's POV

"Councilmen, one of the wolves from the team you sent to intercept the girl has returned."

"One? Send him in." I swear if Finch messed this up. A man walks in, he has dark black hair and a scar down the side of his face. "Councilmen." The man bows.

"Where is Finch and the rest of the team?" I demand.

"Sir, the attack was going well, until the ground opened up and created these deep caverns everyone must have fallen in sir." "So you abandoned your team?"

"We.. we we're running towards the cloaking spell. And then the ground started rumbling and splitting open. I looked over and my team was gone. There was no way I would have won on my own, so I..." "Did you see who did this!?!" I cut him off.

"No, sir the cloaking spell was still up sir."

"So you have failed in your mission, let your team die, and then you were stupid enough to come back here and inform me of your failures? You have brought me absolutely no useful information.." "Sir, I.."

I grab my sword and with one thrust I take his head off. Both his head and body fall to the ground with a thud.

What a waste of time and resources. Never send a boy to do a man's job.

"Clean up this mess." I gesture towards the growing pool of blood.

"Yes councilmen."

די

I walk out to the meeting hall.

"Arthur, I heard your team was unsuccessful." Gavin says.

"Yes they did not survive. Very sad, very sad. Such a waste. Looks like we need to handle this directly." I say.

"We actually have another more pressing matter."

"More pressing than the Tribrid still living?"

"Yes." Gesenia walks into the room.

"As much as I appreciate your demise of the Tribrid, we need to address the Seekers sooner rather than later. They have infiltrated more packs, hives, and covens than we previously anticipated. They must be rooted out." Gesenia explains. "Where do we start?"

"We can start with Max's pack. He has told me a lot of information we can use."

Emily's POV

I'm blinded by a bright yellowish white light, I can barely open my eyes. The light is everywhere. I close my eyes tight. I let myself slip into nothingness.

"Emily!" I hear my name in the darkness. It pulls me out. My body feels like it's floating on water. I peek open my eyes and see off-white colored cloth and wooden beams. and I feel the bump and shake, I'm in a wagon. My body is stiff and my head is killing me. What happened? I remember the battle. I remember using my magic to throw a wolf up against a tree. I remember Carmen. Oh poor Carmen. Did we lose anyone else? I stare up at the canvas. I want to say something but I can't. I try to sit up but my body is too tired. I used my magic to rip open the earth. I used a lot of magic for that. Too much even, that's why I'm so exhausted. I need to rest more. I shut my eyes and I drift quickly off to sleep again.

I open my eyes again and the wagon has stopped moving. The sun has gone down and I hear the crackling of a fire. My body feels better, and not as heavy. I don't feel as weak anymore either. I lift my head and look around me. I can hear voices in the distance. I close my eyes and focus on what the voices are saying.

"How is she?"

"Still asleep the last time I checked. I'm worried about her. How long is she supposed to be asleep for? Is it normal to sleep this much?" That's Liam's voice.

"She will wake up when she is ready. Her body's recovering. She used a lot of magic when she did the earthquake spell. Don't worry, she is strong. Her body just needs rest." That voice is Hiroen.

"How are the wounded doing?"

"They're on the mend, but it will take some time."

"We are traveling slower now." Liam says.

"Your right, but we should get there in about two days time." I open my eyes. Emily you drained yourself of magic and the first thing you do when you wake up is use more magic and drain yourself again. Dumb move. My eyes feel heavy again. I close my eyes and drift off back to sleep.

I open my eyes back up hearing voices around the wagon. The sun is shining through the canvas. I'm not going to use magic this time. I lift my head up. It's definitely easier this time. I sit up fully and prop myself up on my arms. The wagon is moving. I wonder how long we've been traveling.

"Liam." I reach out to him through mindlink.

"Babe!" He shouts back. I hear shouting from outside the wagon as it stops moving. Then the back flap opens and there's Liam with a huge smile on his face.

"Thank goddess you're awake. I thought you'd never wake up!" Liam says as he jumps in the wagon and wraps me in a big bear hug.

I'm still a little stiff so it's difficult for me to hug him back. But man he smells so good. I close my eyes and just savor the embrace. I feel our mate bond relax my muscles.

"I missed you Em." Liam says as he pulls away. He kisses me gently on my lips. Then he offers me a hand and I slowly stand up.

Wow that hug helped a lot.

Liam pulls me in for another hug and squeezes me tightly. I hug him back this time and breathe in his scent again.

"I'm so glad you are awake." He pulls back. "How are you feeling?"

"Thirsty." I admit in a strained croaky voice.

"Haha I bet your hungry too! Come on, let's get you some water and something to eat." Liam helps me out of the wagon. My mom is there and wraps me in a hug.

"Oh my dear. I was worried sick about you." She holds me firmly. I hug her back and rest with her a moment. I hear people talk about stopping for lunch. Fires get started and people start to unpack some food. "How are you feeling?"

"Thirsty and hungry." My stomach growls.

"Of course you are. Come on." My mom and Liam take me to a seat and give me water. I drink the cold liquid and savor every drop.

"Better?" Liam asks.

"Much." I say when I'm done. I look around and the scenery has changed a lot. The terrain is rougher and more rocky. And there are a lot of hills and small mountains. "How long was I asleep?" I ask.

"Two days." Liam says.

I try to calculate how much longer we have in the journey but I give up before I even start. My brain is too tired for math right now.

"How much longer before we get to Millerborg?" I ask.

"We should be there tomorrow." My mom says. Hiroen and Miranda are walking over to us.

"Do you remember what happened?" My mom asks.

"I remember the attack. I remember using magic to throw a wolf against a tree. I remember Carmen getting hit." I pause because I know she did not survive that.

"I remember getting mad and using magic to open the ground, but I don't remember much else after that." I say. I see Cyran making his way over to us now.

"You took out everyone. But you kept going. It was like you were in a trance. Cyran pulled you out of it, but then you blasted him across the field. Your eyes were cloudy and then you just fainted." Liam tells me.

"I'm sorry Cyran. I don't even remember doing that." I say.

"No harm done ducky. I'm just glad you are alright." Cyran smiles at me.

"How many did we lose?" I ask. They all look sad.

"We ended up losing six. Twelve, wounded, including you." Miranda says.

"I'm so sorry." I say.

"Hey, listen to me. More people probably would have died if you hadn't done the earthquake spell." Miranda says matter of factly.

"How did they even replace us?" I ask.

"We believe they had scouts watching us since we left the cabin." Hiroen explains.

"Lunch is ready. Let's eat before we have to head out again." Liam says. He helps me up and we all grab some soup. We sit and eat together and catch up on everything that's going on. Everyone insists I continue to ride in the wagon to gather my strength I don't fight them on it. I could use the rest I still feel exhausted. I spent the rest of the day in the wagon. Liam would pop in to see me every now and then. We would talk for a bit, before he'd have to go back. It helped pass the time. I'm getting bored in this wagon.

Night eventually fell and the wagon came to a halt. I climbed out and helped my mom cut up some meats and bread that we passed around for dinner. After that we made camp and went to bed. Liam and I spent all night cuddling. I wasn't very tired since, ya know, I slept for two whole days and then napped most of the day today, but I got in a few hours. We should be reaching the mountain tomorrow, and I'm so excited.

Morning comes and I'm ready to walk but they all insist on me staying in the wagon. Great. I'm back in the wagon, bouncing around. After a few hours of complete boredom, the wagon rolls to a halt. I poke my head out to see why we stopped. I step out of the wagon and turn. In the distance I see a large mountain that stands above the rest. It is snow capped. I can see the city on the east side of the mountain and a large wall covering the south side. "We made it." I say.