Tainted roots

The Beach houses were built on a two-mile strip of beach separating the ocean and the lake—which sat between the elemental territory and the blood mage territory. The sounds of crashing waves filled the air, creating a relaxing and soothing atmosphere. Well, it would’ve, had it not been for the fighting. I could now add how fucking difficult it was to run on sand, to the long list of reasons I hated sand. By the time we came across the fighting, I was already breathing harder than I should’ve. I wasn’t able to get a good look at the houses dotting the beach, other than the fact they were made of light-colored wood, and were raised on stilts.

A man held a woman’s hands behind her back as he held her in place. Another woman was up in her face, growling as she asked questions I was too far away to hear. Over twenty feet away from them, was a man trying to make it to the trapped woman, but three other men were in his way. They were brutal in their attack. He was just barely able to fend them off, but wouldn’t last long.

Just as I started running toward him to help, a pair of arms banded around my waist and yanked me back. Koa spun me around to face him, his face thunderous. “Stay here.”

My mouth popped open at his audacity. How dare he tell me what to do. I wasn’t the wait behind and let others do the all the hard work type. And if he thought I was, he clearly didn’t know me. “Absolutely not! I came here to help, not to sit around on my hands!”

I was pretty sure I saw his eye twitch. “Damn Jade! I can’t do this if I’m worrying about you the whole time.”

If my hackles weren’t raised before, they were now. “It’s not your job to worry about me, you made that pretty damn clear.” Rather than wait to see if my words got a reaction out of him, I spun around and took off.

I was still a good distance away from the fighting. Everyone else hadn’t stopped like we had and were closing in on the fighting. Harmony was aiming for the trapped woman, using her Earth magic to have the interrogator sinking in the sand. Parker joined her, sending the man flying. The man quickly recovered and charged Parker.

Seth was running so fast, he was nearly a blur as he plowed into one of the other three men.

As I neared the fighting, I was finally able to clearly see their faces and I gasped in shock. Their entire eyes were pitch black, as were the veins showing beneath their pale and nearly translucent skin. Not only did the veins branch out around their eyes, but down their necks.

This was far from normal and nowhere near what I’d been expecting to find. What the hell happened to them?

Stupidly, I thought we had this all under control. Seth had turned the tides, making the fight more even. Harmony and Parker were holding their own against their opponents. The woman that was being questioned, was now hunched over in the sand, looking relatively unharmed. Things seemed to be going our way.

I was nearly fifteen feet away when the wind picked up, reminding me of when we were in the wastelands. A shudder ran down my spine at the reminder, but this wasn’t the wastelands, I still had my wolf and wasn’t exhausted.

A torrential downpour came out of nowhere soaking me instantly. I slowed to a stop as I caught sight of a new person through the sheets of rain. They ducked under Parker’s attack and swiped their leg under the next man’s feet, knocking him to the ground. Once he was down, they punched him in the chest with a glowing blue hand. They didn’t give him a second look as they lunged at the woman. I wiped my hands across my blurring vision, struggling to make out details through all this rain.

Whoever this stranger was, they punched the woman in the chest with the same glowing hand. Whatever they did, it had her collapsing. I couldn’t understand what the hell was happening, and as a result, my feet were rooted in place.

One moment, they were near Harmony, and the next they were fighting the three men. Sometime while I was watching this stranger knock out the others, Koa joined the fight. A crack of thunder filled the air, making me clasp my hands over my ears as it began raining even harder. To the point, the rain now hurt my skin as it pelted me. As a result, it was even harder for me to make out what was happening.

A sharp flash of pain trailed through the bond into me. I stumbled to the side, instantly knowing Koa was hurt. Before I could process what I was doing, I ran toward the fight, not caring that I could barely see and only had a couple of daggers strapped to my thighs.

For once, I didn’t resist the bond as I followed the pull and easily found him on the outskirts of the fighting. I slid to my knees next to Koa, not caring about the wet sand, or what was going on with the others. Even in this downpour, I was able to smell his blood, my stomach turning at the thought of him being hurt. “Koa, where are you hurt?” I had to shout to be heard, my voice cracking with emotion, as my hands fumbled over his body.

Using one hand, he captured both of mine, as his other tilted my chin up to meet his gaze. I had to blink several times, my vision blurred from the rain—at least I think it was from the rain. If I weren’t so worried about him, I would’ve marveled at how he still looked gorgeous, with the water pouring down his face and plastering his clothes to his muscular body.

“What the hell were you thinking? It’s not safe, you need to go back.” I barely heard his shouted words over the weather that was anything but normal.

I was already shaking my head before he finished his words. “You’re hurt!”

His thumb swept over my cheek as a light sensation filled my chest. “I’ll heal.”

Rather than soothe my worry, his words had the opposite effect. I resumed my search of his body, finding the scent of his blood was strongest on his leg. The pelting rain was easy to ignore as I bent over his leg, trying to assess the severity of his wound.

Over the roaring winds and sheets of rain, a piercing shriek ripped through the air, forcing my hands away from Koa’s bleeding leg and pressing them to my ears. Unbearable pressure built in my head as my eardrums ruptured.

Forcing my eyes open, not remembering when I had squeezed them shut, I found Koa hunched over with his hands clasped to his ears as were the others. In the distance near the shores of the ocean, was the mysterious stranger—at least I thought it was—running toward the water and diving in. I waited for them to resurface, refusing to look away, only they never did.