The Contrary Mate

Aura

I shivered in Jack’s arms. The moment when Jack had thrown me from the vehicle replayed over and over in my mind. The feeling like I had been lost in the empty void, no life but me and the feel of terror closing in on me, and only his instructions telling me to fly ringing in my head. I had flown, up, and then over, and I had clipped my leg on something hard and metal. My shin ached, but I didn’t care because so many worse things had happened this night.

I hadn’t been able to see the accidents, but I had been able to hear the screeching tires and the smashing of metal and synthetics, and the wailing cries of suffering.

And worst of all, I had been able to feel the life as it left the bodies of the accident victims. And not just there, the absence of life, the void where it had been, hung in the air, making the city feel oppressively empty, worse than before.

I had been able to still feel Jack through our bond, and that was the only thing that had kept me calm. He was alive, and a million other things that I felt as well, so I flew to a building and felt my way along to somewhere I could perch while I tried not to disturb him. He could see better in the dark. He would find me.

The relief when he spoke to me, and the further relief when I slipped down into his arms was the greatest comfort I had ever known. Maybe I should have argued, I could have maybe flown if I held onto him, but I just wanted to touch him too much to resist. And now we were here in his office. The buzz in my head ebbed and flowed more strongly now that I was able to sit and focus on it. I leaned my elbows on the desk and put my head in my hands.

I could see a bit by a lone candle they had apparently found in some emergency kit, and I could hear what they were saying but most of the words made no sense, even the ones that maybe should have. Ee-em-pees, remote data servers, Far-a-day cages? I didn’t know. I did hear that someone had gotten past their security, that the few oblivious humans who were working had been encouraged to stay and had been moved to the safest location in the building, while everyone in the know was trying to figure out what had happened.

“Seems a large coincidence that someone hacked our systems and got into the building at the same time as everything went down,” Jack commented grimly.

“It does,” another agreed. It was a pack member, I could feel him in a fainter way than I could feel Jack. It was comforting that they were there, too. Maybe this was what the pack meant.

Jack’s attention wandered back to me. “Aura, what’s wrong?”

“It’s just a buzzing in my head. At first I thought it was magic, but...” I trailed off. “Maybe it is magic.” It didn’t feel like any magic I knew, but it felt like it on some level. “And it’s getting stronger.”

I swallowed, hard as another wave brushed over me. Jack kissed my head. “It’s likely related.” He looked at me again. “Aura, do you think it’s getting stronger, or maybe you’re getting closer?”

I stared at him, his handsome face flickering in the light of the solitary flame. “Maybe.”

Lenora was excited. “Maybe we can find the intruder, if she helps us.”

“It’s possible,” Jack agreed, although he did not feel happy about it.

“I’ll try,” I said before he could try to coddle me. “I don’t know what happened, but this is really bad. People died, I can feel it.”

Jack rubbed my arm and I leaned into the touch. He mind linked the pack members, and gave a bunch of orders, including fetching the two human witches who remained in the building and told them where to meet up.

“Once we find them, I want you to get away, Aura.”

I didn’t argue, although I also wasn’t sure that I would blindly obey. I was his mate, not his subordinate. But I wouldn’t worry him with that potentially irrelevant fact.

He went to carry me, but I disagreed. I could walk, and if things got dangerous I could also fly. I conjured my dim light, and even the werewolves seemed relieved by it. Maybe I should have done it sooner, but I hadn’t been thinking.

With the group following me, I began to walk, not sure which way to go. It took time to navigate, but we gradually went ever higher.

“Don’t tell me they’re on the roof,” complained one of the unknown pack members with a groan.

“We already check up there,” Lenora said. “There were no scents, no trace. But maybe magical shenanigans.”

The witches had joined our party, and the one, a young woman, glanced at us for clarification.

Jack explained in an undertone. “We believe the problem is up there. Do you feel any magic?”

“It doesn’t work that way, but we can check.”

I didn’t complain. We climbed the access stairs to the roof. It was clearly meant only for maintenance and other similar tasks, and I stayed behind Jack while the witches worked together. The wind hit my face and the buzzing in my head continued, but I gradually began to feel something else besides the urban emptiness...life. Besides our group, the rooftop was not deserted.

And before I could tell Jack what I felt, the ward fell, and more than a dozen figures were shown in the moonlight. There was clear movement from a few of them towards us. I couldn’t make them out, and without conscious thought, I flared the small light I was holding as bright as I could make it. It wasn’t that bright, but it was enough.

I stared, and familiar eyes looked back at me.