I heard a familiar voice cry out behind me. Mira. I ran through the forest as fast as I could toward it, sidestepping the burning areas, while fear bubbled up inside of me. I'd wanted her here, and if she died, I would never forgive myself.
I stumbled into a clearing a short distance away from the smoke, where the fire hadn't reached yet. Mira was in her human form, while her mate was beside her in wolf form and covered in blood, defending her against another wolf. At the sight of me running toward them with a moonbeam in my palm, the enemy wolf darted off into the woods, and Mira let out a small cry of relief. She stumbled toward me, and I noticed she was limping.
“Oh, I'm so glad you're all right,” she said and embraced me.
I hugged her tight with a lump in my throat, before drawing back to look her over. For her, it had been only minutes, but for me, it had been an eternity since I'd seen her. Dirt and blood smudged her olive skin and her long black hair was tangled with a few leaves in it. “Are you okay?” I asked.
Mira grimaced as she moved her leg. I noticed a long slash in her jeans, still sluggishly oozing blood, even though it had begun to heal already. “I'm in better shape than Aiden,” she said, motioning toward her mate, who struggled to remain standing on all four paws.
"You're safe now. I can get you to the others and they'll heal you up." I grabbed Mira with one hand and then rested my other on Aiden's back. As soon as I transported them both back to the clearing, I yelled out, "We need healing!"
Harper and Dane immediately came forward to help them. Kaden started toward me, but I teleported back before he could stop me. Wesley was still out there, and I'd be damned if I was leaving him again.
The fire was already worse when I returned. I said a quick prayer to Selene, since it seemed like she might actually be listening, and set off looking for any other survivors. A quick magical shield blocked me from the smoke and fire as I searched, but all I found were the dead, some torn apart by claws, others burnt and blackened by Sun Witch magic.
Then I caught the briefest trail of a familiar wolf scent. Wesley.
I found him surrounded by fire, fighting with another wolf—a Leo. They were both injured, neither able to get the upper hand, and the flames were getting closer with every second that passed, caging them in. I blasted cold at the area around them, hoping to keep it at bay, and that distracted the Leo wolf enough for Wesley to knock it down, sinking his teeth into its neck. The Leo let out a last, shuddering breath before stilling.
I ran toward my brother, holding back a cry of relief at the sight of him still alive. I dropped down and wrapped my arms around his furry neck, hugging him tightly. He panted heavily and I saw blood all over his fur, but he nuzzled his head against me, showing he was relieved to see me too.
For a few seconds I considered searching for others, but there was no point. The fire burned almost too hot to handle around us, and there were dead shifters and a few red-cloaked Sun Witches lying on the ground everywhere. There was no sign of Evanora or her daughter though—they must have fled before it got bad.
"Let's get out of here," I said. But just before I could teleport, Wesley's ears perked up.
He jerked his head toward the south, and I heard it then too—the sound of someone sobbing. Shit. Who else was out here? I shared a glance with Wesley, and we started moving toward the sound as one.
A naked female crouched above a fallen shifter, crying and rocking back and forth. It took me a moment to realize it was Eileen, the female beta of the Sagittarius pack—and Kaden's former lover. She was hardly recognizable under the blood and dirt covering her. Then I caught sight of the dead shifter she was hugging. Her mate.
“We have to go,” I said, leaning down and shaking Eileen's shoulder. She glanced up at me, her eyes filled with tears. She shook her head violently, her fingers curled into the fur of her dead mate's body a bit tighter.
“I'd rather die here,” she sobbed, the words hardly coherent. “At least I'll be with him.”
I tried to pull her to her feet, but she was strong and wouldn't let go of his body. "Eileen, it's not safe here. He would want you to keep living. Please come with us."
Eileen shook her head even more violently. “No, I just want to be with him. You don't understand. I've lost half my soul...”
Wesley shifted back to his human form and frowned at her, clearly unable to understand her desire to simply die. But then again, he didn't know what it was like to have a mate. If I hadn't carried the hope of saving Kaden in my chest, I wouldn't have survived my time in Lunatera either.
"We need to go," he said.
The fire was starting to close in around us, and I didn't want to be here when it started consuming the bodies. As much as Eileen didn't want to leave her mate, I doubted she actually wanted to die here. As a Sagittarius, she wouldn't actually be hurt by the fire—but then again, neither would the Aries or Leo shifters, and there was no telling who else might find her here. Besides, I owed it to the Sagittarius pack and to Kaden to get her out of there safely. She would have to deal with her grief later, but there was nothing I could do about that.
I tore off my clothes and tossed them to Wesley, then shifted into wolf form. Before Eileen had a chance to understand what was going on, I sank my teeth into her shoulder and bit down, releasing my Ophiuchus poison. She let out a scream and struggled, trying to free herself, and I let her go. She scrambled away, looking wildly between Wesley and me like we were the enemy.
Wesley held his hands out in supplication. “We're just trying to help you."
She snarled but then keeled over to the side, passed out cold. I sniffed at her to make sure she was still alive, and then shifted back.
Wesley handed me back my clothes but stared at Eileen the entire time. “Do you think she'll hate us when she wakes up?”
“Probably. But I'd never be able to live with myself if we left her.” I didn't have time to get dressed—the flames roared closer, unbearably hot. We had to leave now.
My brother stepped forward and picked her up easily in his arms, even though he was still hurt. Like a true alpha. "Me either."
I grabbed onto Wesley and teleported us away. Once we were in the safe zone, Wesley laid Eileen gently on the ground and I donned my clothes again. Kaden's head snapped to face us, and though he glanced at Eileen's prone form, it was me he came toward.
“Are you hurt?” His eyes were worried, and my heart softened as he ran his hands over my shoulders.
“I'm fine. The blood isn't mine."
Kaden called for Harper and Dane to check on Wesley and Eileen before he took my elbow and led me farther into the woods. Mira and Aiden were resting on a log while speaking with the Pisces alpha, and I spotted Jack standing with the Libra alpha, Ethan. I was relieved to see a few other shifters with them too. Not enough though.
“Did anyone else make it?” I asked.
"No," Kaden said, his voice low.
Jack looked up with tired, dead eyes. “The Capricorn beta is dead. I tried to save him, but..." He shook his head.
I swallowed hard. We'd lost so many today, and there was no way I could go back and search for any more survivors. The fire had grown too intense, and now that I'd stopped moving, a bone-deep ache settled in my body. I'd overextended my powers, even with all of the rigorous training I'd done.