Even if Jett had turned into a wolf, there would be some kind of combat happening. The silence was eerie, and made Selene panic. What if something had happened to Jett? He was but one wolf against however many people. He could have been hurt, and she had run like a coward. Selene looked at herself in the mirror.
“You’ve got this,” she told her reflection as she grabbed a bottle of shampoo from the shower.
The bottle was full and heavy. It wouldn’t do damage to whoever she hit with it, but it might stun them a bit to be hit by a household item. She was sure she looked as silly as she felt as she left the safety of the bathroom. She aimed the bottle of shampoo ahead of her, ready to smash it on anyone's head.
She rounded the corner back into the bedroom, squinting against the tear gas.
No one was there.
Jett’s clothes were still on the ground, but that didn’t surprise her. She was sure he had shifted, and he had already been naked, so his clothes wouldn’t have shredded in the transformation.
Confusion and panic were both begging for control of her reactions, but she didn’t know which directions to go into. Confusion might lead to asking the right kinds of questions to find Jett. Panic, however soothing in the moment, might only lead to more problems.
Through the dissipating gas, Selene quickly slid on a pair of pants and a shirt. There was no way she was facing the Order of Salem buck ass naked. Next, she took Jett’s phone off the nightstand and she quickly formulated a plan to head to the kitchen to grab a better weapon.
With shaking fingers, she scrolled through the phone contacts until she saw Carson’s phone number. She hoped he would pick up and immediately get help to Jett wherever he was.
As she made her way to the kitchen, the phone kept ringing and ringing for Carson. With a large butcher knife in her hands, Selene felt a little better. She also grabbed a bottle of water in case she decided to do a bit of magic against the witch hunters. She slipped on a pair of shoes and slowly went down the steps.
Knife out in front of her, she felt just as silly as she had with the shampoo bottle. It wasn’t like she knew how to use it. As she crept toward the larger community of the wolf pack, Selene tried Carson’s phone again.
Voicemail. Again.
She could only hope it was because he was already helping
Then from behind, arms squeezed her against a chest, lifting her off the ground. As she thrashed against her captor, she looked around. She tried to get a good gauge of how many there were. Only one witch hunter was holding her. That was something.
They were alone. Good. That meant she could do some damage before he called over his idiot buddies. Selene closed her eyes and took a deep breath in hopes of aiming true.
With as much strength as she could muster, Selene swung the knife past her side. The edge of the blade met with something soft, and Selene couldn’t even think about the fact that she had just stuck a knife in someone’s stomach.
She was immediately dropped. She lost hold of the knife, which was probably for the best. Whoever had caught her made a terrible gurgle sound.
“She’s here!” the man yelled, his voice booming through the air. “She’s getting away.”
Selene looked back to see a man clutching his large tummy. She doubted she had done much damage to his sizable body. He was shouting dirty things at her, swearing he was going to gut her before setting her body on fire. She really didn’t want to stick around to hear what other threats he could come up with. Especially not since he kept on shouting the witch was getting away.
Her eyes searching, Selene knew they would expect her to follow the road into the small wolf pack housing area. If she wanted to stay hidden, she would have to go deep into the small wooded clearing until she got to the water. The ocean was about a thousand yards away. She would have to run through brush, but she had to try.
With as much speed as her legs would allow, she bolted for the line of trees. She had to figure that if she just kept running in a straight line, she would eventually hit the water. All around her the sound of snapping brush and shouts echoed through the trees. She could hear them, calling out profanities to her.
Chants of “Get the witch” were followed by “Kill the witch.”
That was soon replaced by “Let’s burn her back to where she belongs,” and then, “Fire her up with the wolves.”
“Kill them all.”
Selene’s heart clenched.
Nope. Not on her watch.
Her lungs were aching with the strain of running, but she kept on pushing, using all of the energy she had buried inside her. There was only one shot for her survival. She had to get the hell away from the Order of Salem and get herself to the shoreline. Now that the witch hunters were on the Marblehead pack lands, there was no reason for her to not do magic. She could do all of the magic she was capable of doing.
She just had to hope it would be enough to save her.
Finally, the sound of the ocean met her ears, and she felt lightened. It spurred her on. She ran straight onto the rocky beach and into the frigid oceanic water, ignoring the cold and the way it cut her air supply as she stepped farther onto the shoreline. The tips of her fingers met the waves and she pleaded with the water to protect her. To rise and defend her against the witch hunters.
The pebbles and rocks under her feet began to tremble. That couldn’t be good. Selene didn’t want to cause a natural disaster, but she did need to save the pack. She needed to make sure the mob couldn’t hurt anyone, witch or wolf alike.
The oceanic water was so cold, it was difficult for her to breathe. Her skin was pinching and aching from the frigid temperature, but she had to move past all of that. There were people who needed saving. Her people, both the witches and the shifters.
Ignoring the effect of the freezing water on her, Selene dropped to her knees, the water reaching her shoulders. She placed her hands on the ocean floor and closed her eyes. She knew that doing this much magic would be dangerous. Not just unsafe, but it would completely deplete her of magic for a while.
If she was going to do this, she had to make it count. With a deep breath, she started asking the water to form a wave. She didn’t know a spell for it, so she was just witch, kneeling in the ocean, begging it to help her save the pack and the witches.
The water was unmoved and unresponsive. The waves lapped at her back like she was nothing more than a silly statute sitting there. Like the waves could erode her away. But Selene would have none of that. She was a water witch, for fuck’s sake, and she was going to use her magic to help.
Gritting her teeth against her chattering jaw, she inhaled deeply and spoke to the water again.
“There is danger,” she said to the waves. “Danger that threatens me and the people I love. I need your help.”
The members of the Order of Salem were running toward the water. There were so many of them. Just to take her away? Time was running out, and Selene couldn’t feel the waves around her responding.
“Come on,” she grunted. “They’re right there, and they’re going to kill me.”
The ocean floor suddenly gave a massive groan and the ground shook so violently, Selene was pitched backward. As the water pulled away from the shore, it built itself into a large, threatening wave. It hovered in the air for a few seconds, a huge wall of solid water, sparkling in the sunlight.
As the witch hunters reached the wet beach, they came to a sliding halt, staring at the impossible sight. The wall crashed down on the shore, taking them and Selene into the undertow.