Chapter 43: Chapter Forty-Two

It was a short trip back to the village, “Is there food left?” I mind linked Jace.

“Yep. We’ll bring it out.”

I set the basket down in the middle of the square and tossed the hunter a bit haphazardly just before I shifted. I opened the door on the basket Jax fell out first, “I’m never flying with you again. That was awful. I’ll be keeping four paws on the ground from here on out,” he laid out on his back.

I looked from him to Alanza with a raised eyebrow, “Don’t give me that look. He was your best friend before he was my mate. I think we both know who’s at fault for his behavior. Here’s a hint: it’s not me.”

“I would blame his mother but he doesn’t act like this around her. He knows better. Maybe we can blame Charlie or maybe I should just kick his ass a little more and he’ll start acting right?” I said as we started unloading people.

Fox ran up with my clothes and Johnny immediately growled. I kept Fox behind me turning to Johnny growling involuntarily. He shrunk and looked away from me, “I’m so sorry. I shouldn’t have come up like that. I keep forgetting you guys can smell that I’m human. After what you’ve been through I should’ve thought that through. I’m sorry.”

I grabbed my clothes from him, “Can you go grab some extra clothes for them? I should have some nice soft shirts in my bag and Jace usually carries some in his as well.” He looked crestfallen but set off on his task, “I’m sorry Johnny, that was an involuntary reaction. Fox is my mate and Niamh is very protective of him, and I’m getting there. There are humans here that have no ill intentions toward you. They ended up here because of Joseph. Please be civil. Civil is all I ask for the next few hours.”

“Why just the next few hours?” Claire asked.

“You guys are going to Virginia on the first plane. We have a couple of healers set up to give you guys top notch care. The most severe cases are flying out in a few hours,” I replied, while putting on the clothes Fox brought me.

“What about everyone else?” Johnny asked.

“We’re going to Brazil, where Alanza’s clan is, and from there we will all get on a bigger plane than the one we originally brought down.” Jace walked up with the clothes I sent Fox for, “Why didn’t Fox bring these?”

He shrugged and started handing out the clothes he brought, but after a moment he went stock still. His back was to me but I could tell he was scenting the air. He walked cautiously up to Finley, and I could tell by the look in her eyes she was terrified but there was that part of her that told her she found her mate and that excited her too. He fell to his knees at her feet, his head in his hands, “I’m so sorry,” he kept repeating it over and over. She had tears running down her face as she went to her knees and touched his cheek, wiping away the tears that had fallen. He looked at her in wonder, “How can you accept me? After everything you’ve been through.”

She put her hand to his heart and patted it gently. “She’s saying you have a good heart,” Claire translated for her, and she nodded.

“You can’t speak.” She shook her head, “My name is Jace. What’s yours?”

She looked heartbroken, but then she looked down at the ground and slowly wrote, “Finley,” in the dirt.

“Finley,” he gave her a small smile, “May I touch you?” Fear flashed in her eyes, “no, no, no, not like that. Just on the cheek, hand, anywhere you’ll allow.” She took a moment to debate and once she made up her mind, she grabbed his hand and pressed it to her cheek. He leaned forward and pressed his forehead to hers. He let out a sigh and his body relaxed, “thank you. No matter how long we need to wait, know I can wait.”

She took his head in her hands and brought her lips down on his forehead. She let go of his head and pulled his chin up so that he was looking at her. She took her hand and placed it on his lips, then patted her heart gently.

I gave Jace a pat on the shoulder as I passed walking to the hunter who was starting to wake up, he looked around, “Let me go filth or you’ll be sorry.”

“Call me filth one more time and it’s you that’ll be sorry,” I said to him.

“Filth,” he said to me and I smiled.

I reached out to the water in his body, latching onto it and raising the temperature slowly, until he was screaming. “Alive, Amaya, you want him to be alive,” Jax said in my ear.

I turned to him and a disgusted scoff came out of my mouth, “Go put a shirt on and mind your own business.” He let out a chuckle, and I responded with a sigh releasing my hold on the hunter, “Happy?”

“Very,” he said, moving on to check on the wolf from the camp.

I picked up the hunter who passed out, thankfully, and headed for the cells. I put him at the very back of the cells, locking his chains through the bars at the very back of the cell. “Catch you a nice little human, niece? Did you have fun with the hunters?”

“I did, actually. I killed them all, except for one. I can’t wait to see your head roll for all the things you’ve done to my people.”

“Don’t count me out just yet. I still have all the way back to Virginia to escape.”

I smiled, “Okay, if you think you can, have a go at it.” He growled, but didn’t say anything.