The Almost One Night Stand

Chapter 44

Marc's POV

Letting her walk away from us was the single hardest thing I've ever done. Gabe was about to lose his mind, pulling at his hair and crying in the back seat while I drove and Victor pulled up the tracker on his phone. We had the rest of the guys on a conference call on my phone. "Do you have her location yet?" North asked. I could hear him trying to keep his voice level and not yell. "When you know, tell me and I can teleport to her."

"I don't think that's a good idea, man," I said, "We can't risk it. We need to get the layout first and make sure that crazy lady doesn't have the Yew anywhere near her."

Victor grunted, "Yeah, from what Melody described and my brief research, Yew trees are toxic as hell. People have died just from scratches that let the oil into the bloodstream. It can cause fatal cardiac reactions in less than a day if the dose is high enough. There's no antidote."

"Victor's right. I even double-checked with Phil," Sean added, "We can't risk going in blind."

We parked a couple of miles from where the tracker had stopped. "Corey, can you link to Vic's feed?" I asked.

"Already on it," he replied.

"We're going silent," I told them all, turning off my phone. We approached the building, going around the perimeter. There didn't seem to be any cameras or surveillance of any kind. Then again, we were dealing with magic, so maybe that wasn't necessary. It only took us a few moments to find the garage door, Nimue had described. There was a smaller door next to it that wasn't even locked. I looked at Gabe and Victor - This doesn't seem right. They both nodded in agreement. We went further down, finding a higher window we could look in.

It was empty. No SUV, no people, no Nimue. Nothing, but the tracker still showed she was here. We wandered the hall she had described, searching each room until we were standing on top of the signal. It was a plain room with a bed and nothing else. I ran my hands over the sheets thinking maybe the tracker had fallen out, but still nothing.

We walked back out where the garage was. "This doesn't make sense," I muttered to myself. There was a loud crashing sound and in a blink of light, everyone suddenly appeared before us. Luke's face was twisted in rage, his fist clenched.

"Luke?" Gabe whispered.

"She's here. They're using dark magic to hide her," he said in a deadly tone, "Follow me." He grabbed Gabe's hand and swiftly walked back towards the room we had just left. The door flew open without him even touching it and he stormed inside, yelling, "Shine solas ar an draíocht anseo." (Shine light on the magic here.) We all gasped when the air seemed to shimmer and pull back like a curtain. Nimue was laying on the bed I had just patted down, with a man in woolen robes bent over her. He held her head between his hands and had his forehead pressed to hers. The woman from the mall stood nearby smiling creepily as she watched Nimue. Finally, the Pooka leaned against the bedframe saying horrible things, but not touching her.

"Get the fuck away from my wife!" Luke roared and sent a blast of energy across the room. The Pooka and the woman flew into the wall, but the other man remained untouched. He raised his head and my stomach flipped. His eyes looked as if they had been gouged out and then sewn shut. He gave Luke a horrid grin, then put his head against Nimue again. "Fealltóir an dlí. Beidh tú a chaitheamh eternity sa grove do do coireanna." (Betrayer of the law. You will spend eternity in the grove for your crimes.), Luke told him as he crossed the room and lifted the man by his neck. He placed a hand across the man's missing eyes and a bright light shone from his hands. The man screamed as if he were being burned alive as Luke let him crumple to the floor. Raven and Brandon dragged the man away from Nimue and restrained him. The Pooka had managed to inch his way to the door and tried to escape, but Corey tackled him, as Victor began to restrain him as well as the others with vines.

We watched as Luke bent over Nimue, softly stroking her hair and forehead. "Come back to us, love," he begged softly. "It isn't real, little one." He cradled her head much like the other man had done, tears running down his cheeks as he pressed his forehead to hers. His body tensed as a soft light began to wrap around both of their bodies.

"How is that possible?" Nate gasped, pointing at her swollen belly. "She didn't even have a baby bump this morning." He was right. She had only been missing a few hours, but her stomach looked like months had passed. What the fuck did they do to her?

Luke spent hours covering her in magic, even having all of us that were marked lay hands on her and direct our energy. Sean asked about his blood, but there were no physical injuries to consider. Suddenly, Kota's voice rang out, "Take her to Faerie. Call Jax and take her so that the Goddess can help her. Her aunt won't be able to hurt her in Faerie."

Gabe blinked, "How the fuck do you know that?"

Kota smiled and lifted his shirt, revealing his mark, "Hazel."

Author's Notes: Yew trees really are toxic and cause deaths in humans and animals alike. There really is NO antidote. Stay away from them - they're cemetery trees for a reason, my lovelies.

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