Freeing Anvi

Chapter Twenty-Five

I'm pretty sure that we are going to get a ticket.

Jackson pushes the engine of the car to its limit, speeding around cars and down the highway. Throughout the ride, he continues to talk to Gemma, who sounds so panicked that it's difficult to make out what she's saying. She sometimes switches to another language, and I seriously begin to think about taking Latin when I begin school.

Evidently, the cops have no care in the world when we speed past them. Either they know who Jackson is or simply don't care. It's amusing now, to think about all the times that Alpha Banastre has been pulled over yet they let Jackson slide.

We reach the pack in record time, and Jackson doesn't give me a moment to control the landslide of vomit that swishes inside of me before we're running out of the car and towards the pack. This is one thing I can do, and I bask in the surprise that Jackson displays when I easily pass him on our way to the rising bundle of smoke and flames.

"There's so many of them!" Delia shouts when we finally make it past the coven borders. The space around her is littered with small bonfires, screaming people, and bloodshed - it makes me want to vomit. "How did this happen?" She glares at Jackson. "What did you do?"

"I didn't do anything!" Jackson defends himself. He yanks Delia out of the way before a ball of fire slams into her back. She whirls around and blocks it with a shield of wispy black light. "Anvi and I were going to the Fair and-!"

"The Fair?" Delia screeches. "Banastre and his merry men are going loony and you think that's the perfect time to have a date?!"

"Banastre was supposed to be at the fair," Jackson says through clenched teeth. Again, he tugs Delia aside and blocks the man that was galloping toward her. Although the centaur is taller than he is, Jackson is stronger, and easily flips the man aside and tosses him towards a tree. The centaur only has a moment to widen his eyes before they roll to the back of his head and he slides against the tree trunk, a sloppy line of blood following him.

"That man is truly deranged," Delia sighs. She rubs her temples. "God, why does bad luck always follow me?"

"Join the club," I grumble. My spine prickles. Spinning around, I cross my arms in front of my face and block the punch that was directed towards the back of my head. Grabbing the wrist of the woman who was prowling behind me, I twist it and hold it behind her back. She screeches and struggles against me, kicking my shins. The pain is numbed by the pressure that builds up inside of me and I continue to twist her hand until I see tears forming in her eyes. One more twist and I could have broken her wrist, but I let her go, pushing her forward and watching as she falls to the ground.

"Split up," Jackson orders from behind me. His eyes rake me, checking to make sure that I'm okay, and a wave of gratitude washes over me that he didn't try and interfere with my fight. "Take down whoever you can and try and look for Banastre at the same time."

"Got it." Delia glances at me before she darts towards the west end of the pack in a flash of dark blue light. She takes Gemma's back and grabs Vasily's hand. Together their magic creates a large dome that bursts around them, killing everyone within their vicinity.

Jackson grabs my elbow and pulls me in for a quick, fierce kiss. Between the burning of adrenaline and the fires around me, my body erupts in flames hotter than ten suns.

"Stay safe," he tells me. "And give them hell."

He waits for my confirmation, a quick nod of my head, before he's gone, slamming into a group of men accosting a child and shifting. His dark wolf takes over him and I'm momentarily stunned at the fierce combat that I witness my mate take part in. My heart flips.