"WHAT?!" Ashlynn yelled as she spun towards Laura. How could she be so stupid?! Magic was the worst thing to—
Ashlynn's blue eyes widened, her head whipping forward as she cursed her own temper and prepared for battle.
Except that the men didn't turn. They hadn't heard her outburst.
"You used a concealing spell?"
"I had to, Ash, to keep us safe." Laura shifted from foot to foot, refusing to meet her eyes.
"You're a fucking idiot," Ashlynn ground out, doing her best to even her breathing. "The leader is a wolf, Laura."
Laura swore. The men may not be able to pinpoint exactly where they were hidden due to the spell, but the wolf could smell the traces of Laura's magic. It was the exact reason why Ashlynn hadn't just rushed in guns blazing —using magic always left a trackable scent.
"Magic users?" One of the men questioned, cold eyes scanning the immediate area surrounding them, trying to locate the duo within the trees.
"One of them," the leader slowly turned. Maria struggled in the arms of her captors, the news giving her hope.
"A hunting party?" The men looked around nervously. They may have had a shifter, but a hunting party of witches could easily take them out.
"Too little for that," the wolf stated, baring his teeth. "Which means this girl is definitely human."
"You're sure?" The third glanced at Maria, uncertainty making him frown.
The wolf nodded. "Too small for a hunting party and only one magic user? Yeah. Probably some humans taken in by a coven for protection. Only a stolen witch would warrant a hunting party, so this is probably the girl's friends, which means that the coven doesn't know they've left, especially if they were stupid enough to use magic."
Ashlynn swore. The wolves were getting smarter —someone must have been feeding them inside knowledge.
A traitor among her coven members seemed unlikely, but they weren't the only ones in the area, and they had been taking in more wayward witches as of late.
"How close?"
"Not very," the shifter grinned. "They won't have a strong magic user, so it'll be a fairly low-tier spell. I should be able to take the witch out easily."
Ash snorted. "Bunch of idiots."
It was true that Laura was stupid to have used her magic, but it might have been their saving grace. The men were clearly underestimating them, despite the apparent increase in knowledge over a coven's inner workings. Laura would be free to use attack magic while Ashlynn fought with her bow and knives. It also meant that they'd only see Laura as a real threat, which meant that Ash could pass as an afterthought during the battle.
"Ash, we should take them out before they leave the forest."
"Obviously," Ashlynn rolled her eyes. "They'll be meeting up with others past the tree line. How much longer will your spell hold?"
"As long as I need it to, at least until we separate."
Ash nodded. "Okay. You deal with the men and grab Maria. Make a run for it as soon as she's free. I'll take down the wolf."
"Ash, that's—"
"What, Laura? Not safe?" Ashlynn rolled her eyes. Safe went out the window the second that her friend decided to use magic. "He's going to be gunning for you, so it'll be easier if I take him out. They think that I'm human, so worst case scenario, if I get captured, is that they take me wherever they were taking Maria. The nearest pack is too far away for them to make it to their territory before nightfall, so I'll escape when they stop for the night if need be."
Laura grabbed Ashlynn's wrist before she could move away. "Hide your mark, then. If you get captured and they see it you'll be screwed."
"Fine," Ash grumbled as she pulled up her long-sleeved shirt to reveal the small swirling black design that decorated her hip. New age magic users were lucky to be unmarked by their magic, but Ashlynn had been raised from birth as a witch, the small mark identifying her to anyone who saw it.
Before The Awakening, she'd been able to pass the mark off as a tattoo, but now far too many were able to sense the magic pulsing within the dark swirls, so clearly setting it apart from any normal ink.
She paused, huffing in frustration as she stared at her skin. "You do it. If I hide it, the wolf will smell that I've used magic."
Laura nodded before pressing her hand against Ashlynn's skin, her palm covering the mark as she muttered under her breath. Ash's skin tingled as Laura's magic danced over it, concealing her birthmark.
"Don't get caught," Laura whispered as she pulled her hand back, looking at her best friend with worry.
Ashlynn nodded. "Don't get killed."
"I'll do my best," Laura smiled softly, trying to garner the same confidence as her friend.
"Okay, once again on the count of three." Laura nodded as they slowly began to move apart, waiting for Ashlynn's cue. "One. Two. Three!"
They rushed from their hiding spots, Ashlynn making a beeline for the large shifter as Laura dove for Maria, using her magic to entrap the men with tree branches and vines.
The wolf snarled, surprise flashing across his face as he dropped to the ground, preparing to shift. Ash ran into his side, knocking them both to the ground before the process could begin, halting his transformation.
A shifter in their human form was much easier to handle than an intelligent animal with sharp teeth and claws.
Ashlynn scrambled to her knees, eyes searching for her bow, cursing that it had been knocked from her hand when they hit the ground. It had landed not too far away, and she launched towards it only to be grabbed by her ankle and yanked back towards the snarling wolf.
"Fucking bitch!" The wolf growled, snapping at Ashlynn as the blonde kicked him in the face with her free leg.
Like hell was she going down without a fight. Ashlynn struggled with the wolf, fighting to gain the upper hand again as she was pinned beneath him. That was the one thing she hated the most about shifters —they were strong as fuck. She hadn't even had a chance to reach for the blade adorning her hip.
Ash fought against the wolf's hold only to have the wind knocked out of her as she was punched in the stomach and flipped over, the shifter's knee pressing hard into her back to hold her down. She winced as her hands were wrenched up behind her, a large hand encasing her wrists as her scarf was torn from her head, revealing her face.
Ashlynn glanced around, trying to remain calm as she realized that the other two men were picking themselves up from the ground, wincing in pain. Laura had managed to escape with Maria.
"Fuck!" One of the men swore, rubbing at his shoulder. "The witch stole the girl. We don't have anything to deliver now."
"On the contrary," the wolf smirked as he leaned down over Ashlynn and inhaled deeply, sending a shiver of fear down her spine. "We've got something even better."