Her Mythical Warriors (Book Two)
Chapter Seven: Missing Warrior

Wolfric stopped his group and sniffed the air.

“What is it?” Malique asked, watching his friend.

“I smell Akira,” Wolfric whispered. “She’s close.”

“I hope that means she’s okay,” Darius said, looking around them at the small cave they’d entered a moment before.

“This way,” Wolfric said, leading them from the cave.

“I can smell my sister,” Fin said excitedly.

The men had walked through tunnel after tunnel with no sign of the women. Now they were getting whiffs of them and knew they were getting close.

“The scent stops here,” Wolfric said, stopping in the middle of a tunnel.

He looked around them and frowned. Where was their Havent?

A screeching sound had the men turning. But Wolfric didn’t turn fast enough to avoid being attacked from behind. The body wrapping around him was familiar, and Wolfric knew who it was before she whispered into his ear.

“Got you, Wolfie.”

Wolfric grinned as he reached behind him and pulled her to face him. She secured her ankles against his back and wrapped her arms around his neck before he captured her mouth.

“You three are nuts,” Fin said, looking at his sister—who had tackled him to the floor of the cave’s tunnel.

Stella grinned down at her brother.

“Are you okay?” Leviasen asked, watching Julianne.

Julianne smiled at her prince. Her best friend for as long as she could remember.

“I’m fine. You?” she asked.

Levi nodded, “I’m good.”

Jules nodded, then turned her head from him and watched the warriors take turns passing Akira between them. When fish-boy didn’t take Akira from Darius, she felt a pang of worry deep in her gut.

“What is wrong with fish-boy?” she asked Levi.

Leviasen looked at Julianne. “Just so you know,” he whispered. “Zelious doesn’t like being called fish-boy.”

Jules snorted. “What’s wrong with the merman?”

Levi sighed, “he needed water before we came here, and now he’s worse because of the amount of sand he swallowed when we fell.”

“Shit,” Jules whispered. “How bad is it?”

“If we don’t get him to water soon, we will have a furious and crazy God after our asses.”

Jules nodded. They needed to find water, and soon.

~⚔~

Akira looked at her new warrior. It had been three hours since the guys found them, and Zelious had looked terrible then. Now he looked even worse. His skin was peeling, and his eyes were red and dry. His lips were cracked, and she knew she would lose him if they didn’t get him into a pool of water soon. She couldn’t handle that.

Not now, not ever.

“Are you okay, little one?”

Akira turned to Malique, who was watching her closely. She nodded, then turned forward, concentrating on not tripping on a rock or root. Akira squealed when a pair of large arms swooped her off her feet.

“I don’t believe you,” Malique whispered into her ear.

Akira sighed and laid her head on his shoulder. Malique said nothing else as he carried her through the tunnels.

“I’m afraid,” she finally whispered.

Malique looked down at her. “Afraid of what?”

“Losing my warrior,” Akira said, looking briefly at Zelious.

Malique looked at the merman and sighed heavily. “We all are,” he admitted.

Akira nodded and cuddled deeper into her vampire’s arms.

Wolfric overheard Akira and Malique and looked back at the new member of their group. Zelious looked worse for wear, and he was worried about what it would do to them if they lost him. He knows what it’s like to lose their Psychi. What would happen if they lost one of their fellow warriors? Akira’s mother lost all her warriors but one, and she survived it.

But how much of that story do they really know?

“Look,” Julianne said, pointing to a light ahead of them.

“Is that what I think it is?” Darius asked as they came to a stop.

“It looks like an exit from this hell,” Leviasen said, taking a step closer to the light.

“It better be,” Akira grumbled.

Malique set Akira on her feet but kept her close to his side.

“I will go first,” Wolfric said, stepping away from the group.

Wolfric placed a hand on Levi’s shoulder and pulled him back. Levi let Wolfric pull him away from the light and watched him walk forward.

Akira moved past her warriors and took hold of Wolfric’s arm before anyone could stop her. Wolfric turned and looked down at her.

“Don’t go alone,” she whispered, looking up at him.

Wolfric smiled reassuringly. “I will be fine, love. If anything comes at me, I can escape into the shadows.”

Akira frowned. She knows what’s in those shadows…

Wolfric pulled Akira into his arms and kissed her. They were both out of breath when he lifted his head from the kiss. He pressed his forehead to hers and closed his eyes.

“I will be okay,” he promised her.

She shook her head, and he leaned forward, kissing her gently.

“Trust me,” he whispered against her lips.

She nodded, and he pulled back. He looked at the others, nodded, then turned and headed for the light at the end of the tunnel.

Akira whimpered as she watched Wolfric walk toward said light. Malique wrapped his arms around her from behind. Darius took hold of her left hand, and Zelious gently held her right. Akira could feel how dry his hand was. She didn’t care; she held onto it as gently as she could without hurting him, but tight enough that he knew she cared and needed—accepted his comfort.

Wolfric slowly crept to the light at the end of the tunnel. What a creepy way to look at it, but it was accurate. This could be a good thing, and they were free, or a bad thing, and they were fucked. Wolfric stepped into the light and squinted his eyes. He’d been in the dark for so long it was hard to see in the light. He smiled when he saw sand and clouds. He turned and motioned for the others to come toward him.

“It’s safe….” Wolfric no more than got the words out, and a loud boom had the caves vibrating.

Wolfric turned as a large hand swooped in and snatched him.

Akira screamed and ran toward the light where she’d last seen her Wolf Warrior. She skidded to a stop outside the cave entrance and cried out as she fell to her knees. He was gone—her wolf was taken from her. Her stomach churned, and she threw up all over the sand outside the entrance.

Her warriors and friends gathered around her. Malique kneeled beside her and rubbed her back as she continued to relieve herself of the bits of food she’d eaten earlier that morning.

“We will find him,” Malique assured her, rubbing her back.

Akira couldn’t stop crying as she sat back on her butt in the sand, tears streaming down her cheeks.

“We won’t let what happened to us happen to you,” Darius said, kneeling beside her.

Akira couldn’t look at them; her body was too numb. She has one warrior dying because of lack of water and one taken from her.

What will she do if she loses them both?

~⚔~

“Water!” Julianne hollered from the sky as she and Levi flew over their group.

Akira had begged them to ride their mounts ahead and look for water. She’d thought of using birds to guide their way, but they hadn’t seen a single bird in the skies. Akira was not losing another warrior. She lost Wolfric—she won’t lose Zelious too. Akira placed her hand over her chest and took in a deep breath. She knows Wolfric is alive. His mark was still on her chest.

“Thank the Gods,” Malique said, squinting up at the two fairies hovering above them.

Malique and Darius were holding up the merman—who was holding on by a thread. Malique knew that the only thing keeping their fellow warrior alive right now was their Psychi. The thought of her losing two warriors had Zelious holding on.

Malique was still pissed that they lost Wolfric. And none of them had seen what took the dire wolf. The only thing that gave anything away was large footprints imprinted in the sand outside the cave. They’ve been following them for the past three hours.

“Let’s get Zelious to the water, then we’ll continue our search for Wolfric,” Darius said, looking at Malique.

Malique nodded to the Pegasus, and they continued through the desert, a dying merman between them.

It took an hour to get to the water, and Zelious fell into the small pond without a word. They watched him sink to the bottom and waited for him to come back up.

Akira knelt beside the water’s edge and watched her warrior sit on the pond floor. She hoped this was enough to save him. If she lost him just a few days after finding him, she wasn’t sure she could survive, especially with Wolfric missing.

Zelious looked up at his Psychi and fellow warriors from the bottom of the small pond. He could feel himself healing and knew he would soon be fully healed and ready to join them in searching for the dire wolf. Akira had felt something would happen to her warrior, and unknown to the rest of them, there had been something waiting for them. Or at least, that was what it seemed like.

Maybe they were passing by and saw Wolfric—because they didn’t wait to see if anyone else came out. So, they couldn’t have been there for all of them. Right? And if they were there for Akira, wouldn’t they have waited for her to come out? Maybe they’re using Wolfric to capture the rest of them—but that made no sense.

Zelious took a deep breath of water and pushed himself off the bottom of the pond. He came out of the water, flinging his hair back out of his face. Zelious looked into his Psychi’s sad eyes and felt his heart drop to his knees.

He hadn’t been with this group long, but any moron could see that Akira and Wolfric had something special. Even if the man isn’t her chosen mate, he will never be out of her life. She will choose Wolfric to be her lover, and not even her chosen mate can claim her heart the same as the dire wolf has.

Akira smiled and said, “you look much better.”

Zelious smiled as he swam to the edge.

“Drink,” he told her, holding his cupped hands up to her, water filling his hands.

“Is it safe?” she asked, watching him.

Zelious nodded, “it’s good water. I would not offer if it were not.”

Akira nodded, then leaned forward and drank from his hands.

Zelious felt a jolt through his body at the feel of his Havent drinking water from his hands and smiled. If Wolfric wasn’t missing, he would pull her into the water and fuck her until the sun set.

“We need to fill the pigskins and find something bigger to hold water so we can douse you if this happens again,” Julianne said, pulling a pigskin from her belt.

Zelious looked at the fairy and nodded. The group gathered water, then headed out in search of their missing warrior.

~⚔~

Akira’s warriors took turns carrying her and comforting her as they traveled through the sands. They had to pour water over Zelious three times in the two days they traveled—searching for Wolfric. When they finally found the end of the giant footprints, they looked up into the mountain.

“Finally,” Julianne breathed. “The end of the desert.”

“I can see a cave up there,” Leviasen said, pointing to the top of the mountain.

“The footprints stop here. He must be up there,” Darius said, shading his eyes so he could see the top of the mountain.

“I say we find a place to hide and strike at nightfall,” Zelious said, holding Akira close to his side.

“Agreed,” Malique and Darius said simultaneously, nodding their heads.

The group found a hiding place in the shade and waited for nightfall.

Either way, tonight, they were getting their warrior back.

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