Ch. 95: Hunting

CHAPTER NINETY-FIVE
Evan~
While Jake worked on some things with my dad, Nick and I went out to Ally’s. I drove since Nick’s leg was bouncing with anxiety or anticipation. He didn’t say much on the drive over but I knew he was excited to see Ally while also worried about what we were about to get ourselves into.
We pulled up to the curb by Ally’s house and Nick basically jumped out and ran up the stairs to Ally’s door. She must have seen us coming since she immediately opened the door and let him in. I took my time coming up to give them a minute. By the time I got up the stairs the two of them were down in the stairwell going downstairs, whispering to each other and getting real cozy. I spotted Kyle in the kitchen and decided he had the right idea.
“So what is it exactly we’re going to be doing?” I asked him as he held out a box of cookies, a silent offering. I grabbed two and started munching. “All Nick said is we’re playing backup?”
“Yeah, I don’t want to get into things too much, we don’t want to put you guys in a weird position, but this girl we’re about to go find - she could end up being a threat to Rachel,” he paused and looked at me, Xavier already growling. “We just want to check it out, do a deeper look. I promise if it turns out she’s responsible for what I think she is, we’ll let you both know so you can get Jake involved. But at this point, we just need to make sure before we set anything off we can’t take back.”
I was bristling with anger. How could we not be taking action already? How could Nick and Ally be flirting in the hallway when this is happening? A threat to our future Luna? No way.
A cool feeling came over my hand and I looked down to see Kyle’s hand over my own. He looked at me with intense concern, and a little uncertainty.
He pulled his hand back slowly, “I’m sorry - I overstepped. Just worried about your shifting in here and sending all Ally’s mom’s trinkets flying.”
I rolled my shoulders and shook it off.
“It’s alright,” I said, lecturing Xavier simultaneously in my mind, for riling me up.
We needed to be smart, act decisively. No mistakes. I let out a shuddering breath as Nick and Ally walked over.
“Alright, what’s first?” Nick asked.
“Well, I’m going to have to take a nap,” Kyle said, looking down at his watch.
“A nap?” I asked with a tsk. “You called us over here to watch the Fae boy go to sleep?” I asked Ally directly.
Nick took a step forward, a warning growl in his chest.
Ally put a hand on his shoulder and nodded at me before saying, “It’s just step one Ev - there are plenty of steps after. He just needs to find her in her dreams to give us a rough location. He doesn’t know her all that well so I need to go in with him to lend him some magic if needed.”
Nick looked at Ally with complete and utter admiration. I could feel how proud he and his wolf Asher were to have her as a mate. A pang of sadness once more hit me, realizing it could be years before I had anything like that. I had always thought Ally was cute in school, and many people joked that we should be together since she was the tallest girl and I was the tallest guy. But- yeah.
I cleared my throat and nodded, quickly looking back at Kyle.
“Alright, what are you waiting for? A bedtime story?” I asked him.
Kyle laughed heartily. “Wolfie, you and I are going to get along just fine.”

About an hour later, Kyle and Ally were asleep next to each other on the couch, with Nick holding Ally up against his chest. While Ally had explained why she and Kyle had to hold hands, it didn’t stop the territorial core in Asher. After persuading they came to this agreement, where yes they would hold hands for ‘business purposes’ but Nick would hold Ally. I nearly laughed watching Nick get so possessive. It was so unlike him.
Watching them together both gave me some insight into what I was missing, and hurt me more than I ever thought I could hurt.
Ally’s eyes fluttered open and she smiled at Nick, letting go of Kyle’s hand and leaning deeper into his embrace.
“We found her,” Kyle said, standing up and stretching. “Let’s hit the road.”
We piled into the car I had brought and started off going south. Kyle sat up front with me giving directions, and after some time we approached the edges of Sanmis. A city a few miles from Druer City.
“Okay, we can pull over anywhere around here,” Kyle said to me while looking at the map on his phone. “This is the part where you guys will come in,” he added, giving Nick a meaningful look via the rearview mirror.
I waited for another car to move out of the way and pulled over the curb near some trees. This city was way too populated to shift without being seen, even at this hour, but that doesn’t mean we couldn’t use our senses in human form.
“Nick and Ally, why don't you head that way, and Evan and I will head the other direction,” Kyle suggested waving his hands in both directions. “We’re looking for a witch named Maxine. I would scan conversations for anything witchy or with her name, and follow any scents that are weird combinations like potions or whatever. Fire maybe too, her coven likes fire.”
They took off hand-in-hand while Kyle and I started off the opposite way.
I pulled Xavier to the forefront, just right to the point before shifting. While in human form my senses were always stronger than before my first shift, pulling Xavier all the way to the edge like this amplified it all.
We walked around pretty aimlessly until I picked up on some conversation far off, I couldn’t hear much of what was said until I honed in on her name being said - Maxine.

Nick~
Ally and I were walking around as I let Asher more loose. We followed some questionable scent combinations and listened to a horde of different conversations, but as I went through each one, nothing really stood out to me. I glanced over at Ally to see her smile confidently at me, silently encouraging me that I could do this. Asher and I loved her absolute confidence in us.
I was just pleased to be here really. Although I would have sent Ally home if I could have, we knew she was needed here. And I would honestly take any second of her presence and attention as I could. We knew she was strong and capable, she wouldn’t be the type to hide at home, sitting on her hands. That wasn’t in her personality, and if I had a choice, I would still choose her to be as smart, friendly, and dependable as she was. The desire to protect her would always be here, but I had to recognize that who she was, was also going to want to protect me too.
I continued taking in this sensory overload, but it was easy as pie sorting through it all with her by my side, holding my hand. How could werewolves ever believe that witches were all out to get us? That witches were all evil and not to be trusted? I guess that was something that intrigued me about Elise, she and I didn’t believe all those old rumors or superstitions. And right here was my proof that just like werewolves, not all are one way or the other. We’re all human (or part human) with dark and light within us all.
Nick, I’ve got her, Evan linked me.
“It’s Evan, he found her,” I said aloud for Ally.
Evan gave me the address they had honed in on and Ally put it into the maps on her phone. Her phone illuminated her face, and I noted the time - 11pm. The address they found her in is only a few blocks off. We made our way there in a few minutes. As much as Ally wasn’t an athletic werewolf, she was a tall and active witchling, and she kept up with my pace easily. I shouldn't be surprised though, we are fated mates - a great match.

Ally~
We briskly walked over to where Evan said they found Maxine. I was starting to sweat from nerves. On one hand, I was afraid to find her and put us all in danger, and on the other I was still pissed off enough to want to just march right up to her and punch her until she gave us answers.
The strength I got from Nick helped ground me. As long as he was with me, no matter what we found or how I wanted to react - I was sure it would be okay. I squeezed his hand and he squeezed back.
We met Kyle and Evan a few houses away, Nick had likely been linking Evan on our walk over here.
“Okay, so, there’s two other people in the house with her. They were walking around, I think they’re going to bed,” Evan said. “It also looks like they have an alarm system, among something ‘weird’ Kyle could feel. Maybe a ward?”
Evan looked at me at the last part and I nodded. This part was on me. I sent out some of my magic to feel around at the house and sure enough I felt a barrier of sorts all over.
“Ally, if you can help with the barrier, and I can get closer to where one of them is sleeping, I may be able to get the code for the security system, or alternatively - we’ll need you to deactivate it somehow…” Kyle said, his words trailing off.
“Okay,” I said. “There’s definitely a ward around the place. Give me a moment for all of that.”
Time to consult grandma.