A Knight's Purpose (Book 1) ✔️

Chapter 17 - An Unconscious Problem

I finally pulled the car to a stop in a small camping turn off just outside Tershaw. Sighing, I twisted around to glare at the still screaming child. She hesitated and then launched herself forward at me, clearly hoping to scrabble out one of the front doors which aren't equipt with child lock. I managed to grab an ankle as it flies by my face while she tried to squirm herself out the passenger door.

"That is enough!" Yanking as she managed to unlock and open the door, I drug her back towards me and held down one of her shoulders long enough to make eye contact.

"Sleep." I ordered and her head lolled back. Grumbling, I left her form sprawled across the leather seats and got out.

Hands on my hips, I surveyed the problem. I'd planned on getting her to walk most of the way through the forest to Heartford Vale Pack grounds before knocking her out to slip past the sentries but now I'd have to carry her the entire way. We had a schedule to keep and she was putting it in jeopardy.

Closing my door, I walked to the passenger side and hauled her out by gripping under her arms, careful to keep her head up as she thudded to the dirt. Letting her lay out of the ground briefly I moved to her waist and lifted so she was propped in a sitting position against the car, head rolling back to rest on the seat.

Kneeling with my back to her, I wrapped her arms around my neck and gripped her legs. Rising was a bit precarious but I managed and kept one arm wrapped around her left knee as the other adjusted her hands to better fall around my neck.

I slammed the door and locked it with a bit of magic before turning to stride down a path into the forest. Luckily, the spring was still a bit brisk for campers so no one else had been about or I might have had a few more problems.

Cloaking our scent, I left the path that led to a small set of fire pits.

After dodging through a few thick patches of trees and around muddy areas I reached a fairly flat stretch. Pine needles coated the ground, silencing my footsteps as I broke into a jog. I couldn't go to fast or Eavan would start to tilt precariously back as she bounced but I found a pace that let me eat up the ground without sending her toppling down.

I didn't slow until I reached the ground that the pack actively patrolled less than an hour later. With a careful glance at my watch I sighed in relief.

We'd made it just in time. I moved forward to the dirt path that had been worn from so many feet treading in the same place.

Silencing my footsteps with magic even more than the pine needles did, I crept deeper into the woods and darted across the worn path and down a small gully that ran parallel to the border but only reached my shoulders in depth.

Crouching so Eavan was also covered, I padded west towards the edge of the forest and road. About a mile later the gully dipped south away from the border towards the pack house.

I waited until I couldn't hear the occasional pad of wolf or human feet on the path to stand straight again.

Groaning, I adjusted Eavan and cursed at the knot she'd put in my back for having to carry her in that awkward position. Ears alert for the sound of wolves out for a romp I walked until we were out of earshot of the border before setting her down.

I remove the spell that cloaked our scents and keeps my footsteps silent with a wave of my hand.

"Wake." I grabbed her shoulders as she bolted upright and tried to struggle away from me.

"Hush up!" I half whispered and she froze.

Her nose scrunched as she took a deep breath.

"Where are we?" She finally whispered back.