CHAPTER SIX

No sooner had the guardian disappeared did a wind roar…a sharp howl that tore through the dead trees.

Then sudden silence…..the deafening kind. The air in the atmosphere shifted.

Something was coming and I could feel it in my bones. My body began trembling with goosebumps suddenly appearing all over.

Whatever trial the guardian had spoken about, wasn't going to be easy and I could already feel it in my bones.

I tried to stand, but my body refused. My limbs trembled violently, boneless and weak. Every breath I took in burned me on the inside like fire while I trembled from cold on the outside. 

Then I saw them.

Eyes…  

Yellow, green, red, blue…..

Dozens of them, all colorful, shiny but instead of being beautiful, they scared the living shit our of me.

The creatures emerged, dragging themselves forward on broken limbs that cracked with every unnatural step. Their grins stretched too wide, revealing rows of jagged, splintered teeth and their skin peeled from their bodies like wet paper. They smelled worse than rot.

I couldn’t scream, not even a whimper… It felt like their presence had deprived me of my voice and worse still, drained me of every ounce of energy in my bones.

“You don’t belong here...”

“You should’ve died back there…”

“You will  dieee…”

They all spoke at once, mumbling the words into each other…. With voices that shook the atmosphere. The other creatures I had earlier encountered seemed like child's play compared to what stood before me.

Suddenly, the trees around started to move. Black tendrils, slithered from the roots and wrapped around my ankles like snakes.

“NOOOO!!!!” 

I screamed, suddenly regaining my voice. Kicking, dragging myself across the stony floor, My fingers bled from the blisters, but I kept going.

“Tonight, we feast.”

The largest looking creature said with a loud voice that shook the ground and a smiled widely revealing his ugly and devilish looking teeth.

I scrambled, struggling to run as fast as my legs could carry until I stumbled upon a stone and fell.

Then….they pounced.

Dozens of them. Shrieking and Screaming as they Clawed at my arms, my face, my throat. They were on every part of my body.

My pendant flared once again, bright gold and they recoiled like it burned them. But it too was fading fast, like they were draining its power and couldn't curtail them.

“No … no …...please,”

 I choked out, staggering toward the looming mountain gate ahead. 

‘The image of Dorian lying almost lifeless in appearing in my head and what would happen if I dont get to the Lycan King was all the push I needed to forge ahead.

 I don't care if I died trying to save him. My life was meaningless without him anyways.’

They kept coming at me, this time faster, draining something deeper than blood…my strength, my memories.

And my pendant, it gradually faded away till it was no longer visible.

I felt my body collapsing on itself. Like my soul was slipping away.

I crawled. Each inch forward felt like dragging a corpse only this time I was it was my own.

…….LET IT BE KNOWN THAT I DIED TRYING TO SAVE MY MATE

“Lycan King…” 

I whispered. “Please, I know you can hear me. Help me… Please help me.”

I said with every ounce of energy left in me while sobbing.

As if in response to my pleas, there was a sudden lightning in the sky that shook the whole atmosphere. The shadows screamed and screeched scattering themselves as if in agony. 

Suddenly everywhere went silent.

Then, footsteps.

It sounded like one who knew where he was headed and exactly what he was going there to do. 

Purposeful …Heavy …..Intentional.

"Enough." He commanded.

The creature screeched, flinging theirselves backward as if burned. The others hissed, shrinking low to the ground, writhing like worms under a brutal sun and they froze.

The pin drop silence that followed was so loud, like I had not almost  been massacred to death few minutes ago in the same space.

I looked up to see him….

And his eyes—

Gods, those eyes….the ones I had fallen for years ago and the image of it had stuck.

They looked even more terrifyingly beautiful than in my memory.

Seven years ago, when he bled and I saved him. 

It had been Seven years of wet dreams, of sexual fantasies with the image of that face in my head. Seven years of excruciating pain knowing I might never get to see those eyes again …especially after I was tagged wolf-less.

Long black hair, with an almost ethereal beauty. 

He had came ….He didnt leave me to die. I thought almost aloud but the words wouldn't come out.

He walked past the frozen creatures like they didn't exist. They recoiled, whimpering and scraping against the ground to get away like shadows terrified of their master.

He stopped in front of me.

Slowly, knelt down.

"It took you so long to come" he said, his voice low, smooth and intoxicating."

I blinked hard, willing my body to obey, to speak.

"I'm sorry..." I said with every bit of strength in me.

His silver eyes moved over my face slowly in a way that made my heart stutter.

 Searching…... His expression suddenly changed like he had found something, something that made his jaw clench tight.

He reached out, brushing two fingers beneath my chin. The touch wasn’t rough, wasn’t exactly gentle either.

It was something else.

Intimate.

Like I mattered. Like I wasn't just a dying girl on the ground, but something... precious.

"You shouldn't have come here like this," he murmured.

The creatures behind us hissed again, like vultures denied a meal.

Without turning, without lifting a hand, he spoke:

"Leave!”

In a twinkle of an eye, they were gone.

I gasped, my body slumping forward.

He caught me easily, sweeping me into his arms like I weighed nothing. His hold was firm and Protective.

I pressed against his chest, feeling the steady beat of his heart.

His scent hit me. Dark but appealing it spoke of ancient mountains and endless bloodlines.

Before I could process it, he stood, carrying me as though I was something precious ….to be pampered.

“Never knew I'd see you again”

He said with so much emotions that I wanted to cry and tell him how much I have wanted and longed for him.

Before I blacked out.