30

ARIA

A deep crashing sound tore through the Blackwood Wilds. It wasn’t just noise. It felt heavy, violent, wrong. Trees were being ripped out and thrown aside like they weighed nothing. Each crash came closer than the last. My mouth went dry.

“This is taking too long,” I said, forcing the words out. “If I get caught halfway through a shift…”

I stopped. The rest didn’t need saying. Half-shift meant helpless. Helpless meant dead.

Behind me, Liora had already changed. Her wolf form stood low and tense, a growl rolling out of her throat. The sound wasn’t loud, but it carried warning. I stepped closer to the fire, heat brushing my legs, and stared ahead as the trees began to bend and split.

Something moved fast.

A wolf shot out of the darkness and slammed straight into the flames.

“Fen,” I swore.

I ran forward, grabbed his front legs, and hauled him out of the fire. Flames clung to his fur, bright and hungry. I smacked at them with my hands until he groaned.

“He’s alive,” I said quickly to Liora.

Pain flared as heat burned into my palms. I hissed, tore my shirt over my head, and used it to beat the flames until they finally died. The crashing sound was louder now. Too close.

No other wolves came out of the woods.

I didn’t know if that meant they were still fighting—or already gone.

Every instinct screamed to tell Liora to retreat. To run. But Lucan’s wolf lay unmoving. There was no way to drag him. No way to protect him if we moved. Leaving him here would be the same as killing him ourselves.

The woods exploded apart.

Something massive burst through the trees.

A scream ripped out of me before I could stop it. The sound cut through the air and made the thing pause. Just for a breath. Just long enough.

Then it looked at me.

It had a wolf’s face. A long muzzle. Thick fur. But it stood upright on two legs, towering over the trees, easily fifteen feet tall.

It wasn’t a wolf.

It was a monster.

Its eyes locked onto me and didn’t move. I grabbed a burning log from the fire and stepped to the side, keeping my distance. “Hey,” I said, voice tight. A quick glance gave me a detail I didn’t want and couldn’t forget. “You here to ask me to dance or what?”

It opened its mouth and roared. The sound shook my chest.

Liora moved at once, placing herself over Lucan’s body, ready to die there if she had to. My heart slammed hard. Where was Kael? Where were the others? Still fighting? Or already dead?

“No flowers?” I said, louder now. “I’m hard to impress. I like moonlight. Quiet lakes. Pretty things.”

Its lips curled back in a snarl. Shadows shifted behind it.

Wolves.

Please. Please be ours.

“Well?” I said. “I’ve got options.”

It charged.

I waited until the last second, then jumped aside and slammed the log into its knee. Claws tore across my arm as it stumbled. I barely felt it. I swung again, striking its face. Fire burned its skin. The smell was sharp and awful. It roared in pain.

Fen, Kael, Nyssa, and Corvin hit it all at once.

I turned away. I couldn’t watch.

Back at the fire, Liora was human again, crouched beside Lucan. “How bad?” I asked.

“Broken bones,” she said. “Burns. He’ll heal in a few hours.” She hesitated. “He’s unconscious. I can’t tell if there’s more.” Her eyes lifted to me. “Your hands are burned. You’re bleeding. Shift.”

“In a minute.”

“Not in a minute,” Kael snarled from behind me. “Now.”

He sounded strained. Weak. I wanted to turn around, to check him, but I dropped to my knees instead and let the shift take me.

When my wolf came out, all I wanted was to crawl inside her and hide. Pain wrapped around everything. It always did. I hated it. I shook as the magic worked through me, knitting skin and muscle back together.

“When you’re human again,” Kael growled, “you’re going to tell me what the hell you were thinking. You tried to bait that thing. Have you lost your mind?”

“Kael!” Liora screamed. “Behind you!”

I whipped my head around.

The monster was standing again. Fen, Corvin, and Nyssa were thrown aside like they weighed nothing. It roared, leapt over Kael, and grabbed me.

Shit.

Before I could react, we were moving. Trees shattered as it ran, branches snapping, earth shaking beneath each step. The firelight vanished behind us.

Kael and the others were swallowed by the dark as the monster carried me deeper into the Blackwood Wilds.