HECTOR BAYESIf I hadn't been seconds from closing the space between where my best friend lay pinned under the grinning wolf, I would not have believed the monster could move that quickly.It was uncanny, the teeth of my jaws snapping together as what looked to be thousands of the creatures swarmed in, falling over each other, some getting crushed in the angry stampede as they struggled to fit through the gates.“Holy mother of God!” I heard Gordon murmur as he pulled up on a horse beside me, before shifting into the beige fur of his wolf and charging at the werewolves who had begun to fall from the top of the stone fence, slashing his way through the front lines before I called him back, away from those things.They looked different, the wolves, hungry. But it was more than that. It was almost as though they had been reinforced, in a way that was even worse than what the Hybrids had been. Killing machines. They must have been climbing over each other to get to the top.“Soldiers Asse

NOLAI pressed my hands to my temples as the munching and sucking noises grew louder under me, the shouts of battle still echoing faintly in the distance as I let my eyelids fall closed, the weight of exhaustion settling over me.I must have been crouched for hours, sobbing, sleeping, crying, only jerking awake when the noise of bloodthirsty werewolves killing more innocents in the open streets had me squeezing by eyes shut.Whatever happened here now, I couldn’t go back to the stone castle, It was already too late for that.I had to find a way to save the residents. I owed it to Lycan, to Layla, who had followed me out.She’d trusted me, and I’d let her down. I felt the rack of whimpers shake my shoulders so hard that my hands shook on the arrow as I released it from the quiver, pausing with the bow secured in my hand as I trailed the triangle of the sinewy wolf’s head.“This is for Layla bitch!” I spat, releasing the arrow with a whistle and watching it with bated breaths as it fork

HECTOR BAYESJaphtar Bayes was in the wild, He’d fled. The bastard.It was lucky that he had when he did, the moon goddess had hidden her silver bulb behind the iron-grey mist that kept as the fight died down around and wearied-looking soldiers from the royal army speared off the rogues that lingered.“After them!” I roared, struggling to my feet as the cobblestones of the ground rose to my vision again before I came down hard, my hand shooting out to strike the pavement, the tremors going through me.I’d been halfway up and on his heels, the ache from the gash in my midriff stinging enough that tears rose in the pools of my eyelids before I yelled for the soldiers to follow him, my heart sinking with each second that passed when I noticed he had run toward the castle.Nola! I couldn't let him make it to the gates even! Not when the stone city castle held the remainder of the survivors that had managed to escape the gruesome war.I straightened with a large inhale, feeling my muscles

HECTOR BAYES“What did you just say?” I wheezed, my heart hammering wildly between the cages of my rib as heat rushed to my head and ears.“Y-your highness, I- they saw her, being carted away, over the north of the forest,” Gordon murmured in a mousey voice, and I felt my eyes grow until they were the size of fucking beach balls in my sockets.Japhtar had Nola? How did that happen? Saints! Why didn’t the imp ever listen to me? The irritation building inside me grew until it blotted out everything else as I clenched my fists until they shook lightly beside me.Taking my woman was the worst thing he could have done, and now, I was going to make him pay for it.“Assemble the royal troops, we're going to storm the outskirts.” I gritted, making a few of the werewolves present gasp as they cuddled around themselves before I strode out, Gordon running last me to assemble the troops before I got there and thoughts of the fair maiden swirling in my head.“Your highness?” Sarah whispered as I m

HECTOR BAYESI am halfway across the field when I realize something is wrong.The man on the other end is grinning, the defined barrel of his chest rising and falling with excited breathing as I closed the distance between the two armies.“For the mountain city!” I bellowed, gripping the silver hilt of my sword as I sent the blade flying through the air in a neat arc, slashing the werewolves in my circle as the black goo of their blood sprayed into my eyes, stinging the liquid from them.Why the fuck did Japhtar keep smiling at me?I let my eyes roam over the lot, catching Nola’s tear-streaked face briefly, before the horde of werewolves fighting closed around her and I felt the rake of claws slice across my back.“Eyes in the heavens! Feast on their bones!” Japhtar’s deep voice boomed in the space as I felt the pound of my heart starting to hammer wildly in my ribcages.I snapped my head up to see that the same type of mist that hung over the city walls had climbed to cover the moon’