Noah's POVMy heart raced with fear and worry as I burst out of Myra's room, Colin's footsteps echoing in pursuit."Slow down, Noah!" Colin's voice rang in my ears, a mix of concern and urgency. But I couldn't heed his plea. In that moment, all that mattered was Myra, out there in the darkness, vulnerable and alone.Ignoring Colin's concerned voice, I dashed to the front door and out of the pack house, towards the dark forest that surrounded the pack house. Mid-run, I morphed—spine elongating, fur jutting out—until I was all wolf. The world transformed around me, scents and sounds intensifying to an almost overwhelming degree. "Noah!" Colin called out in frustration, and I halted at the edge of the forest.What? I snapped through our mind link.Colin was panting from exertion, but his gaze and his voice was steady. "Noah, you can't handle this alone. Let me back you up," he insisted. No, I growled. You stay behind at the pack house and handle things there. I'm going alone."Goddess,

The question was unexpected, and the sound of the man's voice sent goosebumps of fear down the vegetable seller's numb hands.The tied-up man was surprised, and his face didn't hide it. Suddenly he froze, frowning in confusion at the chiseled jaw and brimmed nose of the monster of a man sitting on the creaky stool ahead of him. Why hadn't the strange man killed him yet? Why hadn't he drawn hills and valleys across his face with those claws that looked like the tip of sharpened sickles? Why hadn't this monster of a man bitten his neck yet, drained out the blood with those teeth that looked like trimmed knives? Wasn't the man a vampire?But the vegetable seller didn't dare ask the questions that ran through his mind. His mouth stayed shut, too afraid to answer the one question he had been asked.“Did I knock your ears off?” The strange man asked again, with a raised brow. The fierceness on his face was already blurring into drunkenness. He grinned for a fraction of a second, then cont

CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE The bones on the floor made the ones in his body rattle. Kirn turned back to Flanagan, with fear now sealed in his heart like gold in a treasure chest.Flanagan's next question rang in his ears like a pesky bell. “Is the pack house still heavily guarded?”Kirn wondered why Flanagan had asked that question.Why did some crazy drunk with the looks of a Greek god want to know if a castle, a place where he himself hadn't really seen the sights, was heavily guarded?If the pack house was guarded or not, what did it matter to him?Kirn inadvertently thought back to his last cabbage sale. He vaguely remembered the old woman who had asked if the cabbages were fresh from the farm, or wholesale from the barn.And when he answered wholesale; the woman had haggled the price to the ground, saying wholesale was meant to be cheaper. She'd added that it wasn't fresh because of too many hands touching it.And now Kirn also felt like there were too many hands on him. Hands on his

The moon was still as blue as a block of ice dipped in dye. Quickly my hands shot to my mouth, pressing my fingers against my mouth and fighting back the scream.I didn't know when I had yelled so loud, and it shocked me to my bones. With my teeth now almost biting my fingers, as my mouth still struggled to let it all out. To let out all the fear that settled in my chest like a roosting bird. I couldn't control it, but my hands still managed to close my lips shut. Shooting the rest of my voice back down, and making my body vibrate like an earthquake was rattling inside me.I was sweating, shaking with fear. My legs now hurt more than before. My soul seemed to have left me.I turned my head left and right, darting my eyes everywhere, afraid someone else was here. Someone else was in the bushes, or maybe some vicious animal with bloodlust that couldn't be tamed.I pushed myself away from the shrubs, scratching and pulling at the grass beneath me, scrambling backwards. My legs going up

Noah's Pov Morning came early. And maybe too early. Because my head still hurt, and my back still felt stiff. With my entire frame feeling like dried planks, and my mind not knowing where to start. But the sun was already up in the sky; glowing orange and heat, as dove-tailed eagles flapped with wide wings out of their nests and squawked along through the clouds. I could tell; even in my pain, it was a picture perfect morning. Like those in historic paintings. Yet still. In my state of mind. It was less of a masterpiece than anything else. As I sat upright on my bed. And surrounded by trays upon trays; that were filled to the brim with tea cups. And tea cups that were filled with leaves soaked in filtered swamp water. My mind was still unnerved trying to comprehend all that had happened yesterday. The deaths. The cries. The screams. The shouts. And the general emotional turmoil. I was sure even the goddess hadn't seen it all coming. I was sure she herself hadn't half-exp