Semua Bab TO LOVE A WOLF: Bab 31 - Bab 40

The creatures came through the cracks in the walls like water flooding a broken dam.Clara saw them in flashes: pale eyes, twisted limbs, joints bent at dizzying angles, and bodies moving wrong. Only their claws' scrape broke the silence as they flooded the tunnel from all sides.Ash sprang up, shifting mid-step. Fur erupted through skin, bones fractured and healed. Before it reached Clara, he pounced, teeth in its throat.Ronan shifted too, his transformation faster and more controlled.Clara had never seen Ronan move like a sword, slicing through the animals with such accuracy.But the creatures overwhelmed them in sheer numbers.Elara grasped Clara's arm and pulled her toward the passage she had pointed out earlier. "Move!" Elara ordered.With wobbly legs, Clara staggered forward. The seal's pain burned in her chest, but the pressure eased: nothing now blocked the animals. The seal was fully cracked.One of the beasts lunged at them as they arrived at the passage. The creature scre

Clara could not move.Her feet had rooted themselves to the earth, her body refusing to obey the screaming voice in her head that told her to run. To hide. To do anything except stand there and stare at the bodies scattered across the Hollow like broken dolls.Caleb stood in the center of the clearing, surrounded by at least a dozen hunters. All of them are armed. All of them were watching her.Without hesitation, Ronan's body tore into the shape of a wolf. His low, lethal snarl tore through the quiet.Caleb didn't even recoil. "Alpha, it's simple. We didn't come to battle you.""Then why?" Ronan's changed voice was hardly human.Caleb indicated the bodies. "Cleaning up.""You wolves are getting careless. Leaving bodies for humans to find.""Those are not our dead," Ronan said. "You killed them.""Some," Caleb admitted. "The rest chose their fate."At last, Clara discovered her voice. "Where are the survivors?"Caleb's smile grew as his gaze met hers. "There she is. The Silver Blood.

Clara could not breathe.The pressure radiating from the creature was suffocating, pressing down on her chest like a physical weight. She felt Ash's hands on her shoulders, steadying her, but even his strength could not counter the force of whatever this thing was.With eyes full of centuries' worth of memories, the creature gazed down at her. Compared to the others, its physique was more substantial and authentic. As if it had never truly abandoned its humanity.Or maybe it had reclaimed it."You do not remember me," the creature said. Its voice was layered but clearer than the others. Almost gentle. "But I remember you."Clara forced herself to speak. "We have never met.""No. But I knew your mother."Clara was frozen in place by the words.Low in his throat, Ash snarled. "Do not listen to it."The creature paid no attention to him, concentrating only on Clara. "I used to be acquainted with your mother.Before the ritual. Before she decided that sealing us away was the answer.""You

Marcus led Clara deeper into the forest than she had ever been.The trees here were different. Older. Their trunks were so wide it would take five people holding hands to circle them. The canopy blocked out most of the sunlight, leaving everything in permanent twilight.Clara's new senses made the darkness irrelevant. She could see perfectly. Could smell the rot of dead leaves, the musk of animals, the mineral scent of underground water. Could hear things moving beneath the earth itself.It was overwhelming.Marcus said, "You will adjust," without turning around. "The first few days are always the hardest.""How long did it take you?" Clara inquired."Years. However, I lacked a guide.For a while, they strolled silently. Clara made an effort to concentrate on taking one step at a time. I made an effort not to think about Ash standing by himself in that graveyard. She made an effort not to consider whether she had just committed the worst error of her life.Clara's mental murmurs had s

The meeting was arranged for three nights later.Clara spent those days training with Marcus. She learned to control the power that surged through her veins. The voices grew louder with each passing hour, so she tried to quiet them. Each lesson was exhausting, but necessary.It was not easy. Whenever she attempted to use her powers, something went awry: she intended to move the stone, but broke it instead. She tried to gently push Vera and, instead, sent her hurtling across the cavern. Clara could not achieve a balance between too much and not enough strength.Marcus remarked, "You are fighting yourself," after she unintentionally collapsed a portion of the training room. "Give up thinking like a human.Start thinking like what you are.""And what am I?" Clara asked, frustrated."Both," Marcus said simply. "That is your strength. But it is also your weakness."Clara put her hands to her temples. Now the whispers were unceasing. A quiet murmur that remained unabated. She may disregard