.Chapter 10-1
Simone
The second creature was on me before I could fully process what was happening. I rolled sideways, barely avoiding its claws as they raked the ground where my head had been a split
second before.
“Let me out!” my wolf snarled in my mind, desperate to shift.
“No time,” I muttered through gritted teeth, scrambling to my feet.
Claim
I could hear Kane fighting the first beast behind me, the sounds of snarling and tearing flesh mixing with inhuman shrieks that made my skin crawl. At first, it seemed like they were evenly matched, but then I heard the wet sound of something being torn apart and a final, cut-off screech.
Good. One down.
The creature stalking me moved with purpose, intelligence gleaming in those milky white eyes. It wasn’t just a rabid beast, no. It was calculating my movements, looking for an opening.
These weren’t the same mutations my mother had been tearing apart while pregnant with me and Dash. These had been… upgraded.
I dodged another swipe of its claws, but this time I wasn’t fast enough. They caught my forearm, slicing through skin and muscle. Pain exploded up my arm, but what made my blood run cold was the faint smell of magic that suddenly clogged my nose.
I lifted my wounded arm and sniffed at the gashes. Magic. The beast’s claws were coated in some
kind of magical substance.
“Oh, that’s just fucking great,” I breathed.
Before I could process what that meant, Kane’s massive black form sailed over my head and tackled the remaining beast to the ground. But I could see immediately that he was moving slower
than before, his movements sluggish.
The magic. Whatever was on those claws was affecting him.
Kane managed to get his jaws around the beast’s throat, but then he just… stopped. He wasn’t biting down.
Why isn’t he biting down? I thought frantically, watching them struggle on the ground.
The beast thrashed beneath him, trying to get its claws into Kane’s belly, and I realized with horror that he couldn’t finish the kill. The magic was weakening him too much.
WED
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Chapter 10-1
Clam
I scrambled to my feet and ran to where Kane had thrown aside his sword before shifting. The blade was heavier than I expected, but I barely felt it. I sprinted back to where they were locked in their deadly embrace.
With as much stealth as I could manage, I climbed onto the beast’s back while Kane held it down. The creature bucked beneath me, trying to throw me off, but I gripped its shoulders with my thighs and raised the sword above my head.
“Let go!” I yelled at Kane’s lycan.
He released his jaws and collapsed to the side, his massive chest heaving. I seized the moment and plunged the sword deep into the beast’s spine with every ounce of strength I had.
The creature let out an inhuman shriek that made my ears ring, but I didn’t stop. I drove the blade
deeper, angling it downward until it burst through the other side of its neck. With one final push, I severed its head completely.
I fell backward onto the forest floor, panting hard. My arm was still bleeding from the claw marks,
and my ribs ached where the first creature had caught me. But we were alive.
For now.
I pushed myself into a sitting position and looked over at Kane’s still form, panic already setting in.
“Kane?” I called roughly. He wasn’t moving. “Kane!”
I ran toward the massive lycan, who whined softly as I approached. His red eyes were still glowing, but they seemed unfocused, distant. I approached with my hand extended carefully, waiting to see
how he’d react. He only moved his head so I could pet his muzzle, whining like a giant, wounded
dog.
A thought occurred to me then, one that made my stomach turn even as it crossed my mind. I
could leave him here. He was injured, maybe dying, and I had no idea if more of those creatures
were coming. The smart thing would be to run while I still could…
I shook my head immediately, my wolf growling in protest at the very idea. No. I couldn’t. He was my fated mate, for fuck’s sake. Even if he didn’t know it, I couldn’t leave him to die.
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