Chapter Five
Annika
Kael led the way.
His golden eyes were sharp, scanning the darkened forest ahead of us as if expecting something to emerge from the shadows. Maybe he saw something we didn’t? The thought unsettled me.
Lucas rode beside me. He hadn’t spoken much since Kael’s revelation, and I knew that meant he was still wrestling with it. I was, too. Kael was a creature we all thought was extinct. On one hand, I could understand his need to keep his identity a secret. But on the other, I thought we’d all proven to be trustworthy to one another.
I tried not to think about that now.
The forest grew denser as we moved and the trees twisted in unnatural shapes, as their branches clawed at the sky. I didn’t recognize this place, and that unsettled me more than I wanted to admit.
I urged my horse closer to Kael’s. “How far?”
“Not much longer,” was his reply.
Lucas’ voice came from beside me. “This isn’t on any of our maps.”
Kael didn’t glance back. “That’s because no one charts cursed land.”
A chill ran down my spine.
Lucas growled under his breath. “And you’re just telling us this now?”
Kael sighed, shaking his head. “Would you have come if I had?”
Lucas muttered a curse, but didn’t argue.
I exhaled slowly, gripping the reins tighter. “What kind of curse?”
Kael finally turned to face me. “The kind that keeps people out—or traps them in.”
I swallowed hard. That wasn’t exactly reassuring.
Lucas let out a frustrated breath. “And you found part of Aiden’s shirt here?”
Kael nodded, slowing his horse. “Just ahead.”
I followed his gaze, and my breath caught.
A clearing lay before us, with the earth jagged and uneven, as if the land itself had been wounded. The trees at the edge of the clearing were blackened, their bark split and cracked. Everything about this felt wrong.
And at the center of it all, beneath the twisted branches, the ground was disturbed, almost as if something had been dragged through the dirt.
I tightened my grip on the reins. I could barely breathe.
Lucas was already dismounting, then he stalked toward the disturbed earth. I slid down from my horse, moving quickly to his side.
Kael stood a few feet away, watching us carefully.
“This is where I found it.” His voice was quieter now, almost reluctant. “The fabric was caught on a thornbush, just over there.” He nodded toward the edge of the clearing.
I felt my stomach twist.
Lucas knelt, running his fingers through the dirt. His expression darkened. “Something was here.”
I swallowed against the rising dread.
Kael crossed his arms. “Not just something.” His gaze flickered to mine. “Someone.”
That was when Lucas went still.
I knew that look. I recognized the sharp narrowing of his eyes, the way his fingers curled into the dirt, his muscles tense with restrained power. He was searching for Aiden’s scent. He was reaching for the smallest trace of our son. I held my breath, praying to the gods that he would find something, anything.
But then his expression shifted.
A slow, dark realization settled over his features.
My heart stuttered. “Lucas?”
His nostrils flared as he inhaled again, his body going rigid. He wasn’t looking at me or Kael anymore. His gaze was fixed on the tree line, and the weight of his focus was heavy and unrelenting.
I stepped closer. “Did you—?”
“I can’t smell him.”
The words sent a spike of fear through my chest.
I turned to Kael, but even he looked troubled. Something assured me we shouldn’t be here.
Lucas clenched his fists. “His scent should be here.” His voice was a low growl, and frustration was leaking into every syllable. “But it’s gone. Like something took it.”
I sucked in a breath. That wasn’t possible.
“Can that happen?” I whispered. “Can a scent just… vanish?”
Lucas didn’t answer. He just kept staring at the trees.
Then, suddenly, he moved. He was pushing up from the ground, then turning in a slow, deliberate circle as he inhaled again. Deeper this time.
I could see it, the moment he realized something was wrong. Not just with Aiden’s missing scent, but with whatever else he was picking up in the air.
Lucas exhaled sharply through clenched teeth. “We shouldn’t be here.”
A cold shiver slid down my spine. “What do you mean?”
He turned to face me, his dark eyes burning with something unnatural.
“I mean, whatever was here, left this behind instead.”
Kael’s posture stiffened. “Left what?”
“Blood magic.”
Kael muttered a curse under his breath.
That was why Aiden’s scent was gone. That was why the land felt wrong.
It wasn’t just cursed. It had been tainted on purpose.
The first howl split the air. Lucas moved first, faster than I could blink. His fangs were bared as his body coiled with lethal intent. Kael was just as fast, reaching for the twin daggers strapped to his sides, which I'd noticed before, but hoped he wouldn’t need to use. How wrong was I…
I turned, with my pulse hammering deep inside my ears. All I could hear was the pounding of my own heart. Then, the trees groaned. The brush rustled. And a moment later, they were upon us.
Shifters’ hulking forms burst from the undergrowth, those half-men, half-beasts, with their eyes gleaming a light of savage hunger. The first lunged at me with its sharp, yellowed fangs.
I raised my hands, magic crackling to life at my fingertips.
Not this time.
Flames erupted from my palms, searing through the air and slamming into the shifter’s chest. It let out a strangled snarl as it stumbled back. Its fur singed and blackened, but it wasn’t enough to stop it.
I barely had time to move before another came from the side, swiping at me with massive claws. I threw myself backward, as I twisted my wrist. More fire crackled in response, lashing toward my attacker. The shifter dodged, but Lucas was already there.
He struck with a growl, his claws slicing deep into the beast’s throat. A spray of crimson filled the air. The shifter gurgled, collapsing in a heap at my feet.
Lucas’ head snapped toward me. “Stay close!”
I barely had time to nod before he was moving again, cutting through the next attacker with terrifying precision.
Kael fought beside him, his daggers flashing as he carved through fur and flesh. He was fast, inhumanly so. His movements were precise, calculated. For a moment, I was reminded of what he really was.
The Nephilim. A warrior bred for war.
But there were too many.
For every shifter we cut down, two more took its place. The air was thick with the scent of blood, and the ground was slick with it. My magic pulsed, raw and desperate, as I sent another blast of fire into the fray.
Then, pain.
A weight slammed into me from behind, knocking the breath from my lungs. Claws raked across my shoulder, tearing through fabric, straight into flesh. I screamed, fire surging outward in reflex. I barely managed to get my attacker off of me.
I hit the ground hard and pain splintered up my arm. My vision blurred, but when I looked up, the largest shifter loomed over me. His eyes were gleaming with more than just bloodlust and rage. Was it magic?
Lucas’ roar cut through the chaos, and in the next instant, he was there. He slammed into the shifter with enough force to shake the earth. They crashed to the ground in a vicious tangle of limbs and claws, teeth snapping, blood spraying.
Kael was suddenly at my side, yanking me up with a firm grip.
“Annika,” he said urgently, noticing my torn shoulder. “Can you still fight?”
I gritted my teeth, pushing the pain down. “Try and stop me.”
He gave a sharp nod, then turned back to the battlefield, as his blades glinted under the moonlight.
Lucas was still locked in battle with the massive shifter. I saw their bodies as a blur of violence. My pulse thundered. If we didn’t end this right now, we wouldn’t last much longer.
I flexed my fingers, feeling the raw energy coil at my fingertips. My magic was draining too fast, but I had one more trick left.
I lifted my hand, murmuring the incantation under my breath. The air around us shifted, the temperature dropped as a gust of wind swirled through the clearing. Sparks crackled at my fingertips, and then—
I let go.
A burst of power erupted outward, sending a shockwave through the battlefield. The remaining shifters recoiled. They snarled as the force knocked them off their feet.
It wasn’t enough to kill them. But it gave us a chance.
Lucas didn’t hesitate. He drove his claws into his opponent’s chest, ripping through flesh and bone. The beast let out a choked howl before collapsing.
For a long moment, silence reigned, but it was interrupted by a blur of dark fur and muscle which moved impossibly fast. The massive shifter, one that Lucas had already tackled, was now leaping from the ground, his jaws snapping wide open. He crashed into Lucas, like a mountain.
“No!” My scream tore through the night.
Lucas grunted as they hit the dirt, the sheer weight of the beast pinning him down. Clawed hands locked onto his shoulders, forcing him down, and then, something dreadful happened.
Fangs sank into his throat.
A sickening, wet sound filled the air as the shifter bit deep, ripping through skin and flesh. Blood poured from Lucas’ neck, staining the ground. He snarled and tried to shove the shifter beast away, but he was weakened.
Something inside me snapped. I knew he needed me.
Magic exploded from my body, as if every fiber of my being knew that I could lose him if I didn’t do something. The earth seemed to tremble beneath me, and a force surged from my core.
The shifter hesitated for only a moment, but that was enough. Lucas took advantage of his momentary confusion and ripped his arm free. He grabbed a branch which lay on the ground, pushing it through the shifter’s chest, tearing through fur and flesh.
The shifter howled, rearing back, but Lucas wasn’t done. He moved with deadly speed, rolling them over, pinning the monster beneath him this time. His movements were sharper and harder, and although blood streamed from his throat, he didn’t stop.
I raised my hands, as magic burned at my fingertips, but I didn’t need it.
With a brutal, final snarl, Lucas plunged his teeth into the shifter’s chest—straight through muscle, straight to the heart.
The beast let out a strangled noise. Then, with a shuddering exhale, it went limp beneath him.
I was moving before I could think, stumbling to Lucas’ side. He was still on his knees, but his hands were covered in blood. Some of it his, some of it not.
His name left my lips in a whisper. I reached out, pressing trembling fingers to his face, and tilting his head so I could see the wound on his throat. It was deep… too deep.
“Lucas—”
“I’m fine.” He tried to push himself up, but he wavered.
Kael was beside us in an instant, his golden eyes flicking between us, then down to the shifter’s lifeless body. “Well, that was reckless.”
Lucas coughed, spitting blood onto the dirt. “You’re welcome.”
Kael sighed, muttering a curse before looking at me. “Can you heal him?”
I swallowed hard, shaking my head. My hands were still shaking, but I pressed them against Lucas’ throat, ignoring the warmth of his blood beneath my palms.
“The wound is too deep,” I managed to muster. “There is only one thing that can save him now.”
Lucas lifted his head, his eyes burrowing into mine. I could see the refusal in them.
“No,” he told me.
But the next moment, he dropped down, his head slamming against the ground.