Chapter 23 Wen #2
We walked through the corridors and I tried to memorize the path. Left at the corridor with the wolf tapestry. Right at the bronze statue of some past king. Down the stairs with the worn stone steps. Through the hallway lined with painted portraits.
The library doors were massive and made of dark wood with intricate carvings of books and scrolls. The guards pushed them open for me.
I gasped.
It was beautiful. More beautiful than Sorcha had described.
The room was enormous and rose three stories high with balconies wrapping around each level. Ancient tomes lined every wall and shelves stretched from floor to ceiling. High windows let in streams of golden afternoon light. It must be golden hour because everything glowed with warm color.
“We will position ourselves at both entrances, my lady,” the younger guard said. “Call if you need anything.”
One guard stationed himself near the main doors I’d entered through. The other walked across the expansive room to where a second exit stood on the far wall. They were both inside with me, covering the two ways in and out.
I moved deeper into the library and ran my fingers along the spines of books. Most were in languages I couldn’t read. But some were in English or at least close enough to English that I could make out titles.
I climbed the stairs to the second level and found myself in a section on history and magic and mythology.
One tome caught my attention. The leather binding was worn from age and the title was faded but still readable: “Ancient Magicks and Rituals.”
I pulled it from the shelf carefully and opened it. The pages were yellowed with age and slightly brittle.
I skimmed through sections on spells and rituals. Protective wards. Healing spells. Transformation magic. Then I found a section on portals and my breath caught.
The wording was similar to what I’d read with my friends that night. Not identical, but close enough that I recognized the same basic structure and rhythm.
I’d never really questioned how I was able to open the portal. How the spell had worked when I didn’t believe in magic. How I’d managed to pull Mal through from another realm entirely.
But now I was wondering.
Mal had told me once that this wasn’t the first time the portal had been opened. That when it closed in the past, people got trapped on both sides. Wolves in the human realm. Humans here.
Could I be the descendant of one of those people? Could that be the reason I was able to perform the spell without even meaning to? Because I had magic in my blood that I never knew existed?
I was so lost in thought, turning the possibilities over in my mind and trying to make sense of it all, that I almost didn’t notice when the atmosphere in the library changed. The air felt different somehow. Heavier. Wrong.
Then the smell hit me and pulled me violently out of my thoughts.
Blood. Copper and salt and unmistakably fresh blood.
My head snapped up from the book. My heart began racing before my brain had fully processed the danger.
I turned around slowly and my stomach dropped.
A man dressed all in black with his face covered by dark cloth was pulling a knife from the chest of my younger guard. The blade came out slick and red. The guard’s eyes were wide with shock and pain as blood bloomed across his chest.
Time seemed to slow down as I watched him crumple to the floor. Blood began pooling beneath him, spreading across the ancient stone in a dark stain.
The other guard across the room saw what was happening and ran toward his partner and the assassin. They collided in the middle of the library in a tangle of limbs. The sounds of their fight echoed off the high ceilings as steel clashed against steel.
I was frozen at the railing of the second level. My brain couldn’t process what I was seeing. Couldn’t make my body move. My lungs felt like they’d stopped working.
Then training kicked in. The hours Mal and Aurion had spent teaching me how to defend myself. How to think under pressure.
Move. I had to move.
I forced my legs to work and stumbled down the stairs. My hands were shaking so badly I had to grip the railing to keep from falling. I made it to the fallen guard and dropped to my knees beside him.
“Please,” I whispered, reaching for him with trembling hands. “Please wake up.”
But his eyes were already glazing over. There was so much blood. Too much blood. His chest wasn’t moving anymore.
He was dead. Because of me. Because he was guarding me.
A sob caught in my throat but I swallowed it down. No time for that. I had to focus.
I grabbed the knife from his belt. The handle was slick with his blood and my hands were shaking but I forced myself to grip it tightly. Then I focused on the bond. On Mal. On that golden thread connecting us.
I gathered every bit of strength I had and pushed a single word through.
“Help.”
The effort made my head spin and my vision blur at the edges. But I felt it land. Felt Mal’s immediate response through the bond. Panic and fury and the promise that he was coming.
A scream pulled my attention back to the fight.
The assassin had just drawn his blade across my other guard’s throat in one vicious motion.
The older man’s hands flew to his neck but blood poured between his fingers.
He made a horrible sound as he fell to his knees and then collapsed forward onto the stone floor.
I was alone with a killer.
Terror flooded through me but I forced myself to move. I ran for the other exit where the older guard had been stationed. If I could just get through that door and into the corridor, I could scream for help. Someone would hear me.
But the assassin was faster than I expected. He intercepted me halfway across the room and blocked my path with his body.
His face was covered by dark cloth that wrapped around everything except his eyes. Those eyes were cold and calculating as they looked me over.
“Going somewhere, little human?” His voice was muffled by the cloth but still mocking. Amused by my fear.
I held the knife in front of me even though my hands were shaking so badly the blade wavered. “Stay back.”
He laughed. The sound echoed off the high ceilings. “You think you can fight me? You are nothing. A weak human who does not belong here.”
He lunged at me faster than I could track. I dodged on pure instinct and felt the air move as his blade passed where my head had been a second before. I slashed wildly with my own knife and by some miracle managed to connect. The blade cut across his arm and drew blood.
He looked down at the wound and then back at me. “You bitch.”
I tried to run again but he grabbed my arm and yanked me back so hard I felt something in my shoulder pop. I cried out as pain shot through me.
The knife fell from my numb fingers and clattered across the stone floor out of reach.
His blade came at me and I felt it slice through the flesh of my arm. Pain exploded hot and immediate. Blood ran down my skin and dripped onto the floor.
Then his hand was around my throat. Squeezing. Cutting off my air.
I clawed at his hand desperately, trying to pry his fingers loose, but he was so much stronger than me. My lungs burned. Black spots danced at the edges of my vision. I couldn’t breathe. Couldn’t scream. Couldn’t do anything but scrabble uselessly at his grip.
“A bitch like you should have stayed in your realm,” he snarled. His face was close to mine now and I could see the hatred in his eyes. “You do not belong here. You will ruin everything we have worked for.”
My vision was tunneling. Everything was going dark at the edges. I could feel myself starting to lose consciousness.
Then the doors didn’t just open. They exploded inward in a shower of splinters as a massive black wolf burst through.
The wolf’s eyes glowed red with rage. Its lips were pulled back to show teeth that were far too large and sharp. It launched itself at the assassin without hesitation.
The assassin’s hand left my throat as the wolf’s jaws closed around it. I heard bones crunch. Heard the assassin scream as the wolf ripped and tore.
I collapsed to the floor gasping for air. My throat felt crushed. Every breath hurt.
Blood sprayed across the ancient books and the stone floor. The assassin’s screams turned to gurgles and then went silent. The wolf was savage and vicious as it tore him apart, making sure he was dead before stepping back.
Then the wolf was shifting and the sounds were horrible. Bones cracking and reforming. Fur receding. The massive form shrinking.
Mal crouched where the wolf had been. He was completely naked and covered in the assassin’s blood.
“Wen.” His voice was raw as he crossed the room to me. His hands were immediately on my face and then my throat where I could feel bruises already forming. Then he saw my bleeding arm and his face went white. “Wen. Little mate. Are you hurt? Where are you hurt?”
“My arm,” I managed to rasp out. My voice was hoarse and it hurt to talk. “He cut my arm.”
Mal looked down at the wound and at the blood still flowing from it. Horror crossed his features.
“You are going to be fine. I am taking you to the infirmary. You are going to be fine.” He was talking too fast and his hands were shaking as he scooped me up in his arms. He ran through the library and into the corridor beyond.
Nobles who had been drawn by the noise gasped when they saw us. Saw the blood covering both of us. Saw their naked king carrying his bleeding mate through the castle.
“Move!” Mal roared. “Get the fuck out of my way!”
They scattered in every direction as he ran faster. I buried my face in his chest and felt his heart pounding against my cheek. Felt his terror through the bond as clearly as if it were my own.
“You are going to be fine,” he kept repeating like a mantra. “You are going to be fine. I will not lose you. I cannot lose you.”
“I’m okay,” I tried to say but my voice was barely a whisper. “Mal, I’m okay.”
But he was beyond hearing. Beyond rational thought. His wolf was still too close to the surface. All he knew was that his mate was bleeding and he needed to fix it immediately.
We burst into the infirmary and healers jumped up from their stations with startled expressions.
“Help her!” Mal roared. “Someone fucking help her now!”
They rushed forward and took me from his arms gently. Laid me on a bed with clean white sheets that immediately began to stain red.
Mal hovered at my side and refused to move more than a foot away. He grabbed my uninjured hand in a grip that bordered on painful.
“You are going to be fine,” he whispered. His eyes were still red and glowing. Still more wolf than man. “I swear. You are going to be fine.”
I squeezed his hand with what little strength I had left. “I know. I’m okay. I promise.”
But he didn’t look convinced. He looked absolutely terrified.
And I realized that the Wolf King who had faced down challengers and council members and political intrigue was completely undone by the sight of his mate bleeding on an infirmary bed.