Chapter 37
CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN
PARIS
“Tear him apart!” Aidan cried from the wall as the wolves gave chase.
My heart almost stopped, fear a crushing companion.
Summoning as much determination as possible, I kept to the side of the river. I was grateful to be an elf, lightfeet working overtime.
The wolves quickly gained on me.
“I want to see his blood everywhere!” Aidan followed up.
Prick! Why didn’t he come down here and face them himself? Without all his tricks, just him and them, and see how he did against their might.
A howl from my side sent sickening shivers through me. I ran faster, lungs burning, headache back from the intense stress of this bullshit.
What was Aidan’s plan? Run me through a few cycles of death by feral wolf until he got bored? Fuck him. Fuck him and fuck this valley and fuck the wolves and just fuck everything else.
A huge white wolf overtook me, running further ahead until it spun, blocking my path.
“Shit!” I yelped, veering left.
I leapt over the river, a gray wolf flanking me.
“Fuck off!” I roared, tearing up the slope toward the trees.
New plan: Get up a fir as high as possible. Wait things out. Hope for the best.
This plan has more holes than lace.
My negativity could go hang with the wolves. I was going up a tree.
Let’s go!
I crashed through the firs, a branch snagging my cheek. Hitting the first trunk, I scrambled up its rough surface a few feet until something grabbed my legs.
Jaws clamped down, the wolf growling against my skin.
Fuck!
Glancing down, I met its blazing yellow gaze, the big beast on his hind legs making a mockery of my escape attempt.
But those didn’t break my skin.
Purposefully?
Whatever. I didn’t want to find out.
I kicked at the beast with my other foot, landing a decent kick on its head. Well, it would’ve been decent against anything else. But not this wolf, the fucker didn’t so much as flinch.
“Get off me!” I cried as more wolves showed up, surrounding the tree.
I kicked again, sweat pouring down my face. If I could just get loose, I wouldn’t allow myself to get caught again.
I imagined drawing luck down myself.
“Come on!” I grunted, trying to pull myself free with every drop of strength inside me.
With a mighty tug, the wolf yanked me off the tree. I yelped as I fell, bracing for impact.
At least the snow would buffer my fall, right? Yeah, a chilly cushion just for me until the wolves tore me limb from limb.
Ugh.
I landed in a pair of big arms.
For a moment, I expected to see Silvanus’s face. But nope. I saw a werewolf guy shifted into humanoid form, his yellow eyes shining.
My heart hiccupped several times, a radiant heat passing across my skin. He was handsome, his light brown skin shimmering in the dark, his platinum blond hair tied back in a long braid.
My chest stiffened, the forest seeming to still for a moment, the only sound my quickening heartbeat as the guy’s wolfy peepers pierced every one of my layers.
What the hell?
“No fair! I want to see!” Aidan cried. “Wait for me!”
The other wolves padded around us.
“What—”
“Don’t speak.” A deep, nerve-shaking voice came out of this guy’s mouth.
Aidan showed up then, appearing in the corner of my eye. I watched him slip in the snow, the malicious grin on his face dropping when he saw me alive with all my limbs intact.
Surprise, fuckface!
Better not to be too cocky, though. These wolves were feral and could be playing with their food. The deity may get a show yet.
“What are you doing?” Aidan demanded.
The wolf guy’s nostrils flared, his lips drawing back into a snarl.
“Well? What do you have to say?” Aidan added.
The wolves moved between me and the deity, building a wall of fur and fangs.
Huh?
Aidan spat into the snow, backing off slightly. “Kill him. Kill him. Kill him!” Magic shimmered in his hands. “I’m not here to play games.”
Said the prick playing the biggest game of all.
“You’ll leave here if you want to keep your throat,” the wolf threatened.
The other wolves moved forward, driving Aidan back. He slipped, falling onto his arse.
“You—”
“I don’t know who you are,” Wolf Guy interrupted, “but you’re not welcome here.”
And I am?
Aidan got back to his feet unsteadily. “I go where I please, wolf. What are you doing, anyway? Where is your bloodlust? Why is he in your arms and still breathing?” he spat out. “How disappointing.”
I mean, he did have a point.
“Leave,” Wolf Guy responded. “Now.”
“Or what?” the deity retaliated petulantly.
Wolf Guy smiled, the yellow in his eyes brightening. “Bolshie bastard, aren’t you?”
Aidan glowered with so much fury I was surprised the snow didn’t melt beneath him.
“I will see you on your knees!” he hollered.
Wolf Guy’s smile only widened.
“I—”
“Kill him.”
I’d tried to warn him against the deity, but the wolves surged forward in a flurry of violence. They tore into Aidan with abandon, making him scream, blood flying, my heart in my throat.
When it was done, silence followed. I stayed still in Wolf Guy’s arms, watching the wolves move back to reveal a mess of limbs and blood scattered across the snow.
But this wouldn’t be enough.
Wolf Guy let out a breath. “Let’s go.”
I blinked up at him, words freezing on my tongue.
This wasn’t the end of Aidan.
Wisps of condensation curled from his lips as he regarded me curiously.
Get out of these arms, idiot!
Yeah, because I’d probably be next.
“You’re safe now,” the man said.
Safe? In the Lost Valley? How could I be safe? Wasn’t he about to dump me on the ground and let the wolves have me?
I propelled myself out of his arms, forward rolling, leaping to my feet.
Shit. Shit. Shit. One elf against how many wolves? Ten at least, with more eyes glowing out there in the night.
I drew my stakeblade, then paused, my forehead creasing as I fell into a fighting stance, searching for alternative escape routes other than scaling trees.
“Damn…” I wheezed, the cold biting in my bone marrow.
Wolf Guy moved closer, his hands in the air. “Take it easy.”
“Fuck you!” I snapped, every inch of me shaking. “Stay away.” I pointed the stakeblade at him, the crystal dagger manifesting in my other hand.
Deep down, my instinct told me the wolves wouldn’t hurt me. I had no idea where that came from, but there it was, itching like a bug bite.
“Let us help you,” Wolf Guy said. “You’ll freeze to death out here.”
Suddenly, my eyes clocked his dick.
Whoa. I’d totally missed him being naked until this moment. And, man, that fleshy rod gave these tree trunks a run for their coin.
I averted my eyes. “Just let me go.”
He chuckled. “Excuse my knob. We’re not used to a lot of non-naked company around here.”
The other wolves shifted then, a group of naked humanoid bodies joining the party.
Oh, man.
“I’m Declan,” Wolf Guy said as my face heated.
Where the hell did you look with so many private parts on display? Other than the ground, of course.
“Alpha of this valley and fellow executioner,” he added.
Another surprise.
I lifted my head, the hair on the back of my neck standing at attention. “You what?”
Declan cocked a kind of sexy grin. “We’ll talk.”
Sexy?
“Sing, precious one,” Caer said in my head. “Now.”
Really?
I did as she asked, though. It would be important.
As I began to slip away, Aidan’s body parts came back together. Within seconds, he was back on his feet.
Great timing.
Really great timing.