18. Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Eighteen
The Castaways
Valda:
I hear rustling fabric and then the sound of tearing, but I don’t dare look back. Neither does Eloise, who is focused on the path ahead of us— one taking us toward the beach.
The bird-brained pigeon does look backward, and he squawks his horror repeatedly.
But I don’t have time to think of Konrad as a werw?lfe right now. There are more immediate concerns at hand. “Let’s go to the raft—”
“While they’re all distracted?” Eloise nods. “Agreed.”
“I’m so glad we had this conversation.”
Grass gives way to sand, and our steps slow.
The four men who were left behind are desperately pushing their raft toward the sea.
Releasing Eloise, I tug the saber out of my belt. “ En garde !”
Two glance over their shoulders at me, dismiss me, and tell their companions, “Keep her steady!”
“Fools,” I mutter. Then I do exactly what the closest one thought me capable of— slice him in the back .
He yelps and drops his corner of the raft. The other three men stumble, and the raft falls partly on the sand and partly into the sea.
All four men turn to me. One of them is my least favorite of the pirates.
I swish my saber through the air. “I’m not accustomed to being ignored by men.”
Baldy turns to his comrades. “Hear that, gentlemen? She wants our attention .”
Their spirits stink of bloodlust and a disgusting trace of desire. None show any sign of fear.
Fools.
Grinning, all four close the distance between us. Now they are so focused on me that they don’t hear Eloise using the current to help her tug the raft farther into the ocean.
I wait for the first man to strike. Instead, they all strike at once.
Tapping into my estrie speed, I escape all their sabers, my cloak flaring behind me. Then, trying not to harness too much of my stolen strength, I remember that they cannot be my first kill unless I want this whole quest to be in vain.
I jab mine into one’s arm before stabbing another’s leg. I kick the third, knocking him over, and then hold the saber up to the Baldy’s neck. “You know, I don’t like you at all. You taught Eloise a dirty word.”
Baldy doesn’t seem to hear my words, though, as he gapes at me. “How did you move so quickly?”
I glance toward Eloise, hoping she didn’t notice, but the raft is unoccupied.
Suddenly, Baldy cries out and whirls around, revealing a slash in his back. Eloise is standing on his other side, glaring up at him.
“What are you doing?!” I demand, pointing to the raft that is now floating in the shallows with no one to man it .
“Proving to you that I deserve this dagger,” Eloise answers with a proud lift of her chin.
I shake my head. “I’m still taking it back.”
With a huff, she turns and stomps through the shallows to the raft.
Baldy tries to chase after her, but I grab his arms, channeling all the werw?lfe strength I’ve been holding back. Then I toss him back onto the beach. He collapses, glaring at me all the while.
I glance back at the raft.
Eloise is sitting cross-legged in the middle of our means of escape. She narrows her eyes at me, and I know she’s sorting out the questions I’ve just been asked and what my answer might be.
Grunting, I hit Baldy in the temple with the butt of my saber. Then I run past them, pulling up my skirts enough to let me tread through the waves to our raft.
I curl my legs beneath me like a lady and turn to Eloise. Rather than studying the men from the beach to ensure they do not cause any further trouble, she has a suspicious gaze trained on me.
“I know what you are,” she whispers.
There is a pair of oars from one of the dinghies set in the center of the raft. I grab one of them. “An abducted baroness with some skill with the blade?”
Eloise raises an accusatory finger at me. “No— more than that. You’re an estrie. ”
Konrad :
I ’m a werw?lfe. One would think that would dissuade people from acting against me.
Apparently not.
I cast off as many garments as I can before I fully transform, turning taller and twisting into a terrifying monster.
A monster that smells the sour stench of their fear.
I snarl and then howl at the sun to express my extreme annoyance that they have chosen this path. That I had to rip my breeches for the likes of them.
The men surrounding me glance at one another, as though willing the others to surrender first so they could fall back without shame. But no one acts.
Until I do.
Snarling, I charge at them. They break their line immediately.
I swipe my forefront paw and make contact. A man falls to his knees, screaming. The scent of copper mingled with his abject terror unlocks the deeper animal locked within me.
Growling, I snap, latching on with my teeth. But just that movement reminds me of something locked deeper than my instincts.
The memory of the last time I let them take control. When the blood that matted my coat of fur covered my skin when I transformed back. When I could not lose the taste of my victims’ fear for weeks. Their screams still echo in my mind . . .
“You were made to be a werw?lfe, but you were not meant to be a monster.”
“See!” One of the twins points at me while his brother hangs back. “He hesitates to kill. This is our chance to end him and do as we please with the prisoner!”
Snarling, I charge forward and headbutt him. He clearly wasn’t expecting that and goes flying backward, plummeting into the pond below .
Then I turn. That’s when I see a raft slowly drifting away, two forms perched upon it.
Those are my girls.
Howling with victory, I turn back to the other men. I don’t need to slaughter them. I only need to ensure they will be in no shape to pursue us.
I lunge at a cluster, my claws out.
These pirates will be maimed before Valda is.