8. Evanee #2
I scurried to the adjacent pillar, my pulse roaring in my ears.
Horror should've been the feeling to plague me rather than fascination. The pain from Cressida’s marks lessened a little more, but my muscles stayed tense as I watched the creature, unmoving despite the carnage that seemed to be happening deeper within the woods.
Out of nowhere, a wolf with brown fur, three sizes too large crossed the courtyard and lunged beyond the fence, snarling as he tore into the skur.
My jaw went slack.
A Werewolf. There’s been a damn Werewolf traveling with us.
The skur moved with unnatural speed. I thought it would rip that wolf in half, but the wolf matched every move—leaping aside as the skur's claws sliced through empty air. The wolf jumped back, teeth bared in a growl that could shake mountains. The skur pounced—my hand flew to my mouth, covering my gasp, expecting the worst—but the wolf leaped over the skur, turned and locked its teeth around the monster’s throat.
The skur bucked and screamed, clawing at the wolf’s head, but before it could inflict actual damage, the wolf bit down, snapping the skur’s head clean off and tossing it to the side. Black gore dripped from his maw as he howled, then charged into the woods.
Adrenaline bled into my system as I stared at the remains.
My fingers dug into the pillar—
Another shriek sounded right ahead. Every nerve in my body felt like little knives poking me from the inside.
A skur had made it inside the fence.
My throat grew dry as I slowly moved backward, but my markings lit up again.
Shit, shit, shit.
Pain and fear held me in place. Going inside wasn’t an option with the damn proximity spell. If I tried to leave the porch, the skur would see me. I was stuck.
Sweat beaded on my brow, as if the phantom flames were producing actual heat.
The skur leaned its head back, sniffing. I held my breath and scanned the area for some kind of weapon—there was nothing. Air hissed past my teeth as I tried to hold in my cry.
Its head snapped in my direction—bright orange eyes locked on me. It screamed, the sound spearing into my eardrums. I clamped my hands over my ears and stumbled back.
It sprinted right for me.
“No!” I tripped, falling flat on my ass as I scrambled to get away—
A male came out of nowhere, putting himself between the skur and me.
He didn’t even have a sword—just a dagger and his bare hands.
I didn’t recognize him; he wasn’t one of the knights traveling with us.
White hair on a male that looked to be not much older than me would have been impossible to forget.
The skur didn’t break its stride as it ran. With his dagger angled, the male crouched low, turning enough that I could see his electric blue eyes lit like torches in the dark.
The skur sprang, teeth snapping. The stranger jumped out of the way, then twisted, slamming the dagger straight into the back of the monster’s head. The skur still growled and moved, black ichor dripping down its neck, teeth gnashing as it moved for the male once more.
I pushed myself up, gaze locked on the stranger as his hand shot out, wrapping around the skur’s neck, holding it at bay, easily.
Growling low and vicious, the male jerked the skur to his body and yanked his dagger from the head with his other hand. The skur slipped from his grasp—
A gasp slipped free of my lips, and the stranger’s attention latched onto me.
“Watch out!” I shouted, my voice cracking as the skur charged.
The stranger whipped around, but not before the skur’s claws caught him in the forearm, shredding through the fabric, slicing skin.
My hands raked through my hair, and I paced while he ignored the injury and hurled himself on the skur, slamming the thing to the ground.
The monster struggled beneath the male’s weight, bucking and thrashing.
Silver glinted in the moonlight, and then the dagger was buried in the skur’s chest. A horrible hissing shriek tore from its throat, but was abruptly cut off when the stranger dropped his head, a low snarl tearing free as his fangs locked onto the skur’s jugular, and he ripped its damn throat out.
Ice flooded my veins to the extent I hardly noticed the incessant heat emanating once more from my ink.
A flick of his head, and the mangled jugular landed next to him with a wet thump. Revulsion curdled inside me as my gaze flicked to the bloody heap.
The skur didn’t move again.
The male exhaled roughly as he stood, cleaned off his dagger, and exposed an abdomen carved from granite, as he wiped his face.
It took effort to force my eyes off him, but it wasn’t safe. He wasn’t safe, despite his rescue. I turned, tiptoeing back to the safety of the—
“It’s intriguing that you’re out here, risking your life to watch the fight instead of hiding behind stone walls and iron-locked doors as most females would.”
I snapped around, pulse hammering.
“Especially in that scrap of clothing. One of your companions might make a costly mistake with so much… exposed. Such a distraction.”
The male leaned against the pillar—relaxed, but in that deliberate way predators rest before they strike.
The air around him changed, tightening and electrifying, as if he drew the surrounding energy in with his presence alone.
Even the clouds disappeared—giving the impression that the moon and stars yearned to be closer to him.
He was devastating in a way that wasn’t pretty or clean like Aiden—but ruggedly beautiful and tall, built like he could break the world in half.
Yet as he pushed off that pillar, he moved with a lazy ease.
His black clothing clung to him, stark against the white waves of hair partially pulled back and tied with a leather strap.
Even the leftover gore that stained his chin and throat added to his allure.
When he lifted his eyes, a silver glow threaded through the electric blue beneath dark lashes, bright enough to steal my breath. His gaze dragged over me—slow, assessing. Intimate in a way that made heat and chills clash beneath my skin.
Leather, cedar, and mint carried on the breeze, sinking into me. My toes curled in my slippers. Something wrong yet intoxicating coiled through me in his presence. A warning pulsed in the air, telling me I should fear him.
But I didn’t fear him.
I feared whatever was deep inside me, urging me to move closer.
“See something you like?” he quipped.
The world grew quiet when he spoke—as if it were only the two of us. Even the fighting in the woods grew distant. If it weren’t for the burning reminder in my ankles and wrists, I might have forgotten my current situation entirely.
My mouth dried as my gaze flicked past him to the corpse once more. Aiden’s group still hadn’t dispatched whatever remained out in the woods, yet this male took one out by himself within minutes.
He wasn’t Fae or human. His rounded ears were proof enough, but the fangs and dominance rolling off him—a pure, primal threat—belonged to another beast entirely.
“Interesting,” he said as he took a casual step toward me, his black boots silent. I swallowed dryly, my gaze darting to the thick trees. The pain from my marks seemed to lessen—Aiden was close.
“What’s interesting?” I asked, forcing the words out evenly.
“Most would say thank you to the one who saved them, instead of gawking.”
“I’m not gawking,” I barked.
His mouth hooked up at one corner, a canine grazing his bottom lip.
I forced my breathing to steady. I could easily scream or bolt for the door. Yet my mouth clamped shut, and my feet were glued to the spot.
With his hands in his pockets, he took another lazy step toward me, utterly unfazed that the knights and Thaddeus could return at any second. That Aiden could return.
“Who are you?” I demanded. His eyes flashed, lighting up once more. “What are you?” Brazen. Too brazen, but I wanted to know. Needed to know.
He froze with predatory stillness, studying me, calculating and relentless.
“It’s rude to ask beings what they are.”
“Answer my question.”
“You first.” His smirk was slow, deliberate. My brows furrowed.
“I’m a human. Obviously.” My fists furled and unfurled at my side. Of course, he noticed, his otherworldly eyes flicking to the movement for a split second before returning to my own relentless stare, that smirk spreading.
“Is that so?” he mused.
I gritted my teeth so hard I could chip a tooth.
“Are you going to tell me what you are?”
His head cocked to the side. “What do you think I am?”
“Dangerous,” I breathed, the word escaping me.
A wry smile lit his face. “Fair assessment.”
“Are you—are you a guest of Thaddeus?” I skirted around the pillar, putting space between us.
“Not exactly.”
A howl erupted from the woods. Startled, I stepped back, my foot slipping off the sidestep. Muscles tightened as I braced for impact—there was none as a large, warm hand caught my forearm, firm, but gentle.
A picture slammed into my mind—gone as quickly as it came—of beautiful snow-capped mountains and fields of moonflowers, swaying beneath a full moon.
In the next breath, he pulled me to him. I forgot how to breathe as my head screamed this is how I die—his teeth, tearing into me like they had the skur.
Yet, just as quick as it set in, the panic in my head ebbed—he won’t hurt me.
The thought struck from nowhere, jarring in its effect.
His mouth hovered near my neck, causing goosebumps to skitter across my skin as anticipation curled low in my stomach. He breathed in, slow and deliberate—
His body went rigid, eyes snapping open. Something raw and unguarded flashed across his face. Gone before I could name it.
He released me, and I quickly put distance between us, turning for the safety of the door, throwing an incredulous look at him.
“I have to go, but we’ll meet again soon, Evanee.”
I stumbled at the sound of my name. But when I turned around, he was gone. My pulse roared in my ears.
How did he know my name?