Chapter 14 - Heinrich
The moment I step outside the cabin, the cold evening air slams into my lungs.
My wolf is already restless beneath my skin, claws scraping against the cage of my ribs as if it senses something my human mind hasn’t caught up to yet.
Then the mind link hits me again. “Alpha!” Dedrick’s voice crashes through my head with enough urgency to make my pulse spike. “Demon activity on the western perimeter. Multiple signatures. They appeared out of nowhere!” My stomach drops.
It’s impossible. The ritual didn’t work? We sealed the borders barely hours ago…
My jaw tightens as dread coils in my chest. “Hold the line,” I order immediately through the mind link, already moving down the path. “I’m on my way.”
The connection cuts as quickly as it came, but I stop dead in my tracks when, from the periphery of my hearing, I hear the squeak of the metal door hinges.
For half a second, I stand frozen in the yard, staring out at the darkening forest. The valley should feel calm tonight.
The binding ritual should be humming beneath the soil like a steady heartbeat.
Instead, there’s a sickening pressure in the air.
Like something has slipped through a crack we didn’t see.
My mind flashes back to Annika inside the cabin, my chest tightening with dread because the metal squeaking stops. I can feel her behind me, and that intense need to protect her washes over me, even before I see her at the cabin door.
The demons have been growing bolder every week.
And if Anastasia’s theory is right—if the magic awakening in Annika is tied to the same power the demons are hunting—then they’ll find her.
My heart pounds harder.
No.
I drag a hand through my hair and turn back toward the cabin door, heart lodged in my throat when I find Annika standing just inside the threshold, her expression tight with worry.
I’m already heading back in that direction, the pull toward her stronger than the one that wants to lead me away to the border.
I can’t help myself, it seems. I don’t have control over this feeling.
“What happened?” she asks, frowning as I approach her.
“I told you to stay inside, Anni,” I tell her, forcing calm into my voice even as dread gnaws at the back of my skull.
Her eyes widen slightly. “Anastasia told me about the spell. It didn’t work, did it?”
The question hits too close to the truth.
“I’ll handle it,” I say instead.
Her lips part, ready to argue as I step onto the porch and move closer, gripping both of her shoulders firmly.
“Listen to me,” I say, my voice low and sharp. “Whatever happens out there, you stay inside this cabin.”
Her brow furrows. “Heinrich—” she begins, but I stop her with a firm shake of my head, sliding my hands from her shoulders to her face.
“Promise me.” Something in my tone must convince her, because she finally nods.
“I promise.”
Relief washes over me, and bursts out in the most erratic kiss when I crush my lips to hers. I need to feel that she’s real, the mate bond, and her lips becoming the anchor I need to stay focused. I pull back before I’m swept up in a whirlwind of passion.
“I’ll be back,” I promise, and her eyes are full of whatever it is I need to go ahead. Perhaps the conviction that she’ll keep to her promise, and she nods briskly before I turn and sprint into the forest.
The moment I cross the tree line, I shift into wolf form, bones cracking and twisting as my wolf surges forward, fur ripping through my skin in a rush of primal power. The forest blurs around me as I tear across the terrain, paws pounding against the earth.
The pack link buzzes with chaos.
“Three demons down, but they’re rising again!” comes Damian’s voice.
“Another one moving toward the ridge!” James, his beta, roars through the mind link.
“Watch your—” A roar rips through the connection as someone’s voice cuts off abruptly.
My wolf snarls, and the scent hits me seconds later.
Rot.
Sulfur.
Death.
The clearing ahead explodes into view just as one of the demons lunges for James. The creature is taller than any man, its limbs twisted at unnatural angles, skin like charred leather stretched across jagged bone as it mimics the shape of a wolf most horrifyingly.
I launch myself at it without slowing, my jaws clamping around its throat. Black blood sprays across the grass as the demon shrieks. It fights like a cornered beast, claws slashing across my flank before Dedrick barrels into its side.
The demon collapses under the combined assault. But even as it crumbles into dispersing smoke beneath my claws, something inside me twists violently.
Something about this fight is wrong. The demons aren’t pushing deeper into the valley, or charging toward the wolves, but they’re scattering.
They’re running as if they’ve already accomplished what they came for.
My heart lurches.
The cabin.
Annika.
The realization hits me with such force that I nearly stagger. This wasn’t an attack. It was a distraction.
“Back to the territory!” I snarl through the link, already moving in that direction. My wolf bolts through the trees faster than I’ve ever run before.
Every instinct screams the same horrifying truth.
Too late.
Too late.
Too fucking late.
I’m the fastest on my paws, rushing forward as if this is a race against the others, too focused on what’s ahead of me to care to look back.
When my cabin finally comes into view through the trees, my heart nearly stops.
The front door is splintered, a massive shadow crouching in the doorway.
A demon’s clawed hand is pushing against the frame as it tries to force its way inside.
Rage explodes through me, and it sends me reeling into a fury of madness, causing me to shift mid-stride, bones snapping back into human form as I charge forward. The demon turns just in time to see me, but I’m already on it. I slam into its back with enough force to drive it into the dirt.
“You will not touch her!” I roar.
The demon shrieks, twisting violently beneath my grip, its vile claws raking across my chest. Pain tears through me as blood pours down my torso, but I barely feel it the way I should.
All I can see is the open doorway behind the creature. All I can think about is Annika inside.
The demon lashes out again, claws slamming into my ribs hard enough to knock the breath from my lungs. Stars explode behind my eyes as it throws me across the yard.
I crash into the ground, barely managing to roll before the creature lunges again. It’s stronger than the others. Faster. And I’m already bleeding too much to remain strong enough to keep fighting.
My vision blurs as it raises one clawed arm, mentally bracing for the impact, when the world around me explodes. A wave of heat crashes over the yard, and the demon freezes. I blink through the haze, frowning when the impact from the demon doesn’t come, and instead, I see her.
Annika stands in the doorway, flames of crimson and gold ribbons rippling around her body like a living storm. Her dark hair is ignited by flames as it whips wildly in the heat, her usually chocolate-brown eyes blazing with a golden light that doesn’t belong to the woman I left inside minutes ago.
Power pours from her in violent waves, and the demon turns toward her with a snarl, but it’s the demon’s fatal mistake. Annika lifts one trembling hand, the hesitation quickly turning into something focused, something exalted, when the fire surges forward.
The demon doesn’t even have time to scream before the flames consume it. Within seconds, it collapses into nothing but blackened ash that scatters across the ground. Silence falls over the yard.
The fire slowly fades around her, leaving only faint embers dancing along her fingertips.
My chest tightens as I attempt to sit up, one hand limply lifting and reaching out toward her.
Blood still warms parts of my body, my flesh, where it shouldn’t be.
“Annika…” I rasp, and she turns toward me, panic flooding her face as the glow fades from her eyes.
“Heinrich!”
She races toward me, but the world tilts violently as I try to keep my eyes on her.
The last thing I see before darkness claims me is her kneeling beside me, hands glowing faintly as she presses them against my chest.
***
When I wake again, the first thing I notice is warmth.
The second thing I notice is her scent.
My eyes open slowly, and I find Annika sitting beside the bed, a damp cloth in her hands as she gently wipes blood from my shoulder. Her hair is pulled into a loose knot, strands falling around her face like a natural frame that points to her beauty.
She looks exhausted, eyes rimmed with dark circles and puffiness as if she’s been crying.
But she’s alive, and that’s all that matters. Relief floods my chest so hard it almost hurts when she meets my eyes.
“You’re awake…” she murmurs softly, and I push myself up slightly.
My body should be screaming with pain, but instead, the wounds across my chest are nothing more than faint pink scars.
“You healed me,” I say in awe, and her gaze drops to her hands.
“Yes. I guess I did.” There’s no pride in her voice, only quiet acceptance.
I study her for a long moment, noticing that the fear I saw earlier has softened into something else.
Concern.
Maybe even trust.
“Annika…?” I say gently.
Her eyes lift to mine again.
“You can’t go back to the human world.”
The words land like a stone between us.
Her shoulders fall slightly.
“I figured you’d say that,” she says despondently, sadness etched across her features.
“The demons came here for you,” I continue. “They weren’t attacking the borders. They were hunting.” She goes still, and I reach out and place a hand over the one that holds the damp cloth. “They know what you are.”
A long silence settles over the room.
“So I’m trapped here…?” she whispers.
“No.” I shake my head firmly. “You’re not a prisoner here, Annika. You’re protected here.”
Her eyes flash with disappointment. “I promised my sister—”
“And you will see her again,” I interrupt quietly. “But not yet.”
She looks at me, searching my face. “Why?”
“Because what happened tonight was only the beginning,” I say.
“Your power is awakening, but you don’t know how to control it yet.
The demons know your powers are awakening.
That’s why they’ll come for you.” Images flash through my mind of the inferno she unleashed, the raw, terrifying strength in it.
“If you leave now,” I continue, “you’ll be walking straight into their hands.”
Silence stretches between us until, finally, she exhales. “What happens now?”
I hold her gaze steadily. “Now you learn how to use your power.”
Her expression tightens momentarily, then slowly, she nods. “Okay.”
For the first time since she arrived in this valley, it feels like we might finally be on the same side. And she makes no protest when I lift her hand to my lips and press a kiss to her knuckles.
“That’s all you need to do now, Anni. Focus on your powers. I will not pressure you into anything.”
She stares at me longingly, as if trust is building in our shared gaze, her gentle nod still slightly hesitant, but there to show her agreement nonetheless.
“Thank you, Heinrich,” she whispers timidly, and I give her hand a gentle squeeze.
“No, Anni. Thank you…for existing. Thank you for healing me.”
This time, when she gives me a nervous half-smile, hope sparks in my chest again. Even if it’s faint, I’m certain that things between us will change. They must. She is fated to be mine, after all.