Chapter 8
There’s a certain poetry about running for your life. It wasn’t the horde of shifters chasing me. Nor the snarls and roars of the fight breaking out.
No, it was the blood pumping through my veins. The breath in my lungs that pushed me to go faster, further. The adrenaline that powered through me, firing all the pistons inside, was a shot to the system that I’d never really felt before now.
My feet hit the ground in hard thuds. Pumping my arms, I glanced behind me. My heart stuttered in my chest at the sight of three of the six shifters chasing after me. I only had a moment to worry about Percy fighting the others on his own before I had to focus on myself.
I’d had a dirty dream like this once. A large beast was chasing me through the Candy Forest and I knew that if I got caught I was going to get fucked. Except in my dream, I wanted to get caught. I had a feeling this wasn’t going to end the way my dream did.
“Pretty witch,” a growl followed me. “We aren’t going to hurt you… much. We just want to play.”
I didn’t bother to answer him, wincing as my knees started to ache. Running was all good and well, but when you spent most of your days behind a cauldron, there wasn’t a lot of time for exercise. I couldn’t keep this up much longer. Then they would catch me and that was…
I shuddered, forcing myself not to think about it.
Grabbing the rock wall next to me, I used it to propel me around it. I hissed at a sudden sharp pain in my hand. I didn’t have time to worry about it though because the shifters were closing in behind me. If I didn’t find a way to get away from them soon, I was so fucked and unfortunately in the literal sense.
I turned another corner and came face to face with a dead end. Laughter chased me. I spun around, my hands against the rock as the shifters came into view. They prowled toward me, two of them flanking the one in the middle.
“There she is,” the middle one crooned. “Such a tasty little witch. No wonder the reject wants you.”
“I’m warning you.” I lifted my hands and made what little magic I still had glow on my palms. “Unless you want to end up a meat popsicle, I’d back the fuck up.”
The shifters paused for a moment, glancing at one another before the middle one spoke again. “You’re bluffing. If you could kill us, you’d have done it already.”
Well fuck. There went that plan.
“That doesn’t mean that I won’t make it hurt.” I bared my teeth at him, channeling my inner bitch. I might not be able to kill them with my magic, but maybe I could stall them long enough to… I don’t know… make them lose interest?
The shifters chuckled.
“That’s fine with us,” the middle one growled. “Besides, I think you’re the one who will be the one crying by the end of it.” He cocked his head to the side, his tongue hanging out of the side of his mouth. “Though maybe you like that kind of thing.”
I huffed a laugh, hoping to cover the terror inside of me. “What? None of the girl shifters want to mate you, so you have to force yourself on the first helpless human you find? That’s so… pathetic.”
The shifter snarled and lurched at me. Sharp blinding pain shot through my arm where the shifter grabbed me and threw me down on the ground. His heavy weight pressed down on me.
I shoved at his chest but, just like Percy, he weighed too much. I was no match for him.
“Stay still, witch. This won’t last long,” he chortled, his claw slicing at my clothes.
“That doesn’t sound like something you should be bragging about,” I grunted as I smacked at him until something hard bumped against my hand. Refusing to let myself think about what I was grabbing, I poured my remaining power into my palms.
The pure scream of agony was sweet, sweet music to my ears.
The shifter threw himself away from me, his eyes wide and filled with horror as he took in what I’d done to his dick. He whimpered and crawled back to his friends with his tail between his legs.
“Let’s see you fuck anything with that now.” I smirked before turning my attention to the others. “Anyone else feel like trying me? I think ice dick has a good ring to it. I might even start making my very own curses to sell in town. I know a villager or two who’d love to try it out on their ex-boyfriends.”
I had just enough power to make my hands glow blue. They didn’t need to know that I was a one and done kind of witch right now.
Thankfully, the other two shifters took one look at their friend’s dick then my glowing hands and decided I wasn’t worth it. They darted back the way they came, dragging their whining friend with them.
I waited a few moments to be sure they were gone before I blew out a long breath of relief. Shifting on the ground, I hissed and scanned down at my body, taking note of the rips and scratches on my skin.
Well, that was just great. I didn’t know much about shifters. I just hoped that the bit about getting scratched or bitten by one didn’t mean I was going to become one.
Grunting, I dragged myself against the rock wall, inching myself up until I was into a sitting position. I leaned my head back against the wall and closed my eyes.
This was a bunch of bullshit. I should have just sliced my creations’ throats and gotten it over with. However, the thought of looking into each and every one of them in the eyes as I killed them made a ball of emotion lodge in my throat.
A sob yanked out of me before I could stop it. Tears slid down my cheeks at the loss I was going to face. Each of my creations was like a little piece of me, and the thought of destroying them had finally hit me.
A low growl came from the shadows of the entrance of my own personal hell. I tensed, scrubbing the tears from my face.
“I’m warning you. Unless you want an icicle for a dick, you better get the hell out of here.”
A gruff laugh preceded an auburn shifter stepping into the light. Those menacing red eyes locked on me, blood trailed over his face where someone had sliced him with their claws. “I don’t think so, witch.”
I put my hands up and tried to push my magic into them, but they only glowed for a moment before sputtering out. I had finally run out of magic. I needed to rest, eat, sleep if I could before I would be back to full power. Something told me that the shifter coming at me wasn’t going to wait for me to get some R&R.
“Where are your big bad powers now, witch?” His claws scratched the ground with each step closer to me.
My heart pounded against my rib cage. My body shook with the unfound terror that had found its way crawling up my throat.
When he lunged at me, the scream that ripped out of me could wake the dead as I squeezed my eyes shut.
The attack never came and I was too chicken to open my eyes to see what happened.
A snarling snapping of jaws followed by grunts and yips only made me press myself further up against the wall. I didn’t want to know which one of them was fighting with Braxis. Any of them was just as bad as the others, and I just wanted it to be over already.
The loud crunch made something jerk in my middle. I dragged my legs up until I curled myself into a ball against the wall, my whole body trembling.
The silence that followed the fight made the waiting ten times worse. I could feel the heat of the victor’s presence as he prowled toward me. I braced for what was to come.
Hot breath puffed over me. Was he sniffing me? Before I had a chance to question it, the victor shifted away and collapsed on the ground beside me.
Cautiously, I opened my eyes. A moment later, they landed on the large lump of fur curled up at my feet. His chest moved up and down in slow, stuttering movements.
Not moving from my spot against the wall, I eyed the shifter next to me before my eyes flicked to find the loser. Instead of a beast, I found a naked man with long auburn hair. He’d shifted back from his shifter form. Which either meant he was dead or someone had stuck something in the other during their scuffle. Since he wasn’t moving, I was going with the former. If the hair color was anything to go by this was Braxis. He’d lost, which meant…
I shifted from the wall, wincing as I uncurled myself and crept over to the shifter near me. I lifted my hand and reached for him, hesitating for a moment before settling it onto his shoulder. With a grunt, I rolled him over until he was on his back.
Percy.
I swallowed as I looked him over, then gasped at the jagged claw marks marring his face and chest. A nasty bite decorated his shoulder and neck. Blood oozed from them in a slow trickle, but thankfully, they were already healing from his shifter abilities.
Seeing Percy here and safe must have clicked something inside of me because suddenly, my eyes grew heavy. The fading adrenaline in my system made my movements sluggish as I curled myself up against his back.
Then there was nothing.