Chapter 22
SAPHIRA
“She is mine!”
The raw fury in Kaeleron’s voice, the fire brightening his crimson eyes, and the pure possession in that declaration detonated something within me.
I was barely aware of what I was doing as I tossed the knife to my left hand, gripping it with the blade closest to my little finger, and brought it around in a fast arc with all the strength I had in me, aiming it at Lucas’s chest as he reared back in the face of Kael’s rage.
The knife slammed into Lucas, cutting through his flesh with disturbing ease and grating along bone in a way that made me want to vomit.
Only I missed.
Lucas reacted far faster than I had expected, noticing me quickly enough that he angled his body away from the path of my blade, causing me to only nail him in the shoulder.
He growled as he smashed his fist into mine with enough force that I yelped and released the knife.
His fingers closed around the hilt and his howl of rage as he yanked it free of his flesh had me launching to my feet, aware he intended to turn that blade on me.
I leaped backwards, placing some distance between us, and gasped as a silver arc cut between me and Lucas, making him rear back.
Kaeleron’s sword slammed into the wooden table, cleaving it in two, and he loosed an unholy snarl as he grabbed one of the sections and cast it away from him, sending it flying across the glade into a group of males who were shifting into wolf form.
Shadows lashed at them, inflicting injuries to keep them in their human forms, but not fatal wounds.
He was holding back for my sake. For the sake of my pack.
“Hunt.” I flung my arm in the direction of the males he had wounded and he grinned at me, flashing jagged fangs as a wicked light brightened his eyes.
The males screamed as shadows tore into them, no longer merely wounding, but cleaving them into pieces and drenching the grass with their blood.
While his shadows dealt with the enemies I had marked for him, he swept his sword up in another fast arc, aiming it at Lucas and driving him back as he tried to lunge at me again, forcing him further from me.
“Dagger?” Kaeleron glanced at his waist.
At my dagger he had strapped beside his sword.
I shook my head as a brawl erupted around us, wolves shifting left and right and fur flying as the scent of blood laced the air. My heart thundered as my own wolf rose to the fore and white fur swept over my skin.
Lucas twisted on his heel and ran for the barn.
For Braxton where he fought Morden, both males in their wolf forms. Morden was unmistakable, larger even than Braxton as a wolf. They tangled, snapping fangs and clashing hard as they went up on their back legs.
I finished my shift as Lucas completed his transformation into a large dark wolf and hurtled after him, soul-deep aware I couldn’t let him reach Braxton. The two of them would be too much for Morden. Lucas would kill him.
Several wolves leaped into my path and I barely avoided being caught by one as he lunged at me, fangs snapping dangerously close to my face.
Before I could launch my own attack to drive them away so I could reach Lucas and stop him from hurting Morden, Kaeleron was before me, his sword cutting down the one who had almost bitten me.
“Go,” he snarled. “I have this.”
I launched through the gap he had created between two of the wolves, leaping over the fallen one, my focus locked on Lucas, but my senses split between him and Kaeleron.
Wolves closed in on Kaeleron and rage lit up my blood at the thought he might be hurt, and every instinct I possessed demanded I go back to him and protect him.
I forced myself to keep going forwards as he fought the wolves, keeping them off my tail and giving me this chance to have my revenge and save my pack.
Lucas was only feet from Morden now as Braxton gained the upper hand, sinking his fangs into Morden’s shoulder and drawing blood.
On a savage snarl, I leaped, sailing through the air.
And landed hard on Lucas.
He whimpered as he went down under my weight and I reacted in a heartbeat, sinking my fangs into his shoulder, avoiding his nape.
I would be damned if I was going to accidentally claim the bastard in the heat of battle.
He twisted and turned, shaking his body hard enough to dislodge me, flinging me to the ground.
I recovered before he could pounce on me, leaping to my paws and launching back at him.
Our fangs clashed as I tried to sink them into him again and he tried to do the same to me, sending pain reverberating over my skull.
The dark tangle of fur to my left snared my attention as two wolves pounced on Morden and the trio rolled across the dirt, kicking and biting each other.
Blood shone on Morden’s black fur, glistening in the moonlight.
He wouldn’t be able to take much more before the pain forced him to shift back, and then he would be at a disadvantage.
I kicked off, leaping backwards to evade Lucas as he gnashed fangs at me, and sprinted left, gaze darting and seeking Braxton.
Where had he gone? I spotted him beyond Morden, fighting a group of Harper wolves, and breathed a little easier.
The Harper wolves would keep him occupied while I helped Morden, stopping the big wolf from joining in the fight and making it three on two, turning the odds against us.
I barrelled into the larger of the two wolves attacking Morden to knock them apart.
The tan wolf recovered swiftly, while Morden struggled to fend off the grey one.
I moved between Morden and the tan wolf, snarling at him, staring him down and daring him to attack, buying Morden time to shake off the grey one and gain the upper hand.
The tan wolf was far larger than me, and I think I recognised his scent as one of the Hunt Pack protectors.
This wasn’t going to be an easy fight, but I could do it. I bared fangs at the bastard.
And flinched when his head suddenly fell to the ground and blood sprayed everywhere, splattering my muzzle and chest, staining my white fur crimson.
Kaeleron sent me a dark look that ordered me to pick my battles more wisely or face his wrath once this was over.
He turned his back to me, his talon-tipped fingers flexing around the hilt of his sword as he moved to face half a dozen wolves.
Behind me, more closed in, and I growled as I sensed Lucas growing distant from me.
The bastard was running. I couldn’t let him escape.
I slowly turned my back to Kaeleron’s, facing the eight wolves who hemmed us in from my side.
Morden came up beside me, face blooded and breathing hard. I didn’t like our odds.
Beyond the wall of wolves, my pack were fighting Lucas’s, both females and males deep in the fray.
I looked for Lucas.
And my blood went cold when I spotted him.
He wasn’t running away.
He was running at my parents as a female from my pack desperately worked to cut their bonds with a steak knife.
I whined.
Kaeleron whirled towards me, his gaze searing me for a heartbeat before it moved away from me, and I looked over my shoulder at him, catching the fear that washed across his face as he saw what I had before it morphed into pure darkness.
“I will cut you a path.” He lowered his gaze to me as Morden exchanged positions with him, and I wanted to shift and beg him to teleport me. Or to teleport there himself.
Why wasn’t he teleporting?
His crimson eyes gained a sombre edge as if he had read my mind or heard my voice in his.
“A ward inhibits me.”
Is that what I had felt upon entering the green? A ward? Even now I felt weaker than I should, as if it affected me too.
I dipped my head and he swept in front of me, blade a blur as he cut down one wolf as another leaped at him.
He brought his arm up to protect himself, grimacing as the wolf latched onto it, and I growled.
I barrelled into the wolf’s side, knocking him off Kaeleron, and sank my fangs into his throat, ripping at it before I released him as he transformed back into a human.
I leaped over his body, my focus shifting to Lucas, and dodged left and right as more wolves spotted me and moved to intercept.
A whine ripped from my throat as fangs tore my skin and I went down, hind legs collapsing under the weight of the wolf on my back. Fire blazed through my veins, pain so fierce I couldn’t hold on to my wolf form, no matter how fiercely I tried.
The shift came over me against my will, the night air cold against my bare skin as I desperately fumbled behind me to shove at the wolf’s face, dislodging it.
Morden slammed into the male, his large head digging into the wolf’s side before he tossed it upwards, hurling the wolf off me.
I scrambled to my feet and ran as fast as I could.
Not fast enough.
Lucas launched at my father as his bonds broke and he dropped to the ground, and the familiar scent of his blood hit me.
“No!” I screamed and stumbled as tears blinded me.
I shook my head, desperately running harder, refusing to believe he was gone as I pushed myself past my limit. I could save him. Kaeleron could save him.
My foot snagged on a body and I tripped forwards, blindly stumbling towards Lucas as pain engulfed me, as my heart whispered that I was too late. Blood pooled beneath my father where he lay prone on the dirt, unmoving.
“No,” I whispered.
The female who had cut my father free screamed as Lucas tore into her, savaging her and spilling her organs across the ground.
“No.”
More wolves ran at me.
No.
Not at me.
They swarmed Morden, taking him down.
I kept running. Running. As fast as I could. Reaching for my father as he lay there on the dirt, far too still.
No.
Hope drained from me as Morden yelped, as I scented his blood too and Lucas turned his sights on my mother and the male who had freed her.
“Please, no.”
Lucas sprang at the male, taking him down before he could shift to defend himself.