A blanket of darkness covered the village, but I could still make out the destruction. I walked further toward the center of town. Flags of all shapes and sizes blew in the breeze above the doors of each house I passed.
Frowning, I moved closer and peered at a door, seeing it marked in blood before I noticed droplets dripping onto the earth. Lifting my eyes, I slapped a hand over my lips, stopping the scream before it escaped through them. What I thought was a flag, swaying in the darkness, was a woman.
She hung upside down, her throat slit until her head clung to her body by a thread as her dress whipped in the wind. She dangled by a rope wrapped around her feet, secured to the cottage’s chimney as her blood painted the ground crimson. A shiver of trepidation slid down my spine. I backed away against the house across from hers.
Something wet dripped onto my cheek. I brought my other hand up to wipe it away. I peered up into yet another woman’s sightless eyes. I fought the tightening in my throat as bile churned in my stomach.
Scanning the other cottages, I found more women strung up, draining their blood into the ground below them, flowing into shallow trenches in the earth that lead deeper into town, creating a stream of blood.
I whispered a spell to shield myself, becoming invisible to the world around me. I slowly withdrew the potion from my pocket to enhance the spell I’d cast. Tipping my head back, I chugged it as I stared into the lifeless woman’s cloudy eyes. She was young, too young to have lost her life. She blinked, and I gasped loudly, unable to stop the noise from ripping from my lungs.
A scream ripped through the night, forcing my attention further down the road. I stifled my fear as a shiver snaked down my spine. I closed my eyes, inhaling deeply as I fought for calm, slowly inching to the center of town.
Music wafted toward me, and my brows creased in confusion at the noises that sounded like revelry. How could there be celebration while dead bodies hung from chimneys like sacrifices?
I paused at the mouth of the darkened alley, noting that my hair rose along my nape. Growling stopped me, causing goosebumps to form on my arms as another shiver made its way up my back. My lips trembled, studying the forms concealed in shadows, heading in my direction. Fighting not to tuck tail and run like a bitch, I clenched my teeth to keep the chattering noise from waking the dead.
Gasping, I watched as huge dire wolves moved toward me. Once they were near enough to where I stood, I relaxed ever so slightly. I took in their appearance from the light of the torches swaying in the wind. Red glowing eyes studied me, and I fought the hot tears threatening to break past my rapidly blinking eyes as I tried to hold them back. Bones protruded from their faces, appearing as if someone had kicked them in death before raising them from their grave within Hecate’s tomb.
“Oh, you sweet babies,” I whispered, carefully lowering to my knees as the dire wolves bared their deadly fangs in warning as they walked toward me. “Who brought you here? Who would be so selfish to disturb your rest?” I cooed to them as their ears lowered, noting the drool that escaped from their mouths. “Come to me, my sweet darlings, and allow me to ease your pain and send you back to your sleep.”
Dire wolves raised from Hecate’s tomb, or even in the surrounding area, were a terrible sign of what was happening here. They don’t rise on their own. Someone must summon them from their tomb, calling them here for a purpose. No one except a Hecate bloodline witch would hold the right or power to control them, let alone summon them from their grave.
The fact they were dead and disturbed from their promised rest, protecting Hecate during her eternal slumber, was definitely not a good sign. Dire wolves were ethereal in life and could only reanimate if someone from the Hecate line performed death magic. I could sense they were here to guard something sinister.
Knox’s scent rolled through me, the spiciness of it causing my body to heat with need. Closing my eyes, I harnessed the hungry bitch within me who preened, taunting me with the fact that eventually, I’d lose my battle. She promised me I’d weaken in time and go to him to stop the need driving me.
My sex clenched, and the image of his eyes holding mine prisoner as he drove his magnificent cock into my body, caused a needy moan to slip past my trembling lips. My hand lifted, covering my mouth as a soft purr fought to escape, calling him to me.
According to Aurora, I was entering a breeding cycle that would only end once I’d either had sex or attempted to breed. My instincts were taking over. The creature inside of me needed the beast that was within Knox. We needed him to catch us and do what he’d promised; fuck me so damn hard that I’d never need or want any other man so long as I lived.
Bastard.
I hated that Knox was so smug about the fact that he knew what I was and suspected what I would become. He held it over my head, goading me. He’d left items around for me to find, notes asking if I needed assistance getting fucked or if I had any interests in a quick fuck-and-duck, using my own term against me. He had no idea how badly I wanted to leave him a pair of my panties with my scent soaked into them, showing him just how close he was to the mark. The problem, I was breeding. I couldn’t chance getting pregnant while fighting witches as I cleaned the house of Hecate, alone.
Since I was so young, Aurora had faith that I wouldn’t be able to get pregnant because, well, sometimes, mixed-species struggled to achieve the biblical act of creating life. She sugar-coated the shit out of it since my body was a mixture of fire and tension that kept me in a frenzied state of sexual frustration. The worst part I’d discovered about being in a breeding cycle? I couldn’t get off without him to help me. It wasn’t an orgasm my body craved; it was him, and what his body alone could offer mine.
The wolf neared me, sniffing the air as I lifted my bloodied hand with the palm up. “That’s it, baby. I vow that I won’t hurt you. Show me who brought you here, interrupting your promised and deserved sleep.”
The wolf snarled but stopped abruptly as his nose touched against my palm, cold as ice. I winced, taking in his blood-red eyes that bespoke of the pain he’d endured being awoken from death. Whoever disturbed their sleep was selfish and uncaring that they’d caused the wolves to suffer needlessly.
I watched as the wolf nuzzled my palm, the relief from my touch, driving him closer to me. He bowled me over, and I laughed silently as he burrowed his head into my hold, finding comfort in my arms. Others moved closer until five decaying dire wolves sat around me, touching me. My hands slid through their fur, ignoring that clumps of fur and skin fell off as their tails wagged with happiness.
I sliced through my palm, slowly letting them lick the blood as their saliva mixed with it, strengthening them while allowing me to see who had brought them back from death. My head spun as my eyes closed. My third eye opened to show me dark, shadowy figures slitting throats and torturing women while sightless-eyed men stayed behind the inky silhouettes. A dire wolf stood beside each shadow as hands silently stroked them to calm their unease.
Screaming ripped me from the image, cutting it off as the wolves bowed their heads, growling at something behind me. I stood, peering into the shadows before I smirked. I lifted my nose, drinking in the scent of masculinity that danced through me. Knox was close, too close. I turned toward the screams, closing my eyes. I swallowed hard, ignoring the need that rushed through me, hot and dark.
“Get’em, boys,” I hissed, stifling a laugh before I stepped deeper into the shadows. “Do no harm. Only play, my loves.”