She nodded and hurried toward me. We left the castle without a backward glance, heading for the shore.
“I can feel them now,” she said. “Someone is coming.”
The sky was darkening, the sun having finally set. I scanned the horizon and spotted figures rising up over the hill. They were pale-faced, nearly dead-looking, with dark green weeds for hair and ragged clothes.
“Twenty pounds those are the Finfolk in their not-so-pleased form,” she said.
“Aye. I think you’re right.” There were a dozen of them, possibly more, and they stood between us and the beach where Colm had dropped us off. I turned to head to the other shore. “Colm will have to pick us up from over here.”
She nodded and followed me. We ran, sprinting across the hills. I looked back over my shoulder and spotted the Finfolk running after us. We might be able to fight them—there wasn’t much that I couldn’t take on in my wolf form—but Eve probably wasn’t at full strength, and we had no idea what the Finfolk were capable of.
As we neared the sea, I drew the flare gun from my pocket.
“It’s going to take him too long to get here,” Eve said.
She was right. “We need to find another way off this island. We just have to get far enough away that the transport charm isn’t blocked.”
“Can we swim?”
I looked back at the Finfolk. “Probably not smart, given that they’re creatures of the sea.”
“Shit, good point.”
I scanned the shoreline, finally spotting a small rowboat in front of a little stone house. I pointed to it. “Head for that house.”
As we veered left to go straight toward it, six pale, green-haired figures rose from the sea and climbed out of the waves.
“More Finfolk.” Eve drew her potion bag from the ether.
Inside, my wolf growled, struggling to break free. The threat moved between Eve and the safety of the boat, and my beast grew even more enraged. With the moon in the sky, it was impossible to fight.
And I shouldn’t. We’d need that strength.
“I’m going to shift.” As soon as the words escaped my lips, the wolf burst free. Magic swirled around me as my beast took over. Bloodlust and rage flowed through me, followed by cool cunning.
I hurtled across the grass, putting myself between Eve and the Finfolk who were closest. We just had to break through them to get to the boat before the other attackers reached us from behind.
A red glass orb arced high overhead and slammed into one of the Finfolk at the far fight of the crowd. The bomb exploded against him in a fiery blaze, and the creature shrieked as it sprinted back into the sea.
I was nearly to the closest attacker, and I leapt forward, already imagining the crunch of bone beneath my jaws.
Protect Eve.
Eve
* * *
Ahead of me, Lachlan leapt onto one of the Finfolk, his massive form gleaming dark black under the moonlight. He was power and grace incarnate, viciousness in living form.
Awe filled me, chasing away some of the fear.
Lachlan’s jaws clamped into the Finman’s shoulder, and he shook him before tossing him aside.
Desperate desire flared inside me. Not for him. No, I wanted to be him. It was like there was a wolf awakening inside me who wanted nothing more than to join her mate in the hunt.
My muscles burned, and my heart ached. The moon called to me, the pale light reaching inside my soul and trying to draw the beast out.
But nothing happened. Nothing but pain.
It sliced me, fiercer than before, and I nearly went to my knees.
What was wrong with me?
I’d felt nothing inside myself for so long. No hint of a wolf. Now, there was something desperate to come out, but I couldn’t make it.
Through a veil of tears, I reached for another potion bomb and hurled it as an attacker headed for Lachlan. I had no idea why we were being attacked—the Finfolk clearly weren’t friendly after dark—but I didn't want to kill them if I could help it.
We were the invaders here. And we’d been warned.
My potion bomb smashed against the chest of the Finwoman who was nearly upon Lachlan. She lit up in flames, screeching. It wasn’t my hottest fire and wouldn’t leave too many burns, but a little fire would send them back into the sea to recover.
My heart pounded violently in my chest as I looked behind me and spotted the second line of Finfolk growing closer.
I so wished I could shift.
Instead, I drew another potion bomb, feeling the warmth of the moon on my skin. It called to me, reaching deep into my soul, soothing and ravaging at the same time.
More and more, the feeling was growing. Ever since I’d been in the stone circle at our headquarters in the Highlands, I’d felt it inside myself. I still didn’t understand it, but I wanted it.
And something about being here made the feeling rage all the stronger.
It was the moon, this island—a past I didn’t know and feared was fraught with lies.
I shoved the thoughts away. There were still two Finfolk between us and the boat. Lachlan lunged at one, and I hurled my third potion bomb at another. I was using my weakest magic, now, but my most reliable.
The bomb exploded against the Finman’s chest in a fiery blaze, and he ran screaming into the water. Lachlan dispatched the last of our attackers, then we raced for the boat.
He shifted in midair and braced his hands against the bow to shove the boat out to sea. “Get in!”
I leapt into the boat, then grabbed the oars and settled them into their sockets. Lachlan heaved us off the beach, and the waves rocked our little craft as I pulled on the oars, giving it my all.
“Let me take over,” Lachlan said. “I’m stronger.”
It was true, but we were almost there. I could feel the barrier weakening. “Just a few more strokes. Get the charm.”
At my words, hands appeared on the sides of the boat, pale and gnarled. Finfolk heads appeared from beneath the waves, green hair waving in the water as their eyes gleamed up at me.
“Hurry!” I shouted.
Lachlan pulled the charm from his pocket, smacking one of the Finfolk off when he tried to climb into the boat. My heart shot into my throat as a hand gripped my leg. I kicked out, breaking the grip, and pulled hard on the oars to drag us over the line and out of the barrier of the protection charm that trapped us.
“Now!” I smacked another Finfolk with my oar.
Lachlan hurled the charm to the floor of the boat, and a silver cloud burst up. We dove in at the same time, just as the boat was overrun by Finfolk.
7
Eve
* * *
The ether spun us through space, making my head whirl and my stomach lurch. The pain inside me grew, as if my wolf didn’t like being parted from Wyre.
By the time the ether spat us out in the courtyard in front of the Shifters’ Guild tower, I was gasping, my muscles weak. I knelt on the damp green grass, the pale moonlight bathing my skin in warmth.
Somehow, it burned.
“Eve.” Lachlan knelt at my side, his hands hovering gently over my shoulders. “Are you all right?”
I nodded, trying to force myself to my feet. Every muscle shook, and the pain was excruciating. With a shaking hand, I reached into my pocket and withdrew a potion. I gulped it back, sighing with relief as it soothed.