I winced as I watched my wolf take off into the trees and Rab and his men ran with her, shooting arrows left and right. I blinked, and then I was looking out from her perspective. My wolf, she smelled him.
Ithaki. Fey-warlock. A deadly combination.
My wolf’s head was low to the ground, ears flattened as she locked in on where the noise was coming from. Cutting to the right, she took off faster than Rab and his boys could follow. Trees passed in dark blurs as her paws pounded the damp, packed earth. As she neared the fey Ithaki, my entire head felt like it was going to explode both in human and wolf form. He was hiding behind a thick tree trunk, and my wolf howled as she leapt. The ear splitting ultrasonic sound cut off with a yelp as her teeth sank into his neck.
I snapped my attention back to my human form and the half dozen warriors surrounding me. “Be ready for anything,” I told them. My wolf had just taken out the Ithaki’s precious brain melting sonic howler; there would be repercussions. The trees rustled as a blur of a figure zoomed toward us.
Vampire Ithaki.
I rushed forward, using my own freaky super speed, and met the figure halfway. We crashed into each other and I suddenly came face to face with a snarling male. His ears were pointed like a fey’s but his teeth distended like a vampire’s. It was freaky and he needed to die immediately. With a furious growl, I made a fist and slammed it into his throat until I heard the crunching of bone.
I followed up with a knee to the groin as his wrist snaked out and grasped me by the throat. Rage flooded through me. I could simultaneously feel my wolf ripping into the Ithaki fey as I felt this vampire try to kill me.
Enough is enough.
We had too many wars going on, and I still had to go into the Dark Woods and prove myself as a Paladin alpha. There was no time for this bullshit. Reeling my head back, I headbutted his nose with surprising force. The sharp crack splintered the air and my head throbbed. But the move worked; he let up on my windpipe, so I went for the kill. Reaching up, I took his head into my hands and cradled his jaw with my fingers. One swift crack to the left and I snapped his neck. He fell to the ground in a heap.
I’d heard stories about vampires reawakening after a broken neck or bad accident. I wasn’t leaving that to chance. Sage appeared on my right just in time; she came down hard on the center of his chest with a silver stake. The hollow thud made chills rush up my spine as his skin started to crumble into black ash.
My wolf trotted over to me, looking pleased with her kill, and the sound of the Ithakis’ retreating footsteps was music to my ears.
“Well done.” Rab appraised the dead vampire and I noticed his spear was dripping with purple Ithaki blood.
I frowned. “They’ll be back with more I’m sure.”
How had things gotten so bad so fast? This was one hell of a honeymoon.
“Come on.” Rab, Eugene, and Walsh tucked Astra in the center of their little circle next to me and we jogged the rest of the way to the Paladin Village.
Using our imprint, I felt for my mate, weaving my energy into Sawyer as my wolf jogged alongside me. I sensed he was busy and in danger. Spikes of anger, confusion, and fear weaved from him and then seeped into me.
Not a good time to check in…
As we neared the trail of lights that led to the Paladin Village, Rab pulled the horn to his lips and blew two short bursts. Immediately, two short bursts were returned. We came out of the thick trees and my eyes widened at the sight before me. The entire wall of the village was filled with Paladin warriors. Male, female, young, old. They crouched on the edge of the wall wearing blue face paint and menacing scowls. They held daggers, spears, and arrows that gleamed with a sickly green poison tip.
Pride swelled in my chest, and I couldn’t help the grin that spread across my face. The Paladin people were like one cohesive unit, ready to defend their land at all costs.
I didn’t know Run … I didn’t even get to know Red, but in a way I felt like I did know them. Through these people I got to know them, and it was going to be an honor to serve as their alpha—assuming that was something I was “found worthy” to do.
As if she heard my thoughts, Astra slipped her hand into mine. “I will prepare the alpha trial ceremony. You will leave at first light to the Dark Woods.”
I’d considered turning myself in to the vampires for half a second but that wasn’t a guarantee to stop the war and it would still leave a huge problem here with no one to fix it. I gulped as nerves filtered through me, but then I saw the fierce determination and courage of the Paladin people crouched on the wall, ready to defend their land and their families, and I swallowed my fear down. “It would be my honor.”
Some things were bigger than you and that was scary. What if I died out in the Dark Woods? What if I took five years to get back here and Sawyer remarried? There were so many what ifs that my head swam, but I focused on the only ones I wanted to. What if I made it in and out quickly, what if I saved an entire race of people and their land? What if I became a worthy alpha of the Paladin people? Those what ifs circled my head all night until I fell asleep.
I was awoken by the smell of smoke. The scent of sage hit my nostrils, making my eyes fly open. Astra was walking around my room in the guest house fanning the smoke over everything. I inhaled. Something sickeningly sweet and earthy was mixed with the sage. I groaned as the last remnants of sleep left me. Astra ignored me, mumbling prayers lightly under her breath.
“What is that?” I peered at the small gray marble bowl she held. It was still dark out, the sun barely coming up as a faint glow filtered through the curtains.
“Sage and frankincense,” she said quickly before going back to mumbling her prayers.
“Knock, knock.” Rab’s voice came from the hallway, and I held my arms over my braless chest. I was wearing a thin white t-shirt and not ready for company.
“Come in.” I guess it was a party in my bedroom at the butt crack of dawn.
Rab stepped in with Sage right behind him. She wore her hair in a topknot and looked super alert and awake. How long had I slept? By the feel of my heavy skin, it was not long.
Why the hell was everyone so perky?
Sage pointed at Rab’s ass and mouthed, “Yum,” causing me to grin.
I would have to break it to her later that he was married.
“You have two hours until the alpha trial ceremony,” Rab said. “I wanted to take that time to give you some bushcraft skills and local plant knowledge to help you survive in the woods.”
And buzzkill. Way to remind me of my possible impending doom.
But there was some relief at his words. This city girl going off into the woods alone could very much use some knowledge of the land. “Thank you, that would be awesome. I’ll be right out.”
He nodded curtly and turned to leave before stopping. “Eat a big breakfast. You don’t know when you’ll have your next meal.”
Then he left.
You don’t know when you’ll have your next meal! That was the most horrifying thing anyone had ever said to me.
“He’s such an angry ball of yum,” Sage purred as she watched Rab head down the hall and I popped out of bed to get dressed.
“He’s married. Wife is preggo and super cool.”
Sage scowled. “Dammit.”
Astra hissed, and it took me a minute to realize why.