learned of the new hunt they had planned. Dinner was ruined, and I knew I could no longer eat. The one who had remained silent through all of this was none other than Xander.
His face was cold, his eyes dark as he stood up and glared at me.
“Look what you’ve done!” he snapped. In a fit of anger, he shoved his plate away from him, and it clattered along the floor. “More blood will be spilled because of your careless words!”
“I’m sorry,” I said, and I truly was. “But whoever is murdering these innocent people must be brought to justice.”
“I came here to do just that. But you don’t understand what it is we’re hunting. You don’t know what happened on the road eighteen years ago. You weren’t there.”
“And you were?”
“Yes!” he snapped. “You are right. It was a shapeshifter. A werewolf to be exact.”
I gasped. “I’m sorry. I didn’t know. I thought no one knew what happened that night.”
He glanced down in shame. His voice lowered to a whisper, “There are only a handful of people who know the truth.”
“Then why don’t you tell Earlsgaarde. Explain to them about the werewolf and stop this.”
“I can’t. Because no one would understand. The lie is far better than the truth. It is a secret that will go with me to the grave.”
“I’m sorry. I was only trying to help.”
“You’ve done enough.”
“No, really—”
“That is an order! Leave here! I should never have brought you down. It was folly on my part,” he yelled. Gripping my wrist, he pulled me away from the table and spun me out into the hall toward the stairs. The momentum wasn’t much, but I was unprepared for the servant who crossed my path. I collided with them full-on and fell onto the stone steps, bruising my rib cage.
I gasped at the pain, wincing as I pulled myself up from the stairs. Xander was gone.
Chapter Twenty-One
My skin burned and stretched, and my bones ached as I shifted. My eyes tuned to the darkness as I caught the scent of the hounds. Hungry. I was hungry. A burning in my stomach drove me. The moon’s light was enough to guide me as I sniffed the path. Not just horses. Men. Lots of men.
I feared no man.
I shook my head as their familiar scent now disgusted me, then howled, alerting their hounds to my presence. I scratched the trunks of a nearby tree, left footprints in the mud leading into the mountains—a trail that would keep them confused for hours while I hunted closer to home.
My long legs carried me back to the house, and I looked upon the manor. Lights were on in many of the rooms, and I smelled the horses in the stables. They caught my scent, and I could smell their fear. Their meat was not as pleasing to my tongue, but blood was blood, meat was meat, and I was hungry.
Laughter made me recoil, and I hunched down in the woods and watched as a couple came out of the house and made their way to the stables.
Yessss! Meeeat!
Saliva dripped from my lips as I remembered my master’s orders and growled.
I bolted upright in my bed and rushed to the window, scouring for the beast. I had touched his thoughts while I dreamed, and I recognized the stables and house he had come to.
It was this one.
Donning a robe over my chemise, I threw open the door to my room, rushing past the guards outside.
“Halt!” one of them commanded, but I dared not stop. Who knew if I was too late to save the couple? He might’ve already been attacking them.
My breath came in ragged gasps as I raced down the steps, briefly realizing that I had left my shoes back in my room. As soon as I made it outside, the rocks cut into my bare feet, and I regretted my hasty decision. Picking up speed, I bolted toward the stables, searching the darkness beyond for the beast.
“C’mon,” I murmured. “Please don’t let me be too late.” I barreled into the stables and saw a dark form looming in the stall in front of me. A lantern swung softly on a peg, and I acted without thinking.
“Fiergo!”
The lantern’s fire blazed brighter. With a flick of my wrist, I sent the fiery furnace directly at the shadow, preparing to light it up in a blaze of magic fire.
“Holy hell!” Xander cried out as the lantern hit him, and I gasped, realizing my mistake.