Captive of Wolves (Bound to the Fae #1) - Eva Chase Page 0,66
steps, but about a century later, I’m finally on the main floor.
I’d thought I’d slip out through the back door, which I’ve studied plenty of times from the kitchen and which is closer to both the stairs and my eventual destination. But when I try the kitchen door, I find that’s locked too—maybe to ensure I don’t go scavenging for butcher knives in the middle of the night?
I hesitate outside it, clutching the pouch of salt, and then push away. I can’t risk using up what power the crystals still contain getting into the kitchen and then not making it outside from there. The front door it is.
The evening’s bath might have soothed the pain in my foot a little, but by the time I reach the expansive entrance room, an ache has already formed right where the bones are set wrong. Maybe I should have brought the crutch for extra support, but I can’t risk going back for it now.
I’m not letting myself think about how much farther I might need to walk, or how much more my foot might hurt by the end of all this. I won’t think about anything except getting past that door.
Once I’m away from the keep, at least I can vary my gait a little without worrying so much about keeping quiet. If I get to the forest past the fields to the north where I’ll have some shelter, I might even find a branch I can use in place of the crutch.
I creep across the thick rug through the darkness. As I reach the broad door, I pour the last of the salt out of the pouch. I press it against the handle, willing it to work.
The crystals fragment against my skin, powder drifting from my grasp and wisping away. When I tug on the handle, it gives. My spirits leap, a smile stretching my mouth. I pull harder, my eyes fixed on the crack where the fresh night air will flood in over me—
A body hurtles at me, crashing into my side and slamming me to the floor. My head smacks the boards at the edge of the rug. Pain splinters through my skull, and a yelp of surprise and agony bursts from my lips for an instant before a heavy hand slaps against my mouth. Sour breath spills over my face.
“Thank you, little dung-body,” Kellan snarls under his breath, barely visible above me other than the manic silvery sheen in his eyes. “Thank you for proving me right. We’ll see how much you like the results, won’t we?” He grins, a faint glint catching on teeth partly curved into fangs.
The hard weight of his body crouched on top of me sends me spiraling back to the times when my former captors would pin me down as brutally as they could manage. My lungs seize, panic hazing my vision. My limbs start to flail, but Kellan rams his elbow into my ribs, leaving me gasping. He wrenches both my arms off to the side under his free hand. The knobs of his knees dig into my thighs.
Claws prickle against my wrists and over my cheek where he’s clamped down on my mouth. He digs them in deeper, enough that a cool trickle of blood seeps over my skin. His eyes flash brighter. His mouth opens wide, fangs growing, jaw extending—and a pounding of feet from down the hall jerks his attention away.
His grip prevents me from turning my head to see, but there’s no mistaking Sylas’s voice. “Get off her, Kellan. Now.”
“This piece of maggot-meat was about to walk right out that door, Sylas,” Kellan says. “That’s what she thinks of all the effort you’ve put into your hospitality.” He raises his hand from my mouth and curls his fingers. “Let’s make sure she doesn’t have anything like a chance again. I think I’ll start by scratching out those eyes and then snap off both her feet for good measure.”
A wordless wail tears from my throat. I whip my head to the side, squeezing my eyes shut, feeling his muscles shift and the air brush my face as he swings his clawed hand—
With a lurch, his weight falls off me. There’s a growl and a snapping of jaws, bodies thudding against the floor.
My eyes pop open to see two huge wolves now wrestling each other on the floor just a few feet away—the one now on top dark furred with one eye scarred through, the one attempting to heave him off