Captive of Wolves (Bound to the Fae #1) - Eva Chase Page 0,9
going to get back? We’re still too close, and the moon—”
“I know.” I swivel, taking in the forest. “I can fashion another carriage.” It might take a minor sacrifice after all the power I’ve already expended this evening, but a bit of skin is nothing compared to the vengeance Aerik will want to rain down. “I just need to find a juniper.”
None of that specific tart scent reaches my nose. There is nothing I can use close by. A fresh wave of the full moon’s prickling energy washes through my body, making my thoughts twitch. Soon I’ll lose my ability to control them—to control all of me—altogether. My jaw clenches.
“Let’s move!” I bark, and lope through the trees at a faster pace, drawing lungfuls of air through my mouth. If I can catch even the slightest hint of juniper to direct my way… I train my dead eye as intently as my whole one, willing it to offer some fleeting image that might help, but all it catches on is a shimmering echo of the carriage racing away through the forest as it must have done not long ago.
A shiver runs through my body, nearly making me stumble. My muscles aren’t just prickling now but coiling in anticipation. My skin tightens, and an ache runs through my gums where my fangs are on the verge of springing forth.
The change is coming on faster, stronger, than ever before. That’s the story of our wretched lives, isn’t it? Even if I slammed into a juniper right this instant, I’m not sure I could hold onto my awareness long enough to work the necessary spell.
A growl is building in my throat, and my shoulders are itching to bow. In a matter of moments, I’ll be nothing but a mindless beast.
The wrongness of our malady stabs through me. I am Sylas once of Hearthshire, lord of my lands even if those lands aren’t much better than a dung heap these days, and I succumb to no one.
No one except my own raging beast erupting out of me to meet the moon.
I wheel toward the others. August has stumbled with a ragged grunt. He bends, his back shuddering, the girl slipping from his grasp. Her bandaged wrist falls toward the ground, and one solid thought anchors me in the midst of the storm rising within.
I didn’t want to do it this way. We don’t even know what she is or how she is it. But none of that will matter if we lose ourselves to our beasts tonight.
With the last bit of conscious will I have in me, I throw myself to August’s side, raise the girl’s hand to my lips, and nick her forefinger on my sharpening teeth.
The merest bead of her blood seeps into my mouth, sharp and metallic with that odd glimmer of resin-y brightness that I recognized from Aerik’s tonics. The second it touches my tongue, the furious clouds rolling through my mind dissipate. The contractions in my muscles release. My fangs retreat.
I am myself again—fully, gloriously myself, like stepping out of searing heat into the cool spray of a waterfall. I could roar with joy.
But I don’t, because I have my cadre to think of. I grasp August’s shoulder and press the girl’s split fingertip into his mouth. His breath hitches halfway into a snarl. He gazes up at me with startled, awed understanding lighting in his face.
Whitt pitches forward, his body shaking. He lurches into a tree trunk. I scoop up the girl’s horrifyingly meager weight and stride toward him. It takes a few seconds, his head thrashing from side to side as his skull stretches, for me to get a grip on his jaw tight enough to be sure he won’t chomp her whole hand off. I maneuver the nicked finger between his lips.
With the taste of her blood, he sags onto the ground, his features reverting to their usual configuration. He takes a deep gulp of the night air and laughs with abandon.
Kellan has collapsed into the dirt, his limbs bending into their wolfish alignment, his face now fully canine. As I approach, he snaps at me, staggering up on four legs. His body isn’t quite finished reshaping itself though, and his balance is off. I swipe a smear of the girl’s blood across my own finger, catch his muzzle in mid-sway, and dab the miraculous substance on his tongue.
He finishes his shift, but with alert awareness in his darkening eyes. His wolf stretches and shakes out