Page 136

“Hurts,”Ingram choked out, his voice deeper and distorted due to being in his monstrous form. The release of pressure on his torso allowed him to assess just how heavily wounded he was.

There were many slices down his back, shoulders, and tail, as well as numerous bite marks around his neck. The multi-limbed Demon had been in his element beneath the water, and Ingram was surprised that he’d been able to escape him.

The only thing that had stopped him from drowning was that he was able to hold his breath for many minutes. The water hadn’t been too deep, so he’d been able to kick off the bottom and leap out of the lake. Not all the way, though, and the muddy edge had been difficult to climb over.

He remembered little, but enough to give him some orientation of his memories.

Hissing shrieks from under the water, sharp fangs, and a second, smaller Demon that had tried to take his prey.

Prey...Ingram shot to all four limbs, knocking back the fox-skulled Mavka.

“Emerie!”he yelled, searching for the little orange-haired female.

A small distance away, her scent fluttered to him. If his orbs could have turned any whiter, they would have, when he noticed the tangles of blood in it.

He bolted in that direction, only to be slammed to the ground by the wolf-skulled Mavka before he barely made it three metres.

He growled at Ingram when he dug at the dirt to be freed.Did I hurt her?He needed to check on Emerie, to make sure she was alive and unharmed.

“Calm, Mavka,” the wolf-skulled one snarled.

“Release me,”he whined. His groan of effort ended with the bubbling of a snarl.

Just in front of him were multiple humans, but he could barely see the bright glow of Emerie’s hair between their bodies. They were crowding her and weren’t giving him a chance to make sure she was okay from a distance.

She was quiet. Why was she quiet?

He didn’t care about his wounds, not with the way his heart frantically pounded at him to check on her.

“Our females are there,” the wolf Mavka snapped. “There is too strong of a blood scent to allow you near them.”

Red filled his vision. He stopped struggling forward and instead wrapped his tail around the Mavka’s ankle. He yanked back and to the side, surprising him just enough to pry him off. Before the fox-skulled Mavka could stop him, he slashed his tail to the side, colliding with his calves and knocking him over.

Once more, Ingram bolted forward.

He had no interest in the other females here.

Since they hadn’t expected him to suddenly approach, they didn’t have time to react.

He pulled one wearing a pink dress to the left and her blonde hair fluttered as she fell. The one wearing brown pants with her long black hair tied back stumbled when he pushed her to the right. The woman wearing a long dress and sitting next to Emerie on a set of steps flinched, gasped, and turned incorporeal like a Ghost when he gave her a fright.

His colourful little butterfly had just been lifting a spoonful of a liquid meal to her pale-pink lips when he got to her.

“Hey!” the blonde one yelled.

She was ignored as he reached down to Emerie, knelt, and placed his hand on her shoulder while the other one cupped the right side of her face.

“Are you okay?”He checked the front of her with his gaze, not seeing any new wounds but smelling the tang of coppery blood on her. His orbs reddened as hunger stirred, but it wasn’t enough to make him fall back into a mindless state. It was diluted and stale.“Why can I smell blood on you, Emerie?”

The worst of it seemed to be gone, washed away, and he was thankful for that. He could breathe through it, and his worry let him fight past his gut giving empty grumbles.

Before she could even respond, he pulled her into his arms to hold her. Her liquid meal fell from her hands and onto his thigh, but thankfully, it looked as though it was almost finished.

Emerie gasped but gave no protest as he squished her face against his chest. With one arm around the back of her head and the other around her hips, he darted his gaze a full circle around him.

The wolf Mavka’s orbs were bright red as he lifted the blonde-haired, pale female from the ground by scooping her into the cradle of his arms.

The fox one had righted the long-haired, thin female, whose fawny colouring had paled at almost falling. However, he was quick to move to the female who was now standing on the steps with space between him and her.