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To them, the curse made my mates look small.Laughable.Gnome-sized creatures in mismatched clothes, unarmed and ridiculous.
“Dwarves?”one hunter snorted.“These are what she’s been hiding with?”
“They look like someone’s garden ornaments.”
The men didn’t speak.Couldn’t speak.The curse twisted perception and took their voices with it.Garrett stepped forward, muscles flexing, rage burning in his eyes.The hunter closest to him gave a mocking laugh and shoved him back with one hand.
“Careful.This one might bite.”
Evander reached for me.The magic yanked him back like a leash.Cassian growled low, fists clenched.Leif’s jaw worked in frustration as he paced the clearing’s edge.Kade looked ready to strike, but the hunters didn’t see danger.They saw nothing worth fearing.
Ronan lunged.The hunter closest to him stepped aside casually and slammed a boot into his side.Ronan went down hard.No one noticed the pain in his eyes.They only laughed.
“Pathetic.”
And Nikolai… he stood behind them all, still and silent, his gaze locked on me.The bond vibrated with his fury.With all of theirs.
"Lunara,"Garrett’s voice pushed through the bond like a scream."We’re here.We will save you."
But they couldn’t move.Couldn’t fight.Couldn’t save me.
And the hunters never even noticed.
They yanked the chain, dragging me across the frozen ground.My head snapped back.The muzzle scraped my lips.
The men roared inside the bond.
And I couldn’t answer.
“They’ll come for her,” one of the hunters muttered, bored.
“Won’t matter,” another replied.“By then, it’ll be done.”
They couldn’t follow.Not yet.Not until the sun dropped below the horizon.Until then, they were tethered, trapped outside the ritual’s reach.And I would already be on the altar, my blood feeding her magic.
They dragged me through the trees with mechanical efficiency, boots crunching over frost-hardened earth.Half a mile from the cabin, the clearing opened before us… too perfect to be natural.The stone altar waited at the center, carved with runes that pulsed faintly, hungry for blood.They threw me down, chains clanking, skin slapping cold stone.The impact knocked the breath from my lungs.
She was already there.
Cloaked in crimson, surrounded by robed figures who moved like shadows.Her gloved fingers glistened with old magic.When she smiled, it was hollow.Too smooth.Too sure.
“You ran,” she said.“And still, here you are.”
I glared.The muzzle silenced the words burning behind my teeth.
She traced my cheek.The gesture meant nothing.The command came instead.“You’ll bite before the moon reaches its highest point.And I will never die.”
Behind us, a howl pierced the woods.The hunters stiffened.
She didn’t flinch.“Let them come,” she said.“It’s already too late.”
The sun inched lower.Her acolytes began carving blood into the dirt.Seven cuts.Seven drops.One for each bond I wore like a second heartbeat.They didn’t know what they were drawing from… but I did.They sliced my skin like parchment.I bled.They caught it in a silver bowl and called it power.
The chains grew heavier.My limbs sagged.Not from pain, but because they drained me.Piece by piece.
One of them pressed a blade against the inside of my thigh.“Don’t move,” he said.
I moved anyway.The cut went deeper.The bowl caught more blood.