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I flailed in mid-air, my legs continuing to run even though there was no ground beneath my feet for a few moments suspended in time. I gasped as I struck the ground, rolling myself forward and popping up onto aching legs the next moment. The howls of the beasts stalking me came even closer, and I realized it wouldn’t be enough.

Even with the forest aiding me, I would never outrun them. Not with the way they were gaining on me, and hiding wasn’t an option when they could scent the trail of blood I’d left behind. When they could feel the magic in the air and know that something that didn’t belong was here.

I kept running, pushing for the boundary. My only hope was to reach the end of the woods by some miracle.

The creature that prowled out in front of me was straight from my worst imaginings. Long, gangly limbs covered in gray, mottled skin. It walked on all fours, the head of a wolf resting atop its shoulders even though the hind legs were far more similar to a human’s than an animal.

I skidded to a stop in the dirt, looking over my shoulder as the rest of the group emerged from the trees behind me. Their chests were muscled and covered in hair, the hair on their backs so long that it disguised the curvature of their spine. The creature’s fingers were long, the black nails at the end even longer than the teeth that sparkled in the dim light of the forest as the one in front of me opened his jowls and growled as he stood up to full height.

Standing on just his hind legs, he was at least a foot taller than me. I swallowed, tugging my knife free from the sheath and keeping it at my side.

I waited, sinking into the place where I felt the earth communicate with me. Where I felt each and every shift of the creatures’ feet in the dirt and dying leaves.

The one in front of me leapt forward, landing on his front legs as he raced toward me. I spun, throwing my knife at him. I didn’t pause to listen for his whimper of pain before I ducked low and tucked myself beneath his body, vaulting to my feet on the other side as he crashed into the others.

Gathering my bleeding hands in front of my body, I watched and waited for the three still standing to move. The one with my knife in his chest lay on the ground. One of his companions sniffed the wound, then bared his teeth at me.

The next bolted forward, and I shoved my arms in front of my body. Crossing them, I muttered beneath my breath as the trees followed. A thick, sturdy branch from each side of the clearing surrounding us followed suit, crossing to wrap around one of the beast’s front legs on the opposite side.

I squeezed my hands together as the creature tripped. The branches tightened as they wound tighter around his limbs. I pinched my eyes tightly closed in regret when he came closer still, stopping just in front of me when the branches held tight.

“Lacrima,” I whispered, wrenching my arms apart.

The branches pulled quickly, uncrossing and tearing the animal’s legs from its body. Its howl of pain filled the woods.

My bottom lip trembled, hating the death and violence as the ground soaked up the monster’s blood. Taking the sacrifice I’d offered, even if it was not my blood that fed it. The next beast pounced in my moment of distraction, and I flung myself backward as fast as I could to avoid the swipe of claws.

Burning pain cut through my cheek, narrowly missing my eye as three talons tore through my flesh. My fingers worked in front of me, tying knots in the branches like a net. My back struck the earth finally, the creature’s jowl only a few breaths from my face when the branches slid between us and connected, forming a barrier as they shoved him back.

He sprang up quickly, lunging at the branches and tearing at them with teeth and claws. I turned and sprinted into the woods.

My face throbbed, and my hands began to clot. I’d given too much, and my body moved more sluggishly than it should have. That breath that had seemed so easy to exhale before was impossible to reign back in, the magic wanting the freedom it had been denied for so many years.

I gasped as I tried to pull it back as I ran, needing the extra energy within me to get my legs to move. The magic tickled my skin, a taunt and a tease as I winced back from the feeling.

Something struck my back, knocking me flat on my face in the dirt. I rolled quickly, staring up at the beast as he prowled around me and moved his body over mine.

His legs were so tall that even as he stood over me on all fours, there was no contact between us. His deep, dark eyes glared down at me, his teeth bared and dripping saliva on my face as he brought his mouth close to my face. His breath stunk of rotten meat. The stench grew stronger as he opened his jaw.

He drew his head back ever so slightly, his mouth parting. I squeezed my eyes shut and waited for the end. I dug my fingers into the earth below me, seeking reassurance in my final moments and waited for the pain of teeth sinking into my face.

Pain that never came.

The beast yelped. My eyes flew open. Hands grabbed the creature by the mouth, one holding his upper jaw and the other grasping the bottom. I stared straight into his throat. He’d come so incredibly close to biting me.

The hands holding the creature pulled, a roar filling the air as the beast’s jaw separated, snapping as it broke. The hands ripped and tore until blood burst from the creature like an explosion. It covered me, raining down on me. I blinked through it and shuddered on the ground.

I pushed up to my elbows, staring at what remained of the creature as the man holding him tore him straight down the middle, severing his body from head to groin into two halves.

He discarded the halves to the ground in a pile of mutilated flesh, those steely blue eyes rising to meet my shocked stare.

Fuck.

35

GRAY

Ispun away from Willow as the last of the wolves leapt up behind me. Thrusting my arm forward, I drove it into the creature’s chest and stopped him with my other hand on his mouth. Grasping his snout in my grip, I pinned it closed with a growl of my own as I leaned in to show my teeth.