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“You’re seeing this too, right?” I whispered, half-sure I was still hallucinating.

“Yes.” Wolf’s voice cracked. “I see them.”

Two creatures, larger than any bear but with half-decaying bodies, sauntered forward. They sniffed the air as if they were looking for something.

Wolf and I stood in horror as their gazes locked on us.

Chapter

Thirty-Three

“Any chance this dagger takes them down?” I asked, my voice wavering. I gripped my weapon even tighter, trying to ignore the fear that seeped into my body, threatening to paralyze me.

“Sure.” Wolf gripped the back of my shirt as we backed up slowly. “As long as it’s a magic sword that will burst to flames inside of them.”

Fucking hells.“Good, so we have a chance.”

The beasts charged us in unison.

“RUN!”

Wolf and I burst into a sprint, maneuvering through the trees and tangled grass of the forest. The beasts behind us, however, didn’t have to maneuver at all. Their pure strength burrowed through the trees, tearing through the shrubs.

This was it. We were going to die.

“You have to use your magic!” Wolf narrowly dodged a low tree branch. “It’s the only way we’ll kill them!”

“Are you kidding? We both know I can’t use magic like you can!”

“I’ll aim for the beast on the right, but you have to kill the one on the left.” Wolf was already summoning his natural magic. I could tell by the wind that pushed at our backs, swirling around us with a mixture of dirt and leaves.

I stole a glance over my shoulder. “If I stop running, they’ll kill me!”

“Not if we kill them first.”

His words sounded incredibly confident, as if he had no doubt in the world that I could conjure magic and kill the beast.

But he had seen me try and fail with magic dozens of times. How would this time be any different?

Wolf stopped running, leaving me no choice but to stop with him. We spun to find the beasts barreling toward us, slobber dripping from their half-fur, half-bone faces.

“Now, Huntress!” he commanded.

Wolf held his hands out and roared, animalistic and bone-chilling, as the conjured wind blasted at the beasts.

He was buying me time.

Okay, Huntyr. Think. Become one with nature, become one with the elements. If I could conjure even the smallest bit of fire, I could blast them.

But I felt nothing.

Wolf held the wind, but it would not last. Even through his shirt, I could see his flexed muscles doing everything they could to maintain his power.

But with every passing second, that power slipped.

One beast roared, rearing on its hind legs.

“Huntyr!” Wolf yelled, half a plea and half a warning.