Page 60 of Ascendant King

They knew how to fight like a pack. One darted in, and when I turned to growl, the one behind me nipped at my leg. I didn’t have time for this.

In the branches above me, a bird dug its beak into the soft bark of the tree, finding an insect to swallow whole.

I leapt, barely missing the wolf in front of me as it dove out of the way. With a roar, I pressed forward, grabbing the back of its neck and pulling it down.

I could feel my pack. They were coming. They were coming. I needed to finish this before they got here, before they could get hurt?—

A wolf grabbed my forepaw, pulling me off-balance, but I let it pull me forward, using the momentum to ram into it, tear its ear free from its head. It went down, whining and crying.

The fox had found another victim, creeping up on an unsuspecting rabbit. It would have itself a meal today.

I shifted back into human form, using my wolf strength to lift one of the shifted wolves up and throw it into its pack mates.

Nia burst onto the scene, immediately finding an opponent. Cade was only a half step behind her, and his magic wound tight around two of the wolves. I turned, grabbing at the nearest wolf, and realized?—

“Miriam.”

My sister struggled, bringing her hands up to claw at my hand, digging her nails in, trying to get free. Held off the ground, she couldn’t speak, her mouth opening and closing as she gasped in ragged breaths.

My whole body was cold, sweat and dirt clinging to my skin, goose bumps rising on my flesh. I felt a crawling sensation at my back that wasn’t magic.

Lifting both of her legs, Miriam kicked out, her boots hitting me in the solar plexus.

I dropped her.

She landed with a sharp crack, rolling to her feet despite her wince of pain. When she growled at me, I could see her begin to shift, but I was frozen, rooted to the spot as though I had become a dryad myself.

“Miriam—” I was stuck, unable to say anything except her name, a thousand thoughts in my head piling on top of each other, choking me. One word made it through the chaos. “Why?”

She growled, her hands shifting into claws. Rushing forward, she lifted her arm and dragged it across my chest, leaving deep cuts. I felt blood dripping (sap dripped down a trunk, catching a line of ants, burning them alive as it sucked all the magic from them).

“Miles.” Miriam sneered, her lip pulling back from her teeth, but there was a crash, and the rest of the Los Santos wolves arrived. “Retreat!”

The Ghost Pack wolves that could move turned, sprinting into the brush. We were a second too slow, or they used magic, because by the time I ran to follow, there wasn’t anything left of them but a scent trail that led straight in the direction we were headed.

“What was that!” One of the Three Lakes East betas approached me, his shoulders pulled back, a dusting of wolf hair on his skin.

My own pack formed around me, flowing into a protective circle. Nia stepped in front, raising her hand and pushing against the Three Lakes East member with a growl.

I could feel her anger, even with her back to me. Shaking his head, the member of Three Lakes East raised his hands, retreating to the other wolves who weren’t members of Los Santos.

Cade stood next to me, and I startled at the feel of his cool fingers on my skin. Then he reached out, and his black magic wrapped around both of us. It swept up, spinning until we were dragged somewhere else.

I looked around. We were still in the woods, but it was a place similar to where Elizabeth had dragged us. The forest was here, but the wolves were gone, and for the first time in hours, I couldn’t hear the woods. Nothing intruded into my mind, no broken branches, no sap, no birds.

I was alone in my head.

“Is this the same place that Elizabeth took us to? What did you call it? An alternate magical reality?”

Cade didn’t answer, his face pale, his lips pressed so tightly together they had lost all color.

Black lines of tattoo flowed over his fingers, stretching across my torso. The skin burned, and I huffed out a pained breath. Cade pressed his palm harder against my chest, and despite the pain, despite his fury, I couldn’t help but relax into his touch.

I glanced down, feeling a thousand tiny feet move across my skin, then disappear as his tattoos returned to his arm. My chest was healed.

Cade left his hand on my skin, his thumb pressing hard into my nipple. When he spoke, his voice was low. “Miles. What is going on?”

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