Page 56 of Claimed By Fangs and Darkness

She threw her head back and howled.

The ground shook, and my sense of power slipped like sand through an hourglass. I experienced the distinct sensation of running out of time, a frantic race against peril.

Princeton appeared from behind a tall tree.

He ran toward me, eyes wide. His mouth fell open, and he screamed, but sound didn’t come out.

I scrambled back, stopping at the edge of the precipice behind me. The plunge into some great unknown.

Princeton continued soundlessly screaming. No words. Just a warning that echoed through every fiber of my spirit.

The forest shook. Trees expelled their leaves and needles. The sky turned blood red, and in the distance, I made out an Etherdale University academic building.

I turned toward the bottomless chasm.

The Fool card flashed in my mind, but I didn’t leap.

I shut my eyes tight and opened them back up again in my physical body.

The dim light of the spell room was blinding as my eyes adjusted. I sucked in air as I jumped to my feet, broke the circle of salt with a frantic swipe of my foot, and ran for the door.

I didn’t stop to think or explain myself to the perplexed turned that encountered me on my way to Kylo’s private underground stairwell. My calves and hamstrings burned as I ran up the winding steps, witch lights illuminating my way through the darkness.

The sun beckoned me back up to the surface. I knew I was racing against inevitability. Princeton’s warning was a shot of adrenaline to my heart.

For the first time in my life, I wasn’t running away from the threat of danger. I was running straight toward it.

I sped through the secret passageway that connected to Kylo’s aboveground study. Then I barreled out the front door of the estate.

“You all right?” Allie asked, my dedicated bodyguard who sat on Kylo’s front porch with his other guards.

“Yes!” I said as I rushed down the steps. I couldn’t have anyone slowing me down. “All good, just time-constrained witch business!”

It was a sketchy-as-fuck thing to say, but it wasn’t a lie. And no one stopped me. I was one of them, after all.

Even still, I assumed someone would write to Kylo to be safe.

My lungs heaved as I barreled through the invisible barriers at the edge of the neighborhood. I passed the rows of shops and apartment buildings on the next block. My legs pumped. Someone shouted at me, and a shot of fear coursed through my blood.

“Hey!”

I kept running.

“Demon spawn on twelfth street!”

My next breath was less shaky as it burned through me. “Thank you!” I shouted without looking over my shoulder.

I avoided twelfth street, and it cost me time and oxygen.

Students stared at me as I raced through campus. I stopped only when I reached the quad. The building for physical sciences lay to the north, students outside holding books and speaking in huddles. A few ate their lunches on the steps before the entrance.

This was the building I saw in my vision.

I took a step forward.

An ear-splitting sound ripped through the calm afternoon. Fractions of a second later, a surge of wind and power crashed into me, sending me flying through the air.

I was too breathless to scream. My back hit the earth. The sky above darkened, and thick black clouds obscured the sun. Thunder boomed, and fat rain droplets fell and splattered against my skin.