Page 55 of Claimed By Shadow and Blood (Of Fae and Wolf Trilogy #2)

Chapter Twenty-Three

Briar

I jerked back, but not soon enough, and the blade sliced my right foreleg up to my shoulder.

My jaws snapped shut, and I twisted in agony. Sharp pain radiated from the new wound, and all four of my legs buckled. I slid against the ledge’s back wall as my vision blurred.

The world spun, and I blinked, fighting to orient myself. My head pounded. Grunts rang in my ears, and I forced my eyes open and struggled to my feet as Sword Assassin hauled himself up.

His rough breathing stirred the debris, and he strained and moved slowly, as if he wasn’t worried about me attacking him again.

Summoning my remaining strength, I lunged forward and seized him by the throat. The chain of the pendant hooked around my teeth, and I clamped hard and worked my jaw to thrash at his skin.

Fragrant blood poured into my mouth as he let out a wet, gurgling scream. His fingernails scraped the stone as he tried to reach his remaining daggers, but his front was pressed against the stone.

I loosened my grip just enough to bite deeper. Men like him didn’t deserve to live. My vision turned red, and everything narrowed in on his pulse and weakening struggles. My legs shook beneath me, and my shoulder and forelegs throbbed.

But I didn’t let go.

He twitched and went limp. I jerked my head to the side, ripping out his throat.

Blood pooled, and his eyes glazed over as he transitioned into death.

Now I needed his necklace to survive the monster.

It would be easiest to wear it instead of fighting off an attacker while holding the pendant in my mouth.

Lowering my head, I nosed the long chain into position and hoped this plan worked. I’d never tried to remove a necklace and place it on myself in wolf form.

Luckily, the chain was long and came free of him easily enough, and I maneuvered it and pressed my face down along his chest to thread my muzzle and head through the loop. His blood smeared the side of my face, but I ignored it. The pendant was the most important thing.

I managed to get it around my neck, and a shimmering sensation passed over me, sending shivers down my spine.

More plaintive cries from the unicorn foal ripped through the air as the wind whipped around me. My body throbbed, and my legs struggled to keep me standing.

Whatever they had laced their weapons with was affecting me, and the only thing I knew to do was keep going until the rescue finally happened.

Where the fuck was Many-Greats?

I spun to face the area where Arrow Assassin had been taken. The rocks were still in the same place, so that counted for something. He could be unconscious.

The unicorn wailed again, causing me to look higher, but I couldn’t see it.

However, crimson water was pouring from the cracked well faster than before. Clay and soil crumbled along the slope as the water carved a path through the terrain, making multiple streams.

My chest tightened. How long before a mudslide added to my growing list of problems?

I clambered up, doing my best to be quiet. If the assassin was conscious, I wanted to surprise him. But each time I moved a leg, rocks tumbled free and pebbles dropped into the chasm.

My head spun, and the scent of my blood and the disturbed soil filled my nostrils. I couldn’t catch the scent of the assassin or the unicorn. But I could hear the foal panicking, its desperate cries coming shorter and faster.

With each pant, my mouth dried even more. The sound of rushing water only made me thirstier, but I couldn’t focus on that. I had two missions to complete before even thinking about drinking something.

The cuts on my forelegs and shoulders pulsed, stinging and bleeding as if something in the wounds was rejecting my healing abilities. Blood spattered on the rocks in a constant reminder that I was still bleeding.

Arrow Assassin lay about thirty feet away with a large rock on his torso. His bow rested on the ground beside him, still strung. He groaned and shifted, his boots scraping against loose shale. His right arm was pinned at the elbow, but his left groped blindly, reaching for the bow.

I had to move quickly before he could shoot at me or the unicorn.

My lips peeled back, and I launched forward. Every muscle in my body screamed in discomfort, but I didn’t slow down.

That bastard was working with the people who had tortured me, hunted me, and destroyed my life. They’d sent him to finish me off.

I refused to go down without a fight.

“Fecking abyss,” he muttered as he wrenched his arm free.

I pushed myself harder, trying to reach him. But then he nocked an arrow to the bow, drew it, and released it right at me.

I dropped to the left of the coarse ridge for shelter, but the space was too shallow. The whoosh of the arrow sounded like death’s hand reaching for me. White hot and agonizing pain sliced my side, then metal ping ed behind me, and I twisted in time to see the arrow falling between two boulders.

Hot blood poured out of the new wound on my side, adding to my ongoing blood loss problem.

Bastard!

Rocks clattered, and clumsy, uneven footsteps sounded. I leaned to the left and saw him running in the opposite direction, up to higher ground and toward a protective rock.

I swallowed hard. He had to be getting into a better position to take me out.

I shoved my weight onto my back legs and almost stumbled from the pounding in my head. Heart racing, I tried to focus on the ground because, if I didn’t get my shit together, my likelihood of surviving would be reduced significantly.

Forcing myself forward, I dug my claws into rock and followed his blood trail. The wall curved ahead, obscuring my sight.

Not wanting to rush and do something stupid, I took a breath to survey the situation.

The rubble that circled the area had gaps I could see through and that he could probably shoot through. I edged a little to the right and peeked through a smaller opening and saw a stone path that dropped off into a steep embankment and led down into a basin of what looked like bubbling quicksand.

My stomach revolted. Death by quicksand was one of the worst ways to die, or that’s what Gage, one of my packmates, had once told me.

At the narrowest point, the basin was maybe eighteen feet across, but what I saw next shook my entire world.

The unicorn was up there near him.

He shot it in the flank, and the unicorn fell backward...and dropped into the quicksand.

I had to save it. I needed the assassin’s attention on me.

I moved past the small opening and poked my head around the curve of the wall.

Immediately, another arrow whipped toward me. I jerked my head back, and it hit the stone where I’d just been, sparking before dropping with a clatter.

Adrenaline spiked within me, making it easier to think clearly.

Moving back to the small gap, I scanned the area until I located the assassin sagging against a gray rock shelf, his lower half obscured as he whipped out another arrow and nocked it.

Blood dripped from his right arm, and I noted the silver chain hanging around his neck. The pendant was under his shirt.

He stood, unsteady, and his hands shook. “You wanna save the unicorn, bitch? He doesn’t have much time before he goes under.” He pointed down the slanted wall to the quicksand.

I bared my teeth, but the burning in my paw and side surged again, bringing tears to my eyes. My heart was beating fast as it fought what I thought must be venom, pulsing in sync with the pain from the cut in my foreleg. My head swam, my vision blurred, and I was so damn thirsty.

If I ran around the stone lip of the basin, I might lose my balance and slide down, and the assassin would see me coming.

The ground rumbled again, vibrating every single bone in my body. A chunk of the ridge Arrow Assassin was leaning against broke off and plunged down into the mire. He scrambled away, trying not to fall with it.

That was my chance.

I crouched and lunged across the chasm. His eyes widened as he grasped his bow and drew back an arrow while trying to aim, but he had no chance.

In less than a breath, my claws struck his stomach, smashing him to the left.

He swung the bow back my way and loosed the arrow, and it cut across my chest.

Everything inside me screamed to just give up.

But I’d rather die fighting than at the hands of the people who’d tried to break me.

I batted the arrow to the ground and smashed into him again, my front paws colliding with his chest. Every injury I had burned, wrenching a howl from between my teeth, and the two of us tumbled back away from the edge of the embankment, limbs tangling.

Squeals from the unicorn had me glancing over. The quicksand was up to its neck. The foal fought desperately to get to the shore.

A fist punched me in the snout, snapping my head back. My face exploded in pain, but I pushed through and sank my teeth into the man’s arm.

He screamed as he used his free hand to search for the fallen arrow.

It was time to end this. Black dots clouded my vision, and I adjusted my hold on his arm, shifting my head just as metal flashed in front of my face. He whipped the arrow by with his free hand, missing me and jamming the pin-sharp point into his own leg.

If my mouth hadn’t been so dry, I’d probably have laughed, but not when so much was at stake. I lunged forward and sank my teeth into his neck, just as I had with Sword Assassin. Each of them deserved a real wolf killing for everything they’d done.

He gurgled as blood filled my mouth. He clearly had something to say, but unluckily for him, I had no desire to hear it. I wanted him gone, and for the first time, I didn’t care about taking a life.

Jerking my head to the side, I ripped out his throat. I backed a few steps, watching him try to grip it and stop the bleeding with one hand.