Page 104 of Daman

“Um. Guys?” Gray stared in the opposite direction, eyes wide.

“Not falling for it, little guy,” Efrem said. “You’ve been trying to scare us this whole time.”

“Okay, but you might wanna look anyway. Like right now.” Gray rested a hand on his weapon. “A huge-ass wolf is staring at us, and he doesn’t look happy.”

We all followed his gaze.

An enormous white wolf stood a few yards away, baring its teeth. More wolves appeared behind him. Scampering sounded in the snow around us. While we’d been bickering like idiots, they had positioned themselves on each side of us. We were surrounded.

“Fucking perfect,” Bellamy said, gaze roaming over the wolves. “Think they’ll go away if I throw them a bone?”

“Now’s not the time, Bell,” Daman said with a sigh.

Lev and the twins moved into position behind me, each facing a different direction. Alexander and Rurik stood back-to-back, swords drawn. The wolves couldn’t kill the Nephilim. We dragons weren’t so fortunate.

I counted twenty of them. A howl filled the air before more closed in.

“They aren’t attacking.” Castor moved closer to Kyo. “Maybe they just wanna talk.”

“One second talking to you and they’ll want to tear your throat out,” Daman said.

“They’re not ordinary wolves,” Bellamy pointed out.

“Shifters?” I asked.

The golden-haired warrior nodded, his eyes changing to a familiar shade of green as he looked at me. Eyes that then widened. “D! What the hell are you doing?”

I whirled around to see Daman walking toward the largest wolf. My heart seized in my chest, and I lunged after him, grabbing his wrist. The wolves in front of us growled, spittle flying from their mouths as they snapped their jaws.

“It’s okay.” Daman turned to me, excitement in his eyes. “Trust me.”

“I do trust you.” I tightened my hold on his wrist. “It’s everyone else I don’t trust.”

“Wolves are guardians of Dacia. They won’t hurt me.”

“Dacia is gone,kotya.”

Daman shook his head. “It’s never gone.”

The leader of the pack stepped forward. The sheer size of the beast should’ve been an indication from the beginning that it wasn’t a normal wolf. The others in the pack were smaller than the alpha but still bigger than average too.

I had always prided myself on my self-control. My discipline. Yet, as the white wolf neared my mate, it took everything I had not to put myself between them. The shifter might not have been able to kill Daman, but he could hurt him.

I squeezed my hand into a fist.

“You’re not humans.” The deep, snarling voice came from the alpha. “Who and what are you?”

“My brothers and I are Nephilim,” Daman answered. “And my husband and his warriors are dragons. We haven’t come to—”

“Nephilim?” The wolf growled. “Offspring of fallen angels. I know what you seek. Leave this forest before we rip you to shreds.”

“Like hell you will, mutt,” Bellamy spouted off. “But it will be fun to see you try.”

“Stop, Bell.” Daman looked at him over his shoulder before focusing back on the wolf. “You said you know what we seek.”

“It’s what the others have been searching for.” The alpha bared his teeth.

“Others?”