Page 24 of Destined to the Lycan (The Shadow Realms #3)

Amara

H eart pounding, I galloped hard along the road. A part of me wanted to push harder, but the other feared going too far. I kept glancing over my shoulder for any sign of Remus trying to catch up with me.

No words could express just how terrified I felt for my man.

The lizard-rat-dogs that attacked us would haunt me for a long time.

Although Remus made mincemeat out of them without breaking a sweat, I suspected many more lurked in the woods.

What if their greater number overwhelmed him?

What if he was, right at this moment, lying in a pool of his own blood while I selfishly fled?

The alluring song returned with a vengeance the moment my man vanished inside the woods. It didn’t entice me in the least now that I knew what it was. Instead, it was giving me a splitting headache.

The spirits knew I was alone.

The urge to turn around and go get him clawed at me relentlessly.

Obviously, it was stupid and even suicidal to even consider it.

I cast out that foul temptation and plowed forward.

Just as I was considering slowing down the pace to spare the horses, a deafening silence suddenly descended over the forest.

Panicked, I jerked my head around in every direction to see what could have scared the spirits this time. Was the threat ahead or sneaking up from behind? I slowed down the horses, fearing I might be running into a trap, but also dreading to backtrack.

“Stay on the path,” I whispered to myself, echoing Remus’s words.

I hated that he left me to run into the woods.

There was no question he did what he believed would keep me safe, but I felt abandoned.

And right now, fear twisted my insides. I didn’t know how to fight, and what little magic I possessed only allowed me to enchant objects with light magic and beneficial spells.

The distant sound of breaking branches and heavy steps had me do a half turn on my horse to look at the east side of the forest. My heart nearly leapt out of my chest when a massive dark shadow raced through the trees.

And then, a beloved howling broke the frightening silence.

“Remus!” I breathed out, joy and relief crashing over me.

I stopped my horses completely and partially turned my mount to face the forest. The giant wolf continued to approach only to disappear behind a massive tree.

Seconds later, Remus reappeared on the other side in this human form.

I jumped off the horse, tears of joy rolling down my cheeks as he nonchalantly half-walked, half-jogged towards me.

He beamed at me and opened his arms wide. A nervous laugh escaped me as I returned his smile. I took two steps towards him before stopping dead in my tracks. My blood turned to ice as I glanced down at his feet.

He was still inside the forest.

I peered back at his face to find him frowning in confusion at me. I didn’t need a mirror to know what suspicious expression I displayed.

“Come out of the woods,” I ordered while taking an involuntary step back.

Remus snorted. To my shock, rather than trying to convince me to come to him instead, he gave me an approving smile before resolutely walking out of the woods. A wave of relief washed over me when he calmly stepped onto the path.

“Good girl,” Remus said as he slowly closed the distance between us. “For a moment, I feared you would fall for it.”

“You wretched male!” I said, half-joking and half genuinely disapproving. “It was mean to test me under such serious circumstances.”

“There could never be a better time than now when facing true danger,” he countered before once more opening his arms wide.

This time, I didn’t hesitate and threw myself into his embrace.

Even as I did so, I caught myself glancing into the woods for any sign of the wild beasts.

I nearly melted when his strong arms closed around me, holding me tightly.

By the gods, how I had missed him even though we’d only parted for a few minutes.

“Are you okay?” I asked, reluctantly pulling away to have a look at him.

“Of course,” he said smugly. “Aegarims are no challenge for me.”

He leaned forward to kiss me, but just as our lips were about to meet, I instinctively averted my face.

Something was off. It was him, and yet not.

His kiss landed on my cheek instead, and I felt him stiffen in my arms. Obviously, he knew I had deliberately avoided his kiss.

Our eyes met, and all my senses went into full alert.

It’s not him!

The certainty with which that thought fired off in my mind left me reeling. His face hardened at the same time as I tried to push him away. He tightened his hold around me as an evil smile stretched his lips.

And then it finally struck me.

He’s fully dressed! Remus stripped out of his clothes before running into the woods.

I tried to fight him off, but I might as well have tried to push a brick wall. He chuckled maliciously before fisting my hair with one hand and yanking it down to expose my neck. His golden eyes took on a reddish hue, the pupils narrowing into a vertical slit while his fangs descended.

“Let me go!” I shouted while fighting in vain to free myself.

“Never, my sweet. Nothing, and no one—especially not those pathetic runes—can protect you from me,” he whispered in a voice full of threats and promises.

I screamed as his fangs sank into my neck. Liquid ice flooded my veins. Half a beat later, a veil of darkness descended before my eyes, and I went limp.

M y skin tingled in that odd way it often did as you slowly emerged from a deep slumber.

It took me a moment to realize that a threatening sound nearby had stirred me awake.

My eyes snapped open, and I inspected my surroundings.

To my shock, I was lying on a stone plateau by a cliff, surrounded by a dark forest a short distance away.

I couldn’t detect a single soul nearby, and yet the powerful sense of being observed by a predator gnawed at me. My head jerked up at a sudden flapping sound. My blood drained from my face when I finally spotted the massive silhouette of a demon wolf circling overhead.

I glanced back at the ground beneath me, and I nearly fainted upon finding it bare, without the protective circle I should have drawn before facing Ranael. A savage growl overhead reclaimed my attention. My eyes locked with his, and I felt paralyzed when he dove towards me.

On instinct, I shot to my feet and attempted to flee.

But I couldn’t outrun him, and there was nowhere to hide.

The bare plateau extended for at least two hundred meters before the tree line began on the south edge.

A steep rock wall bordered the eastern edge, and a deadly cliff ended the remaining sides.

I couldn’t even attempt to draw a circle, not that I had anything to do it with.

Despite that, even as I ran, I tried to invoke his protection just like the Weaver taught me.

But the demon wolf was too enraged. The shadow of his massive wingspan blocked the sun over me seconds before he would reach me.

I dodged left. Although Ranael flew past me, he still managed to rake his vicious claws up my back.

A burning pain exploded between my shoulder blades, and I stumbled to the ground, screaming.

Despite the excruciating pain, I pushed myself up and got on my knees.

With powerful flaps of his wings, the demon wolf flew in a wild circle before heading back towards me.

I tried to block him out of my mind. Gritting my teeth through the pain, I swiped my fingers over my wounds to gather my blood freely trickling out to draw a circle on the ground.

My heart was trying to pound its way out of my chest as I began reciting the protection circle spell.

But the wretched beast dove again, interrupting me.

I rolled to the side to avoid him, which took me partially out of the circle.

Once more, Ranael inflicted another wound on me by raking my calf with his talons.

I cried out and nearly fainted. He’d sliced me so deep I could see the bone through the cut.

Feeling faint and in agony, I once more knelt inside the circle and used more of my blood to repair the part of the circle I damaged while rolling out of the way.

Feeling lightheaded, I rushed through the incantation.

Without candles or all the proper reagents, I didn’t know how well the protection would hold, but it was all I had.

Or at least, all that I might have had if given a chance to complete it.

I barely had two words left to complete the incantation when the demon wolf slammed into me.

It felt as if a ram struck me. I flew back a few meters and landed hard on the stony ground.

The brutal impact on my lacerated back would have wrested another scream of agony from me had I not been winded from the force of the blow.

I never had a chance to release another scream.

The demon wolf pinned my shoulders to the ground with both his massive front paws, then his snake tail repeatedly bit my neck and face.

An atrocious burning sensation set my entire face and neck ablaze.

My throat immediately shut down. I couldn’t breathe or emit any sound.

Ranael leaned forward and growled menacingly in my face before swiping his claws over my neck, slicing my throat open.

Choking on my own blood, I watched him flap his wings.

He ascended maybe three or four meters above me before opening his mouth wide.

As a stream of fire rushed towards me, my last thought was for Remus.

We should have had more time together.