Page 41 of Destined to the Lycan (The Shadow Realms #3)

Remus

M y heart pounded in my throat as I watched Ranael approach.

The feral side of me that had been gradually coming to the fore the closer we got to the full moon was fueling the old anger burning deep within.

This creature killed my parents, cursed me, and destroyed the happy life I could have had.

However it was fear for my mate that dominated.

The prospect that he might also take the life of my soulmate drove me insane.

If that happened, it would break me beyond repair.

It took every ounce of my willpower not to run to Amara and shield her with my body when the demon wolf landed in front of her.

During my few prior encounters with him, I had been in my wolf form.

So although he had been imposing compared to me, I hadn’t fully appreciated his size as my own wolf was quite massive.

But now, seeing him towering over my kneeling mate, he looked like a giant preparing to devour a child.

Although he appeared to engage in a relatively controlled conversation with my Flame, the dread I felt didn’t wane.

Judging by his body language, tension was quickly building inside him.

Ranael was fighting a losing battle with the rage he’d been cursed with.

I silently urged my mate to conclude this terrible mission quickly.

As much as her reaction to his venom terrified me, at least it held a chance of saving her.

But if the demon wolf yielded to his rabid instincts, she would never survive his attack.

To my dismay, despite my enhanced hearing, I couldn’t hear what they were saying.

Then again, wolf shifters didn’t normally speak vocally.

I presumed he was speaking to her telepathically.

My back tensed when only moments into their conversation, Amara recoiled and appeared shocked and then frightened.

What could he have possibly told her to prompt such a reaction?

Demon wolves couldn’t lie when summoned for protection.

What scary truth had he dumped on her? However, his physiological reactions reclaimed my attention.

Ranael would soon lose control, as evidenced by the way his claws were digging into the ground, and by how he was bunching up his muscles, ready to leap onto his prey.

“Take the bite and be done before it’s too late,” I urged in a tense whisper, not that she could hear me from here.

To my shock, Ranael jerked his head towards me as if he had heard my words.

I silently kicked myself. As a demigod, his hearing range was far wider and more acute than my own.

Our gazes met, and the disturbing connection I had felt the previous times I sought him for revenge came back with a potency that left me reeling.

The unholy bond that I shared with that creature struck me hard.

As before, I didn’t fear for my life where he was concerned.

He wouldn’t attack me, but my presence might trigger something within him, a helpless fury that he might turn against my mate.

To my relief, the demon wolf returned his attention to my mate when she called to him.

They exchanged a couple more words, and then Amara fearfully broke the circle.

His snake tail struck with such speed it was literally a blur.

With a certainty I couldn’t explain, I knew the broken circle, and the taste of her blood on his snake’s fangs had shattered what willpower Ranael still possessed.

I didn’t recall dashing towards them. I only realized I had been moving when the sound of my clothes tearing reached my ears.

In its effort to resist, some of the fabric painfully dug into my skin before snapping as I instinctively shifted into my wolf form.

A mere few feet away from him, I completed my metamorphosis, and I rammed into his side, moments before he would have mauled my thrashing mate.

The sound of her agonizing screams tore my very soul to shreds. I wanted to go to her but needed to eliminate the greater threat first.

I jumped back onto my feet, only to be struck by Ranael’s massive paw.

With a single swipe, he sent me flying a few meters back.

I crashed on the hard stones of the plateau, the wind knocked out of me.

Dazed, I scrambled back onto my paws only to see his chest glowing red as he prepared to incinerate me.

Waiting until the last second, I rolled out of the way when he opened his maw impossibly wide to spit a powerful stream of fire.

The searing pain I expected never came. My brain froze when I realized he had widely and deliberately missed me.

Considering his rage had taken over him, I had expected to sustain at least some damage, even though I doubted he would kill me.

The demon wolf threw his head back and emitted a savage cry that sounded more like a dragon’s roar than a wolf’s howl. Then, with one powerful flap of his massive wings, Ranael flew away.

I didn’t spare him another thought and ran to my mate instead, shifting back to my human form in the process.

I drew her into my arms, cradling her tightly to constrain the violence of the spasms coursing through her so that she wouldn’t further harm herself.

Tears pricked my eyes and a wave of helplessness and despair washed over me as I watched her thrashing in my arms. I had known Amara would suffer, but seeing this was destroying me.

A million thoughts swirled in my mind, most of them revolving around how stupid I had been for helping her in this reckless endeavor.

Simultaneously, I tried to rationalize how she would have died anyway had we not tried the only option possible.

But seeing her foaming at the mouth, her skin ashen, the stench of death growing exponentially, her body burning, and her breathing reduced to a wheezing whistle further seemed to confirm what a fool’s errand this had been.

But the Weaver was right about the summoning.

Maybe she was right about this, too.

Still holding my Flame closely against me, I resealed the circle to keep any potential threat at bay. I doubted Ranael would return to finish what he started, but I didn’t want to have to worry about him. My mate required all my attention.

And thus began the most nightmarish wait of my life.

Amara burned with an impossibly high fever throughout the night, even as her teeth chattered.

Her moans of pain would only be interrupted by an occasional strangled cough.

They frightened me the most as she appeared to be choking.

The worst moment was when her body suddenly arched violently as if she had received a powerful electric discharge before going limp.

I shouted her name, tapping her cheek, fearing she had died on me.

After a few seconds that dragged on forever, she abruptly took a wheezing breath before repeating the cycle of moaning and choking.

It was only once the sun was finally up that I took Amara back into the partial cave that served as our shelter.

With clouds gathering in the distance, the small space would provide us with some measure of protection.

I saved some of the rainwater to replenish our reserves and used some of it to cool my woman and rehydrate her.

It took another entire day before the stench of death finally shifted before totally vanishing.

For a few hours, my heart soared, filled with hope as her fever broke, and her breathing stabilized.

Although her skin kept a dull and ashen color, my Flame no longer appeared to be in pain.

One could have almost believed she was merely sleeping.

Exhausted after more than two days of constant watch, I caught myself dozing off, snapping back awake every other hour only to make sure all was still well with my mate.

I hated that I needed to rest, but if I didn’t, I would never be able to get her to safety and myself to my safe house before the full moon.

On the morning of the third day after the snake bite, I startled awake to a sour scent that nearly made me panic. And then I saw the first dark vein spreading around her neck near the puncture wound. I cursed inwardly that it should have finally happened in the wee hours of the morning.

I nearly went insane counting every minute of every hour until nightfall.

As we had both suspected, my mate was in no condition to perform the summoning herself.

Over the past three days, she had occasionally come out of her comatose state but been completely incoherent and barely even aware of what was happening.

As much as I wanted to be able to talk to her, I welcomed the fact that she would lose consciousness again so that she wouldn’t have to feel the pain of the venom ravaging her.

The sun had barely vanished on the horizon when I raced back to the circle with my mate in my arms. I made sure it was flawless again before calling unto Ranael.

Like Amara had done, I recited the summons in a loop.

But as the minutes went by with no signs of the demon wolf, a sense of dread took root in the pit of my stomach, growing exponentially over time.

After more than twenty minutes with no result, I stepped out of the circle, leaving my mate within, and called upon him again.

But that also failed.

I swapped places with her and repeated the entire ritual to no avail.

What was I doing wrong? I checked the circle.

Each rune, each line was perfectly drawn as she had taught me.

The candles were lit and positioned correctly.

I had memorized the incantation and summoning call.

There were no flaws with what I had done. So why was he not answering?