Page 29 of Mate Night Snack (Hollow Oak Mates #2)

EMMETT

T he mate bond was screaming.

Emmett crashed through the forest like a man possessed, branches tearing at his clothes and his skin as he followed the invisible thread that connected him to Katniss.

Her terror poured through their connection in waves, followed by confusion and pain that made his wolf howl with rage.

She was hurt. She was afraid. And she was moving away from safety with every passing second.

He should have felt Ashwin's presence the moment that bastard set foot on Hollow Oak soil. But the emergency Council meeting had run long while Katniss sat alone in what they'd all believed was the most protected location in town.

"Stupid," he snarled to himself, leaping over a fallen log without breaking stride. "Should have stayed with her. Should have known he'd find a way through the wards."

Her scent was everywhere and nowhere, confused by the strange energy that clung to this part of the forest like fog. Not the clean, natural magic of the Veil, but something twisted and wrong that made his skin crawl. Shadow magic. The kind of dark power that left stains on everything it touched.

Through the bond, he felt the exact moment Katniss stumbled into the trap.

Her panic spiked to unbearable levels as her seer abilities went haywire. He could feel her confusion, her desperate attempt to sort reality from illusion as the trap turned her own gifts against her.

The forest opened into a small clearing ringed with ancient oaks, their trunks scarred with symbols that hurt to look at directly.

In the center, Katniss knelt in the moss with her hands pressed to her temples, the mate mark blazing like a star.

The air around her shimmered with distorted magic, reality bending and twisting like heat waves rising from summer pavement.

And standing over her, bone knife gleaming in his pale hand, was Ashwin.

"Ah, there you are," the rogue leader said without turning around. "Right on schedule. I was beginning to think you'd lost your protective instincts along with your pack."

Emmett's wolf surged to the surface, demanding immediate violence. Every muscle in his body coiled with the need to tear out Ashwin's throat. But Katniss was too close. One wrong move and she'd be caught in the crossfire.

"Let her go," he said instead, his voice carrying the kind of deadly calm that came before storms. "This is between you and me."

"Is it?" Ashwin finally turned, revealing the same predatory smile that had haunted Emmett's nightmares for years.

He looked exactly the same as the day Emmett had walked away from the pack, as if the years between had touched everyone but him.

"I think you'll find it's much more complicated than that now. "

"What do you want?"

"What I've always wanted. What you denied me all those years ago." Ashwin's yellow eyes glittered with malice. "Absolute power. And she's the key to it."

Before Emmett could react, Ashwin moved with inhuman speed, the bone knife sweeping down toward Katniss's exposed arm. The blade was wrong, carved from something that had never been alive, its surface crawling with shadows that seemed to move independently.

"No!"

Emmett launched himself forward, but he was too far away.

The knife bit deep into Katniss's forearm, drawing a cry of pain that cut through his soul like a blade.

Dark blood welled from the wound, but that wasn't the worst part. The worst part was the way the shadows from the knife began to spread beneath her skin like ink in water, crawling up her arm in tendrils of unnatural darkness.

"Shadow magic," Ashwin said conversationally as Katniss collapsed to her side, convulsing as the curse fought with her seer abilities.

"Particularly effective against those with magical gifts.

It feeds on their power, corrupts it from within.

Soon she'll be mine to command, just like all the others. "

Rage beyond reason flooded Emmett's system. His wolf broke free of his control in a rush of fur and fang and absolute fury. The transformation was violent, painful, driven by emotions too raw to contain in human form.

He hit Ashwin like a freight train, both of them going down in a tangle of limbs and snapping teeth. But the rogue leader was ready for him, rolling with the impact and coming up with the bone knife still clutched in his hand.

"Still leading with your heart," Ashwin taunted, dancing back out of range. "Still making the same mistakes that got your pack mates killed."

Emmett didn't let the taunt slow him down. Not this time. This time, the only thing that mattered was Katniss, writhing in the moss as shadow magic ate at her from the inside.

He feinted left, then lunged right, jaws closing around Ashwin's wrist with bone-crushing force. The rogue leader screamed and dropped the knife, dark blood spurting from the wounds Emmett's teeth had torn.

But instead of pressing his advantage, Emmett released his grip and backed away. Not out of mercy this time, but out of tactical necessity. He could feel Katniss slipping away through the bond, her consciousness fading as the curse overwhelmed her system.

She needed help. Now.

"Run," he snarled, shifting back to human form with his eyes never leaving Ashwin's face. "Run, and maybe I'll let you live long enough to regret this."

For once, Ashwin looked uncertain. He cradled his mangled wrist against his chest, yellow eyes darting between Emmett and the treeline as if calculating odds.

"This isn't over," he spat, already backing toward the shadows. "The curse will spread. She'll be mine before the next moon rises, and you'll watch it happen."

"Like hell."

But Ashwin was already gone, melting into the forest like smoke. And Emmett had more important things to worry about than chasing ghosts.

Katniss lay unconscious in the moss, her breathing shallow and her skin pale. The wound on her arm had stopped bleeding, but the dark veins spreading from it were already halfway to her shoulder. Whatever Ashwin had done to that blade, it was designed to corrupt magical abilities from within.

"Come on," he whispered, gathering her into his arms with infinite care. "Don't you dare leave me now."

She was lighter than she should have been, as if the shadow magic was consuming her from the inside.

Through their bond, he could feel her fighting. Her seer abilities were in chaos, visions and reality blending into a nightmare landscape that threatened to swallow her whole.

"I've got you," he murmured as he started back toward town, each step carefully measured to avoid jarring her. "You're safe now. I've got you."

But even as he said the words, he could feel her slipping away. The bond between them was still there, but it was growing weaker with each passing moment.

The trip back to Hollow Oak passed in a blur of desperate speed and mounting fear. Every second that ticked by was a second the curse had to work its poison deeper into her system.

He burst through the front door of Miriam's inn, Katniss limp in his arms and terror written across his face in lines that might never fade.

"Miriam!" he bellowed, not caring who he woke or what protocols he shattered. "We need help! Now!"

The innkeeper appeared at the top of the stairs in her nightgown, took one look at Katniss's condition, and transformed from gentle hostess to battlefield medic in the space of a heartbeat.

"Upstairs," she commanded. "My room. Quickly."

He followed her up the narrow staircase, each step an eternity.

"What happened?" Miriam asked as she cleared medical supplies from her dresser with efficient movements.

"Shadow blade," Emmett said, laying Katniss gently on the quilted bedspread. "Ashwin cut her with something cursed. The darkness is spreading."

Miriam's face went pale, but her hands remained steady as she examined the wound. "How long ago?"

"Ten minutes. Maybe fifteen."

"That's something, at least. Shadow magic works fast, but not instantly." She looked up at him with eyes that held both compassion and brutal honesty. "I won't lie to you, Emmett. This is bad. Worse than bad. But she's strong, and the mate bond might be enough to anchor her."

"Tell me what to do."

"Stay close. Keep the bond open, no matter how much it hurts. She's going to fight this, but she'll need something to fight for."

As if summoned by their conversation, Twyla appeared in the doorway with an armload of herbs and a grim expression that looked wrong on her usually cheerful face.

"Cleansing ritual," she said without preamble. "It's the only way to burn the shadow magic out of her system before it reaches her heart."

"Will it work?" Emmett asked.

"I don't know," Twyla admitted. "But it's the only chance she's got."

Through the bond, Emmett felt Katniss slip a little further away, her consciousness retreating from the pain as the curse ate at her magical abilities like acid.

And somewhere in the darkness outside, Ashwin's laughter echoed on the wind.