Page 48

JULIAN

Kian was still inside the haven.

Cam had shifted back into his wolf form, but I stayed as a human. I had promised a distraction if necessary, and magic was building in my palms, itching to be released.

But I hadn’t heard a peep, and his shadows weren’t going to do much good any longer if he didn’t hurry his vampy ass up.

Elias came to my side, and I couldn’t help but reach over and pet him. He snapped at me at first, but then gave in as I started scratching him behind the ears.

“Yeah, who’s the pup now?”

He growled slightly and I chuckled.

Guards continued their rounds along the wall. There wasn’t any urgency to their steps or loud yelling, so Kian must have still been hidden.

Was he planning to just wait until it was night again to come back over? Who knew how long days lasted in this world? This could be some Game of Thrones nonsense where the sun didn’t set for years or something.

“Should I just go for it?”

I whispered.

Elias chuffed, clearly finding my impatience funny.

I watched as creatures stirred to life around us. Some of them looked like animals back home—wolves, obviously, but also furry little things like squirrels leapt from branch to branch. I saw some birds that looked relatively normal as well.

And then all of a sudden you’d see something real freaky, like the ugly love child of a monkey and a turtle crawl by.

I was also tired of sitting on the ground on my bare ass. Yeah, it wasn’t hard or cold or anything, but I’d never been naked for so long in my life. I missed pants.

A small bug landed on my forearm.

“Can you talk?”

When it didn’t respond I slapped it away, then started counting the seconds until the flower next to me farted again.

Leave it to me to be in a world of magic and still be bored.

A muffled, hurried conversation from the guard tower caught my attention. I quieted my breathing and concentrated. I could hear better if I was a wolf, but wolves couldn’t shoot fireballs.

“What are they saying?”

I whispered to Elias.

His ears were straight up, and he sat so still he could have been mistaken for a statue.

Then all hell broke loose.

Bells started ringing, and screams erupted from inside. A series of guards at each corner raised their arms and sent a beam of light high above the middle of the camp, and a wide, translucent bubble began to form.

A shield. And it was coming down fast.

Other guards leapt off the walls inside, yelling about an intruder.

Showtime.

I stood, feeling the magic tingling in my hands as I summoned the earth beneath me. A bead of sweat rolled down my temple but I ignored it as I strained, pulling with all of my strength and intentions.

The ground began to shake, and then cracked open to release a giant boulder, around the size of a small car.

It floated in midair, twisting as I breathed in, gathering energy in my hands.

Release.

The kinetic power I’d collected slammed into the rock with all the force of a freight train, launching it straight towards the lookout closest to us, where one of those fae fucks was bringing down the shield.

It collapsed like a jenga tower, and the magic receded among the yells of the guards.

“Attack! Sound the alarm!”

A shadow darted back and forth, looking for a way out of the impenetrable bubble, then shot straight towards the opening I’d created.

Kian hovered in front of us, shadows pouring from his entire body aside from his face. “Move, you stupid fucks!”

I shifted back into my wolf, following the shadow towards a ridge of mountains in the distance.