Page 29 of The Howling (Monsters of the Yeavering #2)

I open my mouth to say I don’t believe him, but my words are robbed from my mouth as something very hard hits us both, and I go flying. I’m in the air for about as long as I’m able to think this is going to hurt , and then I hit the ground.

It hurts.

Not only does it jar my healing bones, but it slams my unbroken ones in such a way I’ll be shocked if it doesn’t cause damage.

My head impacts the ground, and I’m seeing bright lights, as well as hearing horrible, terrible snarls.

Black shapes battle as I attempt to pull myself upright, all parts of me screaming with pain but with a need to work out what is going on.

I’m on all fours when something pulls at my leg.

I try to kick it free but it has hold. I scream out Reavely’s name as it pulls hard again and I’m dragged through the undergrowth, the growls getting quieter until there is only my screams and the sound of rushing wind, my face being battered by leaves and twigs.

Until I stop. Dead. For two or three seconds, all I can do is attempt to catch my breath, at least until I hear the squelching sounds. They do not sound good. My stomach does a slow swirl, the precursor to nausea.

“Reavely?” I call out his name, my voice hoarse with all the screaming, my lungs struggling to take in air and my limbs weak with the thrashing.

There is a brief snarl, and a huge wolf head pokes through the bushes at me, muzzle covered in something dark and liquid.

“What’s going on?” I struggle out.

“Danger,” he snarls.

“Redcaps?” Even the thought of them sends a shiver through me.

If Lord Guyzance has found us…I don’t even want to think what will happen. Reavely might have power of sorts, but he was the one in the dungeon, not the Faerie lord.

“No, Reivers,” the wolf says.

In a sudden rush which makes my head spin, he has hold of me, tossing me onto his back, and then we’re running through the forest, my fingers gripping onto his soft fur for dear life until we reach the heavy wood and iron castle gates.

Reavely shifts again, into his were-form, pulling me into his arms as he pushes through the small door set into the gate, stooping to gain entry.

Once we’re inside, and the door slams shut, he puts me on my feet.

I struggle to stand.

“What are Reivers?” I whisper.

“Demons from the Night Lands,” Reavely says, transforming once again into his usual form.

My teeth chatter with the adrenaline coursing through my body. It says a lot about Bessie’s workmanship that I’m disheveled from what happened but nothing is torn and all I need is a good brush down.

“Demons?” I look around.

“I dealt with them. They will not be back,” Reavely says.

“What did they want?”

He fixes me with his incredible eyes. “They wanted you.”

As if I hadn’t realised.

“They wanted you,” Reavely goes on, “because you belong to me, and if I mate, if I break my curse, they know they will never be safe.”

The chattering gets worse, my body wracked with shudders.

“The fight in the Night Lands will go on,” he says, moving his eyes away from me and to the battlements. “My curse is never ending.”

“Reavely.” I say his name softly, but it’s enough to turn his gaze back on me. “What happened to Lord Guyzance?”

“He won’t hurt anyone ever again,” Reavely says, turning on his heel and stomping into the castle.

I stare after him, not sure what he means. Did he kill the Faerie lord? I somehow doubt it, not because Reavely isn’t capable of killing but because Lord Guyzance is like a cockroach. Just when you think he’s gone, he’ll crawl back out from under a stone.

“Because no one takes what’s mine,” Reavely says over his shoulder. “Not Guyzance and not the Yeavering.”

Then he’s gone.

I’m not sure I’ve ever felt so alone.