Page 46

Pain.

So. Much. Fucking. Pain.

My wolf half had taken over for a great deal of the fight with the demon, pure rage and need for my mates safety allowing nothing less.

But it was... I was in too much pain to simply use one side of my anymore.

My claws dug into the ground as if it would steady myself when that thing came back swinging again.

I was panting. Soaked in my own blood and that of the demons.

I was barely healing. The insanely fast rate of healing my kind and especially myself experienced was one of the first things that began to diminish without having found my mate.

Lately its gotten worse and worse.

Couple that with the powerful venom that oozed out of every pore of greater demons?

I wasn't healing.

At all.

I half wimped half growled, baring my teeth as I caught sight of the demon in the shadows.

It looked just as shitty as I probably did.

I was probably going to die.

Fuck it. I was dying anyways. I spared a glance at Novianas home.

Contrary to my declaration to try not to break her house, her garden was utterly destroyed and her roof was missing a good half of its tiles, claw marks dotted the exterior walls.

If i lived through this I would have to spend weeks repairing it.

I should commission a new porch swing like the one the demon had tried to bash my head in with.

If it was there in the first place it was because Novianas actually used it. She wasn't a wasteful type of woman.

The demon finally stepped out of the shadows, thinking I wasn't paying attention.

I immediately snapped to it, snarling as I sunk claws and teeth its the beast.

Ignoring the pain in my side and every one of my limbs.

It tossed me over the house and into Noviana's cemetery.

I took a good chunk of it with me. Its roar of pain booming through the otherwise quiet mountains.

It was a struggle to stand.

I wasn't sure what would happen to Nova if I failed to kill this thing. The woman seemed all powerful at times but she made a deal with it.

Even I knew magical deals could restrict ones power.

I had no doubts she could handle a greater demon. I just wasn't sure about this one.

I slowly returned to my feet, paws digging into the earth as I darted forward.

If I didn't finish this soon. I never would.

The demon picked up speed as I darted through the cemetery, I spent enough time with Nova in her weird dream world to know what this place looked liked. To know what was where.

There was only one destroyed headstone in this entire cemetery. It was nothing but rubble of what must have been a statue. The only remaining a name.

I never asked about it.

But I lead the demon right to it, that barely there name one wouldn't notice if they were not looking for it, raised just enough to send a demon crashing down.

Demon. Meet the grave of one Noviana Nivara.

I wasted no time when it went down. Clawing through the tendons in its legs and fragile parts of its spine so it couldn't throw me off.

I ripped out its throat, as promised, spat out the putrid taste of it.

And then I collapsed next to it, entire body quaking in pain.

I couldn't even shift back to human form.

It felt like forever until soft footsteps approached.

I looked up at the witch best I could.

Her deep blue eyes took in the scene, pausing so briefly on her own grave I never would have caught it had I not known her, "can you shift?" She asked, eyeing me.

I let out a pathetic wine.

"You are not healing." The blonde noted, tiny frown on her full lips.

And then she turned and walked back into the house.

I couldn't howl, but my wolf wanted to. The animal in me not understanding where she was going.

I did what I was supposed to.

So to my wolf, she would be here. Soothing away the pain. That's what mates do.

The human half of me found it bitterly ironic that I was likely going to die next to Noviana, or at least her name.

Nowhere in my did I expect to see her beautiful face again.

So all of me was shocked when she returned with a huge blanket in her hands. "You seem to be severely damaged. To what extent I do not know but magically teleporting you in this state could kill you."

She laid the blanket out.

My tail thumped involuntarily as her small hands gently ran over my muzzle and down my back. "Can you get on the blanket?" She murmured.

It hurt like hell but, with her help I ended up lying on that instead of the grass.

She struggled to pull it back towards her house.

I never thought I would see Noviana struggle to do anything.

She strained and pulled, huffing, "you are a very large wolf."

I wondered if she knew she just complemented me. My wolf tail thumped again, wagging like a pup.

I think my animal half forgot the part if this where I was probably about to die.

And my mate was gonna turn me into spells.

We reached the steps of the back patio.

The blanket was soaked in my blood.

"Can you get up the stairs? Any use of magic to move you may harm you."

On shaky limbs i made the short climb.

She had the foresight to leave another blanket at the top so she could drag me inside.

I immediately found myself back in her bathroom.

"This contains certain herbs that will sting." She took a pail of water and slowly ran it over my body.

I snarled at the burn. Having to restrain my animal instincts to lash at her.

"Hmm." She tisked, "Grug put in too much. No harm done but it will burn more."

I growled low in my throat, that growl turning to a whimper as she slowly cleaned each of my wounds before mixing some sort of paste and apply it with gauze.

She worked in near silence until every one of my wounds was bandaged. "This is a spell." She murmured into my wolf ear, "you are not safe to shift so do not until I inform you you can. I do not care that you are opposed to my magic. It is this or die."

Without waiting for a reaction she started speaking In tongues touching each of the bandages.

My main eased into aches and slowly i felt sleep creep up on me.

"Good." She snapped her fingers.

The last thing I remember was realizing we were in her bed- I must have been safe to transport- and that she was next to me, fingers in my fur as her body curled up with my wolfs.

Then, sleep took me.