Page 19 of Traitor Wolf (Bonded by Fate Duet #1)

Then a wet tongue licked my fingers, followed by a soft growl, a sound I recognized.

Kaelric.

‘I’ve got you. We need to move north quickly,’ he said, and then pressed close, guiding me with his body, nudging me toward a direction I couldn’t see.

‘Did you just lick me?’ I asked, grateful for the distraction, grateful for him. My eyes in the storm.

‘Did you like it?’ I could almost hear the cocky smile in his tone.

I ignored his banter and let him lead, digging my fingers into his fur. Step by slow, terrifying step, he moved with silent confidence, his shoulder against my thigh, tail brushing my leg now and then.

Suddenly, a raspy whisper curled in my ear. Too close. I flinched.

Kaelric growled, a sound of warning to the darkness. He moved between me and whatever had reached out.

We walked for what felt like an hour that way, maybe more. The ground sloped again, then evened. I couldn’t tell if we were deeper in the mountain or somewhere else entirely. Time didn’t feel real here.

When he stopped walking, I knew it was time to rest.

He circled me once, then settled at my side, pressing his body against mine. His warmth was grounding. It felt safe.

I curled into him, unable to see, unable to think. The panic and fear were crashing inside of me, fighting for room.

Just breathe, I told myself.

‘You trust him,’ Valkaryn observed.

I didn’t answer. Not in words.

But I didn’t move away from Kaelric’s wolf either. He was like an anchor, mooring me in the middle of an endless ocean.

There was a sound off to the right… or maybe it was a left. A scream, or was it a laugh?

Kaelric went rigid, a new tightness in his body. His fur bristled as he nudged me to stand, the muscles along his spine rippling like coiled rope. His voice slid into my thoughts, low and urgent.

‘We need to move. North .’

I didn’t ask why. Not this time. I simply obeyed, gripping Valkaryn tighter.

We walked in tense silence, the tall grass hissing against my legs. Every now and then, Kaelric’s shoulder brushed mine, reminding me he was still there, still watching. Then he halted so abruptly I nearly stumbled into him.

He didn’t speak at first, just stood still, possibly seeing something I couldn’t.

‘I need you to trust me,’ he said.

‘I can’t promise that,’ I shot back, and it wasn’t a joke. Not after everything I heard in the train car last night.

‘We’re in tall grass. I need you to lie flat with Valkaryn over your chest. Wait for me to come back for you. Something is coming.’

Hearing something is coming when you were completely without sight was like being told you were about to die… and there was nothing you could do but wait for it.

Deciding to trust him, my knees buckled as I dropped into the grass. I pressed Valkaryn flat against my chest and curled my fingers around her, heartbeat hammering in my ears. The earth was cold and uneven beneath me. My cheek rested on rough, brittle grass, but I heard nothing.

Then the growl.

Not Kaelric.

Deeper, wet, and gurgling. Like bones grinding in a throat.

Something moved on my left, fast and heavy .

The tall grass around me rustled, seemingly snapping underfoot. I heard what sounded like Kaelric launching into the motion. The impact shook the ground beneath me, and I had to force myself not to scream.

A snarl cracked through the darkness like thunder. The sound of flesh meeting flesh was sickening. A yelp, then a crunch. Something shrieked, inhuman and warbled, like it was being pulled apart.

Kaelric howled once, long and deep.

‘Don’t move. Don’t breathe,’ he commanded me, and I felt his power settle over me like a blanket, forcing me to stay in my spot.

But I was already frozen, my fingers clutching the sword’s hilt so tightly they ached. Valkaryn, desperate to be drawn, vibrated beneath me like a heartbeat.

I held my breath and heard a body hit the ground. Then another. The air filled with a metallic, tangy scent, like blood. And something else. Rot.

The growling stopped, and paw steps approached, slow and heavy. I braced myself, but it was Kaelric.

He didn’t say anything at first. Just pressed his nose against my cheek, inhaling as if checking that I was alive and okay. His fur was soaked. I didn’t ask with what. I knew. He smelled of death.

‘You’re safe,’ he said, and there was relief in his tone .

He nuzzled my cheek again as if telling me he was okay too, and it was safe to get up now. I sat up, and he unexpectedly laid across my lap.

I didn’t respond. I just reached out and buried my fingers into his fur, stroking down his body, checking for wounds, probing for any breaks in flesh, anything that might need healing or mending.

I was quite sure he’d just saved my life.

If he was injured, I wanted to do what I could to help, but I found no gashes, only wet fur, blood that wasn’t his.

He sniffed up and down my ribcage as if checking me for the same thing, and I found myself liking the weight of his wolf on me, grounding myself in the warmth of him.

For the first time since stepping into the darkness, I realized I did trust him. With everything.

‘We need to move north,’ Kaelric directed me in his wolf form.

‘How do you know which way to go?’ I asked him. He kept insisting on going north.

'I can smell Corvessa. Cassian. The others. They were here when the trial was set. They left a trail. I think I know where the exit is.'

We moved again, slower now, careful. Valkaryn remained silent, though her presence pulsed like a heartbeat at my side.

Hours had passed since we’d been dropped into this darkness, but it felt like days.

I was weary from the walking, from the taunts of the darkness.

Kaelric stopped suddenly at some unseen patch of earth and pawed at the ground.

A moment later, he nudged my arm and guided me a few paces forward.

I dropped to my knees and felt soft leaves and cool stems under my fingers.

'Berries. Eat. I checked them.'

I had trusted him this far, and no harm had come to me.

I picked a few and popped them into my mouth.

Sweet. A little tart. I nearly wept at the comforting taste.

A taste of home and not of this blackness that was slowly driving me mad.

I tried to envision what the berry might look like.

Was it dark purple or burnt-red? Perfectly round or oblong? Oh, how I longed to have my sight back.

Kaelric waited beside me while I ate, then lapped water from somewhere nearby. I followed his lead, and he guided me to a shallow stream, pressing his body close so I didn’t slip. My hands cupped the cool water, and I drank deeply.

We found a hollowed-out cave of rock and rested that night, curled into each other beneath an overhang of stone and vines.

Only when I was somewhat safe and resting did I think of my mother and her sickness.

I prayed that she would be okay, that the fever had broken.

As the screams and snarls rent the night, I burrowed into Kaelric’s side, his wolf body shielding mine from the chill and the darkness that whispered just beyond.

I didn’t think there was a chance I could sleep in a blanket of darkness filled with screams, but with Kaelric’s wolf surrounding me in a cocoon of fur, I did.

That night, I had the most vivid dream. I was standing over a dead body. Valkaryn’s blade was buried in a man’s chest all the way up to the hilt, and I had a bloody crown in my right hand. A crown with a howling wolf in the center.