"They're cutting us off!" I shouted as two tall figures appeared in the hallway ahead.
Varkolak pushed me behind him, his body expanding into a mass of writhing darkness. The Malakars hissed, their amber eyes narrowing as they advanced with weapons that glowed with strange energy.
"Run for the trees," Varkolak commanded. "I'll hold them off."
"I'm not leaving you!" I clutched the folders to my chest.
"Trust our bond." His voice was strained as he fought to maintain his form against their weapons. "I'll find you. Always."
Heart breaking, I turned and ran toward a small hole in the outer wall, slipping through as sounds of combat erupted behind me. The forest was only twenty yards away, if I could reach it, I might have a chance.
Something whizzed past my ear, embedding itself in a tree ahead. A poisoned dart. The Malakars weren't just trying to kill Varkolak. They wanted me dead too.
I zigzagged as I ran, making myself a harder target. The records clutched to my chest felt impossibly heavy, yet too important to abandon. Proof that our peoples could coexist, could create life together.
The forest edge was just steps away when I felt a searing pain across my back, not a direct hit but a grazing wound fromsomething sharp. I stumbled but didn't fall, pushing myself into the treeline where dense foliage offered some cover.
I didn't stop running, even as branches whipped my face and roots threatened to trip me. Behind me, I could hear pursuit, though whether it was Varkolak or the Malakars, I couldn't tell.
"Aya!" Varkolak's voice came from somewhere to my left, weak but alive.
Relief flooded me even as I continued running. He had survived. The connection between us pulled like a physical thread, guiding me toward him.
I found him leaning against a massive tree, his form flickering between shadow and solid, one arm clutching his side where a strange blue light pulsed from a wound.
"You're hurt," I gasped, reaching for him.
"Poisoned weapon." He grimaced. "Designed to disrupt shadow matter."
"Can you move?" I glanced nervously behind us. "They're coming."
He straightened with effort. "We need to reach the eastern ridge. There's a network of caves my people used centuries ago. We might lose them there."
I slipped under his uninjured arm, supporting him as best I could despite our size difference.
As we moved deeper into the wild territories, I noticed how much had changed in such a short time. I was no longer just Aya Fletcher, the orphaned girl from the sea colony. I was something new, caught between worlds, but no longer alone.
Varkolak's weight against me felt right somehow. The connection between us, even interrupted and incomplete, was stronger than any human bond I'd ever known. And despite the danger, despite being hunted by multiple enemies now, I couldn't bring myself to regret a single choice that had brought me here.
"The records," Varkolak said as we caught our breath in a small clearing. "Keep them safe. They're more important than either of us."
I nodded, tucking them more securely into my tattered jacket. "They're proof that we're not wrong. That what we feel isn't forbidden by nature itself."
His dark eyes met mine. "What we feel," he repeated softly.
Even in danger, even injured and hunted, the pull between us was undeniable. I reached up, touching his face gently. "When we're safe, we finish what we started. The ritual. The bond. All of it."
For the first time since I'd met him, Varkolak smiled—a genuine expression that transformed his fierce features into something heartbreakingly beautiful.
"When we're safe," he agreed, his voice rough with emotion and pain.
In the distance, we could hear our pursuers. Not just the Malakars now, but likely others from Varkolak's tribe who opposed our bonding. We were being hunted from all sides, carrying explosive secrets that could change everything.
CHAPTER 10
Varkolak
The sun had almost risen by the time we reached Nia's dwelling. Nestled deep within the mountain shadows, her home was barely visible against the dark rock face, exactly how we shadow creatures preferred it.
