“I want you back in Ward’s Keep, not planning your next failed assassination attempt. As hot as they are.”
I picked her up out of the dirt by her wrists as I dusted her off. Confusion marred her features as she hung limply in my grasp. Maggie’s anger tapped out.
“Come on, Pumpkin. You get an ‘A’ for effort, but I’m on a serious adult-type mission. I need to focus.” I pulled her along back to my mount. We walked a few dozen feet but the salamander looked much farther.
“I am a fully grown adult, if you haven’t noticed.”
I noticed in more ways than safe, but it was more fun to needle her.
“What are you, eighteen?”
She ripped her hands out of my grip with surprisingforce. “You're terrible at guessing ages. I'm thirty-two. A perfectly adult human age.”
She was thirty-one, because I knew her sun and moon sign, not to mention her natal day and hour. I narrowed my eyes, a frown tugging at my mouth. She tracked every twitch of my lips.
“You realize I'm two hundred and fifty. I'm too old for your games. I've forgotten more magic than you will ever know. Give up this vendetta.”
Her sneer could melt iron. “Enough magic to get us out of this thicket?”
“Of course.” I smiled, showing all my teeth.
“Then why don’t we seem to be any closer to your mount?”
She was right. We had been walking toward the creature, and it sure as fuck wasn’t any closer. How many people ever left Oakjour Thicket?
I hurried her. “The thicket is playing a little joke on us.”
“So much for all that magic you forgot,” she grumbled. “I should have killed you this time. I planned it perfectly.”
I didn’t need to mention that I had also been in more battles than she could remember. Maggie thought she was going to win, and I didn’t want to disabuse her of any notion that kept her in my orbit.
I stopped dragging her, curious. “Show me what you’ve got then.”
I circled my hand to get her to try a move for me. She dropped into a fighting stance that wasn’t half bad. Then Maggie sliced out with a dagger in a mechanical move that would have had Yaya in angry tears, tanning my hide if I tried it. Did she learn this Bakh dung from a book? I plucked the dagger out of her hands.
“I meant your magic, Pumpkin.”
Surely, she would do better at that. She screwed up her face, and I formed a void just under the surface of my skin. I waited to see what came out of that magic box I filled during our last encounter. All that focus time, sun salutations and endless crystals must amount to a terrifying witch ready to burn the Harrowlands. The possibility that I wouldn’t consume what she was about to hit me with flooded anticipation through my veins.
Maggie slapped her hand on my chest, drawing a sigil for “destruction,” and it promptly fizzled out.
I patted down my hair to see if she got any sparks in it. “Wow, that’s really sad.”
Maggie stormed off, determined to get to the salamander. When I caught up with her, I went to reach for her arm. “Sorry, sorry. That was such a good try.”
I wasn’t the best at consolation. I ate dirt as she drew her booted foot back from tripping me, and I laughed. I loved that she was as petty as I was. If all this hadn’t happened, we might have been friends.
The earth beneath me rumbled, but not from my laughter. An ear-splitting clatter shook the trees, whichwhipped the flank of the Stavian elk crashing through the forest. The elk’s bellow of rage would make any predator tremble. Sharp hooves cut the air as the trees and shrubbery goaded the elk further. It thundered its considerable bulk in our direction, ready to trample us. And as fear filled me, I had no control over what happened next.
In a blaze of fury, I became the dark, with razor-sharp teeth and claws and a bulk far greater than any Elf. This wasn’t a partial shift. Shadows curled in my mouth, and wisps of it pulled Maggie behind me. She squeaked in the most distracting way. Ruby-glow eyes appeared along my cheekbones, each looking for the weakest spot on the elk with deadly focus. The animal thrashed its rack, attempting to impale me. Us. I didn’t hesitate, even if it would scare Maggie. I would rather her afraid than skewered.
The elk took one look and screamed. Leaves kicked up alongside clods of dirt as the elk wheeled its legs to change direction.
Too late. My unbridled Nightmare took a massive bite right out of the elk’s neck, letting it flop forward as it crumpled to the ground. I took another large mouthful. The taste of fresh blood full of terror satisfied my abyss. We had to be strong to defend her. Triumph surged through me. We protected our mate from death.
Maggie didn’t seem to mind the grind of bones in my teeth, but her face buried in the fur on my back. I was just happy she was almost tearing out my pelt by its rootswith her grip, but I didn’t taste any fear. We now had food to offer our mate. A delicate liver, a nutritious heart. I blinked all of my eyes. Wait.What?I checked the bond, and sneaky tendrils were reaching for Maggie. I ripped at them mercilessly, retaking my Elven form, stuffing my Nightmare back into my body. I masked my fury at the slip with a smirk.
She stepped back from me, looking me up and down. I resisted the impulse to toss my long hair over my shoulder and adjust my clothing.
