“Because the goddess clearly chose a really troubled and very unwell being to be in here. Keeping her alive is going to prove difficult.” Blackfire groans, reaching for me, and I crawl away, pulling my bag with me and flinging it on.
“Does it matter when she’s bait?” Orion shrugs. “We could just tie her up and drag her along.”
Blackfire and Orion get into a deep conversation about the pros and cons of dragging me along the forest floor while tied up, but Reed’s eyes stay locked on me far too long, making me uncomfortable. I swear he looks hurt or at least offended because I rejected his food.
All three of them turn their heads swiftly to the left, and I watch the tension between the three of them rise right before Ihear it. Screams. Not just one scream, but several ear-splitting, terror-filled screams. Something in my chest seems to vibrate, buzzing through my blood and telling me I need to run towards the screaming. Usually, people’s bodies have an instinct to stay alive, but clearly mine is broken as it wants me to gotowardsthe screaming. It’s official—I’m broken.
“That’s our selected, and they are in trouble,” Reed explains to me as I rub my chest, wondering how I felt it too. Elizabeth is in danger, and I feel like she is nearby, even though I’m not sure how I know that.
Blackfire storms over to me, grabbing me and throwing me over his shoulder before he starts running in the direction of the screams. “I’ve got the bait, you know the plan. Let’s end this fucking Folkland.”
Chapter Fourteen
We run straight into a bloodbath. My eyes widen as Blackfire slides me down to the ground, and my legs wobble. I’m thankful his hand stays gripped on my upper arm as I watch the bloody, totally gross chaos that is unfolding in front of me. The ground is covered in blood and body parts, bones and skulls too, and in the middle is a creature that is as big as a house. What can only be described as a gigantic stone cat roars into the sky, knocking over a tree with a long smack of its paw, the tree falling down onto a wolf with a thud and a spray of blood.
The cat’s skin reminds me of my monster, but it’s different in colour, almost like dried dirt and striped. Where it has been injured, lines of silver blood glimmer in the light and pour down its sides. Its huge tail swings around, spikes littering the end of it, hitting the ground and dragging through the gore and mud. Its cat ears are pointed and its eyes glow silver like diamonds.Everything about it is designed to kill, from its giant claws to its sharp teeth that are the size of me. Currently, it’s chewing on a woman, who is screaming.
I nearly throw up, but Orion’s bark of laughter shocks me silent. “Finally, some fun.”
“That”—I point at the cat—“is not fun.”
“Don’t worry, weak human. I won’t let the cat eat you.” Orion locks his eyes on mine, almost smiling, and I soon realize he isn’t offering to keep me safe. “My wolf has decided you’re ours to eat, and not in the fun way I usually like to eat females.”
My cheeks burn.
“Sexy,” Tannith whispers from the bag, and I hear her. The males around me either don’t hear her or they don’t respond, all of them turning back to the cat except for Blackfire, who shoves me behind a tree.
His growl is more of a snarl. “Stay here, Hopeless. Don’t talk to anyone, and don’t you fucking dare move. We obviously don’t need you as bait right now. If you run away, so help me, the goddesses above won’t stop me as I punish you.”
“Noted.” I smile at him reassuringly, even as my heart is pounding. “I will stay here.” I’m completely lying, and I hope he doesn’t see it.
His blistering red eyes watch me suspiciously for a second, before he nods and leaves. Idiot.
I nearly jump when Reed leans into me. “Please stay safe.” His voice is soft, gentle, almost like he’s reaching for me. But Orion grabs him, pulling him along, barking about ignoring the human. Aka me.
Blackfire’s dark laugh makes me peek around the tree, and I almost wish I didn’t. There has to be at least five people left alive, and they are all injured from what I can see, and they are trapped. Every time they try to leave, they run into an invisible wall, and it bounces them back towards the cat. What in thegoddesses? I try to think, wondering why it would do that, when I realize. The feeling in my blood, the way I was drawn here, and the mark. They are our selected, and they won’t be able to escape unless we save them. I need to find Elizabeth and get her out of this place before Orion finds her and kills her.
The sounds of the rushing river nearby don’t mask the horrified screams as the cat finally spits that poor woman onto the ground, or what is left of her. With the number of skulls and bones, this must be the cat’s home, and it clearly doesn’t like visitors.
Three selected, I think, by the looks of the chains still wrapped around their wrists, dragging on the floor, run up to Blackfire, and they burn in black flames before they get close. They don’t even get near him before they’re ashes in the wind. My eyes widen at the sheer power he has. Orion walks slowly, the earth cracking at his sides, splitting open and vines lashing out like snakes. He is walking in a circle around the cat, the vines slithering close to the cat’s paws.
The selected I can see, two more of them are running away from the heirs after what Blackfire just did. Orion seems to rejoice in the battle. In fact, he and Blackfire look like they’re in their element, smiling as they walk through, marking a path of death with earth and flames. Towers of inky fire build around Blackfire, dark and dangerous as they swirl into the sky and catch the attention of the cat.
I glance at Reed, hoping to find him less psychotic than his friends, only to see he’s smiling as he holds his hands in the air and streams of water rush out of the river, smacking into the hissing cat and binding it like a collar as it hardens into thick ice. He tugs, and the cat snarls, ice shards snapping as he holds it on a leash. Reed isn’t focusing on the cat, his eyes are darting around, and I think he is looking for his selected. I remember him hugging the man at the selection.
A scream catches my attention, and I find Elizabeth, her leg trapped under a fallen log, and she is straining to get it off her. Orion is walking right towards her, and I know he heard her scream, even if she is hidden by the log. No. My feet are taking off before I’ve even realized what I’m doing, and I’m running straight towards her. Elizabeth’s at the back of the cat, hiding down low as its tail swishes back and forth. I will her to stay there as I step into the circle, a chilly feeling pushing against my skin as I cross the barrier of magic.
My boots crunch on bones as I run through the chaos, puddles of blood splashing as I try not to fall over. I scream as someone slams into me, and I fall, smashing onto the bone-layered ground. I spin onto my back, seeing a man I don’t know as he reaches down and grabs me, easily slamming my head back onto the ground. I see stars. His breath is foul as he leans down into my face. “I am going to kill you for my master, Blackfire, the legendary heir of the Crone Pack, who dominated in the last war and won the battle on his own. They say he killed over a thousand soldiers on his own and held the city with his bare hands.”
The last war? He must mean the one between the Maiden and Crone Packs that happened over a hundred and fifty years ago and ended only when a truce was made between the packs. The war was nasty from what I remember being taught. Blackfire is older than I thought.
“He is the general of the Crone army, the killer of the night, and the heartless wolf with no weaknesses who will make the world better when he becomes alpha. I will be rewarded as his guardian for helping him with you.”
My head stings, and I taste my blood in my mouth. “Sounds like you have a hard-on for him. Bad luck, buddy, I think he likes women and not ugly fuckers like you.”
“Disgusting human—” His eyes widen, his mouth parts in a silent scream, and it’s the only warning I get before he is ripped in two. Literally. I scream as his blood and organs spray over my clothes and face, the hot warmth of it disgusting me as I find Blackfire looking down with fury. He just killed his selected. For a second, I refuse to believe he did it, even as I wipe my eyes of the blood and sit up, trying not to look at the blood and gore of the man’s body. He could have burnt him to a crisp, but he did this brutally, and he doesn’t even seem that bothered by it. His chest is moving fast, his eyes moving across my body, like he is making sure I’m not hurt.
“BLACKFIRE, A LITTLE HELP!?” Reed shouts, distracting him for a moment.
