In the silence that follows my words, I listen to the rustle of trees and the hum of crickets for any sign of answer. And, then…
A howl.
Wolf? I rise to my feet, looking in the direction of the sound. Another howl. No…worse… I know the sounds of these woods—was taught them with every breath.
That is no wolf.
But it can’t be. The lykin bed down on the new moon. They draw their strength from the cycles in the sky. Now is their weakest time. Especially since it is the first new moon following the Blood Moon. They should be weary from their revelries. In all my twenty-two years, I have never heard the howl of a lykin on the new moon.
I’m ready to make a hasty departure, but I am halted. This strange night is not yet done with me.
A young woman bursts through the tree-line opposite me.
She is barefoot, with mud staining her ghostly pale skin up to the hem of her white, sleeveless, linen dress. Her hair is bright silver and hangs nearly down to her waist, streaking behind her as she sprints, like a falling star. I have never seen another human in the forest, save for my family. Another witch, perhaps? If so, something has gone terribly wrong for her to traverse these woods of magic and beasts without protection of any kind. There’s no stitching on her dress.
The woman doesn’t seem to notice me. She keeps looking behind and then up at the branches of the tree. It is because of the latter that she doesn’t notice the thick roots that spill around the redwood. Her toes catch, ankle crunches, and she lets out a cry as she falls.
A third howl rings out in reply, jolting me to my senses.
I rush toward her but she ignores me, murmuring to herself through the pain. She clutches something to her chest that she then places on the root. It’s a simple, silver ring adorned by a giant moonstone nestled between two, crescent arcs facing in opposite directions. The woman rummages around root and moss, ultimately grabbing a rock.
“Are you all right?” I ask.
She doesn’t seem to notice me until I’m kneeling at her side.
“You can’t stop me!” She pushes me, possessing more force than I previously thought her form capable of.
I fall back. “I’m not trying to?—”
I’m reaching out to her as she brings the rock down on the stone, shouting words that I do not recognize and cannot understand. They’re almost like a song—a haunted and angry melody. The rock smashes into the ring, shattering it.
We are both thrown. It feels as if someone has punched me in the center of my chest, compressing my ribs and knocking all the wind from between them. I gasp, wheezing a few times before I can get a few breaths and the pain fades.
“No…no, no…I shouldn’t…” The woman pats herself over her chest and legs as she kneels. “What went wrong? What did I do wrong?” Tears stream down her face.
She doesn’t have the pointed ears of a fae or elf, nor the fangs of a vampir. Lykin? Perhaps…but if she were, she would likely have taken her wolf shape when she’d been injured. I sense no ill intent from her, and she has yet to harm me.
Another howl; her head whips around. It’s closer this time. I know fear when I see it in her wide eyes as they spin to me. Her lips part. I feel as if for the first time she’s acknowledging my presence.
“You… I’m so sorry.” She shakes her head slowly. “I am so sorry for pulling you into this.”
I move to her side once more. It’s easier than I expected. All the pain has vanished from my body following whatever ritual she performed.
“It’s all right,” I tell her. Her face is twisted in pain as though she has endured wounds far, far worse than the ankle and tumble.
“Please…help,” she says between her pants and whimpers. “Help me. Don’t let them take me back.” Whoever—or whatever—she is no longer matters when she asks like that.
“Yes, of course.” I look back in the direction she came from. There’s an ominous aura permitting the air. Birds take flight in the distance, rising from the treetops like a beacon of war. “Who’s chasing you?”
“The wolf king.” She hangs her head, silver strands slipping over her trembling shoulders. Her words are as bitter as poison. “He claims to own me.”
My blood goes cold. The king of the wolves. The alpha of all packs. But stronger than my fear is disgust.Owns her?Bile tickles the back of my throat and I swallow it down.
“I know somewhere safe, somewhere not even the king of the wolves can go.” So long as my barriers hold…
“What?” She looks back to me with what I dare say is hope illuminating her dark eyes.
“Are you lykin?” The barriers won’t let her out if she is.
