Guide me, blessed Saudra.
Aya side-stepped slowly, inching her way toward the nearest alley. A crash echoed through the street she’d come from – a villager knocking into a cart as they tried to escape.
It was all she needed.
Aya ran.
The wolves gave chase, their growls reverberating off the shops that lined the cobblestone street as she tore through the alley, throwing her body around a corner and into the next street that led to the outskirts of town. She had to keep moving. Had to keep away from the crowded residential areas where citizens were still fleeing to their homes.
She dashed around another turn and into a larger road with restaurants on either side. The scrape of tables and chairs echoed as the wolves closed in, scattering destruction in their wake. Away from the celebration, the cobblestones were slick with ice. She slid on the next turn, cursing the soft suede shoes she’d worn.
Brien was closing in behind her. She could feel it.
She heard him stretch into a lunge, felt his hot breath on her neck—
Something hard slammed into Aya from the side, sending her hurtling toward the ground. Arms wrapped around her waist, twisting so she avoided the brunt of the impact as they rolled, coming to a stop a few feet from where Brien had almost ripped out her throat.
‘Are you out of your fucking mind?’ Will snarled as he stared down at her, his eyes ablaze with fury. His gaze raked over the blood on her face, as if he were counting each and every slice from the glass.
A warrior assessing his soldier.
He pushed himself up, tugging Aya with him. The wolves turned, their pace slow as they prowled toward them.
‘We have to get them to the mountains,’ she wheezed. The fall had knocked the air from her chest, and she struggled to get it back in the harsh cold.
Will ignored her, drawing a blade from the sheath at his thigh. The hard set of his jaw told Aya enough.
‘Get out of here,’ he muttered, his eyes glued to Brien.
Aya stepped toward the wolves. ‘Tyr!’ she tried again, hating the way her voice cracked. But she would beg him if she had to. She would fight for him, would do whatever she could to keep him from the blade Will now held out in front of him.
But Tyr just bared his razor-sharp teeth.
‘Godsdamn you, Aya. Leave.’ Will didn’t take his eyes off Brien, who took another step. Then another. And then, just as Will opened his mouth to command her to go, Brien struck.
Will shoved her, hard, out of Brien’s path. Aya stumbled, slamming into a restaurant table. She caught herself before she hit the ground, swinging around to see Will a few yards away, crouched with the knife out. Brien circled behind him and Tyr …Tyrcrept closer. The other wolves held their distance, waiting for the hunt to come to a close.
Aya ran, sliding between them before Tyr could lunge, before Will could plunge that knife into the heart of her wolf.
Will swore, his arm like a band of steel as he ripped her behind him.
Tyr snapped his jaws.
Will angled his knife.
‘Don’t hurt him,’ she snarled, tugging his knife arm down. Will threw her a murderous look, and it cost him. Brien lunged again, Tyr on his heels.
Will and Aya scattered, Aya skidding across the cobblestones, her feet sliding on the ice.
She heard Will’s shout of pain before she hit the ground.
Brien had him pinned down, his teeth inches from Will’s neck as blood seeped around him. Tyr’s eyes gleamed as he closed in behind his hunter.
Aya didn’t think as she threw her power out, desperately calling to the wolves.
To me, to me, to me.
She knew her affinity was useless against them. It didn’t stop her from casting everything she had into the flow of persuasion that rippled across the stones.
