It was their creatures.
My wolf called them, the dozens upon dozens of shadow creatures. In our monochromatic vision, it was hard to tell if we knew what they all were, but we did recognize some of them.
They converged on me, and I braced myself for an attack, but all they did was fall in beside me. The fire burned a few of them, but the others adapted and ran a little ahead of my blaze.
Stop,I begged my wolf, finally regaining some control in this situation.
Free.
She was free, and she was not giving it up. At least not yet.
The line of guards scattered, shouting and screaming in a tongue I did not understand, and it allowed me to leave the grassy field that I’d probably destroyed with my actions. I was almost into the town—one of the closest towns to the compound, according to Shadow.
We had to go through it to get to the royals, and that was apparently what my wolf was doing. As I stepped onto a paved path, there was nothing for me to burn, so I was just a flaming wolf—my hair color made a lot more sense now. I wasn’t a sunrise. I was a forest fire.
Stalking into the town, the shadow creatures stayed with me and all I could hear were screams and the sound of running as everyone bailed. My wolf didn’t care, stalking through their city like a devil in disguise. Watch out, Shadow, we were coming for your job.
“Mera!”
I heard his roar. My wolf even paused. Shadow stopped her like I hadn’t been able to, and that was… curious. Clearly, he was still alpha to us, but despite making her pause, he was too far away to bind her completely. She continued in a fast sprint, dodging through the houses, setting some of them on fire as we went.
Dammit.
This plan of hers was absolute bullshit. I would never destroy homes in this manner, but this was beyond my control. The fire wolf was in charge, and she gave zero fucks.
When we were deep into the village, approaching what felt like the center, a figure stepped out into our path. A tall, brown-skinned male, with no hair visible anywhere, his chest bare, as he wore only leather pants. Across his skin were dancing tattoos. Definitely a royal.
He shouted to me, but it was not in a language I understood. Obviously. Shadow and Angel knew English from their many years on Earth; they spoke about a billion languages. I was the only moron with just one up my sleeve.
Not understanding him, my wolf just plowed on ahead. He shouted again, and this time shot us with an energy that spilled from his long fingers. Our flames surged higher to try burn it off before it hit us, but that didn’t work.
His magic slammed into our side, and even though I’d never actually been shot, I could only imagine it felt very similar to what had just hit me. We were catapulted backward, our flames wicking out in an instant.
Whatever had hit us looked like a black tar as it settled against the fur on my side, before starting to spread over the rest of me.
The man shouted again, sounding satisfied. From my current position, sprawled on the ground, it looked like he held more of the dark tar. Not wanting to be attacked again, I struggled to get to my feet, finding the task more difficult than anticipated.
As he got closer, still yelling, the shadow creatures descended on him and attacked. He fought back, but there were too many, and he was taken down almost instantly. My wonderful and protective creatures.
But they were a moment too late. The dark sludge covered over half of me now, and while I had no idea what would happen when it reached my face, something told me it wasn’t going to be good.
Shift back,I begged my wolf, but all I got was a whimper in response.
The sludge had cut off our source of power, and very soon, would probably cut off my life as well.
The creatures, finished with the guy, were circling me again, and I felt their protectiveness. They were keeping me as safe as they knew how to, and whatever loyalty they’d felt to the ones who had owned them—the royals I’d stolen them from—was long gone, transferred to my wolf as she’d called them home. Called them to us because we were some sort of damn shadow whisperer.
“Mera!”
It was his voice again, and my wolf struggled, fighting the creeping darkness.
A fruitless fight.
I knew when Shadow arrived, the creatures only parting for him when he used his energy to drag them out of the way. I had no idea how much of me was covered, but I guessed about eighty percent, with just my neck and head free.
The fury on his face was all I could see, and surprisingly, it calmed me. It was insanity to think that my white knight had arrived to save the day. Firstly, I was not a fan of knights—as previously stated. And secondly, Shadow was anything other than a savior; he was the devil in the night—also, previously stated.
But I found that his face being the last one I saw wasn’t the worst sight. He’d betrayed me less than most, and that was a fucking achievement. And when Angel appeared over his shoulder looking truly frightened for maybe the first time since I’d known her, I was even more relieved to have a friend by my side.
