The one againstthe wall snarls and shoves forward with inhuman strength. They crash to the floor, rolling, clawing, snapping at each other’s throats.
Blood spraysacross the floorboards in a hot, dark spurt. I don’t know whose it is.
“Stop,”My voice breaks, a pathetic sound in the face of carnage. “Please. I don’t understand!”
Neither of them listens.They’re locked in a death-grip. One gets his claws around the other’s throat; the other drives his knee into the twin’s ribs with a sickening crunch.
You couldn’t savethe sister you raised. How are you going to save the beast you’ve known for days?
But something glitches.
The one whowas just about to claim me—the one who was winning the fight—his form flickers.
It’s like a candle flame,guttering in a draft. For a stolen second, his white fur ripples, replaced with dark hair. A sharper, human jawline. Eyes that aren’t the frozen blue I fell for, but a dark, haunted brown.
Then the whitefur snaps back into place, and he’s Andrik again.
But the imageis burned into my mind.
“What—”I gasp, the sheet slipping from my fingers. ”What are you?”
The real Andrik,because I suddenly know without a doubt which one it is, throws the imposter off him and staggers to his feet. He’s a mess of gore.
“Shape shifter,”he growls, blood dripping from his claws, steaming in the cold air. “He’s wearing my thrahking face, Lumi.”
The fake Andrikpushes himself upright, breathing in jagged hitches. His form flickers again, and this time, the magic struggles to hold.
The white furrecedes like a tide. The antlers shrink, melting back into a human skull. The dark hair returns, and I can’t tell if he’s human... there’s so much of Andrik still clinging to him.
“Lumi—”His voice cracks. It’s still Andrik’s voice, but it feels wrong now. “Please, I just wanted to?—”
“Get away from her!”
Rhûen’ka lunges.They collide again, but the rhythm has shifted. The imposter is weakening. His movements are heavy and sluggish.
Andrik slamshim into the floorboards with a force that knocks me off the bed.
“You touched her.”His voice is barely recognizable. “You dared to wear my face and lay hands on my mate?”
His claws sink in,and the imposter chokes, clawing at Andrik’s hands.
“Andrik, stop!”I don’t know why the word leaves my throat. I should want him dead. But the way he looked at me... not with the terror of a monster, but of a man who truly thinks he’s lost his soul.
Andrik hesitatesfor the length of a breath.
It’s allthe other beast needs.
He twists,driving a sharp elbow into Andrik’s wounded ribs. He wrenches free with the strength of a cornered animal andscrambles backward. Blood pours from the shredded remains of his chest as he stumbles from the cottage
“This isn’t—”He coughs, spitting scarlet into the snow. “This isn’t over. She’s mine.”
Andrik pounces,but the shadow is faster, disappearing into the black of the night.
Silence stretches between us.Andrik stands in the wreckage, his chest heaving, blood dripping steadily from his claws.
He turns slowly.His eyes find mine.
“Lumi—”
