“Well, well…” the one in front sneers. “Would you look at that…a Snehvolk alpha playing house with his little charity case.”
Willow stiffens beside me, turning slowly to face the perpetrators. The taunting laughter that follows blares through the clearing like the sound of horror.
“She always was easy, wasn’t she?” another voice jabs. “Heard you can buy her with a roof and a warm bed. Isn't that right, omega?”
“Shut up,” Willow whispers, voice trembling but sharp enough to make me glance at her. Her hands are in her lap now, curling into fists at her sides.
The first wolf smirks, stepping closer. “You hear that, boys? The pet’s got bite now.”
Rage surges through me, but my limbs feel too heavy to act. I keel forward, my knife raised in front of my face, and the world tilts in a treacherous slant. Poison sears through my bloodstream, eating away at my strength, and I fight to keep my eyes open.
“Thane!” Willow’s voice breaks. She crouches beside me, grabbing my shoulders, practically shaking me. “What’s happening?”
“Poison…” I manage through clenched teeth. “Dart.” My eyes dart to the side where I'd been shot. “You have to go—”
“No! I’m not leaving you!” she cries again.
The Blood Claw wolves circle our blanket, savoring the prowl.
“Oh, look, she’s loyal now. He sure did pay well.”
Something inside Willow snaps, a clear shift in her eyes from fear to fury. Her hands tremble as she removes them from my shoulders, but not from weakness.
Gold light flickers on her fingertips, faint at first, then brighter, pulsing like a heartbeat.
“I said…” her voice cracks like thunder as she turns fully, a menacing glint in her eyes, her face hardened. “Don’t. Touch. Him!”
The air thickens, humming with a current that feels alive as it pulses through my paralyzed body.
The wolves hesitate, some backtracking and glancing at each other. But they're out of time. Out of luck.
A second later, the clearing explodes in gold flashes of light that burst from Willow's palms, flooding the night with brilliant luminescence. It rolls out in a wave, sending the Blood Claw wolves sprawling backward. The fire pit extinguishes, and snow whirls violently around us, caught in the surge of energy.
One of the wolves tries to rise, shifting into wolf form and snarling at Willow, its eyes full of fear and terror. But she raises her arm, golden veins snaking up her skin, and the snow beneathhim turns molten. He howls as he scrambles back, shifting back into human form as his wolf cowers.
“Witch!” he spits, but the word is swallowed by another pulse of light.
“Get out!” she screams in warning, and this time the power in her voice is enough to make the ground quake. The wolves scatter, tripping over each other in their haste to flee.
When silence finally returns, Willow drops to her knees beside me, panting heavily. Her hands hover over my wound, glowing faintly with remnants of gold as if instinctively trying to heal me.
“Thane…stay with m-me,” she pleads, her voice breaking. “Don’t you dare close your eyes!”
Not able to feel my fingers anymore, the poison is burning cold through my veins, dragging me under to the throes of darkness that threaten to consume me. Still, I manage a faint smile as I stare at Willow's distorted face. “R-remind me to…to never make you angry.”
Tears blur her eyes. “Don’t talk!” she wails. “I-I can fix this…I can fix you!”
“R-run,” I murmur again, even though we both know I’m already too weak to protect her.
She shakes her head vigorously. “No. Not again. You saved me before, Thane. It’s my turn now.”
The world flickers with Willow's golden light surrounding us, and I etch her tear-stricken face to memory.
The last thing I hear is her voice calling my name, desperate and fierce, before everything goes black.
Chapter 18 - Willow
“Thane…? No…you can't die on me!”
