“Mallory!” Jakob shouted, already moving.
Snow crunched under his boots as he broke into a sprint and the world narrowed to the sound of her fear and the jaggedline of trees ahead. Her scream came from the direction they had taken the day before.
He should never have taken her to the spring, but he never thought she’d try to go alone.
The thought lashed through him even as he ran. He’d warned her that some places weren’t meant to be found twice. He hadn’t told her that some places were only acceptable with dragon blood. He hadn’t been able to tell her that.
He had told her that he would be tied up for the morning, and she had expressed the desire for a quick hike and promised that she wouldn’t go far. She had said nothing about attempting to find the sacred areas again that he had shown her.
The springs didn’t allow that.
He found her with her back up against a cliff and sheer terror written across her features.
“Are you hurt?”
She pointed. “There’s a…a…”
The trees exploded before she could get the words out.
The mountain cat burst from the brush in a blur of tawny muscle and flashing teeth. Its snarl reverberated off the cliffs in a sound that raised every hair on Jakob’s body.
Recognition hit him as hard as fear.
The cat was a guardian of ancient secrets. It circled them with deadly intent.
“Mallory, go back toward the resort!” he yelled though he knew it was already too late. He had broken the rules and now the penalties must be paid. Mallory had made things worse.
All the cat knew was that an imposter had invaded sacred territory.
Before Jakob could move, the cat launched itself at her and she stumbled as she tried to retreat. Her boots slid on loose snow and ice as the cat reached her. Her fall caused it to miscalculate its leap and the full weight of the cat slammed into her chest. Jakob watched helplessly as her foot skidded out from under her. This time he couldn’t catch her and she went down hard with a cry. Her head snapped back as it struck something solid beneath the snow.
“No!”
The cat circled around and lunged at her fallen form as Jakob’s world went red with fury.
With dragon speed, he crossed the distance in a heartbeat and reached Mallory just as claws raked across his shoulder. Pain detonated along his back, hot and wet, but it barely registered beneath the inferno roaring through his chest. He hooked an arm around Mallory’s waist and dragged her behind him, planting himself between her and the animal.
“Stay down,” he snarled over his shoulder, unsure if she even heard him. “Don’t move.”
The sound that tore from his own throat wasn’t human.
The mountain cat skidded to a halt with flattened ears as Jakob turned fully toward it. He felt his teeth bare, felt something ancient and violent surge up from deep inside his bones.
The guardian knew him and its golden eyes locked on his, not with rage, but warning. It knew that Jakob had broken the rules.
Enough.
The word wasn’t spoken aloud, but it thundered through the air all the same. Jakob felt it echo in his chest and in his blood. All it did was incite the fury he already felt at Mallory being attacked.
The cat hesitated, just for a moment, but just long enough.
Jakob struck.
The air filled with the sharp stink of blood, both his and the cat’s before the guardian finally broke and fled back into the trees. Jakob barely felt the gash on his shoulder and the tremor in his hands when it was over.
The guardian had been trying to stop her because of him.
Silence fell like a blow as the mountains watched.
