Wolves. Enormous wolves.
Wolves big enough to be ridden by a full-grown man.
Saddles were secured to their backs, and the beings started to mount them like they were about to leave on a hunting raid…and I was the fox. I had only a split second to decide which way to go, to join the horde of wolves or follow the stranger who had twisted my arm.
I made my choice—and pursued the man who had just warned me.
I ran through the trees in search of him, but he was already gone. I searched the trees and the bushes, and he was nowhere in sight. I did find his trail in the dirt, so I followed that, walking along the path around an enormous rock that?—
“Hoooowwwwwlllll!”
I stopped in my tracks. “Oh fuck.”
Other wolves followed suit, howling like they could see the full moon.
“Where the fuck did he go?” I continued to track his footprints into a cluster of trees, and by then, there was so much vegetation covering the ground that I lost his trail. “Hey!” I ran into the forest, hoping to see the man in the hood reappear.
“Hoooowwwwlll!”
“Hoowwwwllll!”
It sounded louder than it had a second ago. Now I just ran, ran because I knew those wolves would follow me here exactly as I’d followed that stranger. I cut my cheek on a branch I didn’t notice, the darkness growing the farther I ran from the light. My boots caught on a root system that jutted out of the ground, and I hit the dirt before I tried to untangle myself. But somehow the vines had wrapped around my ankles into near knots. I twisted and kicked, the sound of hooves suddenly audible as they approached the forest.
“I should leave you here.” The stranger returned with a dagger and cut through the vines in a single slice. “Stop following me.” He pocketed the dagger and took off again.
“Wait, you helped me.”
He spun back around. “I asked if you had a death wish. That isnotan offer of help.” Now that we faced each other upright, I could see he was tall and muscular, the dark clothing unable to hide the definition that strained the fabric around his arms and over his shoulders. “Now, stop following me.” He turned away again and continued on his journey.
I watched him go, a gut punch because those fiends on wolves were coming for me. “Wait. Please.” I ran after him, catching up to him a couple seconds later. “I was pushed into the chasm. I have no sword, no supplies. I don’t know this world or how toleave it. Please…” I’d never had to beg for someone’s help before. People at the castle jumped at the opportunity to do anything I asked. I’d thought I was alone at the castle, thought I was alone when Vulgaris betrayed me, butthiswas true loneliness.
When he looked at me again, his eyes were more unkind than Vulgaris’s, like he was capable of equal depravity. He clenched his jaw, flicked his eyes back behind me, and then released a barley contained sigh. “Hurry.” He took off again, moving through the dense trees like he knew the way even in the dark.
I did my best to keep up with him, knowing my life depended on it. Another branch cut my cheek, but I continued because it was life or death. Once the wolf captured the fox, it would break its neck.
“Hoooowwwwlllll.” They were closer now, moving through the trees and picking up on our scents.
We broke the tree line and crossed a plain without grass, just dirt, and ran to a rock face that stretched up into the darkness and disappeared. I could see a crack in the rock, narrow enough to slide in sideways, and when he reached it, he immediately angled his body and sidestepped deep inside until he was gone.
I did the same, moving quicker because I was smaller.
Then he grabbed me by the wrist and yanked me so hard I hit one of the walls.
There were others with him, and they rolled a large boulder until it covered the crack.
He threw his hood back and straightened his spine as he caught his breath, his full profile visible for the first time. A hint of sweat was on his brow, and he wiped it away with his sleeve.
The three other men stared at me like they didn’t know what to make of me, if I was a human or a rat or a three-headed dog.
“Morco.” Without taking his eyes off me, one of the guys addressed my savior. “Who’s this?”
He turned to me, furious, as if I’d somehow betrayed him in the last ten minutes since we’d left the forest. “Ask her.” He stood in line with them, an invisible divide in the cave between us, like I was their enemy.
This was the first time I’d felt somewhat safe since Vulgaris had sentenced me to the Depths, andsomewhatwas a bit of a stretch. Maybe these guys were the better option than the wolves that chased me…but how much better?
The guy who had saved me seemed to be in charge. He had this commanding air to him, the aura of a king or an executioner. He was the tallest, the most muscular—and the best-looking. He possessed a beard on his jawline, a subtle rage to his dark eyes, beautiful skin that reminded me of the olive oil I enjoyed with my bread at dinner, and thick, dark hair that looked unkempt after the chase through the woods.
The leader looked me over slowly, not in a seductive way like he found me attractive, but like he couldn’t determine my identity based on my clothing and appearance. “Your name.”
