My lips purse. Frustration doesn’t even cover what I’m feeling, yet he manages to shatter the tension that threatens to coil me tight.
“I’m good.”
He cocks a brow at me, but he must sense the ease because he shrugs, turning to focus on the foliage before us as he speaks. “Fact one, I didn’t know you were going to do that the first time, especially not when you injured your leg like a mad woman,” he states, glancing at me out of the corner of his eye. My thigh burns as if the metal is piercing my skin all over again, but I manage to keep in step with him.
“I wasn’t thinking,” I grumble when he doesn’t speak, and he snickers.
“No shit. That’s why I made sure to leave the gate unlocked for the next time.”
“You knew there would be a next time?” I blurt in surprise, and he shrugs, glancing at me coyly.
“You are hands down the most determined person I’ve ever met, that part was obvious at least, but recommending you come this way alone wouldn’t have been safe,” he explains, using his free hand to wipe down his face.
“Why?”
His lips form a tight line. “Wolves stalk the trees all the time. I can’t say that everyone here has that part of them under control. There have been a fair few deaths in these trees at the paws of a feral beast,” he explains as my eyes widen. I’m not shocked, but bewildered to say the least.
“I could have handled myself,” I splutter, determined not to look weak to him, and he winks.
“Of course. It was them I was worried about.”
I can’t tell whether he’s lying or not, but I don’t get to call him out on it as movement up ahead pauses us mid-step.
The hairs on the back of my neck stand on end, but before I can acknowledge the rustling growing closer in the shrubbery to my left, Rion is already moving.
I feel the cool breeze where his palm had rested against mine a moment ago, and now, I spy the man as he shifts in the air. Gone is the tall beast of a man, and in his place is a four-legged, fierce wolf.
The ground trembles as his paws hit the earth beneath him, but he’s too focused on the other wolf prowling toward us.
Rooted to the spot, my eyes widen in disbelief as my heart hammers in my chest. Their snarls mingle together and fill the air, flooding me with dread.
Instinctively, my hands lift an inch, palms raised away from me as I try to remember what that lady taught me back in Jude's Castle.
Not just any lady: my mother.
Inhaling sharply, I press my feet into the ground and feel my magic thrum through my veins. I’m poised, ready to attack if necessary, but the alert inside of me quickly dwindles as the brown-furred wolf snaps at Rion, but he's not waiting around to see what their first action will be.
He moves at the speed of light, charging toward them in a flurry.
I can't turn away.
Not as his claws slice into their flesh, or when his teeth pierce their throat, sending a splattering of blood through the air as they lie limp on the overturned soil.
They didn’t get a chance to move, theirpresence and demeanor was enough of a threat to send him into action.
I can't catch my breath. My gaze is fixed on Rion as he hovers over the wolf.
Dead.
Rion’s front paws press into the ground and I can see his whole body constrict with every breath as he tries to get himself under control.
Another confusing instinct has me taking a step toward him, ready to aid him however he needs, but in doing so, I step on a branch. The sound of it snapping cuts through the air, and earns me the attention of the man in question.
With his gaze set on mine, he exhales, slowly pulling himself from whatever trance he was in. I don’t dare move as he takes a few backward steps, but he doesn’t come barreling toward me as I expect. Instead, I watch in awe as he shifts once more, standing before me just as he was a few moments earlier.
“Rion,” I rasp, adrenaline coursing through my veins as I take in his naked form.
Confusion flickers through my mind when I finally acknowledge just how naked he is, and I quickly search the ground for his clothes. It doesn’ttake long to find them shredded a few feet away, in the spot where he originally shifted.
