Before I could brace myself, Artemis leaned toward me andshoved. I stumbled outside and down the first step. The slick stone nearly made me topple, but I caught my balance just in time. Heart pounding, I breathed in the salt air. The blood moon’s rays poured across me, energizing me, filling my soul with a longing for home.
The beast froze his pacing and snuffled at the air.
Knees bent, I crept down another step. If I could keep my back to the Olympians and get close to the wolf, I might be able to communicate with him somehow. Get him to meet me somewhere at dawn.
But when I took another step, athumpsounded from my direct left. Gasps erupted from the palace. Tensing, I shot a furtive glance in that direction.
Another beast emerged from the brush. Larger than the first with matted brown fur, his claws were painted a vicious red. The scent of fresh blood rolled off him. My eyes watered. Hunger tightened my jaw. But even as the bloodlust pulsed through me, I had the wherewithal the reach for the silver dagger.
It slid from my scabbard in the sweet song of steel. A rumbling growl sounded from my right in answer, and I whipped my head to find a third beast had entered the courtyard. I wet my lips, looking from one of the lycanthropes to the other, as if I could keep my eye on all three at once.
“Forget this, Selene. Come back inside,” Ares called out, sounding worried.
A furious ball of gray tore into the courtyard, landing with a crashing thud only inches from where I stood. He was the largest of the four, and seething hatred gleamed in his eyes. His fur was covered in dirt and red-flecked sand, and a jagged scar cut across one eye. I stumbled back, my feet hitting the step.
The beast roared.
Tears of terror filled my eyes. I clenched my teeth, swinging my blade toward the lycanthrope. As if anticipating my move, he swung his paw at my chest, making contact before my blade hit his flesh. A terrifying pain ripped through my stomach. I cried out, doubling over and falling to my knees.
“Don’t move!” I distantly heard Zeus shout. “Don’t go out there! Everyone stay inside. This is a command from your Archon.”
Another roar sounded. This time, it was behind me. There were so many of them. I was surrounded. Wincing, I lifted my blade, flashing the silver at the beast. He reared back.
Another flash of excruciating pain lanced through my gut. I tumbled to the side, my face hitting the marble. Despite trying to hold on, my eyes slid shut.
How ironic, I thought through the haze. Ares wouldn’t be the end of me, after all.
Strong arms wrapped around me and lifted me from the ground. Blearily, I cracked open my eyes. I could see Ares’s face above me. His expression was tormented, angry.Burning. The blood moon light was hitting his face, and it wasburning him. Smoke curled from his skin.
“No,” I choked out. “It’ll kill you.”
I didn’t know if I meant the wolf or the moon. Either one could be the end of him.
Athena suddenly loomed over Ares’s shoulder. She’d thrown a cloak over her head, drowning her face in shadow. With a roar, she swung her sword at the nearest beast, but missed. A whorl of gray fur, sharp edges, and blood blurred before me.
Ares whipped around and raced up the steps. The archway loomed above us, then vanished out of sight once we were inside the palace. He groaned, sinking to his knees. A moment later, Dion was there, collecting me from his arms.
“You bloody idiot!” Aphrodite scolded him. “You shouldn’t have run out there without a cloak.”
But I didn’t hear more than that. Darkness pressed in around me. My wounds were seeping blood and my last grasp on consciousness left me.
Iawoke on a bed of clouds. They pillowed my head, cradled my body, and filled my head with the scent of fire and musk. For a moment, I relished it, feeling like I was where I was meant to be. But then painful memories poured into my head, choking me.
I sat up with a gasp and opened my eyes. Fear had me reaching for my dagger that wasn’t there, and I remembered I’d dropped it in the courtyard. I’d been surrounded. There’d been so many beasts. Any hopes they’d recognized me were gone. Whoever had sent them to the island had sent them for death.
The death of everyone, even those who meant them no harm.
I was so overwhelmed by my thoughts that it took me a moment to register where I was. My boarded-up windows and trunks of clothes were nowhere to be seen. Only luxurious black sheets, flickering torchlight, and the wavy silver hair of my beloved enemy.
My heart constricted with fondness. He slept beside me, his chest rising and falling in a steady rhythm. His skin still looked raw in spots, where the blood moon had burned him. I couldn’t believe he’d done that. To save me, he’d thrown all caution aside—all sense of self-preservation—and he’d run out into the fray.
Knowingthe moon could kill him.
Knowing the wolves could, too.
And yet he’d done it anyway.
It was the most selfless thing anyone had ever done for me, and right now, I didn’t give a damn about our fates.
