Page 65 of Wolf Trial

It was a pit of corpses. And I was going to join them.

CHAPTER 38

LAINSZ

There was no thought process. I didn’t think at all when I saw the rotten, hideous hag grip Sadie by the throat. I watched Sadie’s boots create furrows in the mud as she was dragged closer to the mouth of the well, and something in me snapped.

Leander and Verne were right behind me, and I knew they had my back, so I leapt across the clearing in wolf form, slamming my whole body into Sadie’s. The collision rattled through my body, snapping my teeth together. Hard enough to knock the infuriating woman out of the hag’s grasp, but not to throw the hag back into the well.

I found that out the hard way when long fingernails raked through my fur and punctured the back of my neck. The sudden flash of pain was enough to stun me for a second—stupid, sloppy—and the hag used that second to sink her jagged teeth into my neck.

Her bite burned, and I had to lock my jaws together to trap my yelp, wrestling and bucking against her grip. I managed to rip myself free, but the momentum pulled the hag from the well, and we both hit the ground.

The burn in my neck became a fire, a blaze. It made me weak, and I wasn’t quick enough to stop the hag latching herself on top of me. Trapping me in the dirt. Grinding her teeth, gnashing in my fur and skin and muscle.

I expected the furious growls from my pack, but not the way Sadie yelled my name, more than a hint of her wolf in the cry. It sounded as if she had shifted…

A dark wolf rammed her head into the hag, hard enough that arm bones snapped, with enough brutality that the hag’s head snapped back, her jaws parting to free me. Fuck. Sadie had shifted.

Able to breathe again, even if pain tore like fire down my neck, I climbed to my feet and made a quick assessment of the clearing. The hag was crawling away on all fours, the movement of her body completely unnatural even for a vampire.

Don’t let that bitch escape, I sent down the link to Verne and Leander.

Lainsz, Leander said, horrified. She bit you…

I’m fine, I barked, shaking off the pain and already turning towards the other threats. Two slayers were bound in ropes that stunk of vampire magic. Restrained but for how long? Worse: two others burst from the tree line and raced to their tied up friends, one with deep skin and a fierce expression and one golden, but clearly terrified. Neither attacked us—clearly, they were shit slayers—but they shot wary looks at me and my pack mates. And Sadie. The golden one's eyes kept returning to Sadie.

A low rumble began to build in my chest before I crushed the life of it. But Sadie had been exposed. Which means no one could leave this clearing alive.

CHAPTER 39

SADIE

My stomach churned, curdling at the side of blood on Lainsz’s fur. I couldn’t take my eyes away, couldn’t stop shaking, growling. I was torn in two, one half of me insisting I go after the hag and rip her to pieces for daring to hurt my mate, the other half refusing to leave his side while he was injured.

Verne and Leander took the matter out of my hands when they went after the hag, blocking her path into the forest. The scent of her, once confined to the well, now spilled out to taint the clearing. I gagged, my new wolf senses drowning in the scent of rot, her decay so thick and intense I could taste it.

“Grandmother!” Beaufort yelled as two pale wolves, one sleek and one huge, raced for the hag’s exposed back.

Another growl poured through my chest when Lainsz tried to leave my side. I bumped my head into his side in a silent order to stay close. Where I could keep an eye on him, where I could keep him safe. In reply, he turned his head and snapped his teeth at me. I snapped mine right back, refusing to back down on this.

“Sadie…?”

I flinched at the sound of Paige’s voice, and reluctantly I looked towards her. I’d never seen her as clearly as I did now through my wolf’s eyes. Trembling, but with her head high, brave even through fear. Dirt was smeared on her boots and her bare legs, the short dress doing little to protect her from the elements. I’d seen her snark, seen her cry, seen her snap with anger when confronted. I’d even seen her focussed in training sessions. But I’d never seen her look like this, all the blood drained from her face, shock carved into every line of her features.

“You’re a wolf? But… how? I thought you were human.”

Her voice caught Beaufort’s attention, and my rage spiked when he whipped around to stare at me: the dark wolf among pale, standing out like a sore thumb. A barked laugh came from him. I bared my teeth. If it wasn’t for the blood on Lainsz’s fur, I’d be running across the short distance between me and the laughing monster, ripping out his throat.

But I couldn’t make my paws move. Couldn’t move even an inch away from Lainsz.

“Well, isn’t this rich? A wolf under our noses all this time. I should have killed you when I found you in the forest alone.”

My attention snagged on Leander when he recoiled, the impact of Beaufort’s words as severe as when he killed Oona. A chill raced down my spine, tempering the protective rage heating my blood. My stare jumped from Beaufort to my mates, to my friends staring at me as if they’ve never seen me before.

I’m sorry, I wanted to say, but all that came out was a whine.

You have nothing to be sorry for, Verne’s calm voice spilled through my mind like sunshine, though there was an edge to it now. Anger or violence? Whatever it was, it distracted me, and I didn’t see Rogue free herself until she was right in front of me.