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“I’ll be right behind you. Go.”

Nodding and giving me a final look, Noah lets Nyx lead him up the stairs and through the cabin, the door creaking closed behind them. I listen to the way his heartbeat fades as he and Nyx begin their way back home.

What Noah doesn’t know is the power that lies within the cat. If anyone were to protect my mate, she would be the most suitable.

Now to kill whatever is lurking in my forest and make sure Tyler’s premonition never sees the light of day.

Chapter Ten

Xander

The cabin grows eerily quiet around me as I stare at the man's body, trying to gauge the story of his death. Yet nothing makes sense. Just like Penny in the cave, her body didn’t leave a single semblance of her soul. Whatever has killed her, and this man is harvesting their souls.

It makes my stomach churn with unease. A human would leave DNA at the scene; a supernatural wouldn’t be able to mask their magical residue. Yet besides the nauseating stench that now stains this place, there isn’t anything to go by.

I inch closer, grasping the barrel of the gun and checking the chamber. It’s loaded. Unfired. This man didn't stand a chance of defending himself before he was brutally murdered. So whatever it is, it’s quick. Possibly quicker than me.

I pull out my phone and fire off a text to the only people I know I can trust before quickly checking the security cameras around my house. I watch the shadowy figure of Nyx lead Noah through the back door, and I breathe out a tiny drop of tension.

My phone buzzes with an incoming text.

On our way.

With the knowledge that Noah is safe inside the house and back-up is coming soon, I drop the gun and carry myself back up the steps, shutting the hatch and reaching for the door. Fresh air couldn’t come soon enough.

With that minuscule bit of distance between myself and the corpse, the stench is far more tolerable within the forest. I spit and hack at my throat, begging for the taste of rotten eggs to subside.

That’s when I hear the snap of a branch above me. I barely have a second to look up before I’m shoved to the floor. My spine cracks at an unforgiving angle, and a scream rips from my lungs.

It’s like mustard gas. Burning my eyes and nose, my body shrieks at me to breathe, yet the weight pressing down on my back has the earth beneath me breaking open.

Sharp claws pierce my shoulders and foul breath fans my face as burning globs of saliva spray around me.

With a guttural snarl, I hiss back, desperate to escape whatever pins me down. My hand finds a fallen branch, and I reel back, puncturing the tip into the side of the beast. A sharp yelp later and the weight upon me barely eases, but it’s enough to haul myself away.

What I come face-to-face with is a nightmare.

At first, the creature looks almost canine—if a dog could grow to the size of a horse. It stalks back and forth on all fours, but the moment I notice the human-like fingers tipped with black talons, my blood runs cold.

Its skin is speckled with soiled black fur and hundreds of wounds seep yellow pus as it walks. Even sores on its lips dribble creamy liquid into its saliva.

I gag. No wonder this thing stinks; it’s basically decomposing before me.

Snapping its jaws at me, I freeze as I notice its striking human eyes staring back at me. Pinpoints for pupils and eyelashes so similar to my own. What the hell is this thing?

With a reverberating growl, the creature picks itself up on two legs, its rib cage vibrating as I let out an ear-piercing scream. The forest seems to cower around me as if the trees know this isn’t something natural. Or something of this world.

My thoughts of a mass murderer or a demon are thrown out the window as the beast watches me closely. The skin around its snout barely holds on as it splits in places, oozing more pus and a rancid stench.

“Time to die,” I snarl and charge.

With its stomach exposed, it's vulnerable. I’ll shred its flesh and rip out its heart. But what I least expect is for the creature’s entire ribcage to explode from its skin. Lethally sharp bones jut out right when I’m in arm's reach. I’m forced to hesitate.

As if knowing my next move, the creature swipes at me, its claws gouging into my side, and I gasp. It’s a kind of pain I’ve never felt before. It’s immediate. No pressure, no heat, just pure pain. As if the creature is attacking my very soul.

I feel my skin stitch itself back together again, and rivets of my blood leak down my flank. My shirt is torn, and every nerve in my body is on high alert.

Anger bubbles up inside ‌me, and I launch myself at the creature. My nails dig into its exposed chest cavity, yet the beast barely flinches as it swipes over and over at my sides, ripping my skin like a scalpel would.