Page 167 of Hell Bound

Where are you going to go?Jovran demanded.And how?

The Ossean Court, on my own four feet.

His surprise and suspicion was a nearly tangible sensation through the mind.I meanhow,Commander. I’m… I’m already struggling.

We hadn’t run far, but Jovran was already panting, a faint whine in every breath.

The curse was calling him back home, the chains weighing him down. Calling him back to the palace, to his master.

He put his head down and pushed forward, his ears flat to his head, nails digging into the earth.

This is as far as you go, Jovran. I paused in a clearing, looking back at him.I found something important enough to shed my chains for. You need to find the same thing.

He growled, still trying to pull himself towards me.I can go. I can do this.

But for every step he took, he seemed to quail two steps back.

We’ll come back for you. I swear it. Accepting that the wolf and I were the same had revealed the truth to me. I wasn’t only the commander of my pack. The wolf I shared my soul with was the Alpha to the rest of his wolves. I put the weight of the pack Alpha in my promise.But I have to get Lilith to safety first.

Jovran finally stopped pushing, staring after us.Then go. We’ll be ready when the time comes.

I nodded, then turned.Take care of Deasley and Pypentha.

I threw off those lingering remnants of the chains, tugging at my flesh and bone, and headed east.

The further we got, the easier it became to move. It was like shedding a mountain that had been perched on my shoulders, weighing me down every day.

I kept going, the stars moving overhead, crawling through the dense, dark forests of the Infernal Court. Over the burned, ashy earth and across dry streambeds.

Lilith’s breathing slowly eased. On occasion she’d cough, and the scent of old blood would reach my nose.

Every time that happened, I increased my pace. As long as we kept heading east, we’d eventually reach Ossean territory; then Lilith would be free of Asmodeus.

Free to go wherever she wanted in Hell.

As long as she had me with her.

But the dirt still smelled charred, which meant Ossea was miles away. I couldn’t shift without her being unable to get on my back again, which meant I continued the slow, cautious lope through the forest.

My paws were cut and aching, my body winding down from lack of sustenance and loss of blood.

Still, all through the night, the wolf inside me urged me to keep going, keep going.

And I did.

* * *

When dawn was paintingthe horizon with streaks of deep rose, I finally had no choice but to shift.

We’d finally come across a stream in the wastelands, where the trees had thinned out to nearly nothing.

We’d run from the Infernal Court with nothing, not even clothes on our backs, and we both needed water or we wouldn’t make it.

I carefully lowered myself to the ground, shifting and rolling over to grab Lilith before she could sprawl in the dirt.

She was unconscious once more, her lashes fluttering. As though she were dreaming, her fingers curled into loose fists.

She could’ve fallen off at any time. I would have to carry her in demon form for the rest of the way.

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