Page 42 of Forbidden Wolf

My eyes flew open and I watched as strange creatures emerged from a cave at the base of a hill. The trees in the area around it grew twisted and gnarled, the leaves more black than green.

Some of the creatures were red, others black, while others a combination of both, like the black crust of the lava breaking open to reveal the red molten liquid underneath. There were bipedal and quadrupedal forms, and some that slithered.

“What are they?” I asked, my gaze transfixed on the creatures wandering around in the shadows in front of the cave. “The trees have mutated to form a barrier to keep the sun out.”

It was a trick that vampires had used for centuries to blend in with human populations. We were born away from humanity, and slowly integrated when our training was complete. It would draw attention if we only appeared at night, so our coven leaders had created special glass and trained plants to allow us to walk through protected avenues in certain places outside.

“I’m guessing they’re hellspawn,” Levi replied. “I’ve never seen anything like them before. Some are almost humanoid but not quite, as if they’re trying to blend in by adapting their appearance.”

It was obvious when he pointed it out. The bipedal forms were walking awkwardly, their gait unnatural. They were also the ones who were red and black. Maybe their skin had stretched to create a new form and marbled their colouring in the process?

Levi grabbed me around the waist and hoisted me over his shoulder to scarper up a huge oak tree. I didn’t point out that his wolf blood had healed me more than the other blood he’d shared with me. Even though I was still tired, my side and shoulder didn’t ache as much. Part of me enjoyed Levi lifting me and caring for me. I felt special again for the first time in ten years.

Hiding ourselves in the tree, we watched the hellspawn. Every so often, Levi leaned forward when something they did caught his attention, his cheek rubbing against mine. It was a delicious torture that I couldn’t endure much longer. Was he oblivious to the way I felt, the fact that I craved his touch and affection?

The background muttering almost lulled me to sleep, when the booming voice of the master in my head nearly deafened me. I jolted up from where I rested on Levi.

I don’t want to hear your whining! The sun is almost down. Get out there and find that vampire! We’ve hunted her kind for centuries and at last one is in my grasp…

“Levi,” I whimpered, grasping his hand.

“Tell me,” he said.

“They’re searching for us.”

His body stiffened. “Fuck! I can’t believe I lost track of the daylight. We don’t have time to find anywhere else to hide. We’ll have to try and stay up here tonight. If we’re lucky, they won’t look for us so close to them. Most search parties have certain areas assigned to them.”

I wanted to hear my mother singing to cover their voices, to hide under my bedclothes and pretend the monsters didn’t exist. But they did exist, and I was currently staring at them. This close, their gibberish mutterings were a different language. Only some of them spoke in a language I understood.

The sun set over a distant mountain, trails of pink and orange colouring the sky.

“What if they find us?” I asked, pressing myself tighter to Levi.

His lips skimmed the top of my head. “Fate wouldn’t be such a cruel bitch to bring you back to me, only to take you away again.”

His words lit a fire in my belly, the possessive tone stoking the flames of that fire. His arms formed barriers around me, his breath fanning my cheek. When the last of the light disappeared, the night creatures began to emerge around us.

Huge black wolves appeared from the cave with thick silver chains around their necks. Massive ogre-type monsters appeared behind them, holding their leashes. I couldn’t make out all the details of them in the darkness, my gifts almost blinding me with the pulsating red of their aura. Different species looked unique to me at night. Lycans were amber, vampires silver, humans a cream colour.

The hellspawn pulsed red as if nature was screaming danger and to avoid them.

“Relax,” Levi said against the sensitive shell of my ear. “You heart is beating a staccato right now. Breathe deeply and allow it to blend into the rest of the creatures around us. Most trackers will be able to identify a frightened heartbeat close to them.”

I gulped a deep breath, holding it for the count of twenty and slowly releasing it. Levi’s thumb rubbing the pulse at my wrist told me he was monitoring my reactions. Over and over, I practiced my deep breathing until his thumb stilled.

“Every time I saw the moon, I always thought of you,” he murmured, making my eyes search the sky to find a waxing crescent.

“Me too,” I confessed. The moon was a constant I could always rely on. There hadn’t been a night that I hadn’t searched for it, thinking that he was staring at it as well. It made me feel closer to him, as if I were wrapped in his arms like I was right now.

The search party headed out. The black wolves scrabbled, their humungous claws scraping the earth as they tried to speed ahead. Their handlers held the chains firmly. The dogs didn’t have the same red energy as the other creatures. Instead, they were amber like the lycans.

“I don’t think the wolves are hellspawn. Their aura is the wrong colour.”

“They look like lycans that are held in their beast form,” Levi replied. “Those chains make my back molars grind in warning. They must be enchanted in some way.”

I was going to ask where they got lycans, when the memory of those battlefields swam into my memory. Who would know who was dead out there and who had been captured? We’d spent years out there blaming the other side when there was a third party creating the greatest damage. I dreaded to think how many lycans and vampires had been collected over the past five years.

When the last of the search party had disappeared into the distance, Levi began to fidget behind me.

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