Page 33 of Forbidden Wolf

I tried to smile, but it failed miserably, ending in a grimace as pain radiated down my arm.

Levi cast a wary glance around us. “Climb on my back. I’ll get us out of here.”

For a moment, I thought he meant for me to climb onto his wolf until he turned his back to me. I missed his wolf because I was able to read his emotions better than the man. I rested my head between his strong shoulders, just absorbing the power emitting from him.

“I don’t want to fight anymore,” I whispered. My words had nothing to do with the war that had decimated my soul for the past decade.

“Let me get you to safety.” Levi sounded as weary as I felt, his shoulders slumping forward. I’d taken a lot of his blood to recover.

As pain exploded in my shoulder, an involuntary yelp escaped me. Levi spun to find me holding my arm.

His hand felt my brow. “You’re burning up with whatever is in that bite.”

My lips tipped up in a vague approximation of a smile. “Are you saying I’m hot?”

He rolled his eyes at me, and his hands lifted me under my ass to cling to the front of his chest. “This way we can watch both directions. Hold tight.”

He surged his way through the mud toward the shallow region and the shore. I rested my chin on his shoulder, my legs wrapped around his waist.

My energy ebbed from me with every minute that passed. My cheek leaned against his head, and I wasn’t sure if it was my imagination that his grip on me tightened.

A ripple formed in the distance. I blinked, trying to focus my eyes on the disturbance. It happened again, and my fingers dug into Levi’s shoulders. There was never any movement in these swamps that slowly began to cover the land five years ago.

“Levi, I think there’s something out there.”

He swung around to stare in the direction I’d been facing. His body was so rigid that his muscles were tight under my hands.

“Where?” he demanded.

“There was a ripple.”

“I can’t see anything.” He held the scanner in the air. “Are you sure?”

We stood while he studied the landscape.

“Maybe something landed on the water,” he finally muttered.

My brow furrowed as I stared into the distance when he returned to his previous task of wading from this swampland. The pain in my side intensified, and I slid my dagger from the sleeve of my uniform.

For years, I’d blended in like Mum had instructed, rarely allowing myself to tap into the lifeforce of creatures around me. Right now, there was only Levi here, and I doubted he was going to report me to the vampire council or Castus.

Closing my eyes, I activated that energy centre in my chest that allowed me to locate the souls that surrounded me. Levi’s energy was strong and radiating in waves of amber light. Mine was weak and dull in comparison.

Casting my awareness further, I scanned our surroundings like Levi’s device. The black that it detected looked different in my head. Ripples of energy emanated from pulsating masses of deep red that reminded me of flames in the darkness emitting heat.

We were surrounded, whatever was down there following us.

In the past when I was alone in the forest, I used to try and communicate with the different animals. Sometimes they responded by sitting beside me. Mostly I sensed their emotions.

Chewing the side of my lip, I tried to concentrate and determine what was happening. Hunger gnawed through me—the need to feed. My fangs lowered in my mouth. An image of Levi and me formed in my head, but instead of two bodies, we were nothing more than blood vessels throbbing with energy. These creatures were attracted to our blood, mine predominantly as I was injured, and my blood was trickling down my arm.

I’d never sensed anything even remotely similar to their energy in nature.

Normally auras or life forces were pure and clean. If the creature or person was experiencing pain or disease, the area was cloudy or murky. These didn’t possess the vibrant core that a soul normally contained, but a pulsating red centre that felt unnatural.

“What are you doing?” Levi asked, his voice deep against my ear.

The engrained need for secrecy and self-preservation welled inside me. Part of me argued that this was Levi and he’d spent an entire summer watching me interact with the local wildlife, including the elusive black jaguar. He was the only one who’d ever witnessed me using my gifts.

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