Page 3 of Stormbinder King
Every cell in my body wanted throw myself out of the outrigger and run screaming away, but I was too afraid to.
What was Moonbright Night?
But no one else seemed to be afraid of it. There was an almost erotic thrum of excitement that I felt pounding through the group, connecting each outrigger as we wound our way under the heavy overhang of trees.
The temperature grew hotter and more humid, forcing me to peel off my suit jacket. If I ever got back home, it was so soaked with sweat I’d need to burn it.
I was left in only my thin white tank top, my back sticky with sweat, the humid sultry heat running down my chest.
Just as I pulled my heavy dark hair off my neck, a low growl rolled out from the dense thicket of greenery beside me.
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No one else seemed to notice as they chattered among themselves, but my head swiveled one way and then the other looking for the source of it.
My thick blue-black hair was sticky on my neck, individual curls stuck to my forehead.
As I narrowed my eyes, I saw a wolf running through the forest, hunting down what looked like a wild, rabid boar.
The wolf was sinewy and powerful, much bigger than any wolf I had ever seen before, with silvery-white fur. The creature’s muscular legs were long and efficient, their eyes focused like lasers on the animal in front of them.
The boar was fast, but it was no match for this wolf.
I watched the hunt with bated breath. The boar looked dangerous, maddened-eye, its tusks coated with a layer of spittle, but there was something about the power of the wolf that frightened me more.
The boar squealed, its legs churning.
But there was no escape.
My heart was in my throat at the moment the wolf pounced, suspended in the air high above the ground.
Then it fell like a blade, sharp teeth and powerful jaw, as the monstrous carnivore sunk a bite deep in the boar’s neck and brought the other creature down.
I suppressed a scream.
Such savage jungle brutality.
But somehow I couldn’t look away.
The wolf tore through the boar’s throat, a splash of bright blood on its snowy white muzzle. It was a gruesome, feral sight.
But I couldn’t drag my eyes away.
And then the wolf raised its head and turned toward me.
I gasped as the bright silvery eyes met mine, my heart pounding so hard I felt like I was going to faint.
The wolf’s creamy fur was soaked bright red with blood, but I could have sworn I tasted the coppery tang inmymouth too.
I felt a strange, wild connection between the beast and I, for one startling and breath-taking moment.
Something pulled deep inside me, and the outrigger suddenly jerked away with a splash.
I was able to tear my eyes away from the strange-eyed predator, but I still felt hot, bloody eyes on the back of my head.
What had just happened?
I didn’t dare mention the incident, and I didn’t look at the forest again.
