Page 27 of Witch Unexpected
“Wren?”
“Heeelp!”
Wren? I dove into the brush, branches scratching my arms. The ground dropped suddenly, and I was surrounded by bushes and scratchy shit all at face level.
I pushed through. “Fuck, Wren, where are you?”
I got a tiny wail in response, signaling distance. I broke into a run, shoving branches out of the way until I hit the field. Mist rolled over me, obscuring my vision.
“Wren!”
“Argh!” Wren cried out from somewhere to my left.
I made to break into a run when a low timbered howl drifted through the fog, and every hair on my body stood to attention in warning.
Bramble grabbed my arm and tugged. “We need to leave. Now.”
“What?” I stared at her in horror. “I’m not leaving Wren.”
“Dammit, Cora, you don’t get it. That’s the hunting howl of the varga, which means your pet’s already dead.”
I had no idea what a varga was, and I didn’t give a shit. “Wren’s not dead until I say he’s dead.” Okay, that came out wrong, but I knew what I meant.
I jerked my arm free from her grip and ran toward the howl. The alarm bells in my head intensified, and my body rebelled, telling me to back up, to turn and run away. There was danger here.
“Corrraaa!”
Fuck this shit. “I’m coming buddy.”
Another low howl tore the air, louder and closer, and was the fucking mist thickening?
“Cora, stop!”
Bramble’s voice was distant and insignificant above the rush of blood in my ears and the pound of my heart against my ribs, because I was no longer alone. Shadows cut through the mist around me, huge, hulking shapes that growled and yipped. Several pairs of crimson eyes cut through the fog.
Wolves? No. These were something different.
They were around me, penning me in, forcing me to slow my pace or risk barreling into one of them, or risk being chased and brought down.
I caught the sharp edge of claws, the rise of rounded backs, and the curve of powerful haunches. These weren’t wolves, and I was smack bang in the center of—
“Cora!” Wren materialized out of the fog, his tiny legs pumping as he ran toward me. “Monsters.”
I scooped him up and held him close, my eyes on the threat around us. How many? Three? No, there were five.
“Monsters, Cora.” Wren trembled in my arms, echoing the tremor in my belly as I weighed up my options.
With my power muted by the amulet, blasting them might not be effective, and if I didn’t take them out quickly, then I was fucked. Best option was to make a jump out of this circle. I visualized Elijah at the car and then made the jump.
The world vibrated, and a force tugged me back into the circle.
What. The. Fuck.
A rattling sound filled the air, then the mist parted to admit a huge beast. Its head was four feet off the ground, back rising up another foot behind it, shaggy black fur shimmering as if coated in glitter. Horns protruded from beneath its pointed ears, but it was its eyes that captivated me. Crimson irises set in startling white were locked on me, too human for a beast.
A chill shot up my spine to settle at my nape.
The beast made a rattling sound in its throat. My stomach twisted as more like him materialized out of the mist but stopped when the one facing off with me growled.
