Page 7 of Moon Guardian
A snarl shot through the woods as a shadow dove onto Charlie. His pained shriek made me abandon any sense of self-preservation. Disobeying his order, I bolted from my hiding spot, nocking an arrow onto my bowstring as I took aim.
I didn’t get a chance to take the shot. A white-hot bolt of electricity crashed down, as if aiming for me, taking out one of the heavy branches above my head as I screamed. Splinters flew into the air and a burst of burning wood washed away any trace of any other scent through the forest.
Making me blind to whatever was hunting us.
“Charlie!” I screamed, my vision a white-washed burn as I frantically pushed aside branches and leaves, making my way toward my memory of his location.
“Katlyn!” he cried in return, his voice further away than it should have been. “Get out of—”
His words cut off with a strangled gurgle, making my heart stop.
No.
Not Charlie.
I’d lost more than a few hunting partners throughout the years, but Charlie and I had been best friends since childhood.
We’d grown up together. Done everything together. We’d even mockingly gotten handfasted at age five, even though now I saw how silly that was. We were best friends and we’d never be anything more, because I wouldn’t risk ruining what we had.
He was my family.
My brother.
And now he’s going to die.
Roaring to the heavens, I surged through the white-hot blistering void to save my best friend from the wolves.
My fingers met something hot and sticky and I grabbed onto it, knowing I’d found him.
“Charlie?” I asked, his name a question filled with terror and hope as I sank to my knees.
My vision subtly cleared as the dull thrum of the rain pattered throughout the forest. No bird calls. No thunderbolts. Just the din of the storm rolling through the trees.
Charlie’s eyes glowed with the power of the Moon Blossom he’d eaten, but that was the only life left in his gaze.
A long, bloody wound sliced across his throat, his life force spilling onto the ground.
Charlie was dead.
Dash
A few moments earlier…
The storm came out of nowhere, sending me off course. The strong winds sent the mingling scents of jasmine and moonlight scattering, leaving in its wake only the musk of the mortal boy and the charged energy of a storm that shouldn’t be on this side of our territory.
I paused as a shriek pierced the din of the forest, followed by a female’s panicked reply with a voice that belonged toher.I would recognize her voice anywhere, along with her scent, and I turned back the way I should have gone.
South, of course.
She’d been with a mortal boy, which meant she waswiththem… for some reason.
Why would a wolf, especially one that was my compatible mate, be mingling with such pitiful creatures? As alpha of the Soldiers, I couldn’t understand the other packs who brought humans into our world. They had no place with us, no capacity for instinct or violence that determined our way of life.
They were prey. Plain and simple.
Yet, my unclaimed mate had gotten to know her prey.
She’d called him Charlie, which cemented my suspicions that he’d been in close contact with her. Something unfortunate had happened to him, which had strangely upset her, but it hadn’t beenmydoing.
