Page 86 of Wings of Snow

Magic abruptly tingled in the air around me, growing with each step we took toward the small abode. Snaps of it prickled my skin and stroked my senses. Whatever this place was, it was warded.

“And this barrier I’m feeling?” I asked the hunter.

He cocked an eyebrow. “You can feel it?”

I gave a curt nod as Ilara chimed in, “So can I.”

“Impressive. Most can’t detect Sven’s perimeter enchantments.”

“I take it his enchantments alert him to our arrival?”

“Correct.” The Fire Wolf forged ahead. “He’s probably already spotted us coming. The wards give him time to prepare for unexpected guests.”

“Is he a powerful supernatural amongst your kind?” Haxil asked.

“Very,” the Fire Wolf replied. “I haven’t met many sorcerers stronger than him. With any luck, by tomorrow, we’ll know how to destroy the spell that’s killed your land, and then we can return to the fae lands to finish this job.”

A twig cracked beneath my boot, and then a blaze of flying magic suddenly rushed through the air, lassoing all six of us in stinging magic.

“Mother Below!” Nish growled as ropes of glowing red light flared around us, pinning our limbs, as though we’d been tangled in ropes.

“What the—” Sandus immediately began to struggle, as did Ilara and my other guards.

I snarled when the rope-like magic tethered my wings in place, but no amount of struggle loosened the imprisoning restraints.

“That’s what you get for sneaking onto my property,” a male called from behind the cabin before he strolled into my line of sight.

The male, while old, was tall and had blue eyes similar in shade to a Solis fae. Despite his age, his aura glimmered with leashed power.

Another snarl worked up my throat. If the hunter’s friend thought this was funny, I sorely disagreed with him.

“Sven, how’s it going?” the hunter called, not seeming to care that the rest of us were bound.

Hands on his hips, Sven cocked an eyebrow at the Fire Wolf then nodded toward all of us. “Did you bring me new subjects to conduct my experiments on? Thank you for the gift.”

The hunter smiled, then tipped back his head and laughed as the sorcerer gave a wicked grin.

CHAPTER 25 - NORIVUN

“Gift? You’regivingus to him?” Sandus spat at the Fire Wolf. “We trusted you!”

“You vile loathsome, traitorous...” The insults spewed from Nish’s mouth.

“No!” Ilara’s eyes widened in fear as she struggled in the stinging red magic that continued to contain us. “Not again.”

Panic raced through my mate. Her recent trauma with Drachu no doubt feeding her reaction, and feeling her terror through our bond, knowing that I hadn’t protected her...

An enraged snarl worked up my throat as a primal reaction buried deep inside me unleashed.

Protect my mate.

I zeroed all my attention upon the hunter and his friend as the Fire Wolf stepped toward us and opened his mouth to respond, but savage intent flared within me.

Kill them.

Kill them.

Kill them.

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