Page 10 of Marked

I ran my hands along Nala’s back again.

She stopped growling and her ears pinged forward. She wagged her tail hesitantly. When I continued to pat her, the wagging increased. Wolves weren’t supposed to wag their tails like dogs, but Nala wasn’t an ordinary wolf.

She was mine—my soul bonded familiar.

As descendants of pureblood galeons, immortals carried an eternal life essence—the ability to extend their lifespans for centuries—but without a bonded familiar, immortals could still be killed. They were still vulnerable. With a bonded familiar, galeon descendants couldn’t be killed, at least not anymore.

There weren’t many of us.

And aside from King Oberon and Queen Titania of Wast, there weren’t any pureblood galeons at all. The war with the phaanons had been brutal.

I scratched Nala behind the ears. “You’re the bestest.”

She leaned into the touch, her weight pressing into my legs and almost knocking me over.

I ruffled her fur. If I stopped now, we could return to the cabin by nightfall and snuggle by the fire.

But that wasn’t going to happen.

Even if I was one-hundred percent confident the wolf killed the only hunter, I needed to make sure. I needed to either eliminate the possibility more hunters roamed these woods or track them down.

One report had mentioned spotting a hunter by the slow babbling brook running through the southeastern corner of the forest, not far from where I’d been attacked. We’d walked along the bank all morning and I hadn’t spotted a single track.

Nala had senses far superior to mine and she hadn’t detected anything yet, either, and the forest hadn’t sent its warm band of wind as a warning.

The magic of the forbidden forest didn’t always reach out to me, but I’d learned a long time ago to never ignore the magic when it appeared. In the winter, the forest’s magic came to me as a warm wind, and in the summer, it brought a chill in the air.

Today, the forest remained neutral.

Now nearing the edge of the outer perimeter, where the trees gave way to a meadow of tall grass and wildflowers and the brook converged with the Danu, the larger faster flowing river, I was ready to go home.

The sound of a snapping branch shattered the peaceful ambiance of the forest and froze me and Nala in our tracks. Instincts kicked in immediately as I recognized the threat.

Hunters.

A warm band of wind teased my hair and magic danced over me, beckoning me to play along. The unexpected magical heat kissed my chilled skin.

“Run,” I commanded. I lunged to the side and used the nearby tree as cover, as an arrow whistled through the air where I’d just stood. My heart raced as I cursed under my breath. That arrowhead had come too close to piercing my skin.

That was the second arrow in two days to narrowly miss my face.

Two too many.

Anger boiled within me. This was a brazen and reckless attack. Why? Because they recognized me as the guardian, or because I was unlucky enough to cross their path?

Nala growled—a ferocious deep rumble—before taking off into the underbrush, but even her impressive skills would not protect her from arrows.

In one fluid motion, I drew an arrow from my quiver and notched it in my bow before spinning around to face the attackers. With the magic of perfect accuracy running through my veins, I released the arrow. It found its mark, sinking deep into the chest of a burly man wearing a tan leather vest and pants. He grunted, his weathered face twisting in pain, before he toppled to the ground.

Shifting my aim, I fired off two more arrows into the moving bushes to the right of where the first man had fallen. One man cried out and another gurgled. I quickly ducked behind cover again as another round of arrows flew past me.

There were more hunters than the three I’d just taken out and they were getting bolder. Instead of retreating or regrouping, they emerged from the shadows and tried to skewer my head with their inferior skills.

Guess the reports weren’t full of shit after all. I shouldn’t have dismissed them so readily. I should’ve been more prepared.

More arrows flew past me as I remained behind cover. I took a deep breath and waited. My heart thundered in my chest, threatening to burst through bone and consume my hearing. The hunters would have to move if they wanted a clear shot.

Leaning into the rough bark of the tree, I clutched my bow in my sweaty fist. I had four more arrows in my quiver, and though I was immortal, getting shot wasn’t a fun experience or something I quickly healed from. If they hit me well enough, they could incapacitate me, leaving me vulnerable.

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