Page 19 of Cursed Wolf

I laugh to myself.

“Should a girl your age use such language?” Stone’s persistence in never giving in to her constant arguing is amusing and admirable. He’s relentless in proving his point with Jae, and Jae won’t have any part of it.

“So, I can fight and kill the undead, but I’m not allowed to say ass? Ass. Ass. Ass. What are you going to do about it?”

“I’ll stuff your mouth with dirt, for one. I’m pretty sure Narah will approve. In fact, I remember her telling me I could do anything to teach you some manners.” Stone laughs. “Ouch,” Stone suddenly moans. “You pinch so hard.”

I chuckle to myself. He’s keeping her occupied and not crying for her sisters, as she had already done twice on this exhausting trip.

We finally reach the top of the track on the mountain, and I turn, letting the duo catch their breath.

“We’re close now,” I say. “Let’s hold talking to a minimum. We don’t know what we’re going to find.”

Jae runs her two pinched fingers across her mouth and does a small twist at the corner to signify she’ll keep it zipped. The girl is a handful, yet when I look into her eyes, I see Narah and miss her terribly.

My heart speeds up with the thought of what we’ll do if we don’t find Jae’s sisters. If the situation was different, I would have left Jae with Mihai’s pack and not put the young girl in danger. Of course, that bitch high priestess had to kill Lyssa, making my life more complicated.

It’s past midnight, and the moon is high and bright, doing nothing to eliminate the surrounding shadows. After the two groups of undead we encountered and the enormous one we bypassed without being seen, every movement has me jittery as fuck. We might as well be back in Shadowlands Sector, where these fuckers were crawling all over the place.

I glance into the darkness, convinced if zombies are near, they would have already attacked. It doesn’t ease my restless nerves. This morning, I knew the day would be a fucking beyond belief, and we weren’t near finishing it, considering there’s a high priestess on the loose in Kaira’s body.

“So, what’s the plan?” Stone whispers.

“I’ll take the lead. Stay close behind until we know what we’re dealing with.”

Stone nods once, and we’re on the move. Night swallows the woods, the breeze absent, and only the crickets sing and frogs croak. I cross the worn path amid the trees, a skill needed when hunting. Behind me, Jae’s footsteps pat the ground, but Stone’s steps are as silent as the night.

Anticipation tightens my gut. We’re going in blind, but we’ll make it work. We always do.

Once I reach the home that belongs to Narah’s mother, I survey the land and the river, then turn to the house. Not a single light, no sound, unease scrapes its tongue along the back of my neck. When I turn toward Stone and Jae, I become aware of something strange off the path and next to a cluster of trees not far from the house–dark shapes sway from the trees like giant bats suspended from branches. Unable to make sense of what I’m looking at, goosebumps race up my spine.

“Stay here,” I whisper and step toward the tree, my pulse thumping in my ears. My wolf is right in my chest, sensing the danger.

The shadows grow darker and more prominent the closer I move. What the fuck am I staring at? I pray it’s something stupid and a play of the dark, except something inside me shudders. I can’t put anything past the witch—especially when the hairs on my arms stand upright like they always do when there’s magic in the air.

Darkness bleeds into everything, and only when I reach the edge of the tree do I pause and glance up. Feet are the first things I see, heavy combat boots, scuffed and worn, and attached to them are long, strong legs. Fuck me—bodies are dangling from the tree.

A hard breath, followed by a raspy inhale, and my head still spins to make sense of it all. Stepping around the tree, I notice the glint of silver in the streak of moonlight—an axe hooked on a belt.

Crius’ axe.

My heart thunders as the realization sucker punches me in my solar plexus.

Three bodies hang from the tree, and panic squeezes me.

I can’t breathe, but I’m already madly scaling the tree. My lungs are on fire as I picture them tied by their throats. My muscles tense as I shove myself higher until I reach the axis where branches stretch outward and come face to face with Crius—eyes shut, head slumped forward.

Desperately, I grab for him, only to notice he’s not strung up by a noose. His torso and arms are tightly wrapped in wooden vines. “Cirus.” I shake him. But he’s not moving. I press two fingers to the side of his neck and feel the pulse of his heart, slow but present.

Twisting, I struggle to move with limited foot space. On another branch is Nikos, and farther up, Narah dangles, shrouded in darkness. From my position, I can only see her feet.

“Stone,” I call out just as I wrench out the blade from my belt. Without waiting for him, I hack at the first vine holding Nikos. A branch snaps forward, smacking me in the face, and I’m thrown backward. My boots slip out from under me, and I lurch. Arms flinging outward, I claw at the tree to catch purchase.

Thump.

Landing on my back, a sharp ache races across my shoulder blades.

“Fuck,” I groan, lying there for a moment, catching my breath. My head pulses with pain, as does the strike across my brow, which still stings like a fucking bitch. Goddamn tree.

---