Page 12 of King of Forest and Fur

Her annoyance left as she bit her lip in place of an answer.

“I don’t know,” she said quietly. “I’ve never done this type of magic before. I’m known for foresight. I am told I can manipulate timelines, but I’ve never done it successfully… Until now.”

Rehn’s inner bear rumbled for action, making it hard for Rehn to control his rational thoughts on what would be their next move.

“Well, that’s going to have to be something we figure out sooner rather than later. We need to get back because the more time we spend here, the less I believe that Drystan was transported with us.” He walked past Leila, looking for any lingering signs of the spell she had cast. There had to be something to go off of. They couldn’t be just stuck here.

“But I don’t know what I did—” Leila’s words were cut off with a scream.

Rehn turned and saw Drystan lunging from the forest in his bear form. He was charging straight at Leila.

Rehn shifted immediately, his auburn bear barreled into the side of Drystan’s black body before he reached Leila.

He wasn’t sure if it was because of Drystan trying to attack his mate, or that he had been waiting for this battle, but Rehn was letting his bear take full control.

FIVE

LEILA

Leila saw the shifter king transform from a charming true Viking hunk-of-a-god into a vicious brownish-red-colored bear who clashed hard into the air with the massive black bear charging them.

She had to look away.

It was too much for her mind to process. She had never seen a shifter battle, or one even change in front of her, for that matter.

She kept her eyes tightly shut, even with her head turned. Her ears were honed in on the battle raging beside her. There was no way to tune out the ripping of the skin and shedding of fur, only to be followed by a snapping jaw while all the thrashing was masked over with continuous threatening growls from each opponent.

Leila’s ears perked back whenever she heard a growl in agony from a hit. She couldn’t help but wonder if Rehn was causing or receiving the brutal hits.

Suddenly, a loud crying rumble erupted followed by bone-chilling silence.

Her eyes slowly opened. Not hearing even a breath, she turned around slowly, nervous at the sight she would see.

The brownish-red bear was breathing heavily as it stood over a form lying motionless on the ground.

Leila caught a glimpse of the black furry form between the red bear’s paws.

Drystan wasn’t moving. Not even a twitch. And Rehn stood exhausted, but victorious, over him.

Suddenly, the victor shifted back to his human form. It was so effortless that Leila had hardly noticed until he was back on two feet and hairless.

That was when she realized he was also naked. Her head snapped away again.

Eyes scrunched shut, she could feel her neck burn hot. She heard his footsteps approach.

“Are you okay?”

Rehn’s voice was laced with concern.

Leila bit her lip. She needed to act like an adult here.

She forced her head to turn and face the naked king before her.

“Yes.”

Her eyes wanted to leave his hazel ones so badly, as alluring as they were. But she would much rather gaze over his sculpted thick body, gleaming in sweat. Staying focused on his scruffy face took an absurd amount of self-control.

For a moment, she thought she saw an amused smirk about to form on the king’s face. She cleared her throat, not wanting to let her awkwardness become more evident.

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