Page 49 of Oath of Revenge

He scanned the woods, watching for predators and for the magic of the forest to attack. But it might be easier to talk about his feelings this way. If he wasn’t facing her, he wouldn’t need to analyze her expression and see how she was interpreting it.

This way, he could just talk. Freely. It had been years since he’d done this. He took a deep breath, some of the tightness on his chest easing.

“When Growlers are turned, we give up everything we were before. The magic of it erases all memories of our human lives.”

Their steps crunched as the trees grew thicker and closer together.

“So you don’t remember anything from before? Your life as a human?”

He shook his head and offered her a hand over a fallen log. She stared at him in fascination, uneasily taking his hand.

She stepped onto the log, but her foot went straight through the decaying wood. Beetles swarmed out of the hole, spreading over the log and up her leg.

She cried out, and Wulfric grabbed her hips and swung her away from the log. Some of them flew off her in the motion, but too many kept clinging to her, their tiny legs scurrying over her skin.

With a quick flick of her wrists, she drew out her gleaming daggers, their sharp edges glinting in the dim light. Wulfric deftly maneuvered around her as she frantically flapped her hands, narrowly avoiding her horns. He lunged forward, swiping at the crawling pests that threatened to latch onto his own legs.

“Fuck, fuck, fuck,” she muttered, each word a slash of her palms.

Several of them crawled on his own legs where he knelt on the ground, but he paid them no heed.

“There’s more,” she yelled, panicking and pointing to the log behind him.

He turned his head, and his stomach clenched. Hundreds were still pouring out of the hole in the log. He spun back around to see that she was now spider-free. Without hesitation, he leapt to his feet and scooped her up, throwing her over his shoulder and running to safety.

“Ah!” she screamed again, her tiny hands landing on his back, daggers bouncing as he jogged toward the road. “What are you doing? Put me down.”

“Not until we’re free from the swarm. Hold tight, bunny.” He ran faster, trying to keep his gait smooth so as not to hurt her. He felt the stinging bite of beetles lessen on his legs, but he didn’t stop until he got to the road.

Then he put her down on her feet, turning her to inspect every inch of her legs. “All gone?” he panted.

She scowled and nodded, patting her thighs and stepping away from him. “I could’ve managed on my own.”

He sighed in relief and took her hand again. “I know, but you don’t have to do it alone now, Scarlet.”

He didn’t release her hand. She scowled, but tipped her head up as he tugged her to follow the road. “This doesn’t mean we’re done with the conversation. Keep talking, wolfie.”

He looked up over his shoulder, ever vigilant. “The river is this way. We’ll meet it and follow it South. The Growler camp is just off the river.”

“If you want to talk about your human life, I’d be alright with that.”

His lips twitched at her attempt to appear nonchalant. He wanted her to trust him, which meant opening up to her about his former life. The knot in his stomach made him nervous, but he had to push past it.

He squeezed her hand and sighed. “When I was ambushed, the leader, Brody, said that he remembered his past. I didn’t believe him. But the past few days of being with you–”

Vines stirred above, reaching for them. He spun her with their joined hands as it stabbed down, narrowly avoiding them. He tucked her behind him, but her hand reached up toward the vine, palm out.

It receded back into the canopy as the rest of the vines slowed their movements to a crawl. His brows rose, and he looked back at her. “Did you do that? Is that druid magic?”

She grinned and shook her head, revealing a brand on the inside of her left wrist. “It’s dragon magic. My adopted brother, Knox, the dragon you saw yesterday? Grandma raised him from a hatchling. I was five when my mother died, and Knox hatched. When we were kids, he had a dream and burned this onto my wrist. We figured out it bypassed the magic of the forest.”

“The magic that tries to kill trespassers?” Wulfric asked as they walked West on the only road that went through the forest.

She nodded. “Yeah, when I became a Hunter, he apparently formed the Robins and escorted people safely through the forest on this very road. For a fee, of course.”

“Of course,” he grinned. He rather admired the dragon for creating a business while also protecting the forest. Although the Robins had been a pain in the Growlers’ side the entire time, he wished he’d thought to offer escort services through the forest.

She nodded at the bags still slung over his shoulder. “Want me to take a bag now?”

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