Page 92 of Oath of Revenge

Wulfric tackled, knocking her near to Sasha, who nudged her back up. Scarlet laughed at the irony. This little Growler was helping her up when back in Vidrland, no one even wanted to get within touching distance of her.

Muddia panted beside her and asked, “Are you going to finish the boar?”

Wulfric waited for Scarlet to answer so she shook her head. “No, it’s all yours, if you want the other half. Enjoy.”

Muddia pranced happily to the corpse. “Oh thank you, Luna, thank you. I’m starving.”

Todd snorted and followed with Sasha. “You’re always hungry.”

Muddia glared, but was too busy picking at the carcass to sass her mate.

Wulfric nudged Scarlet, nuzzling under her jaw. She tipped her chin up, submitting her jugular to him. She trusted him, this mate of hers that she didn’t see coming. He’d blown into her life like a blizzard, and now everything was different but in a good way. Not like six months ago.

The reminder of her curse brought a chill and she shivered. She still had a responsibility to seeing the curse reversed for the rest of Knox’s people. The thought made some of her lighthearted joy dissipate. She turned into Wulfric’s chest and tried to burrow closer, suddenly so cold.

“You alright, love?” His voice vibrated his chest, and she hummed an answer. She was content and not quite ready to go back to camp. What if this shift into a Growler wasn’t permanent? Was it the mate bond that had changed her?

There were so many questions, and each one made her feel heavier and colder. She took a deep breath and leaned back to answer him, but some strange scent came through her nostrils. The noise of the others eating stopped, and all was still.

She stepped back and looked around. Wulfric’s silver and black fur stood on end as his hackles rose.

“What is it?” Her voice was a whisper, but she wasn’t afraid. Not in this form.

Todd growled, “That’s no animal I know.”

“Sh, let the alpha lead us, as is his right.” Muddia scolded, and all three of them turned to Wulfric, looking at him for guidance. Scarlet waited, nerves making her jittery for the first time as a Growler.

Wulfric snorted softly, scenting the creature. “It’s moving toward camp. We can’t let it get even as close as the outer perimeter guards. Flanking maneuver: Midnight 3. Sasha, you stay three leaps back. Watch how we handle this, as you’re not done with training. Scarlet is with me.”

The three others spread to the left, Sasha flanking behind her parents.

Wulfric turned to her. “Stick to my side. We’re going to find out what that is.”

“I hope I can eat it,” she said. He chuckled and led the two of them to the right. She lost sight of the others but could still see the soft glow of their auras through the trees.

Chapter 29

The temperature dropped with every step they took back toward camp. Scarlet stayed close to Wulfric, practically touching him with every silent step through the frozen tundra. Wulfric sniffed and turned slightly. The creature was moving toward camp and didn’t seem to have noticed them flanking it from the west.

She could see its aura, or rather, its lack of an aura. While the Growlers, humans, druids, any sentient being had a distinct aura that she could see from a mile away in open land, the closer they drew to this one, the colder and darker it became. Its aura was like a shadow standing clear as day against the stark white of the snowy forest.

Gentle snow turned to icy sleet when they were a half mile away. It pelted their fur, and even with the thicker skin and her new ability to better regulate her body temperature, she shivered and pressed closer to Wulfric. He nudged her with his nose, and she gasped at the coldness of it. It was like ice.

He sniffed but turned back to track the creature. She shivered and let him stay a few inches ahead. The thing was definitely heading toward camp, but in an ambling sort of way like it hadn’t quite committed to it or it was simply taking its time getting there. Wulfric kept them on a path to intercept, and now that they were a quarter mile away, she could see the other three’s auras a bit further out.

The sleet pelted them, stinging ice that tiny knives not quite strong enough to cut but still painful. The wind picked up, pushing her into Wulfric and then trying to push her away from him. She battled the wind, trying to stay right at his flank, trying to keep touching him since the ability to see was diminishing with every step.

When they were close enough to hear it clomping loudly on the frozen grass, she pressed closer to Wulfric’s side and squinted through the biting ice. It was smaller, barely the size of the boar, but the swirling ice around the empty black void of its body was hard to look at. It made her want to run away.

But she wasn’t a scared little rabbit anymore. Wulfric crouched and drew closer until they were just a few feet away. The creature paused, and the wind swirled harder around them, growing to blizzard proportions. It was only because they were so low to the ground that they weren’t thrown about with the wind.

Wulfric ran low straight at it, and a paw came up to swipe at it. Scarlet didn’t wait but crawled low. Wulfric connected with its torso and it bent over, shadows coming up to where its head must be. She still couldn’t see it through the shadows, ice, and snow.

She was working by touch only, but it wasn’t the first time she’d make a kill without eyesight. She narrowed her eyes to slits to protect them from the sleet, then sank her jaws into its ankles. Her teeth grew impossibly cold, like biting a block of ice. She increased the pressure of the bite until she felt the crack of bone and with a forceful pull ripped the ankle, tossing a foot into the storm.

Slick blood gushed from the wound, and the smell of rancid meat rushed over her as a shrill howl of wind set her jaw shaking.

Slick blood smelled like rancid meat, and a shrill howl of wind set her jaw shaking. Before she could draw a breath to relieve her senses of the nauseating odor, the bleeding stump kicked her in the throat.

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