Page 14 of A Trial of Fate

The stranger moved, sheathing his sword along his back, before tugging his hood and covering his face. I knew he was not our kind. He didn’t move like a shifter or radiate any type of familiar power. There was no doubt in my mind that this was a hunter, and I was determined to strike first.

Soundlessly, I drew back on my bowstring, inhaling a long, steadying breath, ready to take aim. In one swift movement, I leaped out of the tree, landing balanced on the ground as I lined up my target. The male heard me and spun his shrouded face in my direction. I released my breath as my arrow soared through the night, aiming straight for the heart of the hunter.

A silver shimmer flashed, and my arrow impaled the trees behind my mark.

“What the?” I stammered, turning my head left, right, and left again. Searching for the hunter I’d seen in the meadow. “Where the hell did, he go?” I cursed as I retrieved another arrow and carefully stalked around the base of the tree. I kept the trunk at my back so nothing could come up from behind and surprise me. He couldn’t have justvanished. That was impossible.

I might have been afraid, but I could not panic.

No, panicking would surely get me killed, and I refused to allow myself to become prey to those beings. I focused my hearing and other senses on detecting what my eyes could not yet see. An unnatural silence fell in the forest, warning all those listening that something was here. My heart rate slowed. The rhythm matched my breathing—calm and steady as I waited. I called upon my animal’s instinct and seeped into an acute awareness of the world around me. I was the predator here, not the prey.

Nocking another arrow, I noticed the difference in how the shaft felt against my fingers, and I realized it was one of the new arrows Gilen had placed in my quiver earlier this evening.

A shift in the wind alerted me to look right, and as I turned, I released a blind shot from my bow. A solid thud and a roaring curse echoing through the night indicated that my aim was true. Rustling sounds echoed along the forest floor, followed by grunts and groans of pain, which helped guide me to my prize. I leaped over the shrubbery to find the cloaked male lying on the ground with my arrow embeddedthrough his left shoulder, just inches above his heart.

“What are you doing on our lands?” I growled, nocking another arrow. “Your kind are not welcome here.”

The male was doubled over on the dirt with blood staining the earth below him. He grunted as he shifted his body to face me, trying to grasp the head of the arrow that was just out of his reach.

“Iron?” His voice was deep and laced with a screaming internal agony. Collapsing onto his side, I noted his rapid, uneven, staggered breaths paired with the blood pooling under his limp body.

I quickly pulled back on another arrow and stalked to his front. “Want to add another? I missed my mark the first time. And… Trust me, that doesn’t happen. It would be a shame to leave you unbalanced. Shall I even you out?”

A deep, thundering sound echoed from the depths of his chest, causing him to shudder, and I could have sworn he waslaughing. I had no clue what to make of that, but I was not waiting around to find out. I took one final step forward, and with the tip of my arrow, I flung his hood back to unveil his identity.

My jaw practically fell to the ground as a face even the gods themselves would be envious of appeared in the moonlight. His eyes were clenched shut beneath heavy jet-black brows that were framed by high cheekbones and a flawless complexion. A dark, neatly trimmed beard and mustache followed a strong, angular jawline, framing sultry, lustful lips that were pressed tightly together. His silver, black-streaked shoulder-length hair was half tied back, revealing the elegant, handsome contours of his face and pointed ears.

Pointed … ears.

My eyes widened with disbelief and shock. There was no mistaking what the male was.

High. Fae.

This was a High Fae!

The male groaned and fell backward, collapsing onto his back as his breathing became erratic and his coloring began to fade.

“Iron…” the male rasped once more.

“Fuck!” I gasped, suddenly realizing the gravity of what I had just done.

I’d shot a High Fae with an iron-tipped arrow. Iron repelled magic and interfered with our magically heightened abilities, including our rapid healing. The arrow I fired at him penetrated through his left shoulder, just breaths above his heart.

“Gods Above! No… no… no.” I was officially panicking now. My animal stirred inside my chest, flooding me with her presence and power so I could get a grip on my emotions and try to focus. “Don’t die!” I shouted at him, my power pulsing through my limbs and flowing through my words.

I immediately dropped my bow to the ground and moved to straddle his torso with my knees on either side of his hips. The lean, solid mass of muscle beneath my body tensed but didn’t move away. I quickly wrapped my left fingers around the shaft of the arrow and reached my right hand toward the arrowhead protruding through to his back. If I could snap the head of the arrow clean, I could remove the entire thing in one swift pull. Rising onto my knees, I bent forward and tugged on the arrow with one hand while I tried to push it through his skin.

Faster than I thought possible, the High Fae male opened his mouth, turned his head to the side, and bit downhardon my arm, right below my wrist.

“Shit!” I screamed, instinctively fighting back and elbowing him in the nose so hard that he thumped backward against the ground. “That’s fucking deep! I can see my gods-damned bone through the wound!” Blood dripped down my arm, but luckily, my shifter healing was already starting to kick in. Nothing compared to adults who had successfully shifted, but it was better than nothing. I tore at the bottom of my shirt tucked underneath my leathers and wrapped it around my wrist. “You High Fae have fucking fangs for teeth or something?” I sneered, tying my makeshift bandage. “I can’t imagine how painful foreplay is for your kind.”

His eyes remained closed, but the deep rumble once again echoed through his chest. Realizing it was most definitely a laugh, I squeezed my legs tightly around his torso to try and make my point.

“Not funny,” I grumbled, but it only seemed to encourage him.

Moving my body backward, I shifted my weight onto his hips to try and get his attention. I felt him twitch and stiffen, so I knew it had worked. He was listening. And I now had his undivided attention.

“Look… I know I shot you with this arrow and tried to kill you, but that was a mistake. My bad. I was actually told not to try and investigate threats on my own, but as my luck would have it, here we are. Honestly, I’m just trying to help fix this mess.” I spoke softly as I gestured to his mangled chest and shoulder.

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