Page 36 of Kingdom of Faewood

Rage fired through me. Even if all of the guards who had appeared to fall still lived, it didn’t make abductingmeany better.

“You’re a monster,” I hissed at Jax.

His attention snapped to me. “No, Little Lorafin. The true monster here, ishim.” He shoved his knee into my guardian’s back before hauling him upright.

Twisted pain seared across Guardian Alleron’s features at the rough treatment of his injured shoulder, but Jax didn’t seem to care. He maneuvered Guardian Alleron as though he relished his pain.

Before I could protest or utter a sound of disagreement, Bowan sidled to my side. “Enjoy your night alone, Lorafin?” he asked in a teasing tone.

My head whipped from him, to Jax, and then to Trivan. All three stags also chuffed. “You...you planned this?”

Bowan dipped his head, his earring twinkling in themorning sunlight. He swung his leg over the red stag—Lars obviously—and dropped to the ground. “And it worked out exactly as we hoped.”

Jax grabbed Guardian Alleron and threw him onto Lars’s back. He did it so easily, as though picking up my guardian’s two-hundred-pound weight was nothing.

Only shifter magic gave fae that much strength.

So Jax truly is a shifter too? If that’s the case, that means he wields magic from Stonewild, Faewood, and Ironcrest kingdoms.It seemed too impossible to believe.

My stunned surprise grew as the implications of what Jax being a shifter meant. The male harbored magic fromthreekingdoms. Three.Stars and galaxy.

But what about the Mistvale magic? Does he wield that too, or does another in his group?

Bowan jumped back onto Lars, landing just behind my guardian. Roughly, he pushed Guardian Alleron forward and tied him to the stag’s neck.

A silent cry of pain opened my guardian’s mouth wide, but none of the males seemed to care.

Once secured, Bowan jumped off of his friend again, leaving Guardian Alleron alone and restrained on the stag’s back.

Both Trivan and Bowan shifted into their stag forms in my next blink, and then the Dark Raider approached me, his aura vicious, his intent obvious.

Even though I knew my attempted rescue had failed, I stillkicked out when he neared, almost connecting with his thigh before he dodged.

Hetsked, and the magic inside me threatened to rise anew. The collar hummed at my throat, its warning vibrating along my limbs.

Jax eyed the collar, his magic smoldering in his irises. “We ride first, since we need to reach Stonewild, but once we do”—his gaze locked onto my throat—“then I’m dealing withthat.”

CHAPTER 10

We flew through the Wood, moving as fast as the wind. Phillen rocked beneath me. Jax sat behind me. They acted as though all was normal, as if everything that had just occurred was all part of an average day’s work, yet I still couldn’t move.

Couldn’t think.

Could barely breathe.

Shock wrapped around me like a suffocating noose. Because one thing had become apparent. Jax hadwantedto capture my guardian, which meant the Dark Raider had foreseen my attempted escape. He’d anticipated me calling for help. He’d known I was going to do everything in my power to get away from him.

And he’d been one step ahead of me the entire way.

In front of us, atop Lars, my guardian sat hunched forward, still tied to the stag. Worst of all, I couldn’t tell if he was conscious or not.

Guilt speared me that I’d dragged Guardian Alleron into this. If only I’d been smarter, thought of a better plan, or anticipated the level of cunning Jax was capable of...none of this would have occurred, and I would have actually gained my freedom from the Dark Raider.

But I hadn’t. I’d failed—failedmiserably.

“How?” I finally whispered. “Howdid you do it?”

Jax shifted behind me, his muscled form hard and unyielding. The solidness of his chest reminded me of carved stone, and given his immense magic and ability to plot things in such a calculating manner, trying to defeat him seemed as impossible as scaling a treacherous mountain.

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