Page 34 of Moonmarked

For a moment, the world froze, and the men froze, andshefroze midair, so that I could count every strand of her fur if I tried.

Protect her,my instincts said. I needed to protect her at all costs.

And it was easy.

Whether this was real or not didn’t matter—but it was easy to move, to shoot forward, to get past the werewolf still in the air, and to those men who had their knives raised and murder written in their bloodshot eyes.

I had no weapons on me, but I slammed my hands onto the chest of the one in the middle anyway.

Then I exploded.

twelve

It wasthe heat inside me that let itself out—all at once, andhard,which was why I felt like every bit of me exploded. But I was intact, and the blinding light that came out of me rivaled the fucking sun, at least for all of us here in the forest.

Even so, I saw. It was like my eyes had beenunveiledall of a sudden, and I saw the impact the light had on those men, how it picked them up and basically threw them back like they weighed no more than feathers, like they were made of paper, not all those pounds of pure muscle.

It wasn’t the same sensation as in the cavern, though. Back then I hadn’t seen anything, hadn’t even understood what the hell was happening around me, just that I let the heat out and I hoped with all my heart Rune would survive.

Now, I was fully aware of myself every second, saw the light as it came out, felt the way it exploded out of me, saw the men hitting the ground and the trees.

I saw my hands still raised, and the werewolf—Maera—as she landed on the same spot where that guy who’d been about to stab me with his knife was a second ago.

Meanwhile, he was some ten feet away now, on the ground, trying to make it to his feet.

The light blinked out of existence as fast as it had appeared. My arms lowered, and though to a part of me that entire thing somehow made perfect sense, there was still a side of me that was terrified, that wanted nothing to do with whatever had taken over me just now. The light or the way time moved or the way Iheardthe fucking leaves rustling.

The werewolf was a couple feet ahead of me. The men were spread out in all directions, the closest one to my right at least ten feet away, trying to use a tree trunk for support to stand. Meanwhile, the one with the longer hair already had, and he was breathing heavily, looking for his knife that must have fallen from his hands, touching his nose—no, the blood dripping out of his nostrils.

For the longest moment, everyone was silent, moving slowly, trying to understand what the hell just happened.

My knees shook, but I forced myself forward, closer to the werewolf, put my hand over her neck. My fingers slipped into her soft fur and I felt the air going down her throat as if it was mine when I said, “They’ll walk away now, I’m sure. Nobody’s going to hurt you again.”

I tried to say it loud enough so that the men heard it—and they did, even though I was breathless. While they wiped the blood coming out of their noses—on all three of them—they heard, and they looked at me, stunned, uncertain of what to do next, two looking at the one in the middle, waiting for guidance.

“Noxavira,” the man whispered, throwing the word at me almost like an insult, but I couldn’t care less what it even meant. And I was going to threaten him, tell him I’d dotwice as much damageif he came for us again, even though Ihad no clue how long I could even stay on my feet. That light drained me like nothing else. It left me completely empty—buthedidn’t know that. He never had to find out.

Taking in a deep breath, I raised my chin, held his eyes. “You have?—”

I never got the chance to finish.

It happened right before my eyes and that’s the only reason why I believed it. The werewolf howled, and this time it was different. I wasn’t sure how I could tell since it kind of sounded the same, but it was different. It wasn’t a call this time—it was a warning.

Then the men in front of me changed.

When I tell you that I passed out standing, then came to again, I’m not even joking.

The three men who were very muchmenbegan to change right in front of my eyes, teeth gritted, and eyes squeezed shut like they were in pain. Their bones snapped—Iheardthe sound of them like it was all happening right next to my ear. Their skins changed, became darker, began to sprout fur—and their heads, too.

The wordshockedwas an understatement. One moment they were men, human beings, and the next, they had fur and their clothes were torn off their bodies, and they had claws and sharp teeth and they were at least three times the size of the werewolf in the middle. The one I thought was a dog. The one these men were here for.

Then she changed, too.

Fur shed off her all at once. Her bones snapped and rearranged themselves, her limbs grew, and her size shifted. Her skull changed, too.

Hair a deep brown over her shoulders, and three shades lighter around her face, long enough that it touched the small of her back. Hernakedback.

Hands instead of paws, nails long but not sharp. Dirt all over her pale skin, but her shoulders were back and her head was raised.

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