Page 50 of Charmed By the Fox Prince

Heavy bootsteps rush toward us, and I release a deafening roar as three men grab her, ripping her away from my side.

Still in my Fox form, I fight through the pain and force myself to stand. Mustering my strength, I charge one of the men, sending him sprawling to the ground. Wrapping my massive jaw around his arm, I jerk my head and send him flying toward a tree.

He cries out but then falls silent as his body hits the trunk with a sickening crack.

“Ren, look out!” Rapunzel cries out as I start to turn back to face the other two men.

Another arrow pierces my flesh, just below my shoulder, and I collapse to the ground as a fresh wave of agony washes over me.

She raises her hands to call forth her magic. Vines explode from the ground, but they quickly fall away as one of the men tackles her.

Finik leaps from her pocket onto one of the men’s face. He screams and stumbles back, before he grabs Finik and sends him flying toward a nearby tree.

“Finik!” Rapunzel yells a moment before he hits the trunk and drops like a stone to the ground.

Rage blisters through me, my paws clawing into the dirt as I force my battered body back up, my muscles screaming in pain. My shoulder is on fire, my side slick and wet with my own blood, as I flatten my ears and glare at the men.

A deep growl vibrates in my chest. “Let. Her. Go.”

One of the men lunges toward me, sword in hand. Panic fills his eyes as I rip the blade from his grasp, snapping the bones and tissues of his wrist and hand like twigs beneath my powerful jaws.

A terrified scream rips from his throat as I sink my fangs deep into his shoulder, tearing through flesh and bone, twisting viciously and sending him flying back. He slams against a tree with a wet thud, crumpling to the ground in a boneless heap.

Rapunzel is still struggling with the last male. Her hands are bound with rope and she kicks out at him, kneeing him in the stomach. He recovers quickly and lunges for her, but she twists out of his grasp.

I growl and his head snaps to me. He stumbles back from Rapunzel, releasing a terrified cry.

He turns to run, but I swipe out, slicing his side with my razor-sharp claws. He falls to the ground, but quickly pushes himself back up. Pulling a blade from his belt, he charges toward my mate.

Surging toward him, I slam into him from behind and sink my fangs deep into the back of his neck until his spine breaks beneath my powerful jaws with a sharp crack.

Now that all three men are dead, I turn back to Rapunzel.

Breathing heavily, my entire body burns with agonizing pain as I stumble toward her and then collapse to the ground. With the arrows still buried in my flesh, I cannot shift back into my two-legged form.

“Ren.” She frees her wrists and rushes to my side, her eyes wide in concern as they travel over my injuries.

The smell of blood is thick in the air and I can barely keep my eyes open, much less lift my head as darkness swims at the edge of my vision.

“Ren, please,” she sobs as she lifts my head into her lap. Finik chitters nearby and I thank the gods that he seems alright. He nuzzles my wounded foreleg as if trying to encourage me to get up, but I cannot. Everything hurts and I can barely move.

A shadow passes overhead. The scent of damp rock and earth fill my nose as wind buffets against me. I look up as a hulking figure with massive wings descends from the sky. Its taloned feet scrape against the earth as it lands on a boulder beside us.

It’s a Gargoyle. His golden eyes sweep over us, their vertical-slit pupils contracting, his expression unreadable as his tail flicks behind him.

Using the last of my strength, I bare my fangs in a feral snarl and force myself to stand. With my head lowered and my ear flat against my skull, I growl low in warning.

He takes a step closer, his gaze locked onto mine.

Gritting my fangs through the pain, I position myself between him and Rapunzel, my fur bristling as every instinct within flares to life with only one purpose—to protect she who is mine.

“Youwill nottouch her,” I snarl.

“I mean you no harm,” he says, voice low and deep.

I bare my fangs, my vision tunneling in on him.

“Get back,” I demand.

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