Page 147 of The Crown of Nyx

Come join us,Orion said, voice tense, and let them handle the creature.

Handle…kill.

No.

Surprise filtered down his bond, but I finally made my feet move. I pushed my way between both Elias and Maeve, earning warning growls from both of them. Maeve tried to grab for me, but I stepped out of her reach.

My stomach leapt into my throat as I put my back to the unknown creature. Panic lined the faces of everyone—Hawk and Damon included.

“You can’t hurt him,” I said, my voice trembling. “You can’t do anything because he’s my mate.”

Elias stopped growling and quickly shifted back. His anger seemed to be worse, now. “What?”

I swallowed hard, but a lump formed in my throat as I nodded. “My wolf sensed it first. And I feel it. Here.” I rubbed my chest as that familiar desire pulsed within me. My magic reached for the seven-foot creature behind me, begging for the bond to be completed. The feeling wasn’t nearly as overwhelming as the first few times I’d recognised my mate bonds, so anchoring my power and coming into it kept the magic at bay.

But the need to claim pulsed in my chest. the unfinished bond that recognised the creature behind me asminereared its head.

I sucked in a calming breath and spared Elias a look before turning back to the creature. “I don’t know if you know what that means,” I said quietly. “But can you shift so we can talk?”

“I can talk like this,” he growled. I took a surprised step back, eyes widening. The creature could talk. Holy shit. Worse than the werewolves I’d read about in fiction, then.

Elias curled a protective arm around my waist. His surprise was clear through the bond, but if I knew anything about my shifter, he wasn’t going to let it show.

The others, though…

“Did that thing fucking speak?” Rowan hissed from somewhere behind me. “Shifters can’t speak.”

“He’s not a normal shifter,” Adrian muttered. “Dumbass.”

If the situation weren’t serious, I was pretty sure I’d be breaking up a fight.

The wolf-man cocked his head. “You say mate like it means more than a pairing.”

Ignoring the racing of my heart, I nodded. “It does. It’s a connection that Nyx forms for us, that connects our souls.”

A sound rumbled from the creature’s lips. “And is that what you think I am?” He sounded almost amused. There was something about his tone that reminded me of someone else.

I still couldn’t figure out why, though.

The only other werewolf-like creatures we’d seen were the ones who had surrounded us during our first few hours here, in the ruins of the old palace.

“I know that is what you are. To me,” I replied carefully. “I feel it. My magic feels it.”

“You have been hunting us for a while,” Maeve said, her voice low. “I take it your leader, the one from the old palace, sent you after us.”

The creature didn’t take his eyes off me. “Yes.”

At least he didn’t lie. But that didn’t stop the chill running down my spine. “You might be my mate,” I warned, “but I will not risk our mission. We will not be going back there.”

The words tasted bitter on my lips. The last thing my magic wanted was to abandon one of our mates. But I would. I didn’t care who it was.

Sable’s words echoed in my head, Nyx’s warning not far behind.You need to find your mates. Complete the bonds. I had a feeling I wasn’t even close to that. The creature across from me could be as much a challenge as Hawk was.

And I was not going to force a mate bond.

Not with anyone.

“I have no intention of taking you back to Phaedra,” he replied, though he spat the last word out like it burned him to say it. “Unlike the others, I believe you. I saw the bodies.”

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