Page 43 of The Crown of Nyx

I shivered, but I was in too deep now. I couldn’t back away. There was a living, breathing other side of me. Not just the creature of ancient magic gifted to me by Nyx. This was the part of me eternally tied to Elias.

My own wolf.

And she was…beautiful. Wild.

A beast born to survive.

But she was mine. A part of me. A part that I needed now more than ever.

There was no more time to be scared. I reached for my wolf, pressing my hand against the fur atop her head. She was so soft, almost like silk. Though I couldn’t quiteseeher, I felt her. The power within this creature pulsated and burned, commanding and deadly.

I need you, I told her, running my hand down her neck.I need your help.

The wolf nudged me with her wet nose, as if to tell me she would. That she accepted me.

The shift hit me with a force that brought me to my knees. My eyes flew open. I was on the beach, butthe tether to Elias’s magic brightened until it burned. But it wasn’t fire in my veins. It was in my bones. I cried out at the first crack of bone. The pain rippled through me, bringing tears to my eyes. The second and third had me delirious.

Every bone in my body snapped and reshaped. Thickened to that of the wolf I turned into. I couldn’t make a sound as the bone and muscle in my face moved.

Goddess above, was this what Elias felt every shift? He transformed so easily that it was hard to believe it was meant to be this painful. It seemed so easy for him to move between his different forms.

The cries leaving my lips turned into howls of pain. I collapsed to the cold stone, no longer in my own body. Where my hands should have been were paws.

White paws.

Claws extended as I flexed them, the thick nails digging into the smooth rock beneath me. I rested my head on the cool earth as the waves of aching pain slowly dissipated. Exhaustion played in the back of my mind. My eyelids drooped as the magic that’d helped me shift receded.

Somehow, that was the easy part. I had no idea how I was going to turn back.

My wolf made a whimpering sound as we stood. For a moment, I swayed on my feet—paws. Subconsciously, I knew I had to relinquish my own control to the wolf. Wasn’t that something Elias did? He usually spoke about his wolf as a separate entity within him, and although I felt the same, I still had control over this body.

Fear held me tight in its grip, constricting around my chest. The wolf clawed at me for control, and when I relented, I was pushed back in my mind.

And all I could do was watch as the wolf ran.

19

Hawk

Iripped at my chains, curling them around my fists and pulling on them hard. The skin at my wrists burned, but I gritted my teeth against the pain, eyes squeezed shut as the chains themselves groaned.

But the damned things wouldn’t give.

“There’s no use,” a voice said from the darkness beyond the cell. “These chains have been here longer than you have been alive, Son of Pride.”

I stiffened, anger boiling in my gut. As much as I didn’t want to give the demon anything to use against me, I still lifted my head to take in the darkness. “Where is she?”

The voice in the dark chuckled. “Whichshedo you seek?” Finally, the outline of a person appeared; small in stature and petite, the demon crossed herarms as she came into view. Horns sprouted from her temples, curling until they joined like a halo atop her head, thick, red hair framing her round face. “There are many in our grasp.”

I grunted, trying to rise to my feet, but my legs gave out from under me. “You know exactly which one I mean.”

I hadn’t heard anything from the others on Grey’s team. And I felt nothing from Ivy. It was like her presence was muted, or not even close. Every time I tried to feel for her, I was blocked.

And I had no idea which House we’d ended up in. If we were lucky, we’d made it to the lands of the Elysian King. But if we’d landed ourselves in the Houses of the Sins, we were fucked. I doubted we’d made it to Pride; I wouldn’t be in a cell if that were the case. No, they would be parading me around like their newest toy. But if we’d somehow made it to Wrath, then the chances of us surviving without Ivy were slim to none.

Demons might have been loyal to the Queen of Nyx, but they weren’t loyal to everyone else. There was a reason they liked to spend their time in the Underworld over Avalon.

The demon across from me cocked her head, lifting a hand mockingly. “I have a few stray creatures of Nyx in my possession,” she replied, grinning. “A vampire, bonded. A witch, not bonded. And a female crow shifter, bonded—but to one of the other male shifters locked away.”

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