Page 4 of Magic Claimed
He dropped like a rock, screaming as he clutched his leg. I couldn’t help the satisfied sneer that twisted my own lips. Behind him, Yavo and Alwan thundered towards me.
I skipped to my feet, now unencumbered with the drenched coat, and raced away. “Get her!” Legis yelled.
Footfalls behind me told me Yavo and Alwan had left Legis behind and were now after me. I darted around another corner, and then another, but they followed me so close I heard their heavy breaths above the sound of rain hitting the ground.
I darted around the side of another building on the outskirts of town. Across the road and a field of long grass were the deep, dark forests of the wolf shifters. A fence lined the road, marking the border to their territory.
“Get here, vermin!” I glanced behind to see Yavo and Alwan bearing towards me. There was no choice. I’d been lucky with Legis, but these two had burnt away their alcoholic blur and had murder in their eyes.
If I kept to the town, they’d catch me for sure and I was already miserable enough. I bolted to the fence, placed my foot on the lowest of the wooden struts, and hoisted myself over as Alwan’s fingers grazed my hand.
I hit the ground hard and scrambled backwards into the cold strands of wet grass. The tips stuck to my skin, ensnaring me with a hundred sharp barbs. I didn’t care. My focus was on was getting enough space from the two guards so they couldn’t reach me from behind the fence. My lungs burned and my chest heaved as I clambered backwards and away from them.
“You’ll regret this, vermin,” Alwan sneered, peering at me through the slats from the safety of the right side of the fence.
“She’s going to regret it now.” Yavo stepped onto the lowest rung, towering above the top of the fence. He tugged his crossbow free from his shoulder harness and notched an arrow.
I scrambled to my feet and raced away, expecting an arrow through my shoulder blades at any moment. I hurtled into the protection of the trees. Branches whipped my arms and face as I disappeared into the shadows.
I jumped over fallen branches and ducked through the frigid touch of wet leaves, following the line of the road. If I kept going this way, I could be lucky. The wolf territory would take me to Samuel’s village. I’d be safe from Yavo and Alwan if I kept to the tree line and hopefully I’d be safe from the wolf shifters if I stuck close enough to the edge of the territory.
No one really saw them this close to the edge and hopefully in this storm, they’d be tucked away nice and warm in their houses, or however they lived. No one but a wolf shifter knew anything that went on inside their territory. Most knew to keep well away. And they did.
Thunder cracked. Lightning flashed, highlighting leaves that thrashed in a howling wind. That was when I heard more footfalls crashing behind me. The fence hadn’t stopped Yavo or Alwan after all.
My body flashed with heat despite the frigid rain and wind. Sticky perspiration broke out across my body. My lungs burned as I forced my legs on faster. My chest seemed too tight as I tried to drag enough air into them. More crashes sounded to my left and then an enormous wolf bounded towards me from behind a huge, dead trunk.
I turned in time to avoid running into it and another wolf leapt in front of me, rounding on me from the other side. Dark brown, shaggy, deadly. It was massive, standing taller than me. Its icy blue eyes locked onto me. Every muscle in my body trembled. My chest heaved in stark terror. My feet planted to the earth, unable to move me away from its hypnotic eyes.
More wolves surrounded me, their growls vibrating through my body. The massive black wolf crouched, its back legs digging into the ground before it launched and arched gracefully towards me without warning.
Its paws pounded into my shoulders. I soared backwards, crashing to the ground. The air whooshed out of me and my lungs seized. Brilliant white light flashed behind my closed lids. Heat rippled over my body and through every cell inside me.
I fractured, exploding into a million shards to the edge of my consciousness. Every one of my senses sharpened. Each raindrop falling into my face illuminated by starlight. The fresh taste of pine coated my tongue. My harsh breath rasped in my ear before my consciousness was drawn to another.
Masculine. Spice. Heat. Arousal crashed together in a cacophony of bliss. Golden light surrounded me and I peered into a well of swirling shimmery light that felt like home. A consciousness bloomed inside me as another soul brushed against mine. It was beautiful. So beautiful.
A pull lurched from the centre of my chest, surrounding me in rose-coloured light. It shimmered over the golden light, sinking into it. Golden and rose threads swirled, twirling, merging, becoming one. My awareness expanded into somethingmore, as another essence hooked inside me.
The light faded and the sounds of the forest filtered through my consciousness. A face hovered above me, etched with moonlight and shadows. Dark eyes peered at me, familiar and unknown, intense and fathomless. A face so handsome it was almost ethereal stared at me in shock. A lock of curling dark brown hair fell across one blazing eye. Moonlight shone on a metal piercing embedded in a nose that was framed above masculine, full lips. A clipped goatee lent a harsh edge to an otherwise beautiful face.
Swirling tattoos of black, red and vibrant green were inked into his skin, from the top of his forehead, tracing his cheeks, down his neck and onto his chest. Hisbarechest that was contoured with solid muscle and vibrated with masculine heat. His beauty was the dark type that had the power to make women weep. Longing stirred within me. A longing I had no name for. Had never known before.
His fingers tensed over my shoulders. He leaned in close, his dark eyes widening, filling with a possession that sunk into my very centre.
“Mate.” One word, breathed from beautiful lips.
His fingers wove through my tangled hair, snagging in knots. Those gorgeous eyes roamed my face as though memorizing everything about me. I’d never been scrutinized like this, as if I was the most precious thing in the world. The realization stole every thought from my mind. I lay surrounded by him in complete and utter wonder, not quite understanding the comfort that warmed my heart.
His eyes dropped to the collar at my neck. Then to the crest Esoti had etched into the centre of the metal, branding me his possession. The pupils in those beautiful eyes shrank and the softness disappeared, as though the harsh wind had blown it away.
His gaze flicked back to mine, hard as flint. His fingers dug into my shoulder and his whole body went rigid over mine. I didn’t know what was worse: that the heat in his eyes was now gone, or that the harshness replacing it bordered on hatred.
Then he uttered one more word that sealed my fate, “Spy.”
Chapter Three
Dark Beauty stood with a grace that only shifters could achieve.
