Page 55 of Magic Claimed
Jarom offered me a toothy grin. He stripped out of his clothing that I hadn’t noticed he’d changed into while only giving me a robe. I wondered why he took his time and carefully folded his clothing, then realized he was doing it on purpose. He damn well knew how I reacted to his naked body. I growled under my breath. He smirked a reply before Changing into his dark brown wolf.
The guards had left the door open and I sprang free from the confines of the building and ran elated into the woods. Maybe I had needed to run and didn’t recognise it. It only made my anger turn from a simmer to a boil that Jarom was right - and that he’d goaded me into Changing.
In the distance, an owl hooted and the tangy scent of an animal marking its territory stung my nose. I forgot all about my human anger and followed the haphazard smell of a rabbit all the way to its burrow before leaping over damp leaves and fallen branches. My sight sharpened. I breathed in the crisp, clear forest air. My ears picked up the small sounds of animals scuttling away from my thundering paws.
My wolf huffed at her mate, her heart filling with joy. She ran next to him, fur against fur until we halted beneath the branches of an ancient tree. She scuffed the top of her head and neck against his so our scent would mingle. She whined and scampered about him, jumping and yipping with joy when his tongue lolled from a corner of his mouth and he battered her with his nose.
We tumbled together, me pushing him with my paws, before rolling away and snapping at his heels. He used his much larger weight and rolled on top of me, caging me under his legs. Then my wolf wanted to run again. She nipped at his heels and bounded into the night.
Her heart was light and filled with joy. A golden light rose from the ground, and tingles raced into her paws. She caught a familiar scent. One that connected to her heart. She yipped again at the scent of her mate.
She looked for Jarom’s wolf and together they followed the scent trail that wove with the golden line of earth magic. My wolf wanted this mate, as well as the one by her side, and yet there was still another missing. She would hunt all night and find him, and then she would mate them.
My paws locked on the ground and I slipped along the leaves. My legs trembled as I fought what my wolf considered to be a game, because this was no game. Jarom whined, pushing his snout against me. I stepped away, determined not to give my wolf any more control than she’d taken.
I heaved great lungfuls of air, clinging for control as we fought. I clenched my eyes closed, shaking my head. I wanted to Change back to my human form, but my wolf was determined to stay in her own skin. I tipped my head back and yowled my anger.
The underbrush rustled and a light red and grey wolf bounded close to us. Jarom spun towards the wolf, putting his body between it and me. I tried to see who it was, but he kept me behind him, growling long and low. This was not a growl of a Second to his inferiors, this was a bitter growl of anger, of warning.
Jarom charged the wolf, snapping at its paws, his lethal fangs flashing in the moonlight. His head dipped low, and he bared his fangs, feet spread, ready to spring through the air and attack.
The red wolf barked, the sound short, sharp and urgent but Jarom’s growl intensified. I tried to move around him, but Jarom backed into me, using his body as a barrier between the red wolf and I.
The aggression was all Jarom. I sensed no malice from the red wolf. I yipped at Jarom, angry that he was attacking a wolf I had no problem with, but his aggression was heightened and I didn’t understand why.
I leapt over Jarom, landing on four paws, and came up short. A glimmer of a golden flame was buried deep within her chest. A shout sounded close by, and footfalls crunched towards us from all sides. The red wolf yipped and disappeared through the underbrush with a flick of her bushy tail before the metallic points of crossbows appeared through the leaves.
Jarom’s growl intensified, echoed through the vale as Esoti’s black-uniformed soldiers stepped into plain view. I whined, coming down onto my haunches as blades were levelled at the both of us. I knew these soldiers. They were Esoti’s guards, and their Captain was Solis.
He was brutal. Corrupt. Dangerous. He believed in nothing but killing in Esoti’s name. Jarom’s wolf vibrated with tension. His claws dug into the dirt. The soldiers held their ground.
Solis sneered at Jarom, his dead eyes held no light. “Stand down, wolf.”
Jarom barked, the sound cracked through the vale like thunder. Branches whipped and a smattering of snow sprinkled on the ground.
“Where is the witch?” Solis said, as though our wolves could answer.
Jarom snarled, as one of the guards aimed his crossbow at me and fired. Mud sprayed as Jarom launched himself in front of me. The twang of the crossbow echoed in my ears as he ploughed into me, bowling me to the ground. His unmoving body pinned me to the ground.
I nuzzled Jarom with my nose, but he didn’t move. Only the slight rise and fall of his chest told me he was alive. The guards pressed closer, swords and crossbows raised, one tentative foot in front of the other.
“Now, female. Calm down and let’s look at you.” Solis lowered his weapon. Concern crossed his face before something more serious took its place.
One of the guards prodded Jarom with the sharp tip of his sword. Jarom let out a huffed breath. Solis knocked his sword out of his hand. “Stand down!”
I tried to scramble from beneath Jarom’s weight, but he was too heavy, his body too cumbersome. My paws slipped in the mud, finding no purchase. My heart thundered in my chest as I waged between Jarom and the threat of the Guards. If they took me to Esoti, they would know I was a wolf, and that was something Esoti could not find out about.
A light grey wolf shot with silver burst into the clearing, his snarl vibrating through my body. Eike! One of the guards fell to his knees. A crossbow twanged into the leaves, narrowly missing Eike by a hair. A guard stepped toward Eike. I snapped at his leg, my teeth clicking on air when he moved back too fast.
Howls ripped through the valley as wolves broke through the underbrush, hackles raised, fangs bared, growling dark promises with the intent to follow through.
“Retreat!” Solis’s grave eyes took in the wolves. The guards turned on their heels, crashing through the forest, leaving the air filled with the taint of fear while Solis slowly followed them. Unlike his Guards, he never turned his back on us until he disappeared into the shadows.
Jarom’s pitiful whine was the only sound I heard as warm crimson coated my sides. A river of red clotted my fur as it ran from beneath Jarom’s body into mine. Magic and ozone burst over me, and Jarom’s naked human body toppled off me. He gripped his chest. Blood flowed between his fingers, dark and red and bleeding his life away before my eyes.
I didn’t realize I’d Changed until I put my human hands over his trying to stem the blood, but it kept pouring from between his fingers. My vision wavered through tear-filled eyes.
“No, Jarom. No!” How could he have been so stupid? Nobody stood against Esoti’s guard and won. He’d put himself directly in the firing line. He was hurt because of me. Because he tried to save me.
