Page 6 of Magic Hunted
“Enough. We’re not here to play games. Titan instructed us to bring you back to the stronghold should we find you.” The ends of Ashir’s mouth turned down. His gaze dropped to the forest floor as his shoulders tensed.
“You found me, but you don’t have to say I’m alive. Tell him you saw my body. Or parts of it. Tell him the piranha ate me,” I said. It wasn’t a far stretch. The piranha in the river were notorious. “There’d be nothing left of me but a hand or maybe a foot. It wouldn’t take them long to eat a puny woman.”
Savvas tilted his head, a soft smile playing on his full lips. “You might be slender but I wouldn’t want your curves to go to waste like that.”
Ashir sent Savvas a frustrated glance, before returning his focus to me. “Howareyou still alive?” Ashir shook his head. His light brown locs shifted over his massive shoulders, falling half way down his muscular back.
“Titan threw you out of the castle,” Dias said, the line between his brows merging with his frown.
“The water would have crushed your body falling from that height,” Savvas said. He ran his fingers through his shaggy hair curling with the humidity, as though the thought of me falling was distressing.
“It wasn’t fun, that’s for sure.” I moved from one foot to the other and winced when my cracked ribs pulled. Ashir’s gaze dropped to my chest and the bruising that was revealed when my shirt lifted, then to the oozing gash on my thigh.
“You’re hurt.” Ashir stepped toward me. A lifetime of avoiding touch and the unnatural way I responded to them made me kick backwards, the water sloshing over my stomach. I drifted backwards into deeper water.
Ashir crouched on the bank, his light blue eyes burning. “I’m sorry, whoever you are, but we have no choice. Titan would know our lie if we were to leave you here.”
I licked my chapped lips, glancing over my shoulder where the water churned in angry waves. “He’ll torture me before he kills me.”
“She’s right. You know he will. We have to help her, brother,” Savvas said, walking up to stand next to Ashir.
Ashir hung his head, fists clenching. The decision didn’t rest easy on them. I was nothing if not a realist and they had no choice. I inched back, letting the water lift my body. The waterfall it was. If they saw me go over, they wouldn’t need to lie to Titan because itwouldkill me. The prospect of dying twice in one day wasn’t pleasant, but I had no choice.
“Can she keep a secret if we do?” Ashir said. His eyes momentarily glowed and a muscle ticked at his temple, but they had more than just me to consider. If they didn’t bring me back, Titan would take out his rage on the panthers. It was me, a female they didn’t know, versus hundreds of shifters in their pack.
“I’m the best at keeping secrets,” I wheezed. If they knew who and what I was, they’d know that was true.
But it would also mean their instant distrust. Their understandable disgust. They would gladly return me to Titan on hate alone and call it a good day’s work, and I would deserve all that and more.
“How many secrets do you keep?” Dias asked, his glass-green eyes gleaming in the semi-darkness. They were asking if they could trust me. I already knew about the network they used to steal people away from Titan. I also knew if they tried to save me, Titan would find out and would kill them on sight.
My hand lifted to reach for them, something overwhelming stirring inside me. I clenched my fingers, bringing my fist to my chest to stop myself. My heart cracked against my ribs, fighting the strain on my lungs. The urge to touch them was too strong. Too potent. It had to mean only one thing. No amount of secrets or trust were worth a second of my touch. Not for them. The price was too high.
I lifted my hips and pushed against the river stones under me. Water lifted my body, the current catching hold of me. Ashir’s eyes widened and his body tensed because he read what I was going to do.
“No!” I cried out as Ashir lunged at me. Dias and Savvas were quick to follow.
Three sets of hands closed around me. Luminous golden green light exploded inside my skull, hazing my vision and deafening my ears.
The grimoire awakened inside me for the very first time.
Agony speared through me as my bones cracked and lengthened, my joints shredded apart to rejoin misshapen bones, my muscles tightened and morphed into something other.
My jaw dislocated, my nose lengthened into a snout. Whiskers sprang from my cheeks and my ears lifted, becoming pointed. Sleek black fur grew from my body. My hands and feet became paws and claws. My scream became a snarling roar as water filled my mouth and filled my lungs.
Three panthers surrounded me, their deep growls echoing mine. The water tugged my new heavy body, dragging me toward the center of the current where it flowed the strongest.
My paws didn’t work the same way as my human body. My entire form didn’t work the same way as my human body. The current dragged me under, wrapping insubstantial fingers around my limbs. The world spun as I slammed into the same tree I’d found myself snagged in before. I dug sharp claws into the wood and dragged myself onto a sunken branch, surrounded by the cloying scent of alpha panthers.
Mates!
The ancient magic swirled within me, trembling and awakening for the very first time now my mates had finally found me. Our bond had stirred it to life. They couldn’t perceive it, but I’d signed their death warrants.
Titan would feel the pulse of that magic. The grimoire throbbed inside me, uncontrolled golden sparks erupting through my body. I concentrated on keeping them suppressed as best I could. Through the grimoire, Titan would find me and them.
Wolf territory.
I had to get there.
