Page 38 of Destined to the Lycan
“Let me go!” I shouted while fighting in vain to free myself.
“Never, my sweet. Nothing, and no one—especially not those pathetic runes—can protect you from me,” he whispered in a voice full of threats and promises.
I screamed as his fangs sank into my neck. Liquid ice flooded my veins. Half a beat later, a veil of darkness descended before my eyes, and I went limp.
My skin tingled in that odd way it often did as you slowly emerged from a deep slumber. It took me a moment to realize that a threatening sound nearby had stirred me awake. My eyes snapped open, and I inspected my surroundings. To my shock, I was lying on a stone plateau by a cliff, surrounded by a dark forest a short distance away.
I couldn’t detect a single soul nearby, and yet the powerful sense of being observed by a predator gnawed at me. My head jerked up at a sudden flapping sound. My blood drained frommy face when I finally spotted the massive silhouette of a demon wolf circling overhead.
I glanced back at the ground beneath me, and I nearly fainted upon finding it bare, without the protective circle I should have drawn before facing Ranael. A savage growl overhead reclaimed my attention. My eyes locked with his, and I felt paralyzed when he dove towards me.
On instinct, I shot to my feet and attempted to flee. But I couldn’t outrun him, and there was nowhere to hide. The bare plateau extended for at least two hundred meters before the tree line began on the south edge. A steep rock wall bordered the eastern edge, and a deadly cliff ended the remaining sides. I couldn’t even attempt to draw a circle, not that I had anything to do it with.
Despite that, even as I ran, I tried to invoke his protection just like the Weaver taught me. But the demon wolf was too enraged. The shadow of his massive wingspan blocked the sun over me seconds before he would reach me. I dodged left. Although Ranael flew past me, he still managed to rake his vicious claws up my back.
A burning pain exploded between my shoulder blades, and I stumbled to the ground, screaming. Despite the excruciating pain, I pushed myself up and got on my knees. With powerful flaps of his wings, the demon wolf flew in a wild circle before heading back towards me. I tried to block him out of my mind. Gritting my teeth through the pain, I swiped my fingers over my wounds to gather my blood freely trickling out to draw a circle on the ground.
My heart was trying to pound its way out of my chest as I began reciting the protection circle spell. But the wretched beast dove again, interrupting me. I rolled to the side to avoid him, which took me partially out of the circle. Once more, Ranael inflicted another wound on me by raking my calf with his talons.I cried out and nearly fainted. He’d sliced me so deep I could see the bone through the cut.
Feeling faint and in agony, I once more knelt inside the circle and used more of my blood to repair the part of the circle I damaged while rolling out of the way. Feeling lightheaded, I rushed through the incantation. Without candles or all the proper reagents, I didn’t know how well the protection would hold, but it was all I had.
Or at least, all that I might have had if given a chance to complete it.
I barely had two words left to complete the incantation when the demon wolf slammed into me. It felt as if a ram struck me. I flew back a few meters and landed hard on the stony ground. The brutal impact on my lacerated back would have wrested another scream of agony from me had I not been winded from the force of the blow.
I never had a chance to release another scream. The demon wolf pinned my shoulders to the ground with both his massive front paws, then his snake tail repeatedly bit my neck and face. An atrocious burning sensation set my entire face and neck ablaze. My throat immediately shut down. I couldn’t breathe or emit any sound.
Ranael leaned forward and growled menacingly in my face before swiping his claws over my neck, slicing my throat open. Choking on my own blood, I watched him flap his wings. He ascended maybe three or four meters above me before opening his mouth wide. As a stream of fire rushed towards me, my last thought was for Remus.
We should have had more time together.
Chapter 9
Amara
Istartled awake, confused to find myself in a warm and comfortable woodhouse. Despite the horrible injuries I vividly recalled sustaining, I couldn’t feel any pain or discomfort anywhere in my body.
The joyous flames of a fire danced in the hearth. Gas lamps illuminated the room, giving it an almost dreamy halo. The pleasant scent of roasted nuts and hot cocoa tickled my nose. How my brain managed to register that this stove to my left was empty made no sense as my focus laid squarely on the otherworldly creature in front of me.
He slouched in an empire chair near the fireplace. He was beautiful in a terrifying way. His eyes—a deep and unsettling shade of red with the vertical pupils of a snake—stared at me with an intensity that made me want to squirm. Underneath his grayish blue skin, lightning-shaped stripes appeared to pulsate with a soft glow. Whitish-blue hair tumbled down to his clavicles in soft waves. It framed a haunting face, very humanin appearance—like his body—with a square jaw, plush lips stretched in a taunting smirk, and a proud nose.
He narrowed his eyes at me. His exquisitely long lashes cast a shadow, making him harder to read.
“Welcome back, Amara Sanni,” the stranger said in a purring voice.
It was just as haunting as his face, with an accent that didn’t quite qualify as British, but definitely not American. He straightened in his seat, his impressive abdominal muscles tightening for a split second. He was naked except for a white, Grecian skirt which fell to his knees, a golden belt, and Roman sandals laced up to the middle of his calves. If not for his unusual skin, he could have been one of the gods of the Olympus.
“Who are you? Why did you take me? How do you know my name? And where are we?” I asked in rapid fire, as I glanced around the room with that last question.
I hadn’t meant to respond that way, but my mouth just ran away with me.
Instead of snapping back at me, the stranger chuckled.
“So many questions,” he said tauntingly. “I am Lyall. A little bird told me about you. And this is my temporary home,” he added, waving at the house.
That he hadn’t answered why he took me didn’t go unnoticed. Although I intended to press him on that matter, I rejoiced that he was at least communicating in an unthreatening fashion. Forcing myself to speak in a non-belligerent or accusatory tone, I calmly pried further about recent events.
“You pretended to be Remus and then created that horrible illusion where I died, didn’t you?” I asked softly.
