Page 13 of Hunted By Wolves and Shadow
With my arms spread wide, I waited for her to unleash whatever clouded fate she was imagining for me.
Instead of attacking, Emi lunged for the cottage door, darting into the kitchen and grabbing the largest knife from the block on the counter where we’d prepared dinner together. Had that only been yesterday? She spun to face me in the doorway, stabbing forward in a sloppy, desperate motion.
She was yelling, cursing me out, but still…no magical attack.
“A knife? Really?” I dodged a wild swipe.
Was she so untrained that she didn’t know how to use her magic in a fight? She was old enough to have had annums of training by now, and she had the worst witch in all of Anterra as her grandmother to teach her.
I could run, leave her to fend for herself against Fenrir and any others drawn by the noise. I could escape to my woods and let someone else deal with the new witch. But I’d have to return to the enclave with my tail between my legs, and I’d chosen this responsibility. I wouldn’t abandon it now.
A snarling growl startled her, and I took my opening. My instincts were clearly still on the fritz because, instead of rushing to join the beasts prowling the woods, I ducked past her andclosed my arms around her from behind, restraining her. With my foot, I slammed the door closed, cutting off a long, low howl.
She fought me with everything she had. Everythingexceptmagic.
“Would you stop trying to kill me, witchling? You're going to hurt yourself.”
I should let her. I should end this. What messed up protective instincts made me want to save her when she was everything I hated?Sunbeams, she was the Ruby Witch's own blood!
Wait.
She was the Ruby Witch's blood.
And in her death the power will apply
To they whose hands shall shed the witch’s blood
What if Ruby’s death wasn’t enough? What if her curse lived on in her blood—in her kin?
Emi was bleeding from the fenriswulf’s attack. I could smell it, along with some of mine, hot and sticky over my heel. What if Emi’s blood was part of this?
Simply shedding the witch’s blood clearly wasn’t enough, but if Ruby’s death alone hadn’t been the key to lifting the curse, maybe her granddaughter knew what I was missing.
Okay, think…
First I had to stop her from trying to kill me long enough to get some answers. Then I had to stop myself from wanting to kill her before I could make use of her. Something told me the latter would be easier than the former.
Chapter 6
Emi
Ishould have run anywhere but here when that beast first chased me. Now I was trapped with an even worse threat. One who had gotten under my skin, made me think he was like me in some way—both of us alone and just doing our best—when all that time, he knew exactly what he had done. He was a monster, and he knew it.
Anger flared hot and white inside me.
Unfortunately, the bright haze of it had faded enough for me to realize the danger I was in. Reality was a cold shock.
Wolf had killed Grandma Ruby. Would he kill me, too?
Of course he will, you’re nothing but a loose end,my mind taunted me in Jade’s voice. Leaving me alive wasn’t an option. The man had admitted to murder. He couldn’t let me live.
As the fight drained out of me, Wolf’s arms loosened their grip around my torso. He didn’t let me go, but neither did he move his hands to my throat or wrest the knife from my grip and plunge it into my heart. He would, soon. Right?
“Are you done?” he grumbled in my ear.
I couldn’t answer. A choked sob lodged in my throat.
How had this happened?
