Page 78 of Claimed By Shadow and Blood
Shit! Not now!
Its toll was deep and resonant, loud enough to rattle my ribs. The air shifted again, sharpening like broken glass. I tasted copper and something foul, like mold and hot dirt and garbage.
I pressed my forehead to the floor and tried to breathe. The pain dulled, then spiked again, crawling under my skin in waves. The magic surged again, pulling the shift forward with another violent jolt. My legs bent in the wrong direction, and I yelled, my throat raw. My vision went black at the edges.
Red eyes opened in the darkness around the mountain, some seemingly in the air itself.
I froze, half-shifted and shaking as my body fought to continue, my wolf form pulling at my human shape.
Stay in the circle. That was all I had to do. For however long this took. Then the rescue would happen.
A new sound cut through my pain-filled haze—the unmistakable splash and gurgle of water. My ears, now partially pointed and sensitive, twitched toward the mountain. The well. Water was bubbling and rushing at intervals. Was there perhaps some sort of pool beneath the well, and a spring or a pump that was drawing on it?
My throat constricted painfully. How long had it been since I'd had water? The prison guards had given me enough to survive, but never enough to satisfy, and I’d shared what I had with Elias. My tongue felt swollen, my lips cracked. The sound of water filling the ancient well sent a desperate wave of need through me.
"Water," I gasped, the word barely audible.
The shift surged forward again, my body twisting as fur rippled across my skin in waves. I bit down another scream as my spine realigned with a series of sickening cracks. The thirst intensified with each spasm, my wolf's instincts amplifying the need.
My wolf pushed even harder, and my spine popped into place as fur finally rolled over my body. My claws cracked out of my fingers, and my snout formed, wet and burning. The final wave hit like fire in my lungs.
I collapsed on my side, panting, still in the circle. Barely.
The wind howled louder above me, dry and gritty now, cutting at my skin like a thousand tiny blades.
My wolf rejoiced at being free once more as I lay on my side and gulped in the air. My tail brushed the edge of the circle.
I blinked, finding that my eyes burned just as much in wolf form as in human. How long until the rescue?
Movement flashed at the edge of my vision. The sound of feet hitting the ground echoed to my right. I jerked my head in that direction and saw someone tall, wearing all black. The attacker swiped a black blade in the direction of my neck.
I lunged, and my teeth sank into flesh, bone crunching. Blood flooded my mouth, coppery and sweet as the man screamed in agony and dropped his weapon. He tried to jerk his arm from my mouth, but I bit to the bone and held on.
A part of me hated doing it, but this man had come here to kill me. I’d be foolish to let him get away.
Jerking my head, I ripped a large piece of his flesh and pushed him out of the circle. I glanced at the dagger, wanting to hide it in case I needed it later, and noticed an iridescent green color on the blade.
“Youbitch!” the attacker spat, his face red, before charging at me again.
All regret left me. He wanted me dead at all costs, and he was just like the guards who’d beaten and mistreated me.
He didn’t have control of his right hand after the damage I inflicted, so I jumped onto his chest and knocked him to the ground on his back, then chomped on his other forearm. The bone gave way with a sickening crack. I bore down with my jaws, savage satisfaction flooding through me as tendons and muscles tore beneath my teeth.
The assassin's scream echoed off the cavern walls, high and desperate. “Let go! Let go! I was just following orders.” He struck at my back with his legs but missed.
I snarled and bit deeper and twisted.
“Let go, you bitch! Don’t you know mercy?”
Mercy? Like the mercy shown to me in that prison cell? Like the mercy shown to the king?
I released his mangled arm and pulled back, lips curled over my teeth in a snarl that rumbled from deep in my chest. Blood dripped from my muzzle as I crouched low, my claws digging into his chest.
Fog rose around him, and he shuddered as he tried to pull a silver pendant from his tunic. Soft silver light shone from the vial of liquid set inside, and the chain strained as he held it fast. "Get back!" he screamed hoarsely.
Tired of this game, I lunged and sank my teeth into his neck. He whimpered as I jerked my head to the side, ripping out his throat.
I pulled back, and the chain of his pendant snagged on my teeth. The vial struck the stone. It shattered, and a bright floral scent like freesia sparked in the air, then dissipated. He went limp, and the ground around us swelled and seethed with shadows and dark fog like an oncoming tide, curling and rolling. A stinging sensation cut across my hindquarters and tail, where it touched me.
