Page 8 of Locked

“Little Wynn.” I give her a nod, my voice gravelly from the smoke coursing through me.

My words seem to knock her out of her shock because her arms cross against her ample chest as her eyes roam over my body from head to toe. She’s confident, not attempting to hide her perusal of me in any way. I don’t move a muscle, soaking in the attention like a man starved.

“Hmm, so you are real, dog boy?” She smirks, her heart rate gaining speed while she watches the fire in my eyes flicker. She must remember me from her nightmare last night. Interesting.

“My name is Pyro,” I respond, biting back a laugh at how cute defiance looks on her. She drops her arms from her chest and walks closer, her eyes staring into mine in a way that feels like she's looking directly into my soul, or lack thereof.

“Well, Pyro, what’re you doing outside my room? I have dealt with enough assholes today, and my patience is low.”

I grab her shoulders and spin her so her back is to the wall before pushing her into it with force. My arms cage her in, bracing the wall on either side of her face while I watch her attempt to regain her composure. Her eyes close for a moment while she pulls in deep breaths, centering herself before looking up at me with those ice-blue eyes. The pull I have toward this girl is so strong, as if it's physical, like my body craves to be close to hers.

In all my years, this has never happened, a pull like this toward another being. The strong need to protect her. To fuck her. To breed her. I didn’t think it was possible, but coming face-to-face with her in the flesh like this and having her body so goddamn close to mine… There is no doubt in my mind, she is fated not only to those little pricks but to me too.

I lean in, inhaling her sweet scent, the mix of Wynn herself and the lust pouring from her, forcing my cock to thicken in my jeans. The barbells rub painfully against the zipper with each movement, and the fire burning through my veins gets warmer by the second.

“You need to stay out of the woods, and preferably inside the walls of the Academy. You’re a defiant little thing, I can see that clear as day, but for fuck’s sake, please just listen,” I growl out, my control over my hellhound form slowly slipping.

“I have somehow managed to see you in a dream. Once. Why the fuck would I listen to someone I have never actually met? Now, Pyro, leave before I slice my blade across that pretty fire tattoo you have on your throat and watch you bleed to death.” She laughs before ducking under my arms and into her room, slamming her door once she’s inside.

Attempting to take deep breaths, I storm down the hall, my combat boots falling heavy on the timber floors. The need to get back into the woods and shift is burning through me like a fire licking at the surface of my skin, threatening to rip right through it.

As soon as my feet hit the dirt, my hellhound form takes over, lighting my entire body on fire and morphing into my more primal state. I take off across the clearing and into the woods, finding my prime position to watch over her through her window.

CHAPTER SIX

WYNN

Ilockthedoorquickly and fall back against it before taking in the carnage in front of me. Clothes are strewn across every surface with claw marks marring the timber furniture, and my desk has been completely broken in two, with my laptop in pieces on the floor below it covered in glass and wax from my favorite candle.

My hand skates along the claw marks on my dresser, sinking into the deep gauge and sending a shiver down my spine. It looks like an animal has torn through my room, but my gut feeling is telling me something different. It's almost like I can still feel their presence here, regardless of the fact that I’m completely alone, and that thought excites the hell out of me.

Making a start on cleaning the space for the second day in a row, I slowly pick up each article of clothing off the floor, finding slashes in some of the things I have worn most recently. Within half an hour, the dresser is put back together, and all the clothes that do not need to be fixed or cleaned are neatly packed away.

All except my panties.

Every single pair that I own is missing, nowhere to be found, solidifying that this wasn't an animal ripping through my room. Well, at least, I don't think they are animals of any kind. My mind has been buzzing thinking of what they could be. Based on the books and movies, both of them are something supernatural, but what exactly, I don't know.

I want to be mad, I want to hope I can rip whoever took them to pieces, and I want to think they should be begging for the mercy of my blade slicing along their corded throats, but I don't. As I look around at the utter destruction of my room, my body feels more alive than it has in years.

Walking over to the window, I take in the beautiful view. The sky is a dusky orange and grows darker by the second as the last of the light disappears. The dense woodland has already started to spread a fine mist along the forest floor, creeping out into the clearing between the school and the trees. Out of the corner of my eye, I see a faint blue glow in the darkness.

It takes all of me to not put on a coat and walk down there to see what it is, but after the day I’ve had, it’s probably best to try and rest rather than put my life on the line traipsing through a dark forest where God knows what's lurking in the shadows.

Luka, Bale, and Pyro have very distinctly colored eyes, with none of them being blue or cool-toned in the slightest. I want to know more about the three of them, to push their buttons a little to see if they snap, they draw me in. Their darkness pulls at the dark little parts of my soul, but even I have some self-preservation, and going down there after a warning like I just had seems like a death wish.

PYRO

I stalk along the tree line in my hellhound form, my heavy feet snapping the branches with every step and echoing throughout the quiet woods. After tearing through the clearing earlier, I had almost expected a visit from the twins. I’m glad when I don’t see them because I don’t have time for their bullshit tonight when I can sense there is another of my kind out here.

It’s hard to be agile when you’re the size of a grizzly bear and lit on fire from the inside out. Smoke pours from my fur with every step, hitting the cool mist that covers the forest floor and mixing together, creating white, swirled patterns in the night air.

I pad closer to the edge of the clearing once I see her shadow moving behind the thin, black curtain of her window. I watch as her curvy little body leans down to blow out her candle before she hops into bed.

The memory of her sweet ambrette scent sends a shiver down my spine; the need to be closer to her winning out against attempting to talk to the assholes yet again.

Before I’m able to enter her dream, a twig snaps from behind me. My body whips around to face whoever it is–another hellhound out to hunt the trio. “Lucian,” I snarl, baring my teeth.

He’s smaller than me and has a ragged, dull charcoal coat that's blurred by his blackened smoke. I roll my shoulders back, preempting the fight that will likely be thrown my way. Lucian is a lowly hellhound, but he’s scrappy, and I don’t have the time to be out here injured and trying to heal while she’s at risk.

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