The others hesitate, but only for a moment. Even Ellie pulls backwards, her hand slipping from mine as she puts distance between us. I feel suddenly cold without her there, isolated in a clearing that's gone deathly silent except for the wet, ragged breathing of the pinned wolf.
Once they've all moved away, leaving me alone in a small circle of trampled grass and blood-speckled leaves, Kyrian turns to me. "Tell him you are safe and call him off,” Kyrian says quietly.
I stare at him, incredulous. "Why would he?—"
"Just do it.”
I swallow hard, looking at the massive black wolf still holding Reece's throat between his jaws. Logan's eyes are wild, feral. Scary as hell.
Familiar.
The scars on my face tingle.
I shake off the strange deja vu and do as Kyrian asks. "Logan?" I call uncertainly. Does the wolf form of Logan know its name? "Logan, let him go. Please?"
The wolf's ear twitches, but his jaws remain locked.
“If he finishes that kill, he will be put down,” Talyn says, though it sounds like he'd like to see that outcome whether Logan finishes the kill or not.
“Again,” Kyrian murmurs, ignoring Talyn. “Tell him you are safe.”
“Lie, you mean?”
“Wolves live in the now,” says Kyrian.
Well good for them. I take a deep breath, pushing aside the panic as I force myself to focus fully on the wolf, reminding myself that he did save me from Reece’s blade.
"Logan," I whisper, not just saying his name but reaching out from my soul.
Golden eyes swing toward me, pupils contracting sharply. His jaw tightens, and I wince as fresh blood trickles down Reece's neck.
"I'm safe now,” I say urgently, tugging at the thread of awareness that stretches between us. “You protected me. That'senough." I swallow, opening my hands and body to show my whole self to him. “See. I’m alright.”
He blinks.
"Please," I add softly. "Let him go."
For one terrible moment, nothing happens. Then Logan's jaws relax. He steps back from Reece's prone form, blood staining his muzzle. The russet wolf scrambles away like the smart creature he is.
I’d like to do much the same. But instead I’m riveted in place as Logan pads right toward me. He stops inches away, his massive head level with my chest. He's close enough that I can feel the heat radiating from his body, smell the iron tang of blood on his breath.
My scars burn again, a phantom sensation that makes sense given that it was a wolf who’d left me with those. A black wolf with golden eyes and fur matted in blood. One who I would have sworn I’d felt a pull toward—right up until he mauled my face.
"Holy shit," Ellie whispers from somewhere behind me.
I don't dare move as Logan's fur brushes against my leg, warm and terrifying. Still, my body starts shaking despite myself. The wolf takes that in, then spins around and lopes on into the woods.
I exhale a breath that had been stuck in my throat, my knees threatening to buckle beneath me. Despite having wanted nothing more than to get away from the wolf, the clearing feels suddenly emptier, colder without Logan's massive presence.
"What the actual hell was that?" I murmur, not expecting an answer. And not getting one.
Kyrian slides his blade back into its sheath and turns to the kneeling patrol, finding Talyn. “You've just been promoted from scout patrol to honor guard. You are welcome." He jerks his head toward the main camp. "You will escort us in.”
Talyn glares but complies, rising with the careful dignity of someone trying to hide both pain and humiliation. The other members of the patrol, at least the ones that can walk unassisted, do the same.
"It goes without saying,” Kyrian continues with irritating nonchalance, “no one touches the humans. No one harms them. No one so much as looks at the humans. That includes everyone we have the pleasure of meeting between here and the command tent. Clear?"
“Clear,” Talyn says through gritted teeth.
