I’d heard tales of them in stories and had talked about them at length with Lord Lucien in previous months, but was unsure of their existence. Now I knew.
“Wargs,” I snarled. “Shifter spirits of the Unseelie, sworn to guard the Hidden King and his secrets, even beyond death. They’ve been following us ever since we entered the crystal cave.”
No wonder I’d lost their scent. Ghosts didn’t really have a smell, and if they did, they took it with them when they left. I surveyed the six males standing in front of the gate. I’d seen the stance many times, when wolvens were about to fight over a sorceress.
Emma summoned a battle orb and tossed it at the biggest warg. It sailed right through him without doing any damage, and exploded against the crystal wall. The warg merely growled in response.
“I can’t hurt it,” Emma said in astonishment. “What the hell?”
The wargs had their sights locked on me. They had no interest in Emma. Something became immediately clear. “You must stay out of this. This is my fight. The gate will open once I defeat them.”
“What!” Emma snapped. “You can’t do that! You’ll be killed!”
“I must. I shall prove myself as alpha, and dominate the others in order to show that I deserve entry. This is something I must do without my mate’s help. It is the way of the pack.”
“Ethan—”
“Stay back amongst the trees.They won’t harm you. They only want me.” I proceeded forward. I heard Emma’s footsteps as she retreated back, though they were reluctant.
“If they hurt you, I’m coming in there!” Emma shouted.
“You’ll do no such thing. Trust that I will win this fight.”
I faced the warg at the head of the group. He snarled at me— I showed my teeth back, ready to fight.
All six of them pounced on me at once. I bounded out of the way, and four of them crashed together in a heap of snarls. The other two were quicker. One went for my throat, and the other grabbed my leg. I felt their teeth sink in, and I let out a rough noise as I felt my flesh be torn between their fangs.
“Ethan!” Emma screamed, but I blocked out the sound of my mate’s cries as I shoved the nearest warg to the ground, breaking his hold on my neck. I kicked off the one who had my right front leg and leapt forward, pinning him to the ground. I stepped on his jaw to hold him down as I went for the jugular. As my fangs ripped it out, the warg gave a yelp and vanished on the spot, turning into nothing but black smoke.
The warg who’d gone for my throat was bigger than me, and was back on his paws. He charged at me, knocking me down with the bulk of his weight. He meant to hold me down, but I used my shoulder to shove him off balance. As he stumbled, I went for the throat again, and my fangs found success. I grabbed into his neck with vigor and ripped, turning the warg into nothing but a hissing vapor of smoke that faded into the air.
The other wargs had untangled themselves from the snarling pile they’d landed in and were circling me again. Instead of diving in all at once, one would attack, and then the other. My head was smacked to the side by a paw, and before I could retaliate, another warg would bite my haunches. I couldn’t get close before another warg bit my shoulder, and on and on it went. There were so many attacks coming from so many different angles I couldn’t be sure which warg was delivering them.
Frustration and rage drove me into a crazed stupor. I couldn’t defend myself, nor could I deliver an effective attack when they were taking turns going at me like this.
One of the wargs had noticed I was missing a back leg and went to kick out the other from under me. He succeeded, and I went sliding down to the ground. The harsh fall exposed my tender belly, and he dove in. I managed to get my paws underneath him and kick him off. He went sailing into a nearby tree, and I scrambled to get back on my feet.
It wasn’t in time, though. Three wargs landed on my back and began tearing my fur to shreds. I felt hot blood begin to course down my fur, and I gave a groan of pain as I felt the wargs mutilate my flesh.
One of the wargs bit down on my wing and pulled. I nearly passed out with the pain. It felt like he was going to tear it in two, and at that point, I lost control.
That same red fury overtook me until I turned into a wild animal. I completely exploded— my wings forced outward, knocking two wargs down against the snow and stunning them. I gave a hideous snarl as I pounced on the nearest warg and held him down. My fangs went for his belly, ripping out his innards. He gave a whine of pain before vanishing. I attacked his friend, raking my claws down his back until his spine was exposed. He yelped in agony, until he went silent as my jaws broke his neck.
I heard more snarls, barks and whines, but soon, everything became white and soundless. I ripped out the artery of another warg, and there was more blood, then evenmore. I knew the blood had to be coming from me, and somewhere, I felt pain, but I couldn’t truly care. There was so much death I wanted to revel in it, until it felt like this creature was who I truly was.
From far off, I felt a cool hand on my forehead, then someone whisper, “Ethan, calm down. It’s over.”
My whole body was shuddering. The red and white haze faded, and details came into view as noise came back into my environment. I saw Emma’s beautiful face, clear and steady. Her fingers were laced through my fur, stroking my ears. The wargs were gone, and we were alone.
I realized my teeth were still bared, and I was snarling. I hastily backed away, taking heaving breaths. Had I turned on her, too, and hadn’t realized?
“You’d never hurt me,” Emma said calmly. “Your destiny is to protect me. I’m not afraid of you.”
She was the only one, for I was afraid of myself. I took note of my condition. I was bleeding from several places, so much so that my white fur was stained red. I felt woozy from blood loss. I couldn’t put much weight on my right paw— a bad situation, as I was already missing one leg and this put me off balance.
Even so, I was alive, and I had defeated the wargs. That was what counted.
“What’s wrong with you?” Emma asked.
