I nodded before I threw my sword straight at the demon, piercing it through the forehead, sending it backwards to the ground, lifeless.
My flames retreated to me as another shapeshifter I hadn’t seen appearing out of the fog suddenly attacked from the side, claws wide, maw open.
Malakai’s arm snapped out, threads spearing through its torso like a dozen lances.
“Ah, ah.” He sighed, yanking it backwards and slamming it into the sand. “No biting.”
He didn’t even look at it as it stopped twitching, he only watched me as I arched a brow at him. “You know I can fight,” I muttered, stepping shoulder-to-shoulder with him.
“Mm.” His hand brushed my hair back, threads swirling like a second skin around me. “Let them try getting past me first.”
“What happened to me not needing a guard dog?” I asked, cocking a teasing brow at him.
His fingers brushed blood away from my cheek. “Never said youneededguarding, but I can’t help wanting to protect my treasure.”
Another wave of demon silhouettes approached in the mist, bigger, nastier, no longer playing around.
I hunched down and pulled my sword out of the dead shapeshifter and swung it to the side, making the black ichor splash against the grey sand.
Malakai smiled like this was foreplay.
“Shall we, kitten?”
CHAPTER
11
We were barely standing.
All panting, legs shaking, fingers trembling. How many demons had we fought off? I wasn’t sure, but our clothes were covered with black ichor, along with some of our own blood spilled.
“We… made it?” Nate said through rough breaths, studying our surroundings.
We had reached a forest line, but it carried the same aura as the rest we’d seen here. The trees were dead, with dark bark that had rotted long ago, dry and bare branches spreading like skeletal fingers towards the sky.
“It’s the Whispering Woods,” Lionel murmured.
“What?” The color faded from Faelin’s face.
“Great, as in the one used to scare little kids from wandering out alone?” Nate sighed, placing a hand on each side of his hips. “This place couldn’t be more joyful and inviting?”
“It’s only stupid stories,” Eve snorted, moving up to Lionel’s side.
“And where do stories come from, I wonder?” Malakai mused as all heads turned towards him.
“I heard that people who enter… never come back,” Faelin said, her voice shaking slightly, but even so, she straightened, readying herself.
“Stop, we’re not going to get trapped.” Eve snapped, her jaw tense.
“She’s right, what if there’s a secret paradise inside?” Ashley raised her voice cheerfully, cutting off the tension.
“That’s not what I—” Eve began but simply shut her mouth and shook her head.
“I like her thinking; optimistic,” Jaden chuckled.
“Well,” Faelin hesitated. “Perhaps you do, but I feel like she’s not taking the situation seriously.”
Silence.
