I scurried to my hands and knees, quickly shoving myself back between them before Theo could be hurt. If I had to hold onto my mate like a fucking koala to keep us both safe Iwould.
I struggled to move with them, squeezing myself between the chomping jaws and claws and bodies twice my size. Theo bellowed at me to move, but Iwouldn’tbe doing that. If he didn’t want me swinging an axe at people, he’d have to deal with me helping in a way that did come naturally to me.Sheer willpower.
We were a mangled tumbleweed of blood and body. Every movement was a blur of flesh and pain was coming in frequent, non-fatal blows. As much as those hits hurt, Dr. Gable’s top guard must’ve known better than to kill me in a skirmish. As long as I involved myself, he shouldn’t take any deadly swings, lest it accidentally bemythroat that gets clawed out.
“Vivian, leave!” Theo roared.
“Can’t do that, baby!” I coughed as I took a punch straight to the kidney. I felt more like a punching bag wedged between them than a person. My world spun. I was too disoriented to be more than a determined obstacle.
“Vivian, I swear to fuck—!”
There was an ear-piercing shriek from outside of our struggle.
We froze, all turning our heads toward the sound.
What happened? I couldn’t see anything more than the vague figures of the interlopers awaiting instructions. Night had fallen since we’d been tackled from the steps, caking us in darkness.
Another scream. The pop of a gun firing.
Theo’s arm wrapped around my waist, pulling me with him as he took a cautious step back. A full-blown panic was rapidly erupting in my field. Screaming and shooting doubled by the second as more fell into the same terror. Whatever was out there was scary enough to make our enemies forgetallabout us.
I only saw vague shapes thrashing around in the dim haze.
“Voss!” The shout barely cleared the commotion.
My eyes followed the Lychan-Quadmos who we’d been fighting as they ran towards the one-horned silhouette of Dr. Gable. It was kind of pathetic, the way the Hybrid scooped Gable and Ponytail off their feet and tossed them each over a shoulder before running away.
“He’s going to run!” I gasped, attempting to step forward against Theo’s hold.
“Let’s go back to your cabin, Viv,” Theo’s deep voice was soft but deep enough to carry over the high-pitched screams.
He started pulling me with him as he slowly retreated back towards the cabin. I struggled against his hold, blood, sweat, and rain slipping between our bodies.
“What do you mean ‘let’s go back’?!”
I twisted in his arms, finding his eyes fixed on the mass of darkness swallowing everyone around us. I may not be able to see what was happening, but something in his expression told me he could. I stilled and listened closer. There was a disturbing number of groans, crunching, and squelching noises.
A shadow grew, running towards us. Someone emerged from its dark cloud, sprinting for his life. He blubbered incoherently; his words lost in the grotesque chorus filling the night air.
It was only once the person was a few feet away that I saw the white, antlered skull of a nocturnal grove beast tower over him, biting down on his shoulder and bringing him to the ground. Theo took yet another cautious step back withme, distancing us from the gurgles and tearing of predation happening at our feet.
Looking up, I could suddenly recognize the white skulls and jagged antlerseverywhere—the disorienting haze of darkness was their horde’s mist. Night had fallen, and the largest monsters of this forest had left their groves in search of dinner. And since collectively deciding I was better left uneaten, they had full access of the field. Well… not quitefullaccess.
“To the cabin,” I nodded in agreement to Theo’s insistence.
He was right, being in the middle of this was asking for trouble. My forest pets were still wild animals, and they were in a feeding frenzy. Now was not the time to test just how much they recognized me.
We breathed evenly and took slow, nonthreatening steps back to the border of blood-and-herb charms.
As soon as we passed through the line of stakes, I felt a wave of relief pass over me. Wedged between the death left in my cabin and the death happening in my field, there was a small sliver of near-peace to decompress in. The gore wasalmostout of sight,nearlyout of mind and we were together. The day’s battle was over. Our enemies were either being eaten in the misty shadows or retreating into the deadly forest. We survived.
I turned to Theo and wrapped my arms around his waist, breathing him in. He was here with me and alive.It was okay. Everything would be okay. I didn’t know if I wanted to laugh, scream, or cry.
“Are you hurt?” Theo asked, a knuckle tenderly brushing down my neck.
“I don’t feel great, but I think I’m in one piece.” I lifted my chin to gaze up at him, not minding the strain it put on my neck. He was glorious in his full feral height. “You?”
“I’m okay. Butyou might need to test if you can reattach something severed,” he laughed softly, stroking my cheek affectionately, as if I was more beautiful than that statement was horrifying.
