Page 36 of A Fate In Moonstone

“Fuck orders. I told you we shouldn’t have come into these woods. We should have waited till she—”

The tallest soldier was snatched into the shadow of a tree by long furry, fingerlike claws.

“Shit. Gray!” The lone man in armor stepped closer to me but then realized I’d stab him if he took another step. Torn between a beast and me, he ran for it.

He only got four steps in before a massive creature standing on two legs grabbed him by the throat.

I stared, frozen. Breathing wasn’t an option anymore.

This had to be Rune.

If the nearly eight-foot furry black wolf standing on two feet in front of me wasn’t the prince, then I was fucked.

The beast snarled. Light from the full moon illuminated every small detail from the blood dripping off its sharp teeth, the bulging muscles under soft looking fur, and three scars on the right side of its face.

Rune.

He roared into the face of the soldier. Sharp claws wrapped around the red helmet, dagger-like nails digging into flesh as he peeled it off, exposing the petrified male beneath.

“Ah—” His screams were silenced by a set of powerful jaws snapping his head from his body.

I gasped, and the werewolf bared its teeth at me. Icy blue eyes narrowed, and the body in his claws was thrown ten feet away. The trunk of the young tree snapped from the force of the armored male slamming into it.

“Rune,” I whispered as the werewolf took an earth-shattering step, then another.

I scrambled back, finding resistance against the trunk of the tree.

“Rune. It’s Sapphira.”

The beast snarled and stopped six inches from me. A thick tail swished behind him, and I exhaled slowly. This had to what Celestine was talking about. I’d hunted Rune in the woods and needed to show no fear.

“Sapphira.” My voice shook even as I raised my head to look the beast in the eye.

A massive snout and teeth lowered. Rune’s hefty breaths puffed against my face, then my collarbone.

Those violent claws wrapped around me, my heart thundering my chest, keeping me still, as his wet snout pressed against my neck.

Thick fur covered my face, but not before I saw his pointed ears flattening. That was a good sign, right?

I closed my eyes, letting the beast do his thing, that nagging sensation in my head, my core called to me.

A flash of polished fingers touching a furry chest. The earth shaking. Then…

The images vanished and overwhelming sensations, a trembling in my hands to reach out and touch Rune propelled me forward.

Nothing happened at first. His hot breaths paused against my skin.

Then his bones started cracking.

Chapter Twenty-One

Rune howled and stumbled back. The cracking jerked his limbs and his back. Then it stopped.

The beast panted, his head low.

“I’m sorry, I don’t know—” Finding the words to apologize was impossible. I don’t even know what happened or if I caused him pain.

The werewolf steadied himself. Blue eyes lifted my way.