Page 46 of Throne of the Wolf Queen

Pablo.

I shoved through the densely packed trees. My fists clenched as I tore open my core, scrambling inside, awakening the gifts. I almost screamed as I prised them apart. The threads trembled against my rage. Above, a tawny owl hooted, seeking her mate. I called her, sensing her annoyance before she obeyed, fluttering through the trees, warning me I was headed away from the wolf. Bristling, she cautioned me against the thunder of my boots. Cursing under my breath, I slowed my steps.

‘It’s a feisty fucker.’ My blood chilled at the low voice. ‘Why don’t we just kill it? It’ll still bring a ’fol in.’

Hunters. Gods, how I despised them. If I ever got my crown back, I’d disband the whole corrupt organisation. Every run-in I’d had with them told me they were nothing but a collection of mercenary charlatans, masquerading as heroes in return for coins. And now they had Pablo. His fear threatened to overwhelm me. I closed my eyes. Focus. Hawk was too far away and my gifts ran on chaos, but without the damned Deviant, I had to force my will on them. Hawk probably remained in a snoring heap. I rolled my shoulders and sent out slivers of my silver thread into the night. The creatures were reluctant. Opening my eyes, I crept forward, dug my nails into the rough bark of a thick tree. If Evella smiled on me, then I’d have a corpse or two to practice on soon enough.

Peering through the trees, hazy silhouettes shifted. Definitely two of them. No – three. My blood roiled as one broke away from the group, stalking towards a mangled mess hanging from a tree. A sharp, pained yelp came out.

My wolf.

I closed my eyes, fighting the urge to race out from the security of the trees and tear them to shreds. The wolf writhed, yowling, a tangle of grey limbs protruding through a net hanging low from a branch. I cricked my neck and begged the animals of the night to come to my aid. Above me, the soft sound of the owl and her mate’s wings crackled. Twigs crunched on the blanket of fallen leaves as foxes closed in. My eyes flew open, a grin spreading, as the silver threads complied. Wolves, sharing my ire at the capture of one of their own, rushed towards me on silent paws.

I heaved in a deep breath as Pablo yowled again. ‘Let’s see how these hunters fare when they become the⁠—’

My words were lost in a silent scream. The creatures scattered as my fear, my pain, sliced into them. My legs buckled as a hand circled my throat; thick fingers dug into my neck. Gasping, I slunk against a hard, wide body.

Breath, warm and cloying, met my now-frozen cheek. ‘Don’t know what game you’re playing, witch.’ A guttural sob escaped my lips as the hunter I had failed to notice dragged the dagger from my waist. Blood, hot, spluttered, cascading down my tortured side. ‘But you should always be aware of what’s going on behind ya.’

He threw me forward, my knees crashing as quaking fingers clutched my side, desperate to staunch the crimson. Pablo thrashed. His bindings biting into his skin. The world darkened even further as the hazy boots invaded my eyeline.

A fist gripped my hair, hauling me up, the action splitting my already torn side. Pale blue eyes, a sneering white face and the cropped dark hair of one of the hunters focused for a heartbeat, before my vision shattered.

‘Who’s this?’ he said, letting go. My cheek slammed against the ground, my fingers slipping as, sobbing, I reached for my wolf. Shivers racked me as Pablo roared. All I could offer him was a fading ribbon, a final pathetic scrap of comfort.

‘Fucking witch.’ Boots stepped over me, approached Pablo. ‘She was up to somethin’. Don’t know what, though. Think that wolf’s hers.’

The hunters laughed as my vision flickered out, my chest heaved, fighting to drag in air.

‘Just fucking end her, will ya? Bloody noise she’s making is doin’ my head in.’ A woman’s voice. Gods, she sounded so far away. A sob racked my shuddering body. I’d failed Pablo. I’d never see Matthias again. My shattered mind grasped his face, his smile. I sobbed as the memory of his lips was stolen by the pain. The hunter crouched down, and I clung to the memory of Matthias’s touch as he unsheathed a dagger. The world unthreaded as the cold, sharp tip pressed against my fading pulse. The hunter sniffed, shuffled closer.

I let out a ragged breath, stifled the fear as I braced for the cut that would send me to Evella’s side.

It never arrived.

The hunter slumped, eyes wide, blood oozing from his quivering lips. His shocked face lay inches from my own. He expelled a final, hot breath. Short screams split the night. A hand slammed over my wound and I cried out. But then warmth spread across me, through me. My shudders faded, my lungs filled and I cracked my eyes open. A sob of relief escaped me as Pablo ravaged a twitching hunter. Something glinted, catching my eye. I dragged myself onto my knees, wincing as the cut knitted together. Groaning, I suddenly understood how deep the knife had cut me. My mind struggled to hold together the fragments of the scene within that too-dark glade. But I shivered at the realisation that a man stood behind me.

A man with gifts beyond the scope of reality.

The blade, that was what had glinted, sliced through the neck of the final hunter. Blood sprayed, spurted as they fell in a heap, and Pablo, his maw stained, leapt from the hunter he’d devoured to the newly fallen corpse.

The violet threads within shivered before retreating. Even with so much death in the glade, they feared the man, if that’s what Hawk truly was, the sharp angles of his face slicing through the dark.

‘Hawk?’

He whistled, and my stomach churned as Pablo ripped flesh from the hunter, spat it to the ground and, limped over. Swallowing, I placed my fingers tentatively over my still-tender wound. My pulse spiked as I found nothing but clotting blood. The seam of my tunic slashed, whereas the skin beneath was smooth, whole.

I furrowed my brows as Hawk crouched down, taking Pablo’s extended paw. Gilded healing magic, so similar to my sister’s, trickled from his fingers. Pablo licked his rough hand in thanks before turning his amber eyes to me.

My gaze wandered to Hawk as he wiped the blade on a fallen hunter. Here was a man who possessed more gifts than any Anomaly I’d ever known, ever read about. As a Deviant, I was as rare as the prized shards of Vyrium. Glesni had admitted to possessing an unheard-of third gift.

But this man…

Could I even recall how many gifts ran through his veins? Pablo returned to my side. Even the comfort of his fur curled within my fingers couldn’t ease my trembling as Hawk raised that damned bottle to his lips, took a long drag before meeting my gaze.

‘What…’ I cleared my dry throat. ‘By Evella’s gifts, what are you?’

Something flashed within his eyes as he lifted the blade, raised it before me, the flecks of Vyrium glinting as the first flush of dawn spilled through the skeletal canopy.