Page 9 of Rejected By the Winter Wolf

It’s better that they forgot. That they don’t use the curse as a weapon against us.

But it doesn’t mean we don’t punish them for it all the same.

My wolf surges through the trees, angry at my line of thinking. We bound over logs and brush, scaring rabbits out of their hiding places. Our gazes linger on their retreating form, but we keep to our route.

Members of our pack join the run. I catch their scents and eradicate the witch’s blood from my nostrils.

A solution will come tomorrow, my wolf promises. For now, run with me.

He doesn’t often speak. Human thoughts are tiresome, never-ending things. I should know—I can’t seem to ever turn my mind off. For him to speak, to cut through my noise, means my thoughts are too loud.

The woods are dark, even with our enhanced sight. The moon is absent, cloaked in shadow. We’re more human than not, even shifted. The power balance swings in the demons’ favor.

Alpha, Griffin, one of my hunters, calls through the bond. I’ve caught a demon scent.

This close to our territory?

He shows me an image of where he’s loping.

My wolf’s hackles rise. We swing in his direction, our pace increasing until we’re flying. It’s a rush. Four wolves who joined me follow close behind, near silent on the pine-needle-padded forest floor. I catch up to Griffin, and the sweet, rotting scent fills my nose. He lets me take the lead.

Wolf shifters are one of the few beings who can kill a demon.

A witch’s bone knife, properly prepared, is another.

Wolves are naturally impervious to demon magic. The shadows and darkness demons fight with doesn’t control us as it does humans. They can’t slip beneath our skin and use us.

I slow to a walk and issue orders through our mind bond to the wolves around me. They split off, and Griffin stays with me. The demon is close. I see it move ahead of us, dragging something behind it.

Griffin whines, flattening himself to the ground.

I glance at him, confused, a split second before a blast knocks me backward.

Hot air.

Fire.

Diluted magic, my father booms in my ears.

It singes my coat, and I land on my side. The breath is forced from my lungs.

“Dogs,” the demon calls. His voice echoes through the trees. “You think you can so easily defeat us?”

There are more than one. The stars are suddenly blotted out, darkness descending rapidly. I force myself up and howl, rushing forward.

The least I can do is go out with the demon’s skin between my teeth. I break through the tree line and sprint forward.

But the demon has gone.

Now, a young girl sits in the clearing, surrounded by burned marks in the grass. She must only be eleven, twelve. Her eyes are pitch-black, and her hair moves around her head like she’s underwater.

She rises to her feet.

“You did not stop us from taking the Seer,” the demon says. It’s fucking creepy to see a child open her mouth, and a deep, rasping male voice emit from it. “We will continue to take over this world.”

The girl raises her hands. Another blast of fire comes at us, but I leap to the side.

Coral, one of my smaller beta wolves, rushes the girl. The witch lifts her hand and sends her flying backward. The taste of magic is potent, and my beta lands hard on her side. Fire licks at her fur.