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"Whatever we're racing toward," Ark said, suddenly at Kheir's side and not nearly as out of breath as he was. "You get Maia out of there; glue yourself to her side."
Kheir nodded, not trusting his wheezing breath to produce a voice.
"Azrail, you and I will fight whatever beast has taken Bryon," Ark added, and Kheir was surprised to hear no pushback from Az. No complaint that the Sapphire Knight was the one in charge here. Maybe it was a relief for Azrail to be able to share the responsibility. Or maybe he was just too out of breath to voice a protest.
Kheir's heart seized when Maia and Jaromir veered around a bend, her silver glow out of sight.
Kheir shoved through the trees, blindly pushing branches aside and ignoring where they whipped his chest and shoulders. He only breathed again when he was around the bend and the bright silver of Maia's light shone ahead of him again. Beside him, Ark let out a slow breath, matching his relief.
Howls cut through the silence, butmuchcloser than before. Kheir shuddered, a deep, instinctive fear warning him to run as fast and far as possible. His fingers throbbed as fingernails lengthened to claws, all his fae senses heightened until he could hear every shift of Maia's body, every mournful howl of the wolves.
He flicked his frantic stare between the forest around them and Maia as he ran, so fast the air cut through his jacket, whistling in his ears. He'd forgotten how it felt to be so afraid. His torment in Vassalaer had been agonising, but he'd never sunk into this primal instinct, and it took him right back to his time with his father's army. It took him back to the smouldering ruins of Wylnarren, another wreckage caused by Ismene Delakore.
Maia's light flared wider than the narrow forest path, and Kheir dragged a steadying breath into his lungs when he realised what it meant: she was in a clearing. Likely where the creatures had dragged Bryon. They sounded like wolves, but were these the monsters who'd devoured Ilysen?
The idea of Maia being anywhere remotely near them pushed Kheir even faster, everything inside his head as still as the forest had been before Bryon vanished. Not because of them, he realised, but because of what creatures had grabbed their ally.
Maia gasped when Kheir's arm bound around her waist, pulling her back to the fringe of the clearing while he assessed the space with his enhanced vision. Maia was scanning the area, too, her breathing fast and body trembling with fury. He couldfeelher rage in his chest; if her body was a star, her soul burned like a black hole.
"Let me go, Kheir," she said, her voice deeper than usual.
"Ark and Azrail are handling it," he pointed out, struggling to hold onto his mate when she bucked and writhed. He squeezed his eyes shut against her blinding light, gritting his teeth as she threatened even his advanced fae strength. She was calling on her own enhanced strength, he realised, and ached at how guilt must be tearing her up over Bryon's disappearance.
"Everything's going to be okay," he promised her, but his skin prickled at the close proximity of danger.
He squinted through her light, watching Azrail, Ark, and Jaromir in jaguar form stalk through the clearing.
"There's nothing here," Ark said with impressive calm. "But the drag marks end in this spot."
Kheir scanned the space again, and his heart skipped as gleaming fireflies shone around the edges of the clearing. Grass rustled behind them, and Kheir wrenched away with Maia.
"Shit," Maia breathed, shuddering in his arms.
Kheir held her tighter, backing up to where the others had frozen in the middle of the clearing. Those weren't fireflies closing them in. They were eyes.
"Saints spare us," Ark murmured.
Kheir's nerves grated to hear the guard rattled. He realised why a moment later when the eyes moved, and he glimpsed the beasts they belonged to.
Wolves, yes, but somethinginfinitelymore dangerous. Not a regular animal, but something straight from myth. He stared at the closest one, saliva dripping from its sharp teeth—from all three of its heads.
