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Cord had made a promise to an alpha he respected even though he knew Marcus would readily cut him down if he set a foot wrong. Cord sheathed one of his swords as he sent a fireball into the night.
Tell them to fall back,Cord ordered Tove. He didn’t wait for her acknowledgment, as he saw some of the wolves turn to look back and he sent forth his fire. It blazed from his hands, and any Lycan close to it leapt out of the way. Cord murmured his incantation under his breath as the heat blasted from his hands. His spell searched for the Drakhyn. He heard the screams, and soon the forest was lit up with the forms of burning Drakhyn.
Never one to miss out on a hunt, Cord and the Lycan closest to him gave pursuit to the Drakhyn who had been too far from his reach. They ran, they hunted, they killed. Sometimes he would stop and unleash the fire. In the early hours of the morning, when the daylight was lightening the sky, Cord stopped. He was exhausted. He knew he had overextended himself, but he also knew as he sent his senses searching, that there were no more Drakhyn amongst the trees. He felt Tove approach as he wearily brushed his hair from his eyes. She was in her Lycan form, and miraculously, she had a shirt covering her body. Where she got the clothing from, Cord did not know, nor did he need to ask.
“You did well,” Tove told him quietly as several of the wolves who had been by his side started dragging the Drakhyn to one spot in order for those who had fallen by Lycan means or by Cord’s sword, could all be burned in one pile.
“I need to go to where she was being held,” Cord said without looking at Tove. “Is there one here who can take me?”
“I can.” A dark-haired Lycan stepped forward. “Now or once you have rested?”
“Now. I do not want that place to see the light of the day, and the morning comes on me too quickly,” Cord told them quietly.
“I’m Taras,” the Lycan told him.
“Cord,” Cord said quickly. Then turning to look at Tove, he asked. “Are you coming with me?”
“I will stay and help with the clean-up. I will send for a Castor when I am sure the forest is clear,” Tove answered.
“It is clear,” Cord said grimly as he began to walk away with Taras. “Do you need to change form?” he asked the Lycan.
“I prefer my wolf form. Will you be able to follow?” Taras glanced at him. “You look like you’re ready to fall down.”
“Lead on,” Cord instructed brusquely.
“Castor?” Tove called. “Thank you, I should not have doubted.”
“You had cause.” Cord shrugged and then started to jog after the black wolf that led him through the woods to the nest where Marcus had found Zahra. It took them about an hour, and Cord was getting more agitated the longer it took them to reach the nest. Taras stopped and, using his body, blocked Cord from going further. The wolf morphed into his Lycan form quickly. Cord handed him the backpack that Taras had given him as they left.
“It’s through this thicket. When the Alpha and I met and he had the girl, my pack and I kept onwards even as you took them.” Taras looked at Cord grimly. His dark hair was long, his face covered in a light beard, but his eyes were a pale ice blue that signalled him to be Lycan. “Some of my pack have fallen here, I can feel them.” Taras ran a hand over his hair. “I also sense life. We proceed with caution. Not all that live beyond may be Drakhyn.” Taras’s look held his meaning.
“Check your fallen,” Cord told him tersely. “Then I burn it all.”
“I won’t need long,” Taras assured him.
“Good, you won’t have long,” Cord told him as he walked forward into the clearing. He killed the first Drakhyn without thought. His sword came up, curved through the air and slid through the body of the Drakhyn without any effort at all.
Taras watched the Castor with cautious appreciation. He was a killing machine. What he could not kill with his weaponry, he burned with his magic. As the Castor cleared the area of any remaining Drakhyn, Taras quickly searched for his fallen pack mates. He found two that were still holding on to life, one from his pack and one from the neighbouring pack of the Seven Woods. Taras searched fervently, but of the Seven Woods pack leader, Elrick, he could not find. Hope swelled within him that Elrick was heading back to his pack.
“How many?” Cord asked as he walked around the camp.
“Two, Castor.”
“I am not a very good healer; however,” Cord told him as he knelt beside the injured wolves, “I can try.” He placed his hands on the fur and closed his eyes. Moments later, Cord stood as did the two wolves. “It will be enough for them to make it back to the pack.”
“My thanks.” Taras inclined his head. “You have not gone inside?” They both looked at the cave entrance, neither wanting to know what waited for them.
Cord gave a bitter laugh. “I don’t think I have the stomach for what awaits me in there,” he admitted quietly.
“We can go together.”
“No, take your pack and head back. Once I am done here, I will portal back to see how the others are.” Cord pulled his swords out as he looked at the three Lycan. “Tell Tove to call for me when she is ready, she knows how.”
“You fought well,” Taras told him as he looked around the camp and then into the cave that would have been the Drakhyn’s nest. “You sure there are none alive?”
“They are dead,” Cord confirmed. “Can you sense anything?”
“No,” Taras sighed. “You really killed them all.”
