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Chapter 32
One of the guards swung his sword in a wide arc at Shadow. He dodged the blow, punching the guard in the face, knocking him flat.
His friend lunged at Shadow, and my magic took care of him, lifting him into the air, making dust of him.
Out of the haze stepped Flare, his chest. He stabbed the last guard in the throat.
“How you doing there, sweetheart?” he asked, yanking out his blade and pushing the dying man to the ground.
“Fine,” I said, closing my eyes, trying to stay calm amidst all the violence and gore triggering me.
“Hey,” he said, grabbing hold of me, brushing away a stray lock of hair. “Stay with me. Remember the panther goddess?” His voice came out as a strange growl.
“Yes,” I said, a tremor rocking through me. I stamped it down, imagining the goddess.
“Still with me?” he whispered to me, holding my face to his. Shudders coursed through his body, too, tapping my forehead.
My eyes snapped open. I gazed into his emerald eyes, which looked like jewels themselves, flecked with gold impurities. For a moment, I couldn’t speak. I wasn’t sure if it was from my trauma or because I’d truly noticed how beautiful his eyes were up close.
When fangs sprouted from his gums and fur chased across his forehead, I realized the collar claimed him, and I pushed myself away for my own safety.
“Thanks.” My voice was hoarse as I backtracked quickly, allowing the dark magic in his collar to settle and for his transformation to reverse. “For what you did there.”
“Any time, sweetheart.” He gave me one of his characteristic cheeky winks.
“Hands off my girl,” Shadow joked, elbowing Flare in the ribs.
A guard snuck up behind through the curtain of smoke at his back. I opened my mouth to warn him, but Flare lunged through the haze and finished off the guard with one strike. My hand flew to my pounding chest. Flare gave me another wink and vanished.
Shrieks from the captured children in the wagons to my right attracted my attention, and I went over to them and grabbed the bars. “My name is Snow. Everything will be fine. Hold tight. We’ll get you out of here.”
“Thank the panther goddess,” a mother shifter said, clutching her daughter tighter.
Faces begging for release pressed to the bars. Dirt and blood smeared their faces. Bruises marked their cheeks, necks, and arms.
Fire blazed white-hot inside me. Those pirates—and my stepmother—would face my full wrath one day.
“Shadow, my boy,” said an old man somewhere in the middle of the squashed cart. “Is that you?”
“Reven,” Shadow said, stretching his arm through to clasp the man’s hand tight. “It’s so good to see you. Have you seen my family?”
“They’re keeping them in a separate ward,” Reven responded, patting Shadow’s hand. “To the north, near where he works on the fields.”
Shadow released the man. “I must go find him.”
“There are more guards there,” Reven warned.
An alarm bell pealed, and guards shouted for backup. More soldiers were headed our way. The urgency to get the shifters out intensified in my blood.
“The cabins won’t be guarded for long,” Shadow said.
“No,” I said, gripping his face tight. “Stay with us. Until it’s safe. Then we’ll go together to get your father.”
All around us, men and women screamed in bloodcurdling shrieks. Guards chased them through the courtyards, killing them. Hunter and Axe took a few of the guards out with their weapons. Flare in his panther form leaped onto the back of one soldier, tearing out his throat in one strike.
Fear spiked in my blood, turning it to ice. Were the resistance and shifters’ combined efforts not enough to beat the guards?
One of the freed shifters approached, and Shadow grabbed him. “Have the tides turned against us?”
