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Fuck.
Mare must’ve seen it too, because she sank to her knees. “Please, Ervo.”
He grabbed her by the waist, lifting her up and setting her back on her feet. When she was steady, he released her, still glaring at her with all that damn fury.
“You are far too important to everkneelfor a man.” His voice was barely-controlled chaos. “If you wish the hounds to live, I’ll allow it. Should they ever so much as look at you wrong, I will relish their deaths. Understand?”
Mare jerked her head in a quick, rough nod.
Ervo stepped back, his gaze lifting to the row of hellhounds. I saw her shoulders sag, like she was letting out a breath of air that she’d thought she needed to hold.
But the warning glare he turned on the hounds was enough to scare me into submission, that was for sure.
“We need to meet up with the others, to make sure their females are alright,” Ervo said to Priel, when he finally stepped back and removed his gaze from the hounds.
“I won’t risk taking North near them until we’ve solidified the bond,” Priel said, his eyes sweeping quickly over the group of hellhounds too.
Whether or not he was changing his mind about letting Mare decide if any of them needed to die, I didn’t know.
“I understand. You’ll head to your mountain?”
“We will. Don’t bring any assholes to us this time, or you’ll have arealfight on your hands,” he grumbled to the phoenix. “And my head isn’t so easily removed.” My hound pushed two of his ex-packmates apart so he could get through their barrier and to my side. His arms went around me, and he hauled me up against his chest like I was a damn toddler.
I didn’t mind it, though.
“I’ll be prepared to end anyone who so much as looks at my female now,” Ervo said calmly.
“As you should. If you see Lian, tell him where to find us.”
“I will.”
The men nodded at each other.
I flashed Mare a quick eye-roll, and she gave me a smile that didn’t reach her eyes.
And in the blink of an eye, Priel tossed me onto his back as he shifted. My fingers tangled in his fur and I buried my face against the back of his neck just as he took off running.
The speed he moved at would’ve been more than enough to make me dizzy if I’d been human, but I wasn’t human.
I was fae.
A hellhound.
A damned oracle, too.
Pride and hope swelled in my chest as Priel continued to run.
Everything was going to be okay.
I felt thatandtrusted it, for the first time since I’d been dragged into Vevol.
We reachedPriel’s mountain a few hours later. He ran up a well-traveled path that wove halfway up the massive mountain, and when we reached the end of the trail, he shifted forms.
His arm wrapped around my waist as he set me on my feet.
“It’s easier to get through in your skin,” he explained to me, his lips brushing my forehead before he set my hands on his waist and then began leading me inside.
I followed closely, holding on from behind as we slid through a tight crack in the stone, and then walked along a skinny hallway that slanted downward as we walked. A few minutes later, we turned the corner, and stepped into a large cavern that made my lips part.
