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Half man, half wolf, Lycaon stood as they unleashed his shackles. There was menace in his eyes, the usual scarlet when he was angry flared, was now a dulled white. Snarling with outstretched claws, he came running right at me.
I turned and ran towards the angel, trying to get behind it, to use the angel as a block between Lycaon and me. Barely able to breathe from shock before Lycaon sprung through the air. I stumbled to the side, dropping the sword as I rolled. Nauseous from blood loss, I felt the wet on my jeans where the angel had sliced at my leg. In my panic, I hadn’t processed it, and now adrenaline and magic mixed in a heady stew. Pounding rapidly, my heart wanted to burst through my ribs. Panting, I fumbled, trying to shout his name, to shake Lycaon out of his frenzy.
But his name lodged in my throat as I realised I couldn’t make any sound. Then, oddly, like before, a peace fell over me. A surrender. I couldn’t do this anymore. I felt like I’d been fighting uphill all my life.
I just couldn’t. I was done. So be it. I surrendered.
My mind wrestled with my tired heart, but I stood back and closed my eyes. Feeling the breeze of his claws by my face, I let my arms fall to my side. My muscles clenched, but a sudden clap echoed around the buildings.
Squinting, in case I’d died and hadn’t realised, Lycaon was frozen, his fangs bared, claws a hair’s breadth away.
He made no move and behind him, the angel looked like a statue again.
Backing away, I looked up.
Only three masked Adara members remained. They looked on in silence.
Then one of them nodded. Footsteps echoed from the corridors and emerging through the archways, a pack of shifters came jostling towards us.
Tense, my breathing jagged, I moved my fingers.
Perhaps I had something, anything left.
Like lava, I felt the pummelling of magic swell through my limbs. Taking a lungful of air, I sent a shield of light that exploded before them.
A shout from above. I grabbed Lycaon, my face wrinkled in fear. I could see that he was bleeding. More footsteps sounded. A bolt of fire crashed beside us.
Shouting, I shook my wolfman. Blinking, he stumbled, his face morphing back to human, but the angel suddenly swooped up his sword hand.
I sent a shock of magic into Lycaon.
Blinking rapidly, he rasped, “Elsa? Is that you?”
“No time. Hurry!”
Part of me recoiled from him, the monster, but the other part, my heart… Clenching my jaw, I dragged him along by his hand with the angel on our tail. I leaned around Lycaon. I’d used all the power from the cards, but I could feel a little magic left in my veins.
Again, a hot sensation bubbled from my heart, through my limbs as I sent a burst of energy that had the angel stumble, but not stop.
“Get her!” echoed around me, and more shifters piled into the keep.
“Elsa… I… what happened? Where are we going?”
“No time to explain.” Grabbing his wrist, we rushed to the entrance. I glanced up. The stomping of feet above, Adara was filtering around the battlements.
The main gate was locked with a wooden drawbar. The angel and the shifters were gaining on us.
“Break it!” I gasped at Lycaon.
He ran at it, using his bulk, his shoulder smashing into the wooden door as I sent what little magic I had into it.
Crashing through it, he screamed, tumbling forward. Hot on his tail, I grabbed his hand and pulled us to one side, stumbling off a bridge and rolling down an embankment. It was steep as hell, and as we gathered momentum, a sound beneath had my heart skip a beat.
Lycaon found a handhold, a large rock peeking out from the ground, and shouted for me to reach for his hand. Instinct took over. I latched onto him as the sound sent a shiver of fear over me.
Looking up, dark shapes tread slowly on the wooden bridge, a causeway that led into the castle. We were on a clifftop. We crawled slowly through the bracken until finally our backs were against the wall.
His face, white with shock, sweat gleaming on his brow. The echo of waves crashing below, breaking onto rocks, the ebb and flow of the ocean had us edging backwards. Which ocean I didn’t know. Withholding a yell as my foot slipped on rock and shingle, I held out my hands, gripping to the turret walls.
