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My legs were already sore from days of walking further than I’d ever gone before, and my stomach ached with a demand for breakfast after all the exertion, but I nodded. I didn’t have a choice.
Even with our fast pace, Garrick retained his cheerful attitude, joking with me whenever he could as if he knew I needed the distraction so my thoughts wouldn’t stray toward danger. I didn’t want to imagine what was after us—one dullahan had been terrifying enough and left its marks onGarrick, though he’d never complained about his back again. Four pursuers—ones that had shot the wolf shifter already and incited this level of urgency in him—made me nervous.
As daylight faded, I was stumbling, hardly able to keep myself upright, and Garrick seemed unable to conceal his distress. “I’m afraid we weren’t able to travel as far as I’d hoped,” he confessed as he scanned the thick forest around us. Shadows were growing long and the air was turning more frigid, nipping at my cheeks and making my fingers ache even in my gloves. “We’re too far from the next outpost to stop soon.”
Heavy-lidded, I didn’t even try to waste energy acknowledging him. It took everything in me to put one foot in front of the other. My legs throbbed and my lungs burned with each uphill step. I clung to his arm with a death grip to prevent myself from sliding in the snow.
“Starlight,” he said, gently. He stopped so suddenly I almost collapsed.
I turned to him in confusion. “Yes?”
“I’m sorry if this makes you uncomfortable.” Without further warning, he scooped me effortlessly into his arms.
My gasp died in my throat. I was too exhausted to care about propriety, too desperate for warmth and rest. Leaning my head against his chest, I relished the heat that emanated from his body and the scents of leather and fur and snow. A sense of safety banished all my fear, and without meaning to, I drifted.
It was full dark when I jolted awake, still cocooned in Garrick’s arms. My breath misted in front of me, and when I glanced into the wolf shifter’s face, I saw tension in his furrowed brow and clenched jaw.
That was when I realized a sound had awoken me. More noises followed. Crunching twigs that seemed to split the air intwo, and then muffled voices. Our pursuers were closing in on us.
My heart slammed into my throat, and ice shot through my veins, a rush so sudden and violent that black frost crackled around us, spreading across the ground beneath Garrick’s boots.
Garrick dipped his head low, his mouth so close his breath brushed my ear. He spoke in such a quiet whisper I had to strain to make it out. “Your magic is wild and unpredictable, connected to your emotions. Calm your thoughts and will the magic to stay within you. I’m going to set you down so you can hide while I draw them out and distract them. Be as quiet as possible. If anything goes wrong—run.”
But when he set me down, I couldn’t force my legs to move. Garrick was no longer a stranger—he’d become a friend, someone I was learning to trust, to admire. How could I even consider leaving him? What if he was injured again and needed my help? But I couldn’t object to his plan aloud and risk the approaching fae with their keener hearing catching my voice.
As if reading my rebellious thoughts, Garrick shook his head at me and gave me a gentle shove.
My steps crunched over the ice forming at my feet, each one far too loud. Garrick waited patiently behind me, his bow still fastened to his back and his blades sheathed.
I found a nearby pine and crouched behind it, struggling to control my breathing and the shivers racking my body. Ice splintered around me. When I grasped a branch for support, frost laced its bark. I staggered back, pleading silently with the distant, apathetic gods.
Garrick straightened, sliding his hands casually into his coat pockets, and began to whistle. Loudly.
Not a second too soon.
Four figures emerged from the shadows deeper within the woods. As they drew nearer, the starlight filtering through theforest canopy dappled them in a silver glow, making it easy for me to discern their features. The man in the lead had skin like tree bark and mossy green eyes. When his gaze met Garrick’s, he lifted his chin in greeting. Three other men—one appearing more human, another with feathery wings the color of dust, and the final looking like a gnome with his grey features and short, stocky frame—all brought up the rear, their hands on their sword hilts.
I inhaled a frosty breath, listening to the tree branch groan from the ice weighing it down. Squeezing my eyes shut, I clenched my fists and willed my magic to return to wherever it had come from, to sink back down deep inside me.
“Why, Garrick Darkgrove,” called a self-satisfied sounding voice. My eyes flew open. The bark-skinned man was the speaker, a smirk I didn’t trust spreading across his face. His eyes scanned the area, roving about as if he already knew I was nearby. My heart hammered against my sternum. “I apologize if our arrow put you a little on edge,” the man went on. “When I saw you running about in your animal form, you appeared like nothing more than a common wolf.” His cruel grin broadened, and I took note of the way he’d crafted his sentence. He’d made it sound as if the shot had been an accident, but he hadn’t said outright that he’d thought Garrick had merely been a wolf. I was certain he’d shot him intentionally. “Are you on another hunt?”
Garrick responded with a smirk of his own, not even bothering to remove his hands from his pockets as he offered a lazy shrug. “That little pinprick? It was nothing but a nuisance. And why else would I be trekking through the mountains, Ian?”
I hugged my arms to my chest, trying to stave off my chills. Blessedly, the ice had stopped spreading, but I didn’t trust that I wouldn’t accidentally unleash more.
Ian’s eyes turned sharp, and the winged man at his side crossed his arms. “Why else? Perhaps for the same reason weare. I’d imagine word spread to you about the girl that was given to the Silverfrosts. They’ve offered a handsome bounty to whoever claims her first.” His grin turned devious, revealing sharp canines. “And they didn’t specify what condition she must be brought in, other than alive.” He stepped closer. “Tell me, does a lone wolf like you grow greedy, hoping to keep a new plaything all to himself?”
Garrick stiffened, the smirk freezing on his face. His gold eyes turned blank and eerily cold, suddenly looking more wolflike. “You have me all wrong,” he said, a warning snarl edging his tone. “Does it look like I have a girl in my possession?” He spread his arms wide, as if inviting the royal servants to search the forest. “I don’t want trouble. Be on your way. Find this girl you seek. Leave me out of your search.”
“Hold still,” Ian commanded.
And, without question or hesitation, Garrick obeyed, his eyes turning glassy.
Without warning, Ian seized Garrick by the neck. Garrick choked, his complexion turning red, but he didn’t resist, didn’t even try to fling off his attacker. Even his expression remained strange and distant, his eyes seeming to stare at something no one else could see.
The other fae laughed, the sound bouncing harshly off the trees.
I sucked in a furious breath, resisting the urge to launch myself forward. What would I do? One afternoon of training with a knife hadn’t equipped me to fight off four fae. And my magic was unpredictable.
