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“Hardly. You two weren’t exactly hiding.”
Fuming hot embarrassment crept up my neck. “Bonding with Lanson will not make me weak,” I explained. “It will make me stronger. He wields magic, he’s strong.”
“You’re stronger.”
“That’s not the point—”
“Thatisthe point, can’t you see that? He’s using you.”
“He is not!”
Wolf’s fists tightened and raised, and I fought the urge to flinch away from his sudden outburst of fury.
But just as quickly as that calm, collected mask fell, it rose again. He closed his eyes and took a long breath, his chest rising and falling as he dropped his hands down to his sides.
“All I’m saying is you’re better off without him. He’ll slow you down.”
“Then what would you suggest?” I snapped. “Entering the final challenge alone? Not bonding with anyone? Because that’s my only other option, Wolf. I don’t exactly have fae lining up to share their magic with me. Unless you’re offering, of course. But I already know you’d rather claw your own eyes out, so let’s not go there.”
His nostrils flared, his face morphing into a snarl. “Forget it,” he muttered. “Let’s just go.”
He continued marching into the forest, leaving me breathless and distraught as I stormed after him. He didn’t speak again until we approached the outer wall of the academy, hidden deep within the thick forest.
“Here,” he said, holding his arms out to me. “I’ll fly us both over.”
I gaped at him. “Are you kidding? Are we even allowed to leave the academy grounds?”
“What’s wrong?” he asked, smirking at me for the first time all night. Hells, I hated how much I missed that damn smirk. “Afraid?”
“Of getting kicked out of here? Yes, actually.”
“Nobody kicked you out for killing Ryder, did they? You can trust me, Huntress. Let me carry you.”
My body froze. I knew Wolf wouldn’t hurt me. I knew he wouldn’t jeopardize our time at this academy, either. He acted like he didn’t care about a single thing in the entire world, but I could see through those walls. Hells, at times I caught myselfwantingto see through them.
“Fine,” I mumbled. I stepped forward and wrapped my arms around his neck, letting him hold me to his chest with an arm under my knees.
I waited for some sort of snide remark, but none came. Even as his massive angel wings lifted us from the ground and into the air, delicately dodging the surrounding trees as we ascended the wall.
“Where are we?” I asked.
Midgrave had been bad, with crumbling walls and homeless children living in the streets. But this? Not a single structure remained standing. The partially built walls harbored a few crouching individuals—fae, I assumed—but something eerie lingered in the darkness.
I immediately reached for Venom.
“The outskirts of Khaer.”
“Khaer? I thought Khaer was one of the wealthiest cities in Vaehatis?”
“It was,” Wolf answered, dropping his voice to a whisper as we crept in the darkness. He kept his body in front of mine, his eyes scanning the streets in front of us. “But nobody could survive them.”
“Survive who?”
Instead of answering me, Wolf unsheathed the long sword from his hip. A gruntled, familiar groan came from my right.
I spun, gripping Venom. “Vampyres,” I hissed. The creature hadn’t spotted us yet, but it would soon. It crept and stumbled aimlessly, with decomposing skin and rotting leftover clothing now covered in grime and blood.
“They invaded a few years ago,” Wolf explained, his breath tickling my shoulder. “They killed the thousands that used to live here. They tried to fight, but there were too many.”
