Total pages in book: 247
Estimated words: 242728 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1214(@200wpm)___ 971(@250wpm)___ 809(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 242728 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1214(@200wpm)___ 971(@250wpm)___ 809(@300wpm)
Aktor whirled on the spot. “By the fire...what—”
Another furred streak shot through the darkness, a snarl the only sound as it collided with Aktor, sending him tumbling.
I swallowed my scream as a pack of giant wolves with ivory spiralled horns stepped silently from the grasslands. They moved like water, their paws deathly quiet as they spread out in a ring around us.
The two wolves who’d attacked Kivva and Aktor returned to flank the largest one, a beast that had the thickest fur, with horns that were so sharp they could pierce the stars.
Kivva remained unmoving while Aktor rubbed his head and tried to sit up. Another wolf shot forward, snapping at the chief’s son, its fangs coming exceedingly close to his nose.
Aktor jerked backward. The dark desire and greed from his face vanished, replaced with stark fear. Snarling once, the wolf returned to its place in the circle, keeping its bright yellow eyes pinned on him.
The Nhil hunter stayed wisely on the ground.
The largest wolf, the alpha and leader, sniffed the air. His focus hadn’t swayed from the lifeless stranger bleeding on the ground, yet his head turned toward me, and he sniffed again. He opened his jaws and licked his muzzle, his burnished gaze locking onto mine.
I froze.
For an eternal heartbeat, I stared into the wolf’s feral gaze, and a cold, empty canyon within me answered. It ached with memories I couldn’t remember, recognising him in some unknown way...
My feet shifted backward as the alpha suddenly padded toward me.
His massive size towered above other predators. His wet nose in line with my heart, his teeth sharp enough to tear into my chest and kill me.
He was a monster but also my saviour and fear mixed with respect.
He’d saved the stranger. And me. And for that, I owed him everything.
Swallowing hard, I bowed my head.
I lowered myself in servitude to a creature that was owed so much more than a simple thank you.
Were these the wolves who’d found the stranger and granted him life instead of death? Was this the pack he said gave him safety and a home?
He wasn’t mad, after all—not driven insane by lonely hallucinations.
He’d been telling the truth, and now they were here.
They were here because of him.
Keeping my eyes downcast, I whispered, “I owe you my life. As does he.”
The alpha huffed, sending a waft of his carrion-tainted breath over my cheeks. His cold, wet nose pressed against my collarbone, tracing over the bruises Aktor had ringed around my throat, licking at my blood that he’d shed.
I flinched as the wolf tasted me again, a low snarl rumbling in his chest as he licked me clean. He didn’t stop until the stickiness of shed lifeforce was gone. Only then did he look back at his pack, huff in a way that sounded heavy with conversation, then stalked toward the unconscious stranger.
My gaze trailed to Aktor, who kneeled in the dirt, his eyes wide and hands balled. He didn’t speak as a smaller wolf came toward me. I stayed as still as I could as she sniffed my hair and padded around me, her nose trailing from my spine to my toes. The rest of the pack waited in a ring of crushed grass, their yellowed eyes glinting with barely restrained power.
The female wolf moved back to my front, nuzzling her nose into my neck, making me flinch again. She licked my ear before rearing back and sneezing violently.
I tripped backward in shock.
The wolf opened her jaws, revealing rows of wickedly sharp teeth, almost as if she enjoyed my surprise, before sitting on her haunches and throwing her head up to the moon.
She howled.
Long, low, lamenting.
Her call cut right through me, cracked my heart, and sang in my blood.
The other wolves joined in, their music sending prickles all over my skin.
I had an undeniable urge to join them.
To raise my head at the sky and sing the haunting melody of moonlight.
Their howls rose in volume before the alpha tapered off into an eerie crescendo, shaking his huge mass with a canine grunt.
Beyond in the grasslands, the faint shouts of mortals came, revealing the Nhil had heard. Hunters were coming to investigate, to protect the clan from beasts so close to their home.
“You have to go,” I whispered. “You’re not safe here.”
The alpha cocked his head as if he understood me. His eyes flared yellow, and he glanced at the female who shook her thick gold-silver fur. A tiny blue flower fell from her left horn, no doubt snared from their run to find the stranger.
How had they known he was in danger?
How far had they come to help him?
Looking past the alpha, I studied the stranger who seemed to control shadows and wind, lying discarded and dying on the earth. His skin looked as grey as the shades that’d siphoned from him. His eyes remained closed, but his forehead furrowed into deep tracks, revealing his pain.