Jocelynn Drake - Wait for Dusk

I noticed, I growled in response. I blocked Rowe’s blade with my own, and quickly pushed it off as it slid down toward the handle, threatening to remove my hand at the wrist. Get over here before more of the shifters find me!

Leaning back in the snow, I grabbed a handful of snow and flung it at the naturi, hoping to temporarily blind him. Rowe took a step backward to avoid the white spray, giving me the chance to push to my feet again. I backpedaled, wishing I could divide my attention enough to scan the area for lycanthropes. That was the last thing I needed—to be attacked from behind by an angry shifter. Unfortunately, I was too closely matched with Rowe and couldn’t afford to split my attention.

“And I thought you wanted me alive so I could be brought before your precious wife-queen.” I darted behind a particularly thick tree as he swung his blade at me. A heavy thunk echoed through the forest as the metal buried into the bark at the last second. I lunged forward as he tried to pry his blade loose. Rowe slid out of my reach and pulled a knife from his belt as he abandoned his sword.

“Oh, I do,” he said breathlessly. “But that doesn’t mean I can’t wear you down a little bit, shed a little blood before I hand you over to Aurora. I’m sure she won’t mind if you arrive less than perfect.”

“I’m sure she won’t mind at all,” I replied, swinging my blade at him so he was backed against a tree. “She never could handle me when I was at my peak.”

“You have never seen Aurora at her peak strength! She will crush you!”

“Yeah, yeah. Heard that one before and here I still stand.”

In response, a low howl filled the air, only to be answered by two more that were ominously close to my current location. The werewolves were closing in on me and my combatant. I wasn’t sure if they would bother to attack Rowe as well, but I couldn’t get my hopes up. Besides, Danaus was supposed to be drawing close. He would even the odds.

Afraid that I would soon find a lycanthrope at my back, I waved my free hand out to the side. A low wall of flames sprang up from the frozen earth and surrounded us in a flash. Danaus would be trapped on the outside, but I hoped that the shifters would be trapped on the outside as well as I took care of Rowe.

“Don’t worry,” Rowe purred. “I’m not going anywhere.”

“I’m not worried about you. I’m just making sure this stays a private party.”

Rowe lunged at me again with his knife, hoping to get inside my reach so he could bury it deep in my stomach. I caught his hand while I tried to stab him. Unfortunately, the naturi captured my wrist as well, locking us in a deadly stalemate. My arms trembled under the exertion and I gritted my teeth. We were fairly matched in strength, but the ground beneath our feet was wet and frozen, making our footing unsteady. A wrong step and someone could far too easily slip.

“Give it up, Mira,” Rowe snarled between clenched teeth. “Come back to Aurora with me. I promise to do what I can to get you a quick death.”

“The only way I am willing to die is with Aurora’s heart in my hand.”

I tightened my grip on his wrist, hoping to shatter the bone, but it wouldn’t give under my grasp.

“I will kill her. Someday, I will finally kill her.”

“Never!”

A sudden crash of thunder echoed through the forest and the wind picked up. Fat flakes of snow plummeted from the sky, obscuring the woods so that we were trapped in a swirling vortex of frigid white. I could barely make out the wildly dancing flames only a few feet away. I could hear them snapping and crackling as they ate through any nearby brush, but their light was muted by the sudden snowstorm.

Lightning crashed to the ground just a few feet behind me, followed by the ominous sound of cracking wood. A tree had been struck and was breaking apart. I fought the urge to look over my shoulder to see if the tree was about to crash about my shoulders, reconciling myself to the thought that a falling tree would hit Rowe too.

A second roll of thunder was accompanied by a pair of sharp fangs embedding in my left calf muscle. A werewolf had jumped easily over the flames and was now gnawing on my leg like a chew toy. I screamed but didn’t release the naturi. My hands were trapped and there was no way I could easily rid myself of the lycanthrope that wouldn’t take my full concentration.

“Danaus!” I screamed, not caring who thought me suddenly weak. I needed help. I was surrounded and vastly outnumbered.

Coming! He was close, maybe only a few dozen yards away, but now I could also hear the growling of other lycanthropes. They were blocking his path, keeping him from saving me as I was trapped between a shifter and a naturi with a serious attitude problem.

“Doesn’t look good for you,” Rowe taunted as he twisted his wrist. I was weakening under the pain of the lycan that was tearing through vital muscles.

“Kill them, Mira,” called a familiar voice in musical tones. “Use the bori and kill them all.”

Rowe stilled suddenly at the mention of the bori. He jerked his head around so he could look over his shoulder for his mortal enemy. Nightwalkers were always good fun to destroy, but bori were a totally different matter.

I didn’t hesitate. I couldn’t lose this opening. I reached out for the powers that swarmed around Danaus. With only the barest of nudges, I activated the energy that seemed to lie sleeping around his soul. Something inside of me screamed in pain, blocking out the strain from Rowe and the pain in my leg caused by the lycanthrope. The flames that surrounded us were immediately extinguished and my hold on Danaus’s powers grew stronger. I didn’t question it. I opened my senses as I tightened my hold on Rowe’s arm. The souls of the werewolves in the immediate area glowed like beacons in the darkness. With a loud growl, I directed the powers out from Danaus, enveloping the werewolves around us.

No! the hunter cried in my brain, but I didn’t stop. We were trapped and Nick was watching me. He expected me to use Danaus’s power. If I didn’t, I feared he would make a bad situation significantly worse. I was locked in a battle of strength with Rowe, and I couldn’t come to Danaus’s rescue if the monster decided to strike. Danaus would hate me, but in the end I figured I was probably saving his life.

The werewolves howled in pain as they writhed on the ground. Rowe stopped fighting me, staring at the werewolf behind me. It thrashed wildly on the ground, whimpering in pain. The naturi released me and jerked his one arm free of my grasp as he backpedaled away. His wide eyes jumped between the wolves that surrounded us. As death grasped them, they shifted back into human form in time for their flesh to split open. Boiling blood came spewing forth, hissing as it touched the snow.

When the last werewolf took its final shuddering breath, I released Danaus from my power. The hunter fell to his knees, his breathing ragged and labored. Using that power was exhausting and a heavy strain on his body after all the fighting he had already done. My own limbs were trembling in pain and fatigue, but I still had to deal with Rowe. It had been tempting to try to boil his blood as well, but more of a struggle to focus on his energy as well as the lycanthropes.

And in truth, I didn’t want to kill him that way. Rowe and I had a history. He had been there at Machu Picchu when I was first captured. He knew me when I had been human. If I was going to kill Rowe, I would do it with my bare hands. It was something we both deserved. Not a death by these seemingly godlike powers that left us detached and feeling somewhat irresponsible.

“You missed your chance,” Rowe said as he struggled to catch his breath.