Page 6 of Wolf Trap

Shouting, I shook my wolfman. Blinking, he stumbled, his face morphing back to human, but the angel suddenly swooped up his sword hand.

Tapping the wand on his arm, 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 the wand.

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 onto the turret walls.

Glancing up, I could see a tower that rose high above the rest of the castle. Four spires rose from it, and the sound of whipping as each with a flag fluttered violently from the winds.

As the sun crawled higher, I could just make out a sigil on each.

A broom and black cat, a wolf’s head on another, fanged teeth and, on the fourth flag, clawed wings. I guessed witches, vampires, werewolves, and demons.

The turreted wall beside me towered high. Pockets of trees and shrubs broke some of the force from the gales that now stirred faster.

Lycaon leaned into me, rasping. He yelled over the gale, “We have to find a way down, away from the sunrise perhaps. Isn’t that the edge of the cliff?”

I peered around him. On the horizon, the rising sun looked like it was melting into the ocean, orange and copper mixed with the indigo sea. I jolted as shouting echoed above us, the stampeding of feet, then something else higher up stirred.

Stone grated on stone. Sweat broke on my forehead as I edged forward. Looking up, I saw the huge silhouette move. Clawed wings beating slowly, the creature tilted its head. Its huge over brow revealed hooded eyes that narrowed as it sniffed the air, smelling Lycaon’s blood. Opening its massive jaw, I could see barbed teeth. I tensed, wincing as its scream pierced through the sky.

It unhooked its talons from the ledge, muscular torso and limbs flexing, and a rippling through its wings as its stare burned through me. Trying to repress a shiver as I felt my blood turn to ice, Lycaon suppressed a gasp, leaning against the wall clutching his bleeding wound on his chest.

In the seconds that followed, the memory of me, from a few weeks ago, hunkered down at home in my PJs, with a book living a quiet life seemed surreal. Had that been me? Who was I now, a fighter? I didn’t feel like one.

I didn’t feel brave or strong. Lucky, perhaps, that I was still alive, but with every step forward I took, it seemed that my life was held in the balance.

Slowly, I edged in front of Lycaon, my heart beating faster. The beast above wouldn’t smell his blood for much longer. Whipping out my athame, I sliced my fingertip, frowning as the pain nipped.

Whispering, Lycaon reached for me. “No! Elsa, I… I didn’t realise what I was doing. They put some kind of spell on me. I’m sorry, I would never hurt you. Please don’t do this.”

His words pulled on my heart, but he had told me before that he was dangerous. And if they hadn’t stopped him, well, I wouldn’t be alive now. This whole situation was a nightmare. They could control either of us, especially him, it seemed.

I stepped forward.