Chapter 38
The forest smelled of blood and shadow.
Ardyn trembled against me, her heartbeat a wild flutter beneath my palm, but her eyes burned like a storm, glowing with that unnatural crimson fire that marked her as something beyond mortal or wolf. I pulled her closer, burying my face in her hair, inhaling her scent to calm the feral rage clawing inside me.
She’d escaped. Again.
The Huntress had slipped through my claws like smoke, but she hadn’t left unscathed. I’d smelled the sharp tang of her blood on my fangs. She’d pay for that.
“We have to move,” Ardyn whispered, her voice rough from exhaustion. Her fingers curled into my chest, and through our bond I felt the ache in her body, the heavy pull of magic draining her. “She won’t stop.”
“No,” I growled, holding her tighter. “She
