The Scarred Huntress

Partners in Crime

He snarls at me.

"You made a terrible mistake."

I smack him hard across his half-transformed face. He goes quiet. I shove him off me.

"Cooperate. What's gotten into you?"

He's breathing hard, and for a split second, his eyes flare molten gold.

"You shouldn't have come, you fool. They'll kill you too."

"You should be more worried about yourself," I snap.

"Your help isn't necessary."

"You looked like you needed it."

"It was an act!"

"You're lying. I felt it. My wolf felt it."

"Your wolf is human shit."

"Watch it." My voice is a warning growl.

He only shakes his head, looking like someone whose master plan was ruined.

"You need to leave this city," I say.

He looks at me.

"Now."

He darkens. "What about you?"

"I can handle myself."

"You can't."

He's right. I killed my own people to rescue a criminal from impending death. I'm as good as dead.

"You have to come with me."

"Where do we go?" I ask without thinking.

"The human world."

"No." I shake my head. "No."

"That's where I'm going—even if you don't follow."

I lock my jaw. "No. You're not hurting humans."

He leers at me. "Who will stop me?"

Bang!

The whole facility quakes.

"You know where to find me," he says.

I reach out to stop him, but it's too late. He's already transformed. Fully.

Magnificent is not enough to describe his wolf form. It's even better than in my dreams. A goliath of a beast with golden brown fur stands on its hind legs. Eyes slits of the sun. A low growl reveals a sneak peak of bonewhite daggerlike fangs.

I call out to my wolf one last time, but I don't feel her again. She's gone to rest. That's when the panic hits me.

The bangs increase. Someone—no, an army—is trying to break in. The alarms are going off. My wolf is hibernating.

He offers me a large, clawed palm.

"Don't die with them."

I grit my teeth and make the hard choice.

I bolt the other way. Away from him.

Barely have I taken two steps before I feel his strong arms wrap around me and lift me off the ground. My legs flail in the air.

"Don't be stubborn," he growls against my ear, and bulldozes through the wall just as the facility detonates behind us.

The wind is violent against my ears as we both plummet into the sea below.

I'm snug against his broad form, shielding me from the elements.

Splash!

Water fills my nostrils. He drags me to the surface so I can get fresh air.

Five choppers hover above us in the night sky, just short of eclipsing the full moon.

I can hear Inspector General's voice echoing through the megaphone—something about us surrendering our location so that our punishment will be lighter. Spotlights sweep over the waves, trying to catch us. Icar is already moving, with me on his back.

Icar's POV

I knew from the get go my Huntress was not one to bend to the status quo. What I did not expect was her coming to rescue me willingly and killing those who stood in her way. From the first day I saw her I knew we had something special. She's beautiful with not just brains but guts. It still puzzles me, why she risked everything to save me, a lowly criminal. It's still fresh in my mind like it was moments ago cause it was moments ago. I was in my cell patiently awaiting my execution and how I was going to surprise my executioners when suddenly I felt Elsa coming close to me. Her heartbeat, wild with desperate fury. She was in such a hurry. And then I started to gag, feeling as though someone tied a rope around my neck and started to tug. And then Elsa howled and I smelt blood. My shackles snapped off my wrists and the bars disintegrated as I burst through and followed her scent. I was getting close until the guards tackled me with their nightwolves. I fought off as much as I could. A desperate need burning in me to reach her as soon as possible. I couldn't because they stopped me and it was damn infuriating. I couldn't reach Elsa instead she came to me and I'd never felt so incompetent. You shouldn't be here, I thought, taking a hit to the spine that had me yowl in pain. Tough as I wanted to look, wolfsbane was wolfsbane. It did terrible things to our kind and I hated it but I knew I was getting used to it. Elsa didn't have to shift but she did and I watched her silver-furred wolf lunge and tear them all to pieces. She was magnificent, singlehandedly butchering them before they could butcher me.

What gave you the guts, Elsa Ivana, to do what you just did? The question burns in me as I carry us through the waves.