Lincoln hadn’t moved the entire time I spoke. Now he stepped forward, grabbing my outstretched arm and holding it tightlyas he entered my personal space, invading my bubble with his presence and holding it hostage.
“Yes, you do,” he rumbled, looking down at me, the closeness between us emphasizing just how much taller he was. Among other things it emphasized, like his strength, the casual ease with which his fingers wrapped around my biceps held me immobile.
I wanted to throw his hand off me, toss it aside and shove him back. Create some space around me again. But I didn’t do any of it. Icouldn’t do any of it. I was frozen at his touch. Locked in place, rooted to the ground. Not because he was pinning me there, even though he had a hold of my arm.
But because my body was betraying me. Reacting to his closeness, to the swell of his pecs, and the heat radiating off his body. Lava coursed through my body, lighting it on fire from head to toe and clouding my vision with the heatwave. It lingered in places I did not want it to go.
Whois this man?
“Your heart is beating faster,” Lincoln breathed into my ear. “Your blood is heated. I can feel it. You want me close.”
“You canfeelit?” Apparently, my voice still worked, as did my skepticism.
“Yes,” he said. “I can. Because I-“
Ice water doused any source of heat as it washed over me like a tsunami in unison with nails digging into my spine, dragging my attention away from Lincoln’s imposing presence and drawing it back to the dark outline of the forest.
At the same instant, Lincoln spun around, placing himself between me and the forest as he stared at it with eerie intensity. His entire body was still. It didn’t move, not even rising and falling. Was he breathing?
“Something is wrong,” I whispered, my instincts’ warning ending all further thoughts of Lincoln’s body for good. The alarm bells in my mind were louder than the drums in my dream.
“I agree. But how did you know that so soon?” Lincoln asked suspiciously, though he never took his attention off the forest, scanning it left and right, trying to locate the source of whatever was setting us both off.
“I have a good sixth sense for danger,” I said. “It went off. I listened.”
“Good. Listen to it now. Go inside,” he rumbled. “I’ll handle whatever is out there.”
“You’ll handle it?” I asked, disbelieving what I was hearing. What if it was a wild animal? Another rabid bear?
“Yes. I’ll handle it,” he replied with unbreakable confidence. “Please go inside, where you’re safe. I promise I won’t let anything hurt you, Sylvie.”
I inhaled shakily at the sound of my name coming from his lips. It was good.
Toogood. I hated the way it rolled off his tongue and into my ears.
“Don’t do anything stupid,” I said, wondering why he cared so much about not letting something hurt me.
“Already done that,” he muttered, stepping down to the lawn and heading for the forest without looking back.
Lincoln
Idiot, idiot, idiot!
Scanning the edge of the forest while I cursed myself, I tried to locate whatever was setting my wolf on edge. It was out there. I could sense it. My skin was tight and my hairs tingled with tense energy.
If I hadn’t been so caught up in Sylvie, I probably would have noticed its approach long ago. I shouldn’t have been at her house in the first place. It was stupid of me. But I hadn’t been able to stay away. The call was too powerful. Even now, large parts of me wanted to turn around and storm back there. No door could stop me from getting to her and making her mine, like my wolf wanted.
The beast howled, but I shut it down. Caving to that instinct now would put the both of us in danger. Greater danger. No matter how much the beast and the forest had worked in unison to propel me to her house against the elders’ wishes, I could not allow harm to come to her. I would never forgive myself. Regardless of what might be flowing inside her, I had a sworn oath to protect the people of the town from the things in the night.
You’re a fool for letting her ensnare you.
Grass gave way under my heavy steps before springing up behind me as I marched steadily toward the trees, eager to be off two feet and sprinting forward on four. But not until I was out of her sight. Sylvie did not know what I was yet, and I intended to keep it that way.
I clenched my jaw hard enough my teeth groaned in protest. The damn woman was a major distraction. One I needed to … to what? Stop her from turning to evil? Did I really think I could do something like that?
You’re assuming she isn’t already there.
The breeze shifted, and I drew deep of the air, but no scents came my direction. Whatever was out there was well-hidden. Still, I feared little, and the thing I feared the most was still locked away at the heart of the forest.
Sylvie wasn’t evil. Na?ve, definitely, but not evil, not yet at least. Once the darkness of the Chained sank its tendrils into someone, there was no escaping. But so far Sylvie hadn’t given in. Did she even know what was likely happening to her the longer she was in town? I doubted it.
I glanced over my shoulder, searching the house for her. There. Second-floor window, no lights on. Standing in the middle of the glass pane, her hands clutched to her chest. Fear for my well-being, perhaps?
Or perhaps it’s not fear but anticipation. Eagerly looking forward to what’s about to happen. What if this is all a trap she set for me? Calling me out of the forest, forcing me to shift into human form, dulling my senses from their peak.
My wolf growled in approval of my recognition of its superiority. But it also tossed its head in metaphorical disdain for my idea that Sylvie was out to harm me. It was confidentshe meant me no harm. Almost violently confident, the way it thrashed around, struggling for control of my limbs.
Whoever she is, whatever she is, remember, she’s not telling us everything. That’s a known fact. After all, how could she possibly have known that something was out there before me?
Was that a crack in her fa?ade showing? I wasn’t sure, and as I slipped through the bushes at the edge of the forest, I didn’t have time to consider it. I had to focus. Crouching low, I eased my way in among the thick trunks and high canopy, my ears all but twitching at every sound as my eyes adjusted to the increased darkness.
I know you’re in here. Show yourself.
A branch snapped. Not a leaf crunching, or a twig breaking. A thick branch had been broken deliberately. I dialed in on the direction …
And flung myself to the side as a two-foot section of branch whistled through the spot my throat had just occupied, burying itself into the trunk of a tree. The end vibrated wildly as the force dissipated.
Whipping my head around, I searched the darkness in the direction the makeshift spear had come from, but nothing moved. Nothing that I could see.
Coiling my legs beneath me, I sprang in a random direction deeper into the forest. As I soared through the air, I changed. My arms, stretching forward in front of me, became long gray paws ending in razor-sharp claws. The wolf burst forth from me, the two of us once more aligned in our mission.
Find. Kill. Destroy.
Four animal legs hit the ground as I darted around a tree, wolven eyes wide, drinking in the little moonlight that made it through the trees and searching for my attacker.
Darkness moved to my left, and I charged. The thing didn’t flee, so we slammed together with painful results for both of us. My jaws ripped and tore the cloaking shadows away, revealing the beast for what it was-a twisted minion of the Chained. Moonlight dug its way into the gaps in its armor, drawing off smoke where it melted the thing beneath.
But the evil of the Chained didn’t give up that easily. The creature, what was once a raccoon but was now grotesquely warped and enlarged, drove its snout into mine, cracking on bone and blurring my vision. I reeled on unsteady limbs that gave out under me, spilling me to the forest floor.
The shadow monster leaped on me, its teeth finding purchase even through my thick hide. I bit back a howl of pain. Sylvie might be listening. She would wonder why a wolf was so near.
So I fought back in silence, the pain a wonderful mind-clearing thing. My claws raked the vulnerable underbelly, ripping huge gashes in the thing’s armor. Heaving hard, I flung it free. The moon found the new openings as it spun, and smoke filled the air.
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