Naina's heart beat with excitement as the carriage rolled on.
Elana had actually fallen for her trick. Good. It was better this way—if Azael didn't like her, he couldn't like Elana.
It was dark in the carriage, cool. No windows either.
Azael must really hate the light. Probably into some weird magic, judging by how grey the castle's weather always was.
A pity he's missing out on her. She liked the world grey—no annoying colors.
Across from her, Elana and Israel looked like they were asleep. Perfect.
Naina smiled to herself, already imagining what she'd do once they get to the king.
A good deal of men would be so interested in buying a female blind slave. A grin cracked across her face, as she thought of the various ways Elana could be useful to them.
Her thoughts shattered as something slammed hard into the side of the carriage, throwing her across the seat.
She screamed.
"Naina! What's going on?" Elana called, startled—just before another violent hit came, then another, pounding from both sides.
**
Azael caught sight of the lycans attacking the carriage. He shifted into a bat mid-air, wings slicing through the mist as his heart thundered.
Through his bats' vision, he saw four lycans on one side and four on the other.
Bloody Fen hybrids.
The carriage toppled as the beasts tore his minion driver apart.
Azael gritted his teeth and began teleporting—flying wouldn't be fast enough.
By the time he'd reached them, the wolves were shredding what was left of the carriage with their sharp claws.
He shifted to human form and landed hard in front of it.
Eyes blazing red.
"Lehava!" he commanded.
Flames burst through the mist, catching the first two wolves atop the carriage.
Azael stood in the center of his chaos, watching through both his own eyes and the eyes of his bats.
Lycans were mystical creatures; he couldn't burn all of them at once without draining his strength.
He couldn't risk more coming out to fight him in that state.
They bared their teeth, snarling.
"Lord Azael. " one wolf growled, its voice deep and distorted. "A vampire—hoarding humans?"
"We smelt their blood from your carriage." another said, circling and testing him.
"Vampire king protecting humans." the first mocked—and lunged.
Azael caught its tail mid-leap and flung it to the floor, side to side before tossing it aside like a rag.
It whimpered, too injured to stand.
The rest hesitated. They remembered now—Azael was no ordinary vampire.
From his bats' sight, he saw three wolves sneaking toward the carriage behind him while the four in front readied to attack head-on.
He had no choice. "Lehava!"
His command caught two behind, before he could react to the last. The remaining four lunged.
The fight was brutal, fast—a blur of claws and teeth. When the last wolf fell, its skin ripped open beneath his grip.
Azael turned instantly toward the carriage.
Elana was outside clutching a bloodied, unconscious Naina with a head injury and a crying Israel. The boy's arms trembled around her.
Azael set the final wolf ablaze before it could reach them.
In the distance, his minions approached with another carriage—an invisible one to take them back to the castle.
He moved toward Elana—and froze.
She'd been bitten. Her forearm bore the mark, deep enough to begin the lycan transition.
Anytime from now…he didn't think. He grabbed her, pinning her gently but firmly against the wet earth as she writhed in fear.
Then he sank his fangs into her neck.
Elana screamed, clutching at his shoulders, her nails digging into his skin, her back arching in desperate abandon.
The sound tore through him.
He drank—slowly, desperately—until the bitter taste of wolf's blood faded, replaced by the pure sweetness of her own.
But wolves' blood was poison to him. He could already feel it burning through his veins.
He retracted his fangs, the mark he left glowed faintly against her sun-kissed skin.
His vision blurred, Elana had gone still. Had he gotten the blood out on time?
Israel's sobs dimmed. Hooves thundered nearby—his minions had arrived.
Azael's body trembled violently, poison racing through him, still hovering above Elana.
It'd been a long time since he'd been poisoned by wolf's blood.
His body finally gave as he collapsed beside her, wild ginger hair spilled over the earth mixed with the sweet scent of lavender that wrapped around him as the darkness closed in.
**
Meanwhile at the crossroads …
Fen cackled in the ghost mediator's office. "I knew there was something fishy about him extending the paths. Smelt it on him."
"Well." the ghost mediator said, "it isn't our business what he chooses to do with his land or for whatever purpose."
Fen turned to him, staring deep into his transparent blue eyes.
"You have no idea how long I've waited for this. For a crack—to regain control of all the lands."
The ghost mediator arched a brow, unwavering. Fen couldn't touch him; he was a ghost.
"And how does his extending the path help?"
Fen grinned.
"It is not the path that helps, you damn mediator." He leaned closer. "It is the purpose."
Then he leaned back, inhaling the cold misty air of the supernatural world that had begun to feel like his again.