HECTOR BAYESWhat I was doing, what I planned to do, as I led the woman right through the watching crowd of dignitaries and rubber-mouthed werewolves was nothing short of insane. It was batshit crazy!”Where are we going?” Nola’s frenzied whisper came from below and i looked down to see that she was watching me avidly. The salt drying on her cheeks in the frigid bite of the wind that was blowing a whistle through the sepia blackness.I hesitated, a flicker of confusion raking through my form as I paused with one leather-bound foot in front of the other.The royal throne room was the only colored building in the stone fortress. A staggering edifice of bronze and multi-colored diamonds shone oddly in the watery fluorescent of the moon.It was risky, what we were doing. Everyone had seen us leave, and if they looked for the maiden, which I suspected they would sooner than we could finish like I suspected they would, then it was only a matter of time and a good head on their shoulders bef
NOLA“Shit.” Hector breathed, before marching to a stop as a cloud of ice fogged up his face and we paused in the castle foyer, the stone buildings around us looming like boogeymen in the dark.I fisted my free hand in the feathery ends of my see-through lilac ball gown, tugging the other hand that was warm in the Lycan beast’s deadlock grip.“What?” I whispered, a shiver running up my spine as I looked to see what the man had stopped to stare at.The mountain council elders. You could tell by the chunky gold rings that laced each of their stubbly fingers as one of the stout-looking skinheads threw back his great plain head to laugh at something the circle had said, the red butt of a cigarette glinting between his two fingers.They were standing in the great foyer, blocking the way to where I supposed was the mountain city’s palace. The Lycan’s throne room.A trickle of trepidation itched at my armpit as I waited on the man to make a move, my eyes catching the gleam of an upside-down
HECTOR BAYESThe mountain city’s throne room was carved from the tears and sweat of the village workers thousands of years ago, but I don't tell the maiden that as we entered the ornately designed expanse, closing the door softly behind us.“Hector,” Nola breathed, and heat swarmed my chest until I was about as puffed up as a courting rainbow peacock.I watched the woman’s eyes go wide as she took in the red, high ceiling of the throne room and the gold cups of the snake-like chandelier that was swinging slowly in the space.“It's beautiful,” The maiden gasped, walking up to the glossy shine of the gold glass walls and scrubbing it back to its shine when her breathing fogged up the pale yellow glass.I followed her tentative steps, touching each gold-lined crevice until we were at the foot of the great dias where my throne was.Small silver skulls lined the frame of the square seat where the diamond had been matted with brown fur.I did not need to tell the maiden that the skulls were
HECTOR BAYES“There he is! Seize him!” A warbled voice screamed in the time it had taken me to register what was going on.The scrunched-up faces of the bald, scullery witches shone in the moonlight, their iron-cast skin glossy enough that it made my eyes unable to focus on their form, watering around my lids and shifting away from their long bodies.Camouflage magic! I had known then, as they cast their nettle trap laced with wolfsbane, that I was no match for their expertise.”Seize the prince, Haggard! Don't let him get away!” The slender which I’d seen earlier screeched, her shrill voice grating in my ear so that I ground my teeth together in agony, stars bursting in my vision as I struggled in the nettle that burned my fur with a smoky hiss where it dug in.”You will pay for this hag! All of you! I will avenge my father’s blood!” I thundered, baring my teeth at the women who I was almost certainly convinced had cackled and brayed with amused derision at me.”No Lycan spawn, you w
NOLA REYNOLDS“All this time, those maidens you kidnapped, what did you do with them?” I asked, remembering the kind-faced old maiden I’d seen at the Lycan’s welcoming party. Esmeralda?I made a mental note to speak with her next before I felt the man shift beside me, glancing at the window over my shoulder so that I turned to look.Empty. Surely no one could see us from outside, could they? Not unless they had their faces pressed up against the glass.“I never hurt anyone, Nola. Ever. I only used the cave to help them transition, get them jobs and houses for their new life in the mountain city.” The Lycan beast gritted and more goosebumps collided on my skin.I allowed my shoulders to drop, feeling the weight of caution drop from me as something thawed in my heart when I lifted my eyes to meet the man’s gray orbs.I opened and closed my mouth wordlessly under the man’s gaze, realizing with horror that I’d been thrusting my chest out to him so that my nipple was so close to his mouth
NOLA REYNOLDSI could still hear the screaming after I’d ducked under the scribe’s rubik table in the Lycan’s throne room.We weren't even two days in from the cave and it was already a mess.“Saints no! Please,” I whimpered, hugging my knees to my chest and clapping my hands to my ears as the screams from outside threatened to consume my mind and snapping my eyes open when the odd thumb came again.What the hell was that? My heart hammered between my ribs as I moved my eyes from the brass plate of the door to the sepia-shadowed blackness of the window.Empty. But it had come from there, hadn't it?I felt my wolf hairs rise with uneasiness, something was lurking outside, and whatever it was, I was almost certain it was waiting to play a game of ‘tag, you're dinner.’And damned if I waited around for that to happen.“Shit.” I cursed in a hushed tone as I scrambled out from my hiding place on my hands and knees, the metal tang of blood getting stronger as I approached the window.The L
HECTOR BAYESI let my wolf energy swirl around my hind legs as I bound over to the front of the castle before barreling to a stop when I saw that the double bronze doors to the banquet hall were hanging open, swaying softly in the air that had grown to become almost, stifling.Memories of what happened all those years ago flashed through my yellowed eyes like lightning as I tethered in the foyer, jolting when the slick body of a low-level hybrid settled heavily on the broad triangle of my back only seconds before I felt the pitchfork of its jagged teeth as they sank into my shoulder.“Saints!” I bellowed, throwing my head back in pain and slamming it into the hybrid’s skinhead with enough force that I felt the slippery skin break away and the bones of its skull poke into my heavily furred neck.“Fucking pigs!” I roared, pinpricks of rage dotting my vision as I wound one large fist around the creature’s slack neck, the slick goo of its fluids matting my fur as I snapped it up before sl
NOLA REYNOLDSSomething had followed me from the Lycan’s palace, into the shifting shadows of the forested valley beneath. Something that stayed in the dark leakage of the trees, shifting every time I blinked or looked away.It made the blood pound hotly between my ears as I backed up into the carcasses of trees, paying no mind to where I was going.“Hello?” I called out, after turning to stare at the slender skeleton of trees, my wolf eyes squinting as I peered over the underbrush.Crickets.I gasped, choking back a whimpered howl and striding forward, weaving past the sharp tips of the branches that seemed to take an odd fancy to my eyes when I was almost certain I had seen the shadow of the gargoyle hybrid hunched between the trees.I had looked back after my fall to make sure it wasn't following me and was surprised to find that the kinks of its milk-gray back were rigidly facing me, with only the decagon of its head twisted impossibly in my direction.Could it have gotten here th