Dread settled deeper in my gut. My wolf wasn’t taking to being in the Dreamlands. Maybe an effect of the Moon’s magic? Or the Dark God’s…
Time to get the hell out of here.
Slinging my legs over the edge, I climbed back down the turret, praying to the gods that the fish woman had retreated to her lair, because there was only one way I was getting across the pond.
Before I could think twice about what a poor decision this was, again, I dove into the water and swam as fast as my anatomy and Swiftleys allowed. It only took a minute to get to the edge of the pool, where Jaxson and Sam were waiting.
I guess my shocking touch discouraged the mer-bitch from getting handsy again.
Jaxson reached down and, gripping the back of my shirt, plucked me out of the water like I weighed nothing. As soon as my feet hit the ground, he pulled me to his chest, his arms caging me in. The pulse of his heart thudded against mine, and I instinctively relaxed in his warm embrace.
He took my face in his hands and looked at me with an intensity that made my insides gooey. “You’re frozen. Don’t do that shit again.”
I understood it as, Don’t almost get yourself drowned. I couldn’t agree more.
My throat was dry, and all I could do was nod. I placed my hand over his and was about to pull him to my mouth when he froze as stiff as iron in my arms.
Every sense I had immediately went on high alert.
Something was wrong.
The back of my neck tingled, and there was a new vibration in the air. I glanced toward the orb. The pylon of light rose from the top, just like the other. What I felt was from something else.
A low rumble moved through the forest behind us, and the scent of ash and burning trees flowed around me. A magical signature filled the air, one so powerful that I could barely breathe. It pressed in all around me as if I’d been buried in a cold and dark avalanche.
A man stepped from the forest on the far side of the pond—or rather, the forest backed away to reveal him.
At that distance, I shouldn’t have been able to clearly see his eyes, but it was like he was standing right before me, and they were all that I could see. Glacier blue and as hard as ice, they practically shone with rage and contempt and power.
Arcane symbols covered his bare, muscled chest, and tattoos of snarling wolves covered each shoulder. His long, dark hair whipped in the gentle breeze.
It was the only thing gentle about him. He was beautiful and utterly terrifying.
His signature was so strong, it practically burned my skin, cold and brutal like frostbite. One look at his cruel expression told me that he’d never had any love for the creatures that were mere shadows of his two-legged form, and never would.
I knew him the instant I saw him.
The Dark Wolf God.