13
Maia choked on a filthy curse, backing up with Kheir into the middle of the clearing.
"Az, now would be a good time to use your smoke," she breathed, watching as twenty wolves crept out of the shadows around them, each with three snarling heads and glowing orange eyes.
Her own power surged, and bright soul-light flared around every wolf in her vision, so vibrant that Maia had to squint.
"I can't exactly control it," Azrail bit out, pressing close to her side, as tense as iron.
"You have earth magic," Ark said, exasperated. "We're in the middle of a forest. Use your brain, Azrail."
The silver lights flashed brighter, like the wolves’ souls were overflowing with magic and—no. That wasn't it. The souls were overlapping, crowding into the clearing, a hundred of the creatures closing in. Maybe hundreds.
"Shit," Maia hissed, the urge to grab her mates and flee suddenly choking her. But they were surrounded, and the only way out was to climb one of the giant trees. She filed it away as a last resort, reaching for a song and letting it vibrate up her tongue. "There's too many of them."
Jaromir growled, sharp teeth bared at the wolves.
Maia flinched when a hundred snarls replied. The sound was so loud that she felt it deep in her bones, rattling through her skull, strangely resonant. The trees at the heart of her soul rustled in a sudden wind, their leaves creating a cacophony in her head.
"Where's Bryon?" she heard Kheir ask, muffled like his voice was coming through water.
Maia shook her head, but it didn't clear her senses. It was like her ears had been stuffed with cotton. The rage still pounded against her ribs, the terrifying need to get Bryon back before he was eaten by whatever creatures tore apart a village, but fear threatened to swallow it.
A single wolf stepped forward, saliva dripping from the fangs of every head and six sharp black ears twitching.
"Stop!" Azrail shouted in a deep, growling voice.
Maia's heart shot into her throat as he matched the wolf's step, and she moved before she could consider how smart it was, snagging Azrail’s sleeve.
"Maia," he rumbled in that low voice that rattled her bones. So similar to the wolves' growls. "Let go."
Maia lifted her hand in warning when the wolf inched forward another step, teeth bared and orange eyes unsettlingly intelligent.
"Well, that worked," Kheir quipped sarcastically. Maia felt magic thrum through their bond, and suddenly the wolves snarled, hundreds of heads twisting left and right.
"What's happening?" Maia breathed, holding onto Azrail.
He shook his head, jaw clenched.
"They're fighting me," Kheir said tightly, and Maia's eyes widened when she realised he'd cast an illusion on the wolves.
"How many do you have in your illusion?" she asked urgently, scanning the snarling beasts around them, seeing the bright silver of the hidden creatures too.
"All of them," he bit out, bronze hands curled into fists. A vein stood out on his forehead, and Maia swore colourfully.
She let the song hovering on the tip of her tongue soar and grow, sending it into the cagy mind of the lead wolf. The alpha?
You want to run away,she planted in his mind, weaving it among his own thoughts of violence and protection. He was defending his territory, she realised, and she understood why the wolves would react this way. She’d do the same.
But they'd stolen Bryon and she couldn’t forgive that.
She laid thought after thought in the wolf's mind, holding her breath and hoping the others would fall into line when the alpha backed off. But he didn't. He took another step forward, casting her snaresong away as easily as brushing aside cobwebs.
"Oh, fuck," Maia breathed.
Kheir's grunt of pain suggested he'd been thwarted by the wolf, too. What the hellwerethese things? Were they real saint tales come to life, or some twisted creation of the dark saint’s making?
"These are my aunt's monsters, aren't they?" she breathed, her stomach twisting into a cramp. "She knows where we are."