Or Horlow.
“You’re right,” I said. I sucked in a deep breath and my chest squeezed painfully.
I followed Tavlor through the forest, walking and on our way to one of the many portals in this realm.
“Where is this portal going to take us?” I asked.
“It can take us anywhere you say, or can imagine,” he said. “Do you know where you need to go?”
I nodded. “Yes. The human realm attached to the magic realm where I met you.”
Goodness, that seemed so long ago. And yet, it couldn’t have been more than a couple of weeks. Why did it feel as though I had aged so much since then?
Tavlor’s smile was strange. “Do you know which human portal we need to travel to?” he asked. “There are thousands, all over the Earth.”
“Oh.” I hadn’t realized that. “Shit.”
“I never expected such a word coming from you, Ava,” he said. I shivered. The way he said my name always left me breathless. “I find I like it.” He cleared his throat. “We’re going to have to narrow it down somehow.”
“Tell me how...” I let my voice trail off, unclear how I could respond when his voice sounded like this. A strange smell caught my attention and I glanced ahead, wrinkling my nose. “What’s that?”
Tavlor looked towards the trees and he drew his sword from the magically hidden sheath on his back. He gripped the hilt. “That’s a wolf shifter. And judging by the way he’s stopped, staring in this direction, he’s here for you.”
Chapter 4.
A vicious snarl ripped through the air as the man transformed into a massive black wolf.
I had never seen a shifter actually transform. My heart pounded against my chest and my entire body went rigid.
“Holy shit.”
How did one fight against a shifter? Did I use my magic or wait for Tavlor to kill him with his sword? Was there proper protocol? And that was assuming we were even allowed to kill shifters. Granted, if one was all ready to kill me, I was going to defend myself. But what were the consequences of killing a shifter? Would I even be able to kill him with my magic?
I wished my mother had prepared me for a time like this. I knew no one could have predicted one would be coming for me, but I would have liked to know how to defend myself against potential threats. Instead, I had to rely on Tavlor. I wanted to be able to rely on myself.
“What do we do?” I looked to Tavlor.
Tavlor pushed me back, one hand on my belly while he stepped forward, sword in hand.
“Get behind me and use whatever shield techniques you are able to conjure,” he said. He wasn’t even looking at me. His eyes were narrowed, focused on the shifter ahead of us. “Oh... no. He’s brought his pack.”
One wolf on the horizon turned into two, then three, then four.
Four vicious, snarling, black beasts.
“A pack?” I took a step back. It wasn’t like it mattered. There were too many of them and I had never been a fast runner. “They’re all here to get me?”
“Yes.” He nodded once, his gaze focused in front of him. At least he was honest, though a small part of me wishe
d he would lie to me and tell me everything was going to be okay.
I stepped up next to him, pushing that thought aside. I was not going to run. I was not going to cower. I was not going to let the man I cared about fight for me. He was already betraying everything he knew because of me.
I took a deep breath and let my magic free reign inside of me. I had some training in attacking thanks to Abigail and Horlow—though Horlow tended to focus more on protective spells than anything else.
The wolves ran faster, but instead of coming directly at us, as I’d expected, they formed a circle around us.
Okay...