by Maia Starr
“Just perfect,” she muttered, crossing her arms as the sunlight faded behind her.
I wonder if Jesse and Professor Allard have been looking for me. It’s been three days already. Surely someone has to have noticed me missing. Surely Jesse had called the police, and a search was getting underway at this very moment. Hopefully.
Walking along, Eliza almost bumped into a wall and had to catch herself as she accidentally slipped on some damp rocks. Kicking the ground in frustration, Eliza wandered off again, down a slightly sloped path into a wider, longer cavern, where a tiny stream trickled through from right to left.
Ethan mentioned a little stream like this, didn’t he?
Kneeling by the water, Eliza placed her hand in, letting out a sigh of relief at the icy sensation running between her fingers. Silent, her thoughts once again drifted back to the problem of Ethan’s silence. One day he would have to tell her everything she wanted to know. Everything, leaving nothing out. She wanted to know why he kidnapped her, and what he hoped to accomplish. Why he remained silent. Why he left her in only one part of his cave home and didn’t show her around. Hell, she had only just found this little part of his home; how many other rooms were in this place?
Rubbing the water onto her face, Eliza leaned forward and stared into the river. Faint sunlight from a crack in the ceiling allowed enough light to filter in so she could see herself. And what she saw was nothing less than frustrating. For some reason, seeing herself reminded her of the first day she arrived in Salem. Back then, she was all smiles...and now she was scowling.
I want answers. I want them now.
So, she decided, the moment Ethan got back, she’d pester him for the answers she wanted until he gave in and told her everything. Things couldn’t go on like this forever, and if Ethan had his way, things would probably stay like this for a while longer. She wanted to know why she was here.
She wanted to know about him.
Marching from the stream, doing her best to remember the way back to cave mouth, Eliza’s resolve hardened. Maybe there was still a chance things could work out between them too, if Ethan obliged her.
That was when she heard the shouts and growls and felt the ground rumbling, nearly pitching her on her side. A roar, a crazy crackle, like the sound of fire burning, the scent of sweat and anger. Suddenly Eliza was rushing forward, following the path of lit lanterns, somehow managing to not trip with each tremor.
Something was wrong. Something was very wrong. Was that Ethan outside? Was he fighting something? Or someone? What in the hell was happening?
It was another few minutes until she finally found her way to the long corridor that led to the outside, but everything slowed as she made it to the entrance.
Her breath caught in her throat as she witnessed the most incredible sight.
Chapter Seventeen
Ethan
Hot and fuming, Ethan emerged from the tree line to stop in front of the mouth of his cave. The shadowed entrance looked cool compared to the heat of the sun that blared through the treetops.
Hands shoved in his pockets, he didn’t go any further, wanting time to himself. To think, to muse on Gabriel’s suggestions.
Ethan wasn’t Arthur, of that there was no doubt. He wasn’t always able to smile through everything, nor was he as quick-witted as his former mentor. Arthur had more qualities than Ethan, but now the guy was gone, leaving Ethan to fill in for him. But did he just want to fill in for Arthur, or did he want something more? Did he want to make something of this, instead of only passively accepting the role?
Gabriel thought Ethan needed to do something more for Eliza. He needed to give her answers, security, reasons for everything. She deserved explanations at least, even if Ethan was still unwilling to let her go back to Salem. Seth could still be prowling around, and that was a thought Ethan didn’t want to think too hard about. He’d tried to seek the shifter out in Salem the past few days, in his free time, but he was never able to find the wolf shifter.
Probably off hunting some other poor woman down, now that Eliza is under my full protection.
As if on cue, a familiar yet terrible scent spilled into the clearing, making Ethan nearly gag. He whirled to peer into the forest behind him and spotted something huge and bestial emerging from the overgrowth. A wolf with dark fur, bright, savage eyes, and an odd grin plastered to its cracked lips. Huffing, the creature padded forward, twice the size of Ethan’s human form, coming to a stop only a dozen feet away.
And then it shifted, shrinking to the shape of a stout young man. Shorter by a few heads, muscles straining underneath the dirty skin. The eyes never wavered in staring at Ethan.
Snorting his disgust with the sudden arrival of the wolf shifter, Ethan turned fully to regarded him. “What the hell are you doing here, Seth? You’re asking to be slaughtered like pup you are, wandering in here.”
Seth smiled, his teeth yellowed and sharp. Stretching, the wolf shifter inhaled and exhaled, forcing Ethan to wait for an answer.
“You know exactly why I’m here,” Seth finally announced as he cracked his neck, making a face of pleasure after rolling his shoulders. “I know you’ve been looking for me these past couple days. Wanting to dispense a little justice, yeah? Or were you motivated by pure anger for me trying to steal away Eliza from you?” Seth’s happy grin evaporated before Ethan’s eyes. “You shouldn’t have done that.”
“Done what?” Ethan said, sneering. “Taking what’s rightfully mine?”
“She ain’t rightfully anybody’s. Not yet, anyway. Or at least, she would have been mine if I had been a second quicker.”
“But you weren’t. You couldn’t have known. You were outplayed, wolf. Give it up, and I promise to let you leave here in one piece.” Ethan smiled. “Mostly, anyway.” Seth stared, his gaze vicious, burning holes in his head. “You’re alone, Seth. No pack to back you up. That’s how wolves win, right? They use their friends against their enemies. But right here, it’s just you and me. You’ll die. So, what are you going to do about it?”
Taking a step forward, Seth smiled wide. “I’ll kill you.”
And then he burst forward, shifting as he ran, a roar escaping his maw as he landed in front of Ethan. Caught off guard, Ethan spun, barely making it out of the way as Seth scrambled on the ground and crashed against the side of the cave. Snarling, and shaking off a few rocks that plopped onto his head, Seth darted after Ethan once again. Swearing, Ethan shifted, but found himself with little room to maneuver. Twice the size of Seth, Ethan bumped into countless trees as he leaned away from Seth’s lunge, unable to swipe at the wolf in time.
Seth climbed on top of the massive dragon Ethan had become, digging his claws into his scaled back and gnawing at the skin underneath. Hot blood flowed, and waves of flashing pain raced throughout Ethan’s body. He cried out, a gurgling roar that sent shockwaves of air out around him.
I can’t fight him trapped here. I can’t!
So Ethan flapped his massive wings and surged upwards, gusts of air pounding into the ground as dragon and wolf glided past the top of the tree line. By some miracle, Seth managed to stay latched on his back, though he was pulled backward, which resulted in the wounds widening beneath Seth’s claws. The wolf howled triumphantly. The pain was almost unbearable, and Ethan barrel rolled in order to shake off the wolf clinging to him.
And it worked, until he felt Seth fall onto and tear into one of his wings. Gaping holes opened in his left wing, causing Ethan to nearly faint from the pressure of the pain flowing through his nerves. Either way, they both plummeted moments later, crashing into and toppling an array of pine trees, their impacts lessening the surge downward.
Ethan wasn’t sure where Seth was thrown off too, but one moment he was battling through the trees, and the next he smacked into the dirt and slid a distance long enough to leave a trench in his wake.
Blood dripped into his eyes as Ethan lifted his head, his bones cracking and whole body trembling as he struggled to rise to h
is feet. Looking around, he realized that he and Seth had destroyed a part of the forest surrounding his home cave. Trees were ripped from the ground, scattered everywhere. Leaves that got caught in the whirling air were still floating gently to the ground. In the distance, Seth was laying on the ground, bloodied and struggling to rise himself. Once he did get to his feet, he limped on two legs, while something that looked like a branch stuck out from a third. It was a miracle he was still moving.
But move the wolf still did.
Through the pain, Ethan opened his mouth, feeling the heat smolder inside his throat. Seth caught the light protruding from Ethan’s mouth, his expression going wide, and he forced himself to dive out of the way as Ethan breathed out a torrent of fire that scorched the ground where Seth had just been.
He coughed the next moment, shutting off the flames, and Seth slumped against a tree, righting himself to growl and ready himself for a charge at Ethan.
Yet he stopped when the sounds of four draconic roars filled the air. Overheard, as Ethan and Seth looked up, four dragons soared in, spying Ethan and spiraling down to land around the alpha shifter. Seth watched in horror as two of the dragons eyed him, and then bellowed, slowly stepping towards the wolf shifter. He glanced one last glare Ethan’s way, howled in frustration as he shifted, and yelled something incoherent his way, and then took off into the forest. Two of the dragons roared and rose into the sky, gliding away and peering into the forest below.
Breathing hard, Ethan collapsed again, and unintentionally shifted back to his human form. The pain heightened momentarily, the flaring soaring as his body morphed, but after the shift, the pain subsided somewhat. With a groggy mind, he flipped himself on his back and stared up at the sky, wheezing. Because of the crackle of fire still licking the ground in front of him, and the sheer pain still dogging his mind, he didn’t quite hear Eliza’s shouts at first, or the patter of her feet as she rushed down to find him. He also didn’t notice the two dragon shifters shift back to their human forms, their faces staring down hard at him.
“Screw me…” he said.
What a goddamn day.
Chapter Eighteen
Eliza
Eliza would remember this day for the rest of her life.
Only in her imagination, before now, had she pictured a dragon and a wolf fight. It was the stuff of fairy tales, an epic fight between two beasts, one spewing fire and the other howling out in rage.
She had been silent through the entire fight, unable to move from her spot in the cave mouth. At one point, as she had witnessed Ethan soar into the sky with the wolf clinging to his back, Eliza had leaned to her left and gripped onto the cold cave wall, the anticipation of watching the wolf fall to the ground creating another dose of vertigo in her body. And it did slip off, but in a sickening turn of events, the wolf managed to twist to land onto Ethan’s wing, tearing it up and forcing them to both plummet to the ground, sending Eliza’s stomach twisting into knots that wouldn't come undone for a while.
The resulting shockwave rocked the earth so much Eliza was sent airborne for a few moments before falling back to her knees, scraping them along the rocks, the pain stinging and then immediately going away as she looked up through teary eyes.
A good distance away, Ethan was getting ready to spew fire at the wolf, though the wolf rolled out of the way at the last possible second. Tiny fires were left to smolder in the dirt and along some toppled trees. Luckily, they seemed to die out rather quickly for the most part.
The massive wolf then blew her mind. It shifted, like Ethan usually did, and turned into none other than the guy named Seth. That wolf, she’d recognized it from the day she was kidnapped by Ethan. Is Seth like Ethan? He’s a shapeshifter, too? Don’t tell me...he was trying to kidnap me too?
Seth shouted something, something Eliza couldn’t make out, and then he was gone as two of what she could only assume were Ethan’s dragon friends chased after him by riding the winds; they were too big to walk through the forest. Thankfully he appeared to be too preoccupied saving his own life to catch sight of her, or else things could have taken a different turn.
But then Ethan collapsed, and something burst in Eliza. She ran forth, arms flailing, ignoring the pain of the scraped-off skin on her knees, barely noticing the strange looks of the two other men, who were just dragons a few moments before.
“Ethan!” she called, trying to get his attention, but he didn’t seem to hear her at all, not until she reached his side, anyway. One of the men stepped into her way, but a wave from Ethan’s hand and the man shrugged and stepped aside, and she hurried past.
Stopping and dropping to her knees, hissing at the pain in legs, she looked over Ethan’s body. There were wounds everywhere, cuts that bled profusely, holes in his left arm, dirt and mud caking his front and sides. His chestnut eyes rolled over to her the next second. “What’s up, Eliza?” His voice was strained, and she could see full of ash, probably from when he tried to roast Seth alive. Coughing out some of the ash, he gazed up at her with a half-smile. “Funny seeing you here.”
“Are there more wounds?” Eliza said, running her hands all over his body, not caring about the lustful thoughts that drifted through her mind. “None on your legs...just cuts on your right arm. Your left arm...can you try and move it?”
He blinked at her and tried, only managing to lift it an inch or two. Taking a deep breath, Eliza nodded. “Okay, okay...roll over; I need to check your back.”
“So you saw the fight, did you?”
“I told you to roll over, damn you.”
“I’m the alpha around here, Eliza. No one tells me what to do.”
She glowered at him, poking at his one of the cuts, causing his smile to instantly become a grimace as he clicked his tongue and hissed. “Fine, fine! I’ll roll over. Damn, girl.”
Helping to roll him over, Eliza’s heart thumped when she saw the myriad of broad claw wounds arcing around his back. All bleeding rivers into the soil. So close to his spine, too.
“What’s the diagnosis, doc?” Ethan said, groaning. Then, after a moment, “I kind of like it when you touch my skin. Your fingers are hot as hell.”
“We don’t have time for this,” Eliza said, focusing her mind on the task at hand. Lifting his arm around her neck, she began to drag him to his feet. “We need to get you to a hospital. Where’s the closest one?”
“There are no hospitals close by,” one of the two men said. Eliza stared in disbelief, only partially because the man had finally spoken. She’d almost forgotten they were there.
“Who are you?” she said, staring at him.
“Members of my clan,” Ethan said. “And I’m fine, Eliza...just give me some time to heal.”
“Where’s the hospital?” she shouted, ignoring the claim from the first man, spit flying from her lips.
“A town over…”
Eliza swore, sagging as Ethan used her to rise slowly to his feet. The second man came over to help her carry him, the burden becoming much easier. “What the hell happened here, Ethan?” the second man asked.
“Just a little brawl, is all. Help carry me to the mouth of my cave, and then help the others hunt Seth down.” Turning his attention to Eliza, he continued. “I have some supplies though,” he murmured when his head was close enough to her ears. She ignored how hot his breath was on her skin. “In my cave.”
“You just happen to have what I need to treat you?”
“I told you I went to restock, didn’t I?”
His causal smile reminded her of the first night he’d captured her. He had left her to go get supplies, she remembered now. But she didn’t think he meant things for wounds and the like. Shaking her head, Eliza screamed a curse word again. “Alright, fine! Can you get to your cave?”
“With you, I can do anything.”
Her cheeks burned so brightly her skin was red all the way to the cave. The walk was brutal on Ethan, but he managed far better than she thought he would. Maybe it was an aspect of his
kind? Whatever his kind was.
Staggering into the cave mouth, Ethan nodded at the man, who promptly let go and jogged off to join his friend, and then pointed down the corridor. Eliza watched as the two men became dragons once again and shot up into the sky before following Ethan’s directions. “Follow the lanterns...and then turn right. I’ve got a clean table you could use to patch me up.”
“It’s not what I would prefer. It won’t be sanitary. But I guess nothing in here will be.”
“You really are a med student, aren’t you?” he giggled.
“Grad student...at least get it right, Ethan.”
“Sorry, my head’s still a little groggy.”
Following his directions, working her exhausting limbs to carry Ethan inside, she found the table. There was only a single lit lantern inside, but she wasn’t about to ask her new patient to light one up. Instead, after laying him as gently down on the table as she could, her own muscles tense and strained beyond their limits, she used a twig to carry the fire from one lantern to the others in the room.
“Where are the medical supplies, Ethan?” she said frantically, huffing like crazy and eyes darting this way and that. There were boxes all over the room. Clearly, Ethan wasn’t a fan of getting good old cabinets to store things.
“Calm down, Eliza—”
“No, where is everything? Tell me! You’re bleeding out!”
“Shifters...heal faster than regular humans do,” he croaked. “We can sustain more damage. Trust me.” She swung her gaze back to him. “You’re crying…”