Cassiel tightened his hand around the cool metal. He had not intended to draw her with it. He had played the flute merely to pass the time and because it irritated Captain Gareel.
“That song, I have heard it before.”
“I doubt that, stupid human.” The song was his. No other outside of the castle had heard it.
She frowned. “I beg your pardon?”
“It’s a befitting name as you nearly lost your life twice in preventable circumstances.”
“Thank you for saving me,” she replied stiffly. “I am within your debt. How may I repay your kindness?”
“I want nothing from you.”
Her mouth fell open. “Bu—but you must ask for something. The God of Urn’s Holy Law demands I repay my debt or I surrender my life in service to you. Please, I don’t wish to become a life-servant.”
Cassiel scowled at her. The entire concept of the holy life-debt was sickening. Such a foul belief was invented by humans. Save the life of another and they became indentured for the rest of their life if they didn’t have the means to repay the debt with a suitable offering. People owning people and branding them like cattle.
He would never keep a slave, much less a human one. Nonetheless, Hilos didn’t allow life-debts. But she didn’t know that.
The longer Cassiel glared at her, the more she squirmed. She pushed the worn satchel hanging on her shoulder behind her and shifted her stance to hide it. Not that he cared. She was a peasant and wouldn’t have anything of value.
“I relieve you of your debt, Dynalya,” he said, acknowledging her name at last. It surprised him how easily it rolled off his tongue and the pleasing sound of it.
She sighed in visible relief. The phrase released her of any obligation to him and once said, he couldn’t retract his decision. She was free.
“Thank you, and please call me Dyna, if you will. May I know your name?”
“No.”
Dyna huffed in slight indignation. “Very well. If you have relieved me, then I must be on my way. Good day to you.” She gave him another curtsy and turned to leave.
“I have not dismissed you. Explain why you have intruded on our lands.”
“I’m searching for my cousin, Zev. He lives in Lykos Peak.” She pointed at the dense woodland beyond the cliff.
She must be joking. Cassiel was about to say so but she was already walking away. “You cannot go there,” he sputtered.
Dyna called over her shoulder. “But I must.”
She continued her brisk walk along the perimeter of the cliff and disappeared past a tall hedge. Cassiel stared in the direction she went. Well, that was it then. It was time he returned to the castle and provided an explanation. The High King was surely waiting for one.
But Cassiel couldn’t make himself go. Indecision and confusion keeping him there. This had nothing to do with him. He did his part in saving her life already. The human was nothing to him.
He muttered a curse and flew after her.
Dyna lingered ahead in the dusk, standing by a fallen tree lying across the two cliffs. It was massive, the exposed, desiccated roots as sharp as talons.
He circled over the unexpected tree-bridge. Who placed it here? The Watchers avoided patrolling close to the Lykos border, so this happened when they were unaware.
She tested the roots then climbed up. “This must be how Zev ventures across.”
Cassiel crossed his arms. “Should you fall again, do not expect me to catch you.”
“I’ll be fine, Your Highness,” she grunted as she reached the top.
He scoffed. “Is that so?”
Dyna stopped in the twilight and gave him a soft smile. “My good fortune truly came with our meeting. I wouldn’t have survived this day if not for you, and I believe the fates are not finished with us yet.”
Cassiel was too dumbfounded to respond. Who was this girl that she thought his presence meant something?
Her light laughter followed his reaction, and the delightful sound vibrated through him in a way it shouldn’t have. She looked at him with such undeserved reverence that for a moment her smile gave worth to his crime of sparing her life.
Dyna crossed the wide girth of the tree, arms held out for balance. He jolted, instinctively reaching out to catch her again, but she reached the other end without incident and hopped down. Slowly, she walked to the dense tree line, pausing there.
“Will you accompany me?” Dyna asked him. Traces of fear lingered beneath her inquiring expression.
Cassiel arched an eyebrow. “No.”
“All right…” She took a deep breath and faced the woods of Lykos Peak. Surely, she wouldn’t risk going there on her own—
Dyna ran inside.
If he wasn’t sure before, this convinced him he had indeed saved a stupid human. She went in after he warned her. It wasn’t his responsibility to see to her survival. But again, he couldn’t make himself leave.
Was it because she willingly trusted him? Or because he knew she would be killed if he didn’t go after her?
Cassiel groaned in frustration. Damn the fates, and damn him for being the fool.
He flew across the chasm and landed by the boundary of the cliff. His knowledge of Lykos Peak made him hesitate. He had to retrieve her before they took notice.
Cassiel rushed through the trees and bumped into Dyna. Her startled shriek rang in his ears.
“Quiet!” he hissed.
A shaky smile rose her lips. “You came.”
“Against my better judgment, which you apparently lack.” He held out an arm to keep her from going any further while he observed their shadowed surroundings. They stood in a dark glade enclosed in thick foliage. Sweat sprouted on the nape of his neck, and his heart raced with the receding light. “We must go. This territory belongs to the were-beasts.”
“Were-beasts?”
“Yes, also called shapeshifters, wolf-men, or whatever you know them as from where you’re from.”
She frowned. “We call them werewolves.”
“Then you know what they are.” So as not to touch Dyna directly, Cassiel grabbed her hood and pulled her back the way they came.
“I’m not leaving.” She slipped out of her cloak.
“Bloody hell, I should have let you fall over the cursed cliff.” He pitched the cloak on the ground.
She huffed. “I cannot leave without Zev!”
“Be quiet or you will draw the beasts right to us,” he snapped. What was so important to risk her life to find this cousin? If he came here, he was surely dead. “Night is falling and I do not have a weapon.”
He gripped the flute, remembering it was made of silver. It would do some damage to a were-beast—in close range. No, he would not risk that.
“We are leaving.”
Dyna stood firm and crossed her arms. “I need to find my cousin.”
Cassiel was finished with this nonsense. “Listen, stupid human, either you come with me or I’ll leave you here alone.”
Her eyes stretched wide and her complexion paled, her breathing growing quick and heavy. “Please don’t leave me in this dark place,” she begged. “You don’t understand. I must find him.”
A brisk breeze caressed the beads of perspiration on his nape and continued east. Dread sank in Cassiel’s stomach. That wind carried their scent.
The trees were so still Dyna’s hitched breathing sounded loud in the quiet. There was no mistaking the threat creeping into the chilly air as the last of the light washed out with night’s arrival. Thin shafts of moonlight trickled through the branches, and in the far reaches of the woods, a howl broke the deafening silence.
Cassiel snatched Dyna’s sleeve and hauled her away.
“My cloak!”
“Leave it.”
“No!”
“We can’t stop—” A low, menacing growl halted him in place. A chill skittered down Cassiel’s spine. Slowly, he inched his head and glanced over his shoulder.
There, from within the de
pths of the bushes, were two yellow eyes watching them in the dark.
Chapter 6
Cassiel
Goosebumps rushed down Cassiel’s arms and a curse caught on his tongue. He went rigid, limbs locking in place by those predatory eyes. Thoughts raced through his mind. He wasn’t armed. The trees were too dense to fly through. He couldn’t fight a beast. Run.
They had to run!
“Zev?” Dyna called to it, her voice quivering.
Cassiel’s attention snapped to her. “Your cousin is a were-beast?”
She nodded without looking away from it.
The creature snarled and moved into the moonlight revealing a huge gray wolf. It was three times bigger than an ordinary wolf but thin with bald patches in its fur. Foam lined its mouth and drool seeped through its sharp teeth as it stalked forward.
She stumbled back. “That’s not him!”
Cassiel grabbed her elbow, and they ran. The wolf lunged for them. In one leap, it took Dyna down, wrenching her from his grasp and they crashed to the ground. Her terrible scream rang in his ears. He gathered the force in his wings and spun, whipping them against the beast. The blow threw it across the glade, but it quickly rolled back to its feet.
Cassiel held his flute as he would a knife and braced his legs. Silver would kill it as long as he struck a piercing blow.
The wolf bound for them when a young man came tearing through the bushes. He ripped off his shirt and leaped into the air, shifting mid-arc into a black wolf and tackled the other wolf off its path. The monstrous beasts tussled on the ground, a snarling mass of fur and teeth.
Cassiel yanked Dyna to her feet and shoved her toward the cliffs. “Go!”
But she stayed in place staring at the creatures, hands covering her mouth.
The two wolves circled the clearing, their reflective yellow eyes glowing in the night. The black wolf was larger and much stronger. That didn’t deter the gray wolf from challenging it. They charged at each other, tearing into flesh.
Watching their attacks, Cassiel determined the fight would not last much longer. The black wolf was winning, though it didn’t aim to kill. It attempted repeatedly to herd its opponent to the woods, but the beast was relentless. It kept trying to reach Dyna. The black wolf slammed into the grey, throwing the massive beast across the clearing. It collided into a tree with a loud thwack, sending a scatter of leaves raining down. It didn’t get up.
A low growl rumbled from the black wolf. It circled the tree warily, eyeing the fallen beast. When it didn’t move, the black wolf approached. The gray wolf lunged for its throat.
“No!” Dyna cried.
The gray wolf spun to her at the shout. The black wolf tackled it, and they rolled into the underbrush out of sight. Vicious growls and snarls filled the glade. A sharp whine sliced the night air, coming to an abrupt end. After a brief silence, a chorus of mournful howls resonated beyond the woods. The haunting sound turned every muscle in Cassiel’s back rigid.
The bushes rustled and, the massive black wolf ambled out with a glistening muzzle.
“Zev!” Dyna ran to the wolf and wrapped her arms around its neck, burying her face in the thick fur. It whined softly and nuzzled her cheeks, leaving behind smears of blood.
“That thing is your kin?” Cassiel asked. Perhaps she called it cousin as a term of endearment.
The wolf growled, baring its fangs.
“This is Zev.” Dyna stood and brushed herself off. She hurried to the bushes to gather the strewn clothes and boots and laid them by the beast.
When she turned her back, the wolf’s form shifted and its fur receded, revealing a crouched, naked young man. Zev rose to his full height. He stood a few feet taller than Dyna; broad body layered in corded muscle. In the moonlight, Cassiel could barely distinguish the warped scars all over him. Zev’s eyes no longer shone yellow. They were a different shade not perceptible in the night, but his wayward dark hair and scruffy face hardly hid the wild, sharp features that hinted what he was.
Cassiel struggled to explain what he was seeing. He glanced back and forth between Zev and the moon peeking through the branches. This werewolf somehow shifted to his human form at night.
How?
Zev quickly yanked on his trousers and slipped on a dirty white tunic, then his boots. “Dyna, are you all right?” he asked, his gruff voice full of concern.
“Yes.” She turned around with a smile, but it faltered at the sight of blood soaking through his tunic from his ribs. “You’re hurt.”
“It’s nothing.” He rested his hands on her shoulders. “I feared the worst when I caught your scent and realized Faolan hunted you.”
“Faolan?” She glanced at the bushes. “He’s of the Lykos Pack?”
“He was.”
Dyna’s face crumbled. “I’m sorry.”
“It had to be done. He was feral and would not have stopped.”
Feral? Cassiel frowned. He would assume all of Zev’s kind to be feral.
Dyna’s eyes widened. “He had gone mad?”
At the question, the were-beast looked away from her. What did she mean by mad?
“Did he hurt you?” Zev asked instead. He held her back, examining her scratched arms and legs.
“I’m fine. Let me tend to your wounds. It will only take a moment.” Dyna reached for the bite on his shoulder, but he lowered her hand. He moved slowly, as though to be careful not to scratch her with his sharp nails.
“There’s no need. They will scar by tomorrow.”
She sighed. “Take a salve at the very least or those bites could become infected.”
He didn’t dispute further. Perplexed, Cassiel watched as Zev let her smear a waxy substance on his wounds from a jar she produced out of her satchel. Dyna truly didn’t fear the were-beast and he made no move to attack her either.
“How did you find your way here?” Zev asked as she worked. “I was to see you in North Star within a week. You shouldn’t have come here. Lykos Peak isn’t a place for humans.”
“Which is precisely what I told her,” Cassiel muttered to himself.
The were-beast turned to him, his brow furrowing. Elongated canines flashed in the corners of his mouth when he spoke. “Good evening.”
Cassiel chose not to respond.
Zev frowned at Dyna. “Care to explain this?”
She fiddled with the jar, returning it to her satchel. “Well, I—”
Zev spun toward the woods, his eyes flaring to yellow. Another chorus of howls echoed in the distance. They sounded much closer than before. “We must go.”
He rushed to the bushes and pulled out a frayed rucksack. He slung it on his shoulder, its bulky contents clanking inside.
Dyna eyed it. “Were you planning to leave? You gave me your word we would discuss it first.”
“This isn’t the time to argue!” Zev hauled her toward the cliffs. Cassiel followed behind. As soon as they cleared the woods, he returned to the sky.
They sprinted to the tree-bridge connecting the two cliffs. The were-beast tossed Dyna up on the tree’s trunk before leaping up himself. He picked her up again and rushed across, moving in a swift, and agile stride. Reaching the other side, Zev bound off the bridge and set her down to take hold of the tree roots. The wood creaked and groaned, slowly breaking away from its deep groove in the earth. His back strained as he pushed the tree-bridge with impossible strength, shoving it off the edge. The tree plunged down the precipice and smashed on the rocks below.
He stared across the cliff at the woods of Lykos Peak. Cassiel followed his line of sight to the several, yellow eyes gleaming in the dark.
The Lykos Pack.
Zev didn’t look away until they withdrew. “They’ll not follow us here,” he said. “The Pack has a treaty with Hilos that prevents them from crossing territory lines.”
That was knowledge Cassiel should have known, but he often ignored his government studies or anything else of non-interest. He had assumed the were-beasts didn’t enter the
ir Realm because a chasm separated their territories. If the treaty was true, why was Zev on Celestial land?
Zev released a long breath and rubbed his face. “What a night it’s been.”
“Yes, it’s been quite eventful,” Dyna agreed.
His wary gaze bounced between her and at Cassiel hovering above them. “You entered the Forbidden Woods, didn’t you? It is forbidden for a reason, Dyna!”
She kicked at a small pebble, scuffing her shoe in the dirt. “Why didn’t you tell me?”
The were-beast clamped his mouth shut and his eyes slid up to Cassiel again. They both knew he could never have told her about the Celestials.
Cassiel flew to a nearby tree, landing on a branch. “She encountered the Watchers. Nearly lost her head.”
Zev gaped at her.
Dyna nodded sheepishly. “He saved my life.”
Cassiel crossed his arms and sat against the trunk. “I saved your life three times now, stupid human.”
Zev growled at him. “Pardon?”
“I believe I spoke clearly.” Her antics until this point had only proved the moniker befitting.
“You have my thanks, Your Highness,” Zev grated, “but if you expect to collect a debt, know this: I will never allow my cousin to become your life-servant.”
“I’m not a slave keeper.”
“Then why have you followed her?”
Cassiel glanced at the human, so small compared to her large cousin. As much as she annoyed him, he couldn’t leave her behind to die.
“Don’t worry. He relieved me of my debt,” she said, and Zev’s shoulders relaxed. “He is much kinder than the other Seraphim.”
“He is a Celestial, Dyna.”
“Oh right, he said that.” But by her frown, she didn’t understand the difference.
Cassiel leaned his head back against the truck. “The Seraphim are of Heaven’s Gate. They are not earthbound.”
That was all he would bother to say. He was not in the mood to give them a history lesson.
“Forgive me,” Dyna said. “So as not to keep referring to you as such, may I please know your name?”
He didn’t want to answer, but her soft eyes pinned him. He flew down and landed on a patch of soft grass at a careful distance. “I am Cassiel Soaraway, third Prince of Hilos.”
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