The guard shoved his hands against my back, and I stumbled into a cobblestone courtyard, a strangled cry caught in my throat. The manor surrounded us on all four sides with red stone. I’d never been here before. Not many people had. It reminded me of a prison.

I hugged myself, scanning the balconies looking down on where we stood.

“Keep moving.” The man prodded my shoulder, and I cried out loud as the piercing ache ripped through my shoulder like shattered glass.

Blood dribbled down my arm, and every step grew sluggish. The world tilted around me, and I stumbled in a zigzag line.

We passed through open wooden doors, a manicured lawn waiting for us. Dense trees surrounded the area and beyond that lay a great wall that circled the manor property.

“Please.” I turned to the man. “Will you help me? I don’t want to die.”

“Help you? A fucking wolf who eats humans? You deserve everything coming your way.” He hissed the words, and I glanced back at the manor and its arched windows, but not a soul looked out to witness this atrocity. Where did the rest of the royal family live?

Ahead of me, I found the priestess, yawning as if I’d inconvenienced her. Bitch. Two more guards stood on either side of her. And Santos was there too, unconscious, tied to a tree by the neck as if he were a dog. I shivered. What had they done to him?

When I laid eyes on the guillotine nearby, I lost my breath. Who the hell had one of those devices in their backyard? The blade looked rusty from use—or was the metal stained with blotches of blood? She was officially insane because it meant she’d used this before. How many innocents had lost their heads? I shuddered and recoiled, picturing myself decapitated.

A flicker at the edge of the woods caught my eye. A fox jumped over a log and sprinted out of there. Exactly what I had to do.

My muscles exploded with a violent motion, and I darted toward a cluster of trees in the direction of the front gates.

The guard snatched my arm and yanked me backward. But I tripped over my feet and crashed onto my butt, every inch of me screaming with pain.

“Get up,” he snarled.

“No. I’ve done nothing wrong. You’re the monsters here, killing innocent people.”

The man dragged me across the grass, my body hurting, and he dumped me near the priestess.

“Oh dear,” she mocked. “She actually thinks she’s a person.”

The priestess grabbed my hair and pulled me up. I staggered upright, gritting my teeth, and was sick of being treated like a nobody. No wonder wolves hated us if this was how the guards treated them.

I held myself upright, despite my legs shaking and my vision wavering from the lack of blood, yet I held her glare.

“You will never be anything but a fucking bitch,” I shouted.

She laughed, and rage bubbled in my chest. The earlier connection to my wolf had vanished back in the cell. Didn’t matter. I steadied my balance and head-butted her in the face. Sure, the pain ricocheted through my skull and down to my shoulder, but I bit down on my tongue until the throbbing sting passed.

Her lower lip busted open, and she clasped her mouth, her eyes wide.

“I’m proud of what I am,” I roared. “Scum like you can never take that away.”

The guard tackled me from behind, both of us hitting the ground. Air gushed from my lungs, and I hollered for the injustice of how much damage the leader had done to Terra.

“Set her up. Now!” She held a tissue to her bloody lip.

“You deserve so much worse,” I said.

I bucked against the guard, but another man joined, taking my injured arm, twisting it so much, I howled in pain. They pushed me toward the guillotine, and I wedged a leg up against the wooden frame, stopping them from pushing me closer. My heart raced and fire seared my brain as I gawked at the open basket where my head would roll. Sickness plunged into my gut.

Someone kicked the back of my knee, and I collapsed, crying, unable to stop.

A hand grabbed the back of my neck and pressed me forward.

“No!” I screamed.

Somewhere behind us, thundering footfalls struck the ground, growing louder and closer.

The grip holding me eased, and I scrambled away from the contraption, but the guard clasped my wrist. I pried at his iron fingers that refused to budge.

“What is it now?” the priestess shouted.

I stared up at the four guards marching with someone toward us through the trees from the direction for the front gate, but the moment they emerged, ice filled my veins.

“Oryn?” I whispered.

He was naked and bleeding cuts dotted his body. My chest clenched, and I clawed at the guard’s arms.

“Who is this?” She stormed closer.

“Priestess, we found this shifter in our land in his wolf form. But he was no match for us.” The men stood proudly with their chests sticking out, chins high.

“Yeah, big men when it’s four against one,” I blurted out.

Oryn’s head lifted, his gaze on mine, and when he winked, a newfound energy found me. The guys were coming for me, and I bounced in my boots. Oryn getting caught wasn’t an accident. I’d seen him take down ferocious wolves, so four guards were nothing. But they shouldn’t have come and placed themselves in danger.

“This is your doing,” the priestess said. “You’re calling more of your kind onto my land.” The priestess scoffed and turned to Oryn. “Bring him to me.” She dug into her pocket and took out a fabric pouch. “Shifters will be extinct soon enough. You two are just leaving earlier.”

“What’s in the pouch?” I asked as my thoughts flew to the poisoned river.

Her smirk left me terrified. “A little something I ordered from the Darkwoods. Did you know you can find almost anything there? Disgusting place, but sometimes a necessity.”

When the guard kicked Oryn’s leg, he dropped his knees, but his hands snapped free the tied binding this wrists behind his back.

My breath froze in my chest.

He leaped to his feet as she snatched a pinch of whatever was in her bag and blew it into his face.

Oryn flinched backward and sneezed. Then his eyes rolled back and he crashed onto his side, unmoving.

“Oryn!” I drove my heel into the guard’s foot and broke free. I ran around the guillotine and slid to my knees next to him, cupping his face with my good hand. “Wake up.” Listening to his chest, his heartbeat was present, but faint.

I glanced up to the priestess. “What did you do?”

She shrugged, tucking away her pouch into a pocket of her dress. “Just a little something that will shut down his organs. It’s the most humane way to do it. He’s not suffering.”

I rocked on the spot. “You’re killing him for no reason.” I reached down and placed my palm on his chest, driving my power into his. The buzzing tingled down my arm. I’d done it before, so it had to work now. I held the priestess’ gaze to keep her distracted.

“Is that how you poisoned the water in the Den?”

“Smart girl. The toxin in the stream will turn the beasts against each other until they’re all dead. Then my job is done. And I’ll claim their territory and expand Terra. We are the original beings. Pure and free of imperfections.”

“How can you sleep at night? Knowing you’ll be the cause of the mass extinction of a race?”

A guard shoved me in the back.

“She’s doing something to him. Her hand is glowing.”

I turned, but a fist collided with my cheek. Stars danced before me, and I collapsed onto my back. My world danced, and voices spoke, but nothing made sense. Not when my head vibrated and felt as if someone had ripped out my jaw. How in the world did men keep fighting after getting punched?

Hands grabbed my waist and lifted me to my feet, but everything in my sight was duplicated.

“Set her up and let’s finish this. I’m starving.” The priestess patted down her dress, brushing off dead leaves.

He gripped my arm tight, and I winced from the sting along my shoulder as he dragged me to the guillotine.

“Let me go.” A quick look behind me as I stumbled forward, and Oryn hadn’t shifted. But the other shifters were coming, and I had to buy them time, so I addressed the priestess.

“I can offer you herbs that will heal almost anything. Maybe you’d prefer a rejuvenation mixture for younger skin. No one in the seven realms can make such an offer.”

“Stop wasting my time,” she said.

“Let me show you what I can do,” I pleaded as I pulled my free hand from the guard and gripped my wounded shoulder, anything to ease the spasms jolting down my arm. I fought the desperate urge to cry and beg for mercy. Oryn, Nero, and Dagen. They risked their lives to safe me. And I couldn’t allow them to die.

“Everyone comes to my store for reason,” I began, my head still buzzing. “I’ve found a plan that when placed on sore knees will eradicate joint pain. My herbs work.”

“Enough!” Her lips twisted. “Do you think I’ll use a potion from a shifter.” Her nose wrinkled, and she turned to the guard. “Do this already.”

When he placed a hand on me, I kicked the man in the shin.

“I’m not the enemy here.”

He didn’t react, but he squeezed my arm so hard it hurt. “Stop squirming, or I’ll give you something to really scream about.” He cocked a brow and stared at me with his beady, pig eyes.

“You’ll never touch me.” I kneed him in the balls and stumbled back toward Oryn, but other guards crowded around and apprehended me, grasping me. I coiled in on myself, cradling my injured shoulder tight against my side. Despair squeezed my heart. I’d finally found three special men and I was about to lose them.

But I lived with darkness for years after Grandpa died, enough to last an eternity. She raised me to stand up for myself, so I lifted chin, ready to fight.

When a howl echoed around us, my heart leaped.

A flurry of bodies dashed around us, and only one guard remained by my side. The others hovered near the priestess, their long knives drawn. I peered through the chaos.

More guards rushed from the manor.

My breaths raced, and I kept staring at Oryn, willing him to get up. But he didn’t move.

A grunt came from farther behind the guillotine.

I twisted to see an army of at least a dozen wolves led by Dagen in his dark fur, charging toward us.

Dagen. Yes. I love you so much.

I kicked the guard holding on to me. Sidestepping around him, I staggered to Oryn. Don’t let it be too late.

Behind me, an explosion of snarls erupted. I jerked toward the clash of wolves and guards tangled in a brawl. The guard had joined the fight. I had to believe Dagen knew what he was doing. Had the shifters spent the morning retrieving wolf members not affected by the poison to rescue me?

Crouched near Oryn, I placed a palm on his chest. “Come back to me.”

I ignored the priestess retreating along the path, the cries and whimpers nearby, because my heart tore at the blood being spilled because of a crazy woman.

With my eyes shut, I refocused on my central core, the fizzing energy, and compelled it down my arms. The energy shot to my hands, and I snapped open my eyes to find the web-like charge hopping across Oryn’s torso.

Still no response. I listened to his heart. Alive. But for how long? And why wasn't my touch working?

I staggered to my feet and stumbled after the priestess, who rushed away like a coward while her men fell.

“What herbs did you put in your pouch?” I demanded to know.

She waved me away as if I were a pest in her sight.

Except right then, my veins were alight, and I refused to lose any of my men. I snatched her fingers and twisted them back.

She shrieked and moved too fast for me to see her holding a weapon in her other hand. She swung the blade in my direction and plunged it into my chest.

I screamed and fell to my knees. The agonizing pain paralyzed me. Every twitch I made had me bellowing. Blood poured out.

“Now you will die like the animal you are.” The priestess shoved me aside as she ran toward the manor.

Crashing onto the ground, I cried from the agony, from losing my life, and for never seeing those I loved ever again.