I tried to stay with Tarik, fighting to relax when my eyes shot open again maybe a few hours later. As much as I wanted to stay there, locked safely in his arms, my body quickly grew restless. I pried myself from his grasp and slipped from the tent. The moon was already starting to creep toward the horizon.
Leaves cracked under my boots. Sebastian’s eyes shot wide, startled from the sleep trying to claim him.
“I’ll take over, Seb. I can’t sleep anyway.”
“Are you sure?” He examined my face, brow furrowed. “Are you . . . okay?”
I nodded. “I’ll be fine. Go rest.”
Sebastian didn’t argue further. I couldn’t blame him. He had been taking the majority of the watches, likely out of some inborn responsibility he didn’t need to bear. We would help him more, he knew that. He wasn’t so good at accepting though . . . I could relate.
I sighed as I took his spot, shuffling to the tree he’d been leaning against. The bark bit into the skin exposed by my low-backed tank top. Comfortable, but practical if I needed my wings.
And enough to appease that damned Fae modesty.
A laugh huffed from my throat. Small movements caught my eye and I saw that tiny winged lizard basking in the campfire. I needed to name the thing, if it was going to stick around. As if the lizard could feel my attention, bright yellow eyes slid in my direction, its orange and yellow wings fluttering softly.
Night watch was boring with only my thoughts for company. My mind drifted to the tent Sebastian had vanished into, to the red-haired Fae within who ignited my heart with a smile. The corner of my mouth twitched at the thought, my bottom lip slipping between my teeth. I tugged a cigarette free from my bag and had barely lit the end when a shadow caught my eye.
At first, I thought I was seeing things. The trees liked to move at night, and with the campfire, the shadows liked to play tricks on a tired mind. But this one didn’t adjust like shadows cast by fire. It lingered, dark, solid. In a blink, the form was gone.
The hairs on my arms raised. Pressure tickled along my spine, but a primal instinct in the back of my mind screamed that whatever was out there, watching, was the better predator. I crushed the cigarette out, climbing back to my feet.
Listened.
Nothing. The woods were silent. Eerily silent—even the owls had ceased their soft cries, the insects gone. As I watched the shadow move, circling nearer, I heard nothing. No footsteps. No crackling foliage. Complete and utter nothing. My heart skipped as I scanned the area. Fear froze the warning in my throat—what would I even be warning them against?
And then the figure stepped into the light.
I swore, loudly. A creature loomed, seven feet tall with a set of antlers on its head to rival the largest buck. Its features were almost human, not quite animal, but I was distracted by its teeth—sharp and yellow, bared in my direction.
And covered in dried blood.
At the sound of Reagan’s sharp curse, I bolted upright. My heart missed a beat when I realized she was no longer in the tent beside me. Sebastian’s back faced me instead. He twitched as he muttered in his sleep.
I shook his shoulder. “Seb, where’s Reagan?”
Somewhere in the night, an eerie wail rose, higher and higher until the echo bounced against my eardrums. A chill slid down my spine. Every instinct shouted at me to run. Listening to them, I charged out of the tent and sprinted toward that haunting noise, because I knew.
I knew Reagan would be there.
When I rushed past the warm glow of our campfire and into the darkness, fog swallowed me. Reagan’s name was heavy on the tip of my tongue. I desperately wanted to call out to her, but something held me back. Some instinct. I swung around the tree Sebastian had used as a lookout point. A dark shape moved in the shadows.
The moon silhouetted several pointy spikes that appeared to be antlers. They hovered at least eight feet off the ground. Attached to the antlers was a . . . was a . . . What was that? The thing turned enough for me to glimpse a skeletal head, like that of an elk, but this creature had dozens of teeth poking out of its skull. Wicked sharp ones. And it was looking directly at—
Right in front of the freaky beast stood a tiny figure, barely five feet tall. The blood in my veins froze. She stepped backward slowly, and an impossibly long arm ending in dagger-like fingers swooped toward her.
“No!” I roared. With a snap, my wings ripped free of my skin. The creature’s long arm halted mere inches from her chest, and that hideous skull swung my way. Where there should have been eyes were two black pits, and I could have sworn they started to glow red at the sight of me. The creature’s mouth opened.
A thunderous boom shook the air, shattering my ability to move. I clutched at my ears as the sound sunk deep into my bones. With a yell of rage, I stumbled forward anyway. Only one thought flooded my mind, drowning me in its intensity. Save Reagan. She wasn’t shifting into her lion form and I didn’t understand why. I flapped my wings and shot toward her just as that hideous long arm wrapped in sickly gray skin came down on her once more.
With a desperate burst of speed, I barreled into her, cringing as she cried out—from the force of our collision or the beast’s claws, I didn’t know. My wings were about to flap again, to carry us to safety, when searing heat sliced down my side. I grunted, barely holding in a scream. My body flushed hot, hotter, flaring like I was on fire. My wings faltered.
Curling myself around Reagan, I braced for impact. The ground was unforgiving as my shoulder smacked into it. We rolled several yards before my back rammed into a tree, jarring us both to a stop. My limbs locked up, shaking, as I struggled for breath. All the while, my gaze raced over the clearing and darted into the trees, searching for that terror of a beast.
“Are you . . .” My tongue was thick, slurring my speech. “Are you okay?” I spread my wings over us as a shield until I could stand again.
“I’m fine,” she said weakly. “Are you?”
I didn’t reply. I knew I wasn’t, but I would tend my injuries later. Healing was in my blood. We needed to leave this place before—
Reagan cried out and my heart leapt into my throat. I focused on the top of her head. “What’s wrong?”
“That wasn’t me,” she whispered. I stilled.
We stopped breathing as we listened.
“No!”
My voice in perfect pitch echoed back at me. The hairs on the nape of my neck rose.
Slowly, I lifted one black wing, just enough to peek at our surroundings. There, standing in the middle of the small clearing, was not one creature, but two. And somehow, they were using our voices. A shouted curse, sounding exactly like Reagan’s, came from the thing nearest us. She shuddered in my arms.
Not far off, I heard my name yelled, followed by Reagan’s. I ached to respond, to warn them away, but the creepy skulls chose that moment to face me and Reagan. They ignored the oncoming threat and, on impossibly silent feet, glided our way. My heart thundered as I quickly pulled us to a stand, groaning as heat shot up my injured side.
My wings wavered but, with a wince, I spread them wide and prepared for flight. I wouldn’t risk Reagan, and I hoped the others would see my take-off and join us.
Instead, a gunshot slapped the air.
“Holy crap, what are these things?” Caspar hollered, waving a shotgun around. “Giant reanimated deer? With claws?”