Heartless

❆ Eleven ❆

Eleven

I plummeted through the air in a blur of blood and glass.

I grasped for purchase on the nearby rocks. Nothing worked. I kept falling. The jagged teeth of the earth bit into my back and sliced through my skin. Screams burst from my lips. The snow jumped closer. I buried my head in my arms and curled my knees up to my chest.

I'd once broken my arm after falling out of a tree. I'd hit the snow with enough violent force that my teeth began to bleed. I'd been shot with an arrow and had to tear the head out myself. I thought I knew what pain was.

I was dead wrong.

My side crashed into the ground first. Loud cracks and shatters vibrated my body. Agony shot through my arm and burned deep into my head. The snow quickly turned deep red. Dark moonlight began to swallow my vision. A loud crashing sound ripped through the air. My head felt like it was being split in two. The ground fell out from under me and I was drowning in ice.

Freezing water suddenly impaled my lungs. My mouth instinctively opened to take in more air. I clawed at the water and kicked back to the surface. I pounded my fists against the ice. Pain writhed inside me. I stretched my hand out toward the light. My fingertips grazed the edge of the hole. The water was darker than anything I'd ever seen, I might as well have had my eyes closed. Something sharp bit into my wrist, and I felt myself rising through the ice.

I gasped at the feel of air rushing into my lungs. Water spewed from my mouth as I choked and coughed, desperately trying to catch my breath. My hand throbbed. The ice around me was a dark crimson. Blood trickled from deep gouges in my wrist. Teeth marks. I lifted my head.

Foul air blew over my numb face from a mouth that dripped blood. My blood. I stared at the matted fur in paralyzed fear. My entire body was frozen from the cold air, but that wasn't the reason I was shaking. A large wolf hunched before me, eyes piercing right through me. My chin trembled with a faint whisper. "Beast?"

But these eyes weren't silver.

I suppressed a whimper. All around me, wolves descended from the trees in a swarm of gray and black, creeping closer and closer onto the lake of ice. My frozen heart lurched in my throat. Its snarling grew louder, lips drawn back to expose longer, bloodier teeth. A choked sob escaped me.

Loud snarls erupted around me. Animals whimpered and whined. The sound of teeth locking down on flesh and bodies crashing together echoed on the mountain. My eyes snapped toward the shadow diving toward me and I nearly screamed again. Bright gold fur was stained with slashes of red, but that wasn't what made me want to hurl. The first time I'd ever seen Beast for what he was, he'd been something out of a fairytale, almost beautiful. But now that was gone. His body was contorted in a mass of jutting and protruding bones, his fur matted to his flesh, paws large enough to crush a man's skull beneath him. His ribs strained against his nearly transparent skin, his fur a coarse yellow. He glared down the other animals that circled around him— around us. His head craned over his shoulder in the smallest movement possible. Through the tangled fur and hideous features, silver eyes flashed at me. I knew without having to hear him say it.

Run.

I staggered back and treaded carefully over the shattering ice. I moved as quickly as possible to the opposite treeline.

The roars started up again. I risked a glance back at him and wished I hadn't. His body was thrown several feet across the frozen lake and landed with a sickening thud only a foot away from me. Still, he picked himself from the snow and gave me an abrupt growl before charging back toward the others. I ripped through the trees with the wind breaking against my face. My wet clothes clung to my skin and pinched my body tight the faster I moved. I shivered as I ran. I saw the shadow headed for me, but I was too late.