Animals ✔

Chapter 21

The door rips open, slamming into the wall with a hollow echo as a massive black wolf tears Jon away from me.

I fall to the ground, my vision still spotty, as loud, wheezing breaths come out of my chest. My entire body aches and it's a fight to catch my breath.

In the back of my mind, I can hear Jon screaming. But everything feels out of focus, wrong. I still can't see properly and my body feels cold. My throat throbs painfully with every gasping breath I take. I don't process what's happening to my cousin, only my body's reaction to the air now filling my lungs.

When I can see again, Jon is gone but there's a mess of thick red blood in his place. The black wolf towers over me, blood smeared across his muzzle. He snarls at me as I try to shift position, leaning so my back is against the hard wall.

He's warning me not to try anything.

I'm not sure I could even if I wanted to.

I just stare back at him, my expression blank. I'm too stunned to worry about the fact that the wolf—the very same wolf who has haunted my nightmares for the last four years—is staring at me like he wants to rip my head off.

He wants me to submit.

I don't. I may be trapped, I may be physically weak, but I won't give him that. The Clara from four years ago would be quivering in her boots right now. But I just meet his stare, unblinking.

He can do what he wants to me. We both know that.

But I refuse to submit to the very man who tore my life apart, even if it's the last thing I do. I can't. I won't.

I lean my head back against the metal wall, keeping my eyes locked on his. "You going to kill me or what?"

A low, menacing growl makes my heart pound in my chest. But I keep his gaze. I've been scared before. Fear, I can handle.

He shoves his snout into my neck. I feel for the fire instinctively, but I don't have the energy to harness it. Trying to use it right now would be sheer idiocy. Still, I give the thought more credit than I probably should.

His nose is cold as it presses against the side of my neck and I flinch. He growls sharply. I stop squirming.

What if he kills me? What if he marks me?

My entire body starts to shake as his tongue touches the side of my neck. What is he doing?

His movements are swift and he growls every time I try to shift away from him, before finally placing a large paw firmly on my thigh, as if to keep me in place. After a couple minutes of this, I realize he's lapping up the blood from where Jon's claws dug into my neck.

He is licking my neck. He is licking my neck. Don't panic, Clara.

He is licking my neck.

There's nothing even remotely normal about this.

I feel his teeth then, as they brush along the side of my neck. I freeze. I don't even breathe. Please don't, please don't, please don't.

I focus on Tiberius, conjuring up an image of him in my minds' eye. For the first time in years, I hope someone is coming for me. I hope he is coming for me.

Ira pulls away from my neck suddenly, backing across the room. His lips lift in an angry snarl when I try to pull myself further away from him, so I lean back once more, watching him warily.