Panic flooded her chest at the sound of footsteps headed their way, and she scrambled to Zeke’s side and hauled him up with a grunt that tore from her throat.
"Climb," she breathed again.
Zeke barely managed it. His arms locked weakly around her shoulders, while his weight sagged more heavily than before. Without Seraphina, her balance was off, her limbs sluggish and aching like she had already run for miles.
She staggered once and quickly caught herself.
Then, she burst out of the narrow fracture in the mountain wall and ran into the night, her lungs screaming for air. Her naked feet scratched hard against the floor, and she couldn’t recall when exactly she had lost her shoes.
Without Seraphina, every step threatened to make her fall, and the shadows she usually lted into resisted her now without her wolf’s presence. And, she was moving so slow.
"A...are you ok?" Zeke grunted.
He didn’t know about her condition about now. If he were in top shape, he would have felt sothing was wrong with her. But still, he could tell sothing was off.
"Just hold unto ," She whispered back.
Another howl rose behind her, and her knees almost buckled as she forced herself faster, weaving through even more broken fencing and shattered stone, and ducking beneath fallen beams and leaping over bodies she refused to look at.
Blood slicked the ground everywhere she went, showing her just how in-depth Gravemont had been shaken tonight, and more than once her foot slipped, sending pain jolting up her spine.
Zeke groaned softly against her back.
"Stay with ," She whispered fiercely, "Please. Just stay with . I’ll get you sowhere safe. You’ll get your sleep,"
The answer was a harsh breath and the tremor of his arms tightening for half a second.
That was enough.
She didn’t realise she was crying until tears blurred her vision. She kept telling herself that everything would be alright, but it wasn’t. Every path she knew was now dangerous, with the sound of enemy holes running down the path toward them. Nowhere was safe. She just had to keep running.
She cut hard to the left, vaulting over a collapsed wall and sliding down a slope of loose gravel. Pain ripped through her ankle as she landed wrong, but she didn’t stop. She couldn’t.
The howls were multiplying now, gradually surrounding her. She burst into a narrow clearing and skidded to a stop.
Three wolves erged from the shadows ahead of her. They were big, lean, and their eyes glowed with predatory focus, lips peeled back from teeth stained with blood.
Theo quickly slowed, her heart pounding violently.
She lowered Zeke just enough that his feet brushed the ground, keeping one arm wrapped around him.
"I’ve got this," she whispered, though she wasn’t sure who she was trying to convince.
The first wolf lunged, and Theo t it head-on.
Without Seraphina’s strength, the impact nearly knocked her flat, but she twisted, claws flashing as she raked across its face. It yelped, and stumbling back, blood sprayed the ground.
The second ca at her from the side.
Pain exploded through her ribs as it slamd into her, knocking her to one knee. She scread as teeth tore into her shoulder, white-hot agony ripping through her nerves.
"Get off !"
Just then, another wolf ripped through a corner in the clearing and collided with it. From the scent, she could tell it was female, but her senses weren’t sharp enough without Seraphina to pinpoint who exactly carried that scent.
Theo joined the female wolf quickly till it was also down.
The third was already moving for them before they could finish it off, but it never reached them.
Zeke surged forward with a broken roar that didn’t sound human or wolf. His body moved on pure instinct and refusal as he slamd into the wolf with savage force, his jaws locking around its throat.
The sound was sickening.
The wolf didn’t even scream.
Claws ripped through flesh as he drove it into the ground, and blood sprayed across his chest, his face, and his hands.
He didn’t stop moving until it was dead.
Then he staggered forward
Theo caught him just as he collapsed, his full weight crashing into her. She went down with him, her knees slamming into stone, arms wrapping around him desperately.
"Zeke!"
He convulsed once.
Then vomited.
Blood poured from his mouth in thick, choking waves onto the ground and soaking her hand. Theo sobbed as she held his head, panic tearing her apart.
"No no no no, please—"
His body went slack.
For a terrifying second, she thought he was gone.
Then he coughed weakly.
Theo didn’t waste another second.
She hauled him back onto her shoulders with a broken cry and forced herself up again, ignoring the screaming pain in her ankle, her ribs, her shoulder. Every breath felt like knives in her lungs.
"Let’s go!" She yelled at the female wolf, who was now limping on one foot along with a bleeding shoulder.
They both ran, with the wolf in front.
They ducked under shattered arches, slid down slopes, and crawled through narrow gaps barely wide enough. They quickly dove behind fallen statues as wolves thundered past, holding their breaths with their snarls so close she could sll them.
As soon as they were gone, they ca out and continued to run. No matter how many tis Theo tripped, she refused to remain on the floor.
But soon, their path ended abruptly in stone.
A wall lood in front of them, wide enough on both sides with no place left to move through. They spun around just as the forest behind her erupted with movent.
Dozens of wolves erged.
Their eyes glowed like a wall of fire, running toward them with no intention of stopping.
Theo backed up until she hit the wall.
There was nowhere left to go.
"I’ll...take them," Zeke groaned as he tried to slip down her back.
"No, you won’t," She gripped his legs tightly, "Just hold , I’ll protect you,"
But really, was there anything she could do at this point? Seraphina had passed out since they started running and there was no hope of her gaining consciousness anyti soon.
Theo turned to the female wolf next to her. She could see the fear in her eyes. She wasn’t strong enough to take on all these wolves at the sa ti. They would rip her apart in a single breath.
Then, Theo slid Zeke down carefully, placing herself fully in front of him, arms spread wide as if her body alone could shield him.
Her knees trembled violently, and she held in sobs that gathered in her throat.
But she lifted her chin and took a firm stance.
She had to fight. No more running for her.
It didn’t matter how many of them there were or how hurt she got~ No one was getting their hands on Zeke!
Twenty feet. They kept advancing.
Ten feet.
Theo stepped forward to intercept them in the middle, her heart pounding too loud for her to hear anything else.
Then, a thunderous crash split the night and Theo snapped her gaze above.
Shadows dropped from the building behind her, and she thought for a second they were also coming from her. But the massive shapes slamd into the wolves in front of her instead with bone-shattering force. The air filled instantly with snarls, roars, screams of pain.
Fur and blood exploded everywhere, as wolves collided mid-air. Bodies rolled and tore at each other.
The sounds were animal and vicious, with teeth snapping, bones cracking, and so many snarls ripping through the night like war cries.
Theo stared in stunned disbelief.
Dozens of wolves had co out of nowhere.
They tore into the other wolves without hesitation, driving them back, and ripping them apart with brutal efficiency.
The ground shook with the violence of it.
Then, a familiar voice cut through the chaos. One that she had longed for so long to hear his voice again.
"Venom!"
Theo’s breath hitched, and her head snapped up just as a blur of shadow and darkness moved through the fighting like it wasn’t even there.
And then he was in front of her.
Sylas.
His eyes were a much more intense silver, burning with fury and relief at the sa ti. He cupped her face, his breath coming out in fast gasp, feeling her skin like he needed to be sure she was real.
"Venom," he said again, "I’m here,"
Theo laughed and sobbed at the sa ti, her legs finally giving out as she collapsed forward into him.
He caught her instantly.
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