Chapter 5 CHAPTER 5
As if he had been looking for me.
The silence stretched for a brief moment, thick and heavy, before my stepfather found his voice again.
“If you’ve come for coin, there’s nothing here,” he said quickly, his words uneven. “You’re wasting your time.”
The figure did not move. Did not speak.
Then, slowly, he stepped forward.
And everything in the room shifted with him.
My stepfather stumbled back, fear stripping the color from his face as he looked at the figure in the doorway. I had never seen him like that before, never seen him unsure of himself.
“Wait,” he said quickly, his voice cracking as he lifted his hands. “We can make a deal.”
My stomach dropped.
He turned to me, and I saw it in his eyes before he even spoke.
“Take her instead,” he said, his voice steadier now, as if he had found something worth offering. “She’s strong. She works. She can be useful.”
The words hit harder than anything he had ever done to me.
For a moment, I forgot how to breathe.
“No,” I said, forcing myself up despite the pain that shot through my body. “No, you can’t—”
“Two bags of silver,” he went on, ignoring me completely. “Take her, and she’s yours.”
A tear fell down my cheek, but I wiped it away angrily as I tried to stand. My legs trembled under me, weak from hunger and the beating, but I forced myself up anyway.
“I’m not going with you,” I said, my voice shaking but loud enough to carry.
A low, warning growl filled the room. It cut through everything.
My stepfather froze.
I didn’t even see the beast move; I only felt the rush of cold air as the creature blurred past me. Before my stepfather could finish his threat, the beast’s massive, fur-matted hand slammed into his chest, pinning him against the wall with a sickening thud.
I froze as the creature’s head tilted, its eyes glowing with a predatory hunger that made my skin crawl. Then, the jaws opened—wider than any animal’s should, and clamped down. I heard the wet, splintering crunch of bone and the ragged, bubbling gasp that died in his chest. With a violent, side-to-side motion, the beast tore backward.
Hot blood sprayed over my cheek. I watched, paralyzed, as the beast spat a jagged mess of ligaments and tissue onto the floor. My stepfather slumped down the wall, his hands clutching at a gaping, hollow hole where his pulse used to be, while the creature stood over him, its fangs dripping with blood and its chest heaving with a low, satisfied rumble.
He let my stepfather’s body fall to the ground without a second thought, and the sound of it hitting the floor echoed through the small cottage before settling into a heavy silence. Then he turned toward me.
The firelight caught him just enough for me to see what stood before me, and my breath caught in my throat as the shape of him came into focus.
He stood on two legs, tall and broad, his body built with solid muscle beneath dark fur, his presence filling the space in a way that made the cottage feel smaller.
His face was that of a lion, but harsher, more dangerous, with sharp fangs that caught the light as a dark trace marked his mouth. Curved horns rose from the sides of his head, thick and ridged, framing his features in a way that made him seem even larger.
His eyes found mine. They burned with a deep golden yellow, steady and aware, holding me in place with a focus that felt far too deliberate. There was nothing wild in the way he looked at me. Nothing uncertain.
A low sound rumbled from his chest as he took a step closer, slow and controlled, as if he already knew I could not escape him.
I gathered what little strength I had left as the beast stalked closer, each step slow and certain, as if he already knew I had nowhere to go. My breath came uneven as I forced myself to stay focused, my eyes scanning the cottage for anything I could use.
That was when I saw it. A broken piece of wood lay just to my left.
It was not much, but it was all I had. I knew I would not be able to kill him with it, but if I could slow him, even for a moment, it might give me a chance to escape.
I sucked in a breath, and a sharp pain shot through my ribs where my stepfather had kicked me, nearly stealing the strength from my body again. I forced it down, refusing to let it stop me.
The beast watched me. He did not move.
And that was when I did. I lunged for the piece of wood, pushing past the pain, my hand reaching for it with everything I had left.
He was there before me.
I had not seen him move, but suddenly he stood between me and the only chance I had, his presence blocking me completely. His eyes darkened as they locked onto mine, and I knew he understood exactly what I had intended.
His lips pulled back slightly, revealing those sharp, blood-stained fangs. A dark line traced from the side of his mouth down into the fur along his jaw, and a low growl rumbled from his chest, deep and warning, like something that had just been challenged.