❛ I had a feeling so peculiar, this pain
wouldn't be for 𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒎𝒐𝒓𝒆. ❜
⎯⎯ ⠀ㅤִㅤ ୨⠀♡⠀୧ ㅤִ⠀⠀ ⎯⎯
𝓗wang eunji, who also goes by iana, felt her world stop. it stopped the day she le...
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↳ chapter seventeen ₊˚.༄ [# a graceful reuinion]
IANA CLUTCHED HER SHEATHED DAGGER, LISTENING TO THE HOWLING. Her heart was beating in her ears, her hands were trembling in a mixture of fear and anxiety, but she supposed the two weren't quite different now.
"Wolves," Piper said. "They sound close."
Jason rose and summoned his sword. Piper, Leo and Coach Hedge got to their feet too. Iana tried to follow, but she stumbled back down. She clutched the side of her head as she winced, taking note of her uneven breathing.
"Stay there," Jason told her. "We'll protect you."
Iana's gaze shot daggers at him. She didn't need protection. She was a witch. She managed to cast spells like it was second nature. But just because she had a small cold, she shouldn't be up and fighting. Just her luck. Then, outside the firelight at the entrance of the cave, she saw a pair of red eyes glowing in the dark.
Her body stilled. Maybe a little protection wouldn't be bad.
More wolves edged into the firelight— black beasts bigger than Great Danes, with ice and snow caked on their fur. Their fangs gleamed, and their glowing red eyes looked disturbingly intelligent. The wolf in front was almost as tall as a horse, his mouth stained as if he'd just made a fresh kill.
Iana unsheathed her dagger and clutched it behind her back. Ignoring the black spots in her vision and every single muscle that argued with her, she got herself standing. Wasn't the most stable stance, but a useful one if they ended up fighting.
Then Jason stepped forward and spoke something in Latin.
She would've slapped him in the back of the head, because why would a dead language affect wild animals, but the alpha wolf curled his lip. The fur stood up along his spine. One of his lieutenants tried to advance, but the alpha wolf snapped at his ear. Then all of the wolves backed into the dark.
"Dude, I gotta study Latin." Leo's hammer shook in his hand. "What'd you say, Jason?"
Hedge cursed. "Whatever it was, it wasn't enough. Look."
The wolves were coming back, but the alpha wolf wasn't with them. They didn't attack. They waited— at least a dozen now, in a rough semicircle just outside the firelight, blocking the cave exit.
The coach hefted his club. "Here's the plan. I'll kill them all, and you guys escape."
"Coach, they'll rip you apart," Piper warned.
"Nah, I'm good."
Then Iana saw the silhouette of a man coming through the storm, wading through the wolf pack.
