Black Ice ✓ | Deathsworn #1

Chapter 2: Song of the Stars

I stirred awake to a sharp, cold, and familiar pain—like ice sinking into my flesh. I thought they had come. The shadows. Perhaps this night was the night they take everything back and make me realize it was an illusion. Nonetheless, when my eyes snapped open, I was still in my crib, still in the body of a child. Everything was the same save for the open windows, the silver light from the stars reaching into the nursery...and the amber eyes staring at me where my mother always stood.

I knew who it was.

"I know you're in there," said the man before me in a language I could recognize. A small part of me felt relief upon hearing words I could understand, but dread won over delight.

He covered my mouth as he took me from the cradle. His actions lacked consideration and thoughtfulness. Where he held me, pain went. I squirmed and sobbed instinctively—even my innate baby instincts weren't very keen on the dude either, it seemed. Whatever noise that left me, however, was muffled by his hands. And though I tried to fight him, I stood no chance in my current state.

"Don't blame me for this. I did my best, but I failed. I have to take you away from here. This place will be overrun very soon."

He took the pale gold blanket that kept me warm and haphazardly bound me with it.

As he turned to take me away, a loud bark followed by the subsequent breaking down of the door startled both me and my amber-eyed guide. I managed to catch sight of the hulking wolf posed by the doorway, teeth bared as it regarded the man who held me. In his full height, tail high and alert as he growled, only then did I truly realize how massive it was. The wolf perhaps dwarfed the average, full-grown man.

Had the beast been there this entire time?

My amber-eyed guide said nothing more and made a dash for the window with me in his arms. He jumped. The momentary weightlessness had me choking in fear.

The window to my room shrank from my perspective, leaving me wondering what floor they had me in—or how big the whole building was.

Judging by the sheer size of it, it could be considered a mansion at the very least.

The giant wolf leaped out of the windows after us, barks thundering from its throat. In the dead of night, where silence reigned alongside the singing crickets, his barks were as good as any canon firing by the ears. I saw the wolf from my peripheral vision landing on the trimmed lawn, but broad shoulders blocked my line of sight. Still, I could hear the beast in his pursuit, the fall of his paws on the grassy terrain softer than my kidnapper's heavy pace.

Windows flared with lights. Calls of alert roused those in slumber.

Though I felt delighted, a small part of me feared being mauled to death along with my amber-eyed guide. Irritated, I wiggled out of my bind and grabbed a fistful of my kidnapper's hair. I tugged on it angrily before deciding to scratch his face next.

He clicked his tongue in pain, brushing aside my hands to focus on running away.

"Stop it, you little aberrant!" His amber eyes drifted down to meet mine. "I have no time to argue or explain. We're in serious trouble!"

I stubbornly poked his eye. Of course, we would be in trouble! He was basically committing a crime. Why wouldn't this be trouble?

"Fu—" he took a sharp breath. "How dare you, you..."

He tripped.

I saw the cuff of his pants caught between sharp teeth. I lost my breath when we hit the ground. Thankfully, the impact wasn't that hard to break anything, though it inflicted considerable pain. I was out of breath one second and was wailing the next.