A King's Weakness (Book 1)

Chapter 23

SHOUTS HANG HEAVY IN THE AIR AS I RUN, SWAYING FROM SIDE TO SIDE, looking even drunker than the time Kage blacked out and got arrested for trying to perform a pole dance on a stop sign for several middle school kids.

My muscles quiver, weak from whatever the wolves slipped into my food or drink. I want to burn them all to the ground, to watch as my ice creeps up their limbs and slowly kills them from frostbite.

Betrayal burns hotter than a star in my chest, setting me alight with a bloodlust I've never known before. But by some miracle, my sense of self-preservation wins out over my desire for revenge, and I keep running.

It nearly brings me to my knees when I realize that I'm basically reenacting the nightmare I have of my mom's death. Running through the woods at night, fleeing from what will be a painful demise. The thought sends a burst of fresh adrenaline coursing through my bloodstream—along with a healthy dose of fear.

I am not dying tonight.

The shouts I left behind transform into excited yips, which can only mean that the shifters have gone feral.

Five minutes my ass.

Whatever small burst of magic I used back in the clearing didn't seem to deter them, but I don't have the time or the brain power to think about it for too long.

The woods are spinning all around me, the trees actively trying to hit me and trip me with their roots. Multiple times, I find myself falling, smacking my knees into the ground.

Each time, I force myself back to my feet by sheer will.

My surroundings all look the same; I could be running in circles for all I know. I haven't the faintest fucking clue which direction I'm currently headed, or where I need to be going.

I'm still left with the decision of whether to stay in this painfully slow human body, or to wing it and test out my shifter side. But I have eighteen years of experience on two legs, and approximately two hours on four.

For a split second, the only sounds are my ragged breathing, raging heartbeat, and the crunch of leaves underfoot. I dodge another tree that seems to have appeared out of nowhere, darting to the side and—

A snarl assaults my eardrums, giving me barely enough time to snap my neck to the side and watch as a wolf plows into me, knocking my feet out from under me.

Sharp teeth snap mere inches from my face, glistening with strings of drool. My own fangs pop free of my gums, and I answer the wolf's low growl with a menacing one of my own. The only reason the wolf isn't currently tearing into my flesh is that I somehow managed to grab the animal by the throat as we fell, slamming into the ground.

I don't recognize this shifter, but I know it must be one that I've seen in their human form before. Its jaws gnash the air, hot breath hitting my clammy face, and my hold on its throat falters.

If this is how I die, Kage is going to be so pissed.

Those slick teeth inch closer to my vulnerable neck, and right as my arm gives out, a smaller ball of fur comes crashing into the wolf above me. The two shifters go down in a pile of wolf hair and vicious fangs, and I push myself to my feet.

The smaller wolf quickly loses the upper hand, the larger one rolling so it can bite down on my savior's ear.

Why in the hell are two people on the same team fighting each other?

My muscles quiver, tensing to run once more, but the tiny white wolf yelps. And damn it all straight to hell, the noise shoots directly into my heart, setting off instincts I didn't know I possessed.