Dagny takes a deep breath, her eyes sweeping around the circle wildly. “Okay… I’m calm.”

“You don’t look calm,” he murmurs, flicking his gaze to the arachnyx closest to him. “But you know what? That doesn’t matter… I’m not fucking calm right now.” We all step back, tightening our protective circle as the creatures inch closer, their jaws clicking and dripping with a viscous, clear liquid.

“Malice?”

“Yes, my dear sweet mate?”

“What am I supposed to do?” she whispers, her voice hoarse, holding all the fear her expression conveys.

Malice turns to her, taking his eyes off the arachnyx and giving it the perfect opportunity to pounce. Just as it lowers, preparing to strike, Malice grabs Dagny’s shoulders, looking deep into her eyes with a small smirk tugging at his mouth.

“Show me what you’re really capable of.”

31. Fenryr

31

Fenryr

I blink, and my vision is coated with a swirling emerald film, a wave of energy cresting in my veins as the beast lurking beneath my skin rears its head, waking to the sounds of its mate in danger. My muscles shudder over lengthening bone and bulging joints, causing my skin to shiver and stretch as it accommodates my transformation.

I stand shoulder to shoulder with Cyprien and Roark, eyeing down the largest of the arachnyx just in front of us, blending in beautifully with the surrounding landscape. Its thorax lowers to the ground as those horrible mandibles clack together, filling the air with the creature's anticipation.

Malice whispers something to Dagny, and I cut my gaze to the left—my stomach flipping as I take in the creature just over his shoulder, lowered and ready to pounce. I open my mouth to warn him of the impending doom, but it's too late. The arachnyx lunges, sailing through the air in slow motion, its mouth wide and fangs dripping as it closes in on its prey.

A sudden, explosive surge of power shocks the ground, tilting the world on its axis and filling the air with a charged energy, thickening the atmosphere and threatening to cleave the sky apart. The spider is blown backward across the land, colliding with a tree trunk at the far edge of the clearing with so much force that it causes the wood to break and splinter.

In the next heartbeat, the space is covered in an eerie stillness, the magic thrumming from Dagny’s veins thickening the air with swirling tendrils of power that consume all air and sound in the small clearing.