A whoosh of wind blew below, and a hand gripped my ankle, pulling my foot out. I slipped, hitting my left knee hard. Pain cascaded down my leg, and I screamed as claws tore into my ankle. My kneecap throbbed, and I dug my claws into the stone, anchoring myself as I peered down.
The man from the clearing was staring up at me with an amused and lethal expression. Fucker.
I twisted sharply and kicked him in the face with my free leg. He snarled, but his grip on my ankle released.
I released a burst of magic. A shadow billowed from my hand like a lance and rammed into his chest. He collapsed into the undergrowth with a bellow of pain.
The world seemed to turn upside down.
The forest beside me erupted as if a comet had struck, and an unearthly growl sent a cascade of shivers through me.
My head whipped up in time to see the Dark God step from the wreckage of trees. His dark hair whipped in the wind, and the tattoos on his bare chest burned with lethal light.
His signature of smoke and searing heat pulsed outward like a solar flare. Gritting my teeth, I fought against the urge to cower. Fighting it went against everything that felt right, and Wolfie whimpered.
“I warned you, Savannah,” the Dark God growled.
In that moment, I knew that our time had just run out.
For a second my mind froze in terror. Then I desperately grabbed for the stone tucked in my bra. Before I could pluck it out, the Dark God threw his hand up. An enormous tree ripped from the ground and slammed into the turret.
Branches tore into my skin, and the impact sent me hurtling off the top of the tower. The breath was blasted from my lungs as I crashed into the hard earth of the meadow.
I groaned. Why wasn’t this pillar the one inside the pond?
Chest aching, I picked myself up off the ground and desperately scrambled for the moonstone where it had tumbled from my grasp.
Sam and Jaxson charged into the clearing around the orb, and I shouted, “Watch out!”
A wave of magic tore through the forest, ripping trees from the ground. It crashed over them like a tsunami of dirt and branches.
Jaxson and Sam pulled themselves from the wreckage as the dust settled.
The Dark God approached, his movements precise and calculated like a predator’s, exuding limitless power and confidence. “I gave you a chance, alpha, to save your world! And yet you let this sorceress bind the wolves of your pack? You are far more corrupted by human thought than I ever suspected.”
His presence washed over us, and Sam dropped to her knees, a scowl cutting her face, while Jaxson staggered back, and I fought the urge to submit.
“Fuck you,” Sam said, glaring at the Dark God. She was still on her knees, but she betrayed no sign of fear. She was pissed.
“I remember you.” The Dark God’s jaw tensed, his eyes blazing with fury as she unslung the riot gun and aimed it at his head. “How could I forget. A little wolf with a bite. But if a moonstone did not stop me, what do you think you will do?”
I couldn’t help the shudder that worked down my spine, but Sam was unaffected—amused, even. She smiled as she peered through the scope, then said, “It will fucking hurt. Go to hell.”
A crack erupted from the gun, and a second later, an explosion knocked the Dark God several feet back. A fog of wolfsbane enveloped him, and he bellowed with savage fury.
The smoke burned my throat, and I couldn’t help coughing even as the Dark God emerged from the smoke. Glass was embedded in his chest and arms, and his face was filled with, rage, vitriol, and a lust for revenge.
“You will pay for that, little wolf!” He was on her in a second—faster than I’d seen any creature move. She screamed in agony as he ripped into her shoulder with his claws and kicked her to the ground.
“What does pain matter to me?” he snarled.