A Gift from the Goddess

Chapter Forty-Seven An intense fight ensued as we were quickly engaged by a group of wolves.

To my surprise, Aleric had already taken two down and was on to his third before even a few minutes had passed

But there were so many more to go.

The bottom line was that we weren’t going to win this, and we both knew it.

I had two wolves on me and I had so far been holding my own against them well. Neither of them had expected me to be able to fight so well underage and it showed. They moved as if assuming I wouldn’t be able to keep up, but they were wrong.

“Aria!” Aleric yelled. “I can hear there’s more coming. We need to go.” 

I knew he was right. We’d vastly underestimated how large this cave system was. With the number of wolves here, it seemed plausible that it expanded out more than what we could see here. Most likely, there were hidden tunnels somewhere which would explain how th appeared to be coming out of nowhere. Our best option was to run. Suddenly, Aleric screamed out in pain. I wanted to turn and check what had happened but the two on me weren’t letting me take my eyes off them for even a second. They were determined t o finally get a hit on me as their frustration had only been growing the entire time I’d been dodging them.

But I didn’t need to wait long in order to find out if Aleric was okay.

Because I soon heard the sound of someone shifting, followed by an encore of whimpers, howls, growls… and flesh tearing. A lot of flesh tearing. I quickly unsheathed my knife, waiting for the moment I knew would be coming, and was pleased he didn’t keep me waiting long.

The largest black wolf I ever saw then came bounding out of nowhere and tackled one of the two away from me, snapping towards his throat for a final blow. I’d only ever seen Aleric’s wolf a handful of times but it was always an impressive sight, as with any other Alpha wolf.

The second rogue naturally tried to turn his attention to Aleric in order to help his comrade, but that was a mistake. I moved lightning fast to kick him to the ground, pinning him in place with my legs... and instantly embedded the silver knife into his chest.

Finally exhausted, I leaned back and looked around me. It seemed like Aleric had killed off the entire room as the corpses around us began to shift back into their human bodies.

But it had been a complete massacre. I heard Aleric then whimper, drawing my attention back, and I knew what he was trying to say. He’d mentioned there were more coming and it was a reminder that we didn’t have long to leave. I nodded that I understood and looked down to retrieve my knife… only to find the wolf had reverted back to his human self underneath me.

Instantly, I felt my entire body freeze up at the sight of who laid there. But it was impossible, wasn’t it? Surely it was someone who just looked similar... 

barked out loudly next to me but I was barely able to register him with what I was seeing. It literally didn’t make any sense. He couldn’t be a rogue because in two years he would be a doctor in our pack. It had to be someone else. Maybe his brother or another relative. Or maybe not anyone related at all and I just couldn’t see clearly in the

n his face.

grabbed my shirt in his mouth and started to drag me away from the body before I even had a chance to retrieve my dagger. “Okay, okay!” I finally

hard, stony ground cutting into

as quickly as I could, still shaken, but managed to make

to run regardless. I followed Aleric the entire time, trusting him to know the way back even though it all looked

just that Aleric and his wolf were both on the same page anyway in that moment. Nevertheless, it was still impressive given most people took at least a month to begin moving so fluidly in that form. But as I inspected him, I couldn‘t help but notice he was limping ever so slightly on one of his back legs. I assumed this

of me because it would mean I’d see him naked. Out of all the crazy shit I had just seen… Aleric’s naked body was by far the least of concerns… and it wasn’t even

a few moments to shift back but I

Probably directed at me because of what had happened in the

agree on that at least. Aleric sped the entire way until we made it to the closest patrol tower, but he had been right. B y the time they did manage to get back to the cave, all the rogues had left and

the larger furniture items

could have moved that many people and dead bodies over an extended distance, without leaving a single

up finding anyone. For

to go in there alone,” my mother

our report to the patrol team. This was regardless of whether or not I’d actually been hurt

keep saying that forever, you know? I have a job and a responsibility to the pack now. If Aleric

report only said one rogue was sighted, not thirty. I didn’t even know rogues could band together in numbers like

chin and forced me to look at her. “Being responsible for the pack due to a job, doesn’t mean dying for them.” Her words hit hard considering I’d literally done that once already. Did she know? Had my

truth but her expression seemed to be one of only a concerned mother,

did make me realise though that things could have been different in the past. Would I have tried to run away sooner if my mother had still

I’d seen in the cave. “By the way...,” I said, thinking. “Do you know where I can find Doctor Andrews?” She frowned. “Doctor Andrews…? I don’t think we have

la mort