The Beast And The Blessed

Twenty-Five: Joselin

Joselin’s P.O.V.

I just wanted to invite her to join the council. Now I was trekking through the forest, blinded with fury, and wanting her dead.

She had said it was a favor, but it wasn’t. It was a test. Whether she had tried to trick me into going under the disguise of a favor or Killian sent me, I would be sent regardless. She had already talked to Killian before trying to get me to agree as if I had a choice.

Knowing I wanted her to join, using the council position as leverage was sneaky. I respected it.

Killian had wanted to know what was different this time than when he would send me on quests in the past. The answer was simple. I had something I longed to come home for this time. I had Tobias.

All the other trips or missions he sent me on were because he didn’t trust anyone else to know or be involved in them. But at least with those, he had given me most of the information I needed to stay safe.

I used to go in, slinging magic and drawing blood. I took what we wanted or needed and went home to my tower. As much as I wanted there to be, I had nothing waiting for me back there. Nothing hanging over my head, telling me I had to come back to them or reminding me what I was fighting for beyond it being my job, just another assignment.

Now, I had Tobias. I had someone to love, and the idea of not coming home to him scared me. The idea of anyone hurting him frightened me even more. Aurora using her magic on him, had me seeing red, and it took everything in me to resist the urge to gut her like a pig.

I would have done it if Killian hadn’t ordered me to stand down. Her life should have flashed before her eyes, but she just smiled as she stared at me with pride. She had enjoyed my show of dominance and possession. It made me even more curious about what was happening inside her head.

Killian had given Tobias permission to walk me to the edge of town before we had to part ways, and the kiss he had left me with made my toes curl and my chest warm. It was the best kiss of my life, and I hoped it wouldn’t be my last.

“Crazy old bitch,” I mumbled as I walked around a fallen tree. I did have to admit that while I was livid to be separated from Tobias right after we finally became something, I was terribly curious.

If it weren’t something cool, like a dragon, I would probably return home and kill

Aurora just for the disappointment she caused me.

The sun had fallen, and the dark forest around me was silent until another explosion shook the Earth.

was attracting a lot of attention, and I knew I wouldn’t be out here alone for

for granted before. Being unable to use air to provide myself a cool breeze and not having the option to teleport to where I needed was irritating. I was happy I had decent night vision with the bright moon

to use my flashlight and give my position

I stayed as close to the stream of pale light between the trees as possible to see my path and avoid

was for the weak. The longer

why I hadn’t heard about this mysterious creature before when it was clear others

to the tree trunk next to me as the soft glow of a campfire appeared through the trees. Low voices could be made out, and I pressed myself further into the harsh bark when a shadow passed in front of the fire, stopping to look out through the trees in

side before walking out of sight behind the trees. The glint of silver metal

Hunters.

they would have been able to see or stay warm without

when we used to be in hiding before the Great War when Lycans took over. They would never be safe. They had gotten confident and comfortable, and

they were asleep and slitting their throats was enticing. I just couldn’t justify wasting time. If they stayed in their camp for even the next four hours, assuming someone else didn’t come along and kill them, then that would be a four-hour head

enough to light afire on a hunt would not last long out here. The world had become an even more dangerous and feral

echoed behind me, and I rolled my eyes at their

It was my second favorite sound. The first

of my neck, and my hair stuck to my skin, where my ponytail hung down against my back. I had gone several miles and could reach the

bracing myself in the branches, and closed my eyes. I was thankful that there were no Fae or Sprites in this

me up, but my heart did speed up when the tree I was in shook from the next blast, and I felt the wave of heat

became. It was charged with electricity, and there had been no way for me

This was why I couldn’t use my magic. There was a protective shield around the mountain. I didn’t know what would happen if I used magic, but based on what I had assumed were landmines, it would surely result in death. Who, or whatever this was, was not trying to scare others away. It wanted

intelligent, able to set up and plant mines in the ground. I groaned in disappointment that it

for any sign of disruption, but I did not see

With careful steps and my eyes peeled, I made my way forward. The sun quickly heated the Earth, and I was sweating and irritable within minutes. It only meant I had to work faster so the other creatures in the hunting parties

that was a good thing. It would help me burn off some of this anger before I found the prized creature and brought it back to the castle and me back to Tobias. A fight didn’t sound too bad,

one of the other women said. Fresh blood ran down her chin and to her