Chapter 4

"Scatter!" The shout tore from my throat on pure instinct.

A silver-tipped arrow trailing strange black light grazed past my ear. Behind me, a guard failed to dodge—the arrow punched through his chest and pinned him to the rock, his body suspended in midair as blood sprayed in an arc.

"Well, well. Look what I found. The heir of Azure, here of all places."

A cold, rasping voice drifted down from the shadows above the ridge.

More than a dozen figures emerged from the cliff face and the crevices between stones.

They wore tattered cloaks, their skin deathly pale, their eyes gleaming with that familiar dark crimson. Fangs glinted at the corners of their mouths.

Vampires.

"Protect Liya!" Oleg drew his weapon immediately, his voice sharp with command. "Form a defensive line!"

I was already lunging forward. My knuckles cracked as razor-sharp wolf claws burst from my fingers. I slammed the nearest vampire against the rock wall and crushed his spine with a single strike.

Warm blood splattered across my face. The vampire half of my bloodline stirred, screaming for more.

I forced myself to stay calm, to ignore that dangerous craving.

"You came to the wrong place," I said quietly. "This is wolf territory."

The tall vampire leading them froze for a moment, then broke into a cruel smile. "This area was taken from the Silver Vein a while ago. Did no one bother to tell you?"

A jolt ran through me. Liya—princess of the Silver Vein Pack—had been the one to suggest coming here. A dark suspicion bloomed in my mind.

But before I could question it, the second wave of attack crashed over us like a tide.

I gritted my teeth and threw myself into the melee.

Behind me, Liya was surrounded by guards, crying out Oleg's name in panic—yet somehow, she was never truly touched.

Even Oleg had taken serious wounds, but Liya's skirt hem wasn't even dirty.

The vampires seemed to be deliberately avoiding her.

I fought off the vampire attacks while planning my escape.

The battle quickly ground into a stalemate.

I could no longer tell how many of my wounds were freshly torn open and how many were old ones ripped apart again.

The burning from the silver powder still lingered, making every flex of muscle feel like my body was being shredded from within.

But I couldn't fall.

The moment I went down, this squad of guards would be overwhelmed. I would die. And Oleg would...

Whatever else he was, he had saved my life once. I couldn't let him die here.

I clenched my jaw and drove my claws straight through a vampire's chest, crushing his heart in my grip.

The stench of blood was so thick I nearly lost control.

"Oleg!" Liya's scream cut through the chaos of battle. "They're getting close to me—!"

A guard had pulled her to the edge of the rock passage, but a vampire was already scaling the side of the cliff toward her.

Without hesitation, Oleg charged over and blocked the vampire's path—but in doing so, he left his back exposed to another.

Claws were about to pierce Oleg's flesh.

Instinctively, I threw myself forward and took the blow.

The claws tore through my abdomen instantly. It felt like my organs might spill out with the blood.

I nearly collapsed to my knees, but in the next heartbeat, my half-blood healing surged to life. Searing blood pulled at the wound as it began to slowly close.

Liya watched the gash—deep enough to show bone—writhe and knit itself together before her eyes. Her face went pale and twisted. "How is this thing... still alive..."

Greed flickered in the depths of her gaze.

I had no time for her.

"Cover the flank—"

I struggled to my feet, about to rejoin the fight, when a spear wreathed in black flame came hurtling down from above.

I dodged most of it, but the shaft still caught me.

The impact drove me into the rock face below, my back shattering against a jutting stone.

"Finally down." The lead vampire approached slowly, his tongue dragging across the blood at the corner of his mouth. "So it's true—half-bloods really can take a beating. I wonder what you taste like."

I struggled to push myself off the ground, only to find that the spear had been coated with some strange substance. My muscles spasmed uncontrollably, and my healing had slowed to a crawl.

My limbs went weak. My vision darkened at the edges.

Not far away, I heard Oleg's roar. He was locked in combat with a massive vampire, blood streaming from his shoulder.

In that moment, he lifted his head and looked at me.

Our eyes met across the chaos of vampires and wolves, locking together.

"Oleg—" I reached out with tremendous effort, my fingers trembling in the air. "Save me..."

For one instant, I almost believed he would do what he'd done five years ago—pull me from the pool of blood once more.

The vampire leader let out a cold laugh and suddenly waved his hand.

The remaining vampires all surged toward Liya.

"The Silver Vein princess isn't bad either," he said, running his tongue over his fangs. "Take her back. Might be able to negotiate better terms."

Liya screamed in terror. "Oleg! Save me!"

Everything happened in the space of a single breath—

Oleg's face was still spattered with enemy blood, his wolf-eyes contracted, his breathing ragged.

Between me and Liya, he hesitated for less than half a heartbeat.

Then he turned and lunged toward Liya.

He pulled her into his arms and broke through the vampire encirclement.

"Escort Liya to safety!"

His voice was cold and urgent. "That's an order—now!"

The surviving guards immediately closed ranks around them, fighting desperately to clear a path.

Someone shouted, "What about Aila—"

"She'll figure something out." Oleg's voice squeezed through the chaos. "Half-bloods... don't die easily."

In that moment, I truly heard the sound of my soul tearing apart.

"Oleg—" My voice cracked into fragments. "We're... even now—"

He didn't look back.

The smell of blood, the footsteps, the howls and screams—all of it faded into the distance, leaving only the vampires closing in with laughter on their lips.

The leader crouched down and gripped my chin hard, forcing me to meet his eyes.

"Did you see that, little mongrel?" His pupils glowed with a sickly crimson. "Wolves never keep half-bloods as family."

"They only keep dogs. And you were just the dog they raised."

My fingertips dug into the ground so hard my nails nearly split.

"You thought you were his partner?" The vampire chuckled softly. "If he'd come this way just now, I might have respected him as a man who honors his lover. But no—"

"He chose the pureblooded princess."

I listened to his mocking voice. The pain had drained me of even the strength to scream. All I could do was lie on my back and feel the substance from the spear slowly eating away at my nerves, slowing my healing to an excruciating crawl.

"Bind her hands and feet." The vampire leader stood, looking down at me from above. "The ones upstairs want a living half-blood. Take her back first—we'll dissect her at our leisure."

Two vampires stepped forward, seizing my arms from either side and hauling me off the ground.

The agony sent white spots bursting across my vision.

The black edges of my sight narrowed further and further.

Just as I was about to lose consciousness completely, I saw a figure appear suddenly behind the vampire leader.