Tangled in Moonlight: Unshifted (Ava and Lucas)

Chapter 458 - 458: Lisa: Line of Fire

LISA

Everything in my head has narrowed into one simple thought, repeated over. And over. Until my heart's every beat repeats the message, until my soul feels like it's shredding apart.

Kellan's in danger.

My Kellan.

The man who's never once pushed me past my comfort zone. The man who's stood quietly behind me. Loyal. Patient. Sweet and protective.

He stole my heart so quietly, I didn't notice it was gone.

Each breath burns in my lungs, but I push through it. Thank God for whatever magic the Magister cast on me—my legs shouldn't be able to move this fast.

The oversized Fae keeps pace beside me, his long robes somehow never catching on the underbrush. Pain lances through my thigh with every step, threatening to buckle my knees. I grit my teeth and shove it down.

There's something else inside me now, something which makes every other pain insignificant. A hollowness in my chest, expanding with every heartbeat. This feeling—like someone's carved out something essential from my body. Terror and love and need so powerful I can barely breathe around it.

Kellan's in danger. I need to see him—touch him—make sure he's safe.

Lucas throws up a fist, and our strange procession slows. I bite back a curse. We're too slow. Every second wasted is another Kellan faces alone.

But I don't know what's happening or what Lucas has sensed, so I ignore the impatience in my veins and stick close to Magister Orion, following Lucas's deliberate movements through the snow.

The Alpha's arm cuts through the air in a sharp motion, and suddenly we're moving again—faster, more urgent, angling left of our original path. The wolves around us surge forward, like a wave breaking on shore.

The wind shifts, carrying the unmistakable sounds of battle. Snarls and screams pierce the night air. My heart hammers against my ribs like it wants to break free and reach Kellan first.

Some of the wolves peel away, following commands I didn't hear. I don't care. My focus locks onto Lucas's broad back—he's my compass in this chaos. Where he fights, Kellan will be.

Magister Orion's fingers brush my shoulder as we run, his voice soft beside my ear. The language he speaks sounds like water over stone, musical and otherworldly. A strange tingle washes over my skin, starting from his touch and spreading outward until I'm wrapped in what feels like the thinnest layer of static electricity.

barrier," he

around Ava enough to

"Thanks."

and the scene before

have taken a blowtorch to the flesh. Something pulls at my

my

isn't audible—it's inside my head, slithering through my thoughts, and

whisper, though no one can

need to find Kellan. I refuse to give in to the compulsion. My leg nearly gives out beneath me, but I lock

hand clamps around my upper arm, steadying me as Lucas and the others charge into the fray. They're fighting impossibly fast figures, people with pale

of them. How many? We outnumber them, but all the

vampire, its throat torn out. My heart slows a little with hope,

and the vampire's head bursts into a splash of blood and

churns, but the body falls back against the

the Fae says calmly, already pointing at another. "You have to render recovery impossible. Take off their heads. Losing an arm or a leg is nothing to these creatures. They can't bleed to death, either. If you're going

Noted.

the pain in my head. It feels like

like them. And the Magister won't leave my side, which boosts my confidence. The Magister raises his hands, murmuring his

familiar weight of my gnome-tinkered magitech brace settling the panic trying to cloud my head. It's fine. I can fight my own way; I won't be a burden on these people, who have

there are no clear shots. Even the

bodies we have brought outnumber the vampires,

bodies

at my skull. The ghost of his bite burns like acid, and I swear I can

Come to me.

compulsion is sickening, like a slimy hand grasping my soul. Nothing like

want to give in

Never.

blood on the snow. Lucas is no longer Lucas, but Aurum, and he tears through a vampire with terrifying efficiency, his massive jaws wrapping around one's head