His Forsaken Luna-Chapter 49: Deadly Hunt (4)

Sverre sat, hunched over, naked in the tree, his hair sleek, feathers dangling from the plaits on one side. "Word got back to me about an attack," he explained. "I only managed to tell Faidon in time."

I’m sorry... let me process this for a moment. Sverre, the guild master, can change to and from a crow. Instead of explaining himself about this sudden news, he jumps straight into why he was here.

My chest rose and fell harshly from running in the cold. I cleared my throat and asked exactly what was on my mind, "How are you here...?"

Sverre cocked his head to the side, and I saw it then! The movement was very bird-like. "You... shifted... from a crow..."

He cocked his head to the other side.

"You’re a ... shifter?" That term ’shifter’, I’d learned it somewhere. But where?

"Indeed. We crows have always helped the Weres. It is in our nature to."

My lips parted and snapped shut, still reeling from what I saw and heard.

Crow shifters help Weres...

"You’re not a Were..." I trailed off. This was something I could process another time. I’d been attacked. This should be the last thing on my mind.

Shaking my head, added, "That’s not the point. The men who attacked us... Do you know who they are? I guess your... ability to shift into a crow helps with sneaking around?"

Sverre chuckled. "It does help with locating information, yes. Sadly, I was only just informed about a group of Weres intent on attacking you at the hunting ground." 𝕗𝗿𝕖𝐞𝐰𝗲𝕓𝐧𝕠𝕧𝗲𝐥.𝚌𝐨𝚖

"Me? So I was the target?"

"If you suspect they are working for the Queen Mother, I would search for the man with that wound and be quick. That bolt wasn’t made from silver. If you need help from me, the guild can provide it. Hang the feather up outside your window, and I will be there the same night." Sverre shifts back into the crow and flaps his wings before flying into the sky.

I would have thought it was a hallucination if not for the black feather slowly falling towards me. I caught it before it landed in the snow and stared at the slight navy shimmer along the black feather. Sverre became a small dot in the sky and then disappeared.

"Idalia!" Eryx called out to me.

Although I knew the Alpha Prince would be fine, a part of me still sagged in relief.

"Idalia!" His voice drew closer.

"Here," I murmur, unable to speak any louder. My energy was starting to deplete, and I felt my lips begin to tremble.

I raised a shaky hand to my neck as my teeth began to chatter. One of the blades had ripped through the side of my scarf and left a mark on the side of my neck. It was only slight and nothing more than a scratch. I barely felt it.

"Lia?!" Eryx rushed to my side. Naked again and skidded along the snow on his knees, hands cupping my face as he assessed me. "Are you hurt?"

I shake my head, and his gaze drops to my neck. "Your neck-"

I chuckle breathily. "It is a scratch."

"If the blade was any closer, you would have been killed," he snaps, his fiery gaze on the wound that is barely a wound.

While he started checking over my body, I searched his, breezing past his lower groin. There was only one cut on his arm, but it wasn’t deep enough to scar him like some of the others on his sculpted body.

"Why did you run off like that?" He demanded, cutting his gaze back to mine as his hands palmed my shoulders. "Were you scared?"

Was I scared? "No," I say quietly. "I was not scared."

"Then?"

"I chased the man who tried to kill me," I say simply with a shrug.

Eryx stared at me silently, the muscle in his jaw flexing. "You chased... the man... who tried to kill you..." He drawled in a slightly disbelieving voice. "You... who cannot fight, cannot shift... but because I have taught you how to use a crossbow, decide you’re skilful enough to chase after a highly skilled assassin."

"Pretty much, yep." I popped the ’p’ and shrugged, almost bursting into laughter at how enraged he looked. My shoulders shook hard from how much I was trying not to laugh. Eryx did not find it funny. In fact, his pupils dilated, and his Alpha wolf was on the brink of coming forward.

That snapped me out of my little breathless giggles. "I shot him-"

"Oh, you shot him!" He threw his hands up dramatically. It was quite comical, considering his size and how I didn’t think he was the type to be dramatic. But the look he shot at me almost made me shrivel up into a raisin.

"He has a wound on his neck. We could try and track him?" I suggest. "Unless you know who did this?"

Eryx stared at me. Instead of answering, he asked me, "Are you suspicious of anyone?"

I nod. "Deyanira... I didn’t think she would be so reckless... but... the assassin wore our armour... Either you tried to cover up your own tracks and tried to kill me..." I glance at him and again almost shrink under his piercing gaze at the suggestion. "Or Deyanira planned this, so it looked like you and your men had assassinated me-- if it was a success.

Eryx observed me quietly. "Why do you think she would do that?"

"I don’t know..." I drew up short. "It is the perfect excuse to get rid of me and you and your men at the same time. I just don’t understand why she would go against Alaric’s wishes. It would cause another war."

"And it wasn’t your brother?" He asks.

It was my turn to glare at him. "My brother did not try to assassinate me," I hiss.

"You were first in line-"

"If that was the case, he could have gotten rid of me years ago," my voice rose with my temper.

"I’m objective to this. It is only a suggestion-"

"It’s wrong," I say icily and try to control my temper. I’d always been calm and collected, but something about Eryx stirred that side of me.

"Let’s not discuss this here in the open and cold." Eryx gripped me by the arms and helped me to my feet, putting an end to what would have turned into a heated argument.

"Is anyone else hurt?" I ask as I lean into him a little, my legs feeling weak and worry forming over my features. If a beast like Eryx could get a little scratch...

"No, Faidon was informed quickly about the situation."

"From the crows?" I stared up at him. His eyebrows shot up in surprise.

"Yes." He didn’t explain any more about it. "Kharis and Cohnal have cleared up the area and will get rid of the bodies."

"So, it doesn’t look like anything happened." I nod along and pause when I feel his gaze on me with a hint of a smile on his lips.

"Exactly. I will get Kharis to scent the area. He is the better tracker out of us. For now, you need to get into the warm. Your lips are turning blue."

I wave it off. At least my lips weren’t falling off. But Eryx didn’t listen as he lifted me over his shoulders, so I clung to his neck, and his bones started to break. A gasp breathed through my lips when soft black fur sprouted from his skin, and he continued to grow.

I needed to hold onto him for fear of falling into the snow from such a height. Then we were off, sprinting through the forest.