Page 20

It’s not one of mine, but I’d recognize it anywhere.

He has a Rinhold magic vial.

He’s the one who made the door.

He’s the one in my head.

“How did you get that?” I demand as he takes a swig. Then he waves his hand, and the wind rushes past us, making me stumble backward.

I don’t know of any Rinhold tonics that control the weather.

“Answers later,” his voice resounds in my head. My eyes go wide when I realize he was the one who was protecting me.

Or… leading me into his trap.

“Right now, I need you to trust me.”

I look back at the vial in his hand, then up at his beautiful face.

“Trust is earned,” I announce, then I do what only a younger sister with an older brother would do.

I haul off and punch him right in the face.

It must take him off guard, because he grips my hip for a moment, then stumbles back, giving me a chance to run.

So I do.

Fear skitters up my spine as I shake my aching fist, because now I’m being hunted not only by wolves…

But also by a hooded figure who looks like he tracks down his prey and skins them alive on a daily basis.

I’m so dead.

Not fully out of tricks, I use one of my vials that I save only for emergencies.

I’d say this qualifies as an emergency.

Teleportation.

It’s a dangerous tonic to use. Without knowing where I’m going, I could teleport right inside the middle of a tree and die instantaneously.

But if I do nothing, I’ll die at the hands of brutal shifters, or whatever that hooded man was.

He didn’t look entirely like a shifter. Something about him was more terrifying.

And hot, my libido unhelpfully supplies.

Before I can second-guess myself, I select the tonic by memory and pop off the cork, then close my eyes as I brace myself when the sweet nectar touches my lips.

I keep one vision inside my head to help guide the magic.

A clearing.

Past the woods.

Out of danger.

Anywhere but here.