[©Lynnifer Ice – January 2, 2024]
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"Right, and you most likely wouldn't be able to at all without my help because you are human. I won't be able to do this for a long period of time because it could be taxing on your body and you certainly don't have the recovery speed of a supernatural or mythological being," he explained much closer to my ear. Maybe a little too close for my liking.
Well gee, thanks for pointing out the obvious…
I could feel his forehead pressed lightly against my temple and his cool fingers circling around my mark, and just barely hear him muttering a language that I did not recognize in a hushed whisper. Then I felt his other hand glide up the side of my face, tickling past my nose before his cool palm was resting against my shut eyes. I swallowed dryly as I gripped onto my knees more firmly than ever before. I felt borderline uncomfortable now.
Wondering if anything was going to happen, it suddenly fell silent all around me. I felt like I was floating through a dark tunnel, with a soft glow up ahead. I followed the glow until more light was coming into focus. Then, as I reached the end of that tunnel, everything began to clear up, and I could begin to see shapes turn into fine details. I was entranced and then alarmed as the sounds around me became clear as day…
"You just don't know when to give up, do you?" A freakishly large wolf with sleek black fur snarled toward…. me? No, toward Xinith. This was his vision.
Holy shit…
"Hah, and you don't know when you're beat, filthy mutt," Xinith snapped back.
"Still talking big when you are clearly outnumbered and severely wounded, might I add. Let's see how much longer your cocky attitude will last," another large wolf but with light brown fur howled.
"Well, what are you waiting for? An invitation?" Xinith mocked, "Come at me then."
I watched as the black-furred wolf crouched down as the light brown-furred wolf began to circle around Xinith, along with three other wolves with brown, reddish-brown, and grey colored furs. I could feel a dull throbbing in my side as I watched the black-furred wolf leap and begin to charge right toward Xinith, launching itself toward him when within range; its jaw was open, ready to bite with its claws extended to grab him.
Then I heard a very audible battle cry coming from the left.
"YAAAAHHHHH!" The voice cried with booming confidence. "CHEW ON THIS, YA DAMN MUTTS!"
I saw Liam barrel into the black-furred wolf, shoulder first, sending him flying into the grey-furred wolf with a loud crack of bones and loud broken howls. Xinith threw Liam a look which I wish I could have seen, but Liam just threw Xinith back a wide-grin.
"You should pay more attention to your opponents!" The reddish-brown-furred wolf snarled before biting into Xinith's right side. The wolf bit down harder as Xinith tried punching his muzzle before it threw him to the side, just feet away from where Liam was standing.
"How in the world are you still alive with those injuries??? Any normal mortal would have been dead ages ago! Guess I was right you'd need help," Liam twisted his mouth in dissatisfaction. "Damn idiot, I told you, you weren't indestructible." He offered Xinith a hand to pull him back up at the same time that he kicked back the reddish-brown-furred wolf with little effort.
Do all vamps have superhuman strength or what?
"I didn't ask for help…," Xinith grunted, grabbing his side with one hand and taking Liam's hand in the other as Liam pulled him up to his feet. "I was handling it just fine on my own…," he huffed before looking down at his side, revealing how deep the wolf's bite had been. Xinith had blood slowly oozing from his wounds. He looked back up, taking note of the wolves closing in again, "I heal fast so it's fine…"
"Not fast enough, you look like a blood-soaked tattered rag!" Liam complained as the grey-furred wolf tried to take a swipe at him, but Liam easily deflected it by grabbing it's tail and hurling it into the others as it howled in fury. "Besides, you and I both know I'm the better fighter, other than that I'm also stronger. You should know something else…"
"Are you really going to lecture me right now?" Xinith complained as he narrowly dodged being swiped by a pair of claws. "What could be so important to tell me right now that can't possibly wait?!" Xinith leapt back as a dagger tried to reach him from the left; it was being held by a female with a murderous look in her eye.
"Alex felt the pain of your injuries tenfold," Liam deadpanned as he fought off the black and brown-furred wolves when they tried to gang up on him. "You're being too careless!"
"She what?" Xinith froze, his reaction time slowing, failing to block the next swipe of the blade as it cut his cheek. Then his back was pinned against a tree as the female tried to drive the dagger into Xinith's chest; he was struggling to push back, now realizing the major blood loss had weakened him too much.
"This," the female growled in Xinith's face, pressing more on the handle of the dagger as it inched closer to Xinith's skin, "This is for Gamma Hinrik, my mate. Maybe he was too weak to kill you, but I sure as hell will finish the task for him!"
"The hell? You crazy mutt, it's not like I killed him!" Xinith huffed with a pained grunt, still failing to push off the female.
"You put him in a coma! It might as well be the same!" The female shrieked, putting more force into her push, right before the blade fell from her hands as she was forcefully pulled back by her hair.
"What is it with werewolves and revenge over the tiniest things? You gonna go complete psycho when someone breaks your nail too?" Liam chided, holding the shrieking female by her hair a few inches off the ground as she flailed around, trying to get him to let go.
"Release my beta, or so help me, Liam…," the black-furred wolf growled toward Liam before looking back at Xinith who found himself unwillingly sliding to the ground against the tree with a barely audible pained groan.
"Oh, I didn't recognize you, Alpha Cesar," Liam casually smiled toward Cesar, having no intention of letting the beta go anytime soon.
"Oh, bull. You chose not to! Now let her go, you should probably be more concerned about that filthy demon. If you let her go before I force your hand, I'll forgive you this once for knocking out my subordinates," Cesar warned, glancing back at Xinith again.
"Remind me why I should care about that? Your so-called subordinates mean nothing to me, Alpha Cesar." Liam tilted his head to the side with a tiny forced smile.
Xinith's vision was getting hazy, struggling to focus as he fought to stay conscious. His breathing sounded pretty ragged. I thought he was going to black out, but right before my connection was cut off, I heard him in my head, "Alex, were you spying on me? You're in so much trouble when I get back."
I breathed in heavily, my eyes shooting open, Blake immediately retracted himself from me. I noticed my right arm was feeling cold so I took a peek and found myself leaning to the right, Sasi steadily held his arm in place so that I wouldn't fall and faceplant the floor. I straightened myself, standing up, suddenly feeling embarrassed.
"Was that… all real?" I asked a little too quietly to nobody in particular.
"It was quite real," Aron chimed in, approaching me, "Do you feel nauseous at all? It's normal if you do…"
"Huh? No, I feel fine," I looked at Aron, feeling puzzled.
"Really? Well, that's quite extraordinary," Aron smiled, looking delighted with the new knowledge.
"How do you figure?" I asked.
End of Chapter Twenty-Seven