Page 8 of Property of Crypt Keeper

We froze there, our faces mere inches apart, breath mingling in the night air between us. She was strong, but so was I.

Her eyes flared—not fear. Excitement.

She wanted to fight like a man? Fine. I wasn’t going to hesitate just because she was a woman. Fuck her. I slammed my forehead into her, head-butting her. Hard.

With a sharp curse, she staggered back, dark blood streaking from her brow that quickly stopped. Before I could follow, she threw something at my feet. The ground erupted in a cloud of what seemed like ash and pure powdered silver.

Pain flared through my senses as it hit me like a shockwave. I hissed as I tried to make sense of it. My vision blurred just enough for her to vanish into the trees.

She thought she was smart.

The cloud finally dispersed. I shook it off and went after her.

The chase was brutal. Vines and branches grabbed at my clothing and skin like talons.

It was almost like she knew the terrain, but that wasn’t possible. Unless she’d been out here watching us longer than I’d realized. That thought didn’t sit well with me.

Yet, she used the roots, water, and deep shadows as if she’d been born here. She ducked and darted between trees, and I nearly lost her. Until a soft splash from her boots hitting the soggy marsh gave her away.

The difference between us was that I actually had spent a good majority of my life in this swamp—in human and wolf form. These thickets were like home to me. When I sensed her turn south, I cut through the scrub shrubs and launched forward.

Our bodies collided like a wrecking ball against a brick wall, and I tackled her to the ground. She arched her back and twisted, breaking my hold.

Too late, I realized I’d played right into her hands. She wasn’t running from me. She was toying with me. Luring me after her. Cunning little minx.

We traded blows in violent flashes. Knife seeking bone, fist against flesh, as blood splashed and splattered dark into equally black water.

Then she fucking got me again. This time the blade slid between my ribs and twisted.

I roared, grabbing her and slamming her back into a cypress trunk hard enough to rattle the moss loose—maybe even her teeth. Yet her knife stayed buried in me. Burning like a motherfucker.

It distracted me long enough for her to swing with the other blade. Thankfully, I blocked it with my forearm, but she managed to slice me open anyway. I still roared with the burning bite that lingered in the wound.

And in a split second, that’s when it happened. My blood spilled over the runes carved into the hilt of her blade.

The symbols ignited.

Not light—more of a glowing heat. Dark, hungry magic rippled across the metal and up her arm like it had been waiting for this moment. Her breath hitched, and her eyes widened as the reaction snapped through her body.

“What the—” she started as her body jolted.

Insanely, I felt it too. The wolf within scraped at the surface, fighting to get out. In that same instant, I saw her aura, and that never happened when I was in my human form. Only as my wolf could I see and scent people’s auras.

As she stared into my eyes, I knew she saw it. Her aura seemed to flare violently, like something had been awakened. Heat and something I couldn’t place rolled off her in crackling waves, sharp and intoxicating. The scent hit me full in the chest—sulfur and iron, but with a sweet undertone beneath it. It was seductive… and dangerous as sin.

Fuck. She was some sort of demon. I hated demons. Though I was being forced to overcome that to some extent.

Maybe not a full-blood? I couldn’t put my finger on it, but it was still enough to make my wolf snarl and gnash its teeth. How had I not sensed it immediately?

With her breath now coming in pants, she ripped the blade free and stumbled back. She was staring at me like she was the one seeing a monster for the first time.

“You’re not a werewolf,” she whispered, voice tight. Though she remained controlled, it was evident she was shaken.

“No,” I saltily agreed through gritted teeth. My blood steamed as it slowly and painfully sealed over my wounds. Whatever those blades were made of left a damn mark. “And you’re not human.”

Her jaw clenched. Whatever she was about to say, she swallowed it like a rusty nail. Instead, she attacked again.

We crashed into the mud, rolling. We were all fists and blades and gritted teeth. Agile and strong, she fought like someone who’d killed a lot of things. Things that had likely begged first. There was no wasted movement. No mercy.