Dark Hunger

"Who could that be?" Elize asked, as she took out her shirt and pressed it against his wounds to stop the blood. 

"I don't know!" he said as more arrows whizzed past them. "But that flame that you accidently sparked in the forest—it has attracted them. And we need to get to Ixoviya as soon as possible!" He leaned heavily on the wall due to excruciating pain. 

"Look at me," she said and turned him slowly towards her. She had to keep him awake because she knew that the arrows were tipped with poison. The blood that had come out of his body was slightly bluish. 

Arrows began to hit the wall, all bouncing off it, but even as the volley continued, and they could hear the bow strings twinging, she and the werewolf stared in each other's eyes. She placed her hand on his cheek and said, "Since when have you been watching me?" 

"Ever since you came to Yorkshire. From the day you left me. But I haven't been able to protect you…" 

Her body trembled at his answer. This man had wanted her for so long. He was going through everything, through all dangers just to protect her. Tears stung in her eyes, but she didn't let them roll out. She continued to press her shirt against his wound. Elize could now feel him sagging. "Do you want to sit down?" she asked. 

He nodded and then sagged to the ground against the cement column. She knelt right before him. Curling her finger around his neck, she pressed his face to the crook of her neck. He rested it there and closed his eyes in her warmth, his hands wrapped loosely around her waist. The arrows kept on flying for some time and then they stopped. 

Caleb looked up at his mate, her white face glowing in the moonlight. He placed a bloodied hand on her throat and said, "I am so sorry." 

"About what?" she asked, gulping down the soreness in her throat. 

"For—" Suddenly an arrow whizzed past her and she squealed with pain. "Fuck these bastards!" Caleb roared and got up. 

"Caleb, sit down!" she said through her pain. 

"No more!" he rasped. "They are going down now." 

As Caleb loped towards the demons into the thick of the night, she ran right behind him. A few more arrows came to hit him but he deflected them with his hand. Some struck him in his arms, but he yanked them out. His muscles had bulged. His claws had lengthened and his fangs sharpened. He leapt into the air and shifted. The wolf waited for her with a swish of his tail. 

As if she knew what to do, she jumped right over him and sat astride. Caleb shot forward. He was going to kill the demons and whosoever was assisting them. They reached the car and he stopped. She got down and got at the wheels of the car and revved up the engine, as he loped towards the forest. For the next painful twenty minutes, she heard blood curdling cries and the snap of bones and snarls of a wolf and then everything went quiet. With a pounding heart she looked towards the forest and held her breath. Where was he? Her hands gripped the steering tightly in anticipation. Her teeth started chattering as she tried to control that ghastly shake of her body and thoughts in her mind. She was about to go out and check for him when with a snarl, a wolf came out of the woods, his jaw dripping with blood, his body covered with blood. The wolf shifted and she released her breath. She bent over, opened the door of the car for him. As soon as he sat, she revved up the engine and pressed the accelerator. The car sped ahead and soon was on the road. 

Caleb was breathing hard and she had to find a hospital soon. She found Laurel running on the road some half an hour later. She stopped the car to pick her up. When she sat down, Elize asked, "Where is Auril?" 

"He has been missing from a long time. He left me to deal with a demon!" 

Elize didn't say a word, her anger rising up against Laurel. Had she not paused for a moment to get in the car earlier, they wouldn't have dealt with this catastrophe. She wanted to find Auril, but she knew that she couldn't waste another minute. However, to her relief, she saw Auril running out of the woods. She collected him too like a trophy and raced the car to two hundred miles an hour. 

"There were four demons that I just killed!" said Auril, wiping his forehead with his hand, smearing it with blood. 

"Holy shit!" said Elize. "There were four that Caleb was dealing with!" 

"That means there were eight demons in all," Auril replied and then cursed more. 

"No, there was someone who was with the arrows!" Caleb said in a weak voice. "Did you see that one person?" 

"Nope!" Auril took a deep breath and inhaled the scent of blood and metal. "You have to stay quiet. We need to take you to a hospital!" 

"And what will you tell the medics out there? Demons attacked us?" Caleb snapped, his voice faltering. 

Elize gripped the wheel tightly. "Then what do we do?" 

"First you need to get us out of here!" Auril said. 

Caleb's breath became ragged. 

Elize shuddered. "I am going to get us all out of here, Caleb. We are going to lose them." She sped the car more. She glanced at Caleb who was now unconscious. Her heart lurched. Immortals didn't die like that, or could they? Could he? No. He was the mighty sorcerer king. The man didn't use his magic because if he had used it, the human would have come to know about it and the outcome would have been even more disastrous. Her husband sacrificed using his magic not only to save her but also to save the Loreans and to maintain peace between the humans and the Loreans. Always sacrificing. Always. 

Her mate. Her husband. Her lover.

This beautiful, powerful, selfless male who had suffered so much in his life at the hands of his former wife had sacrificed and wrecked himself not only for her, but for his people, and yet he felt that he hadn't been able to protect her, and that he wasn't enough for her. He had told her that he never deserved to have a beautiful woman like her to be his mate, but right now she felt that she didn't deserve to be his mate. Elize's throat bobbed with emotions that could make someone wail. She wanted to soothe him somehow and suddenly, a door to his mind opened. She could feel it. She reached him through the mental bond… 

She drove for the next two hours nonstop in order to find a nondescript motel where she could easily hide their damaged car. With the help of Auril, she took him inside the room and asked Laurel to bring in their luggage. She noticed Laurel scanning the area around the motel as she brought the luggage. 

The first thing Elize did was to put Caleb into a cold bath after removing all his clothes.. And then handed him whiskey.