CHAPTER 42: THE MARK—BELLA.

The forest floor was wet beneath Bella’s cheek, the damp seeping through her clothes. She could hear them fighting. Their claws raking deep into the soil, the thudding of heavy paws, and the deeper thrum of wolves’ chests as they growled.

But louder still was the laughter of the demons.

They pitched up without warning into a shrill, broken giggle. It made the hairs at the back of her neck rise. The sound was jagged, but it seemed to echo inside her skull more than in her ears, each shrill slicing through the air until she wanted to claw it out of her head.

Luca dropped in front of her, his wolf’s shoulders broad as his deep blue fur reflected the light from the moon.

It was magnificent.

I knew I wasn’t dreaming when I saw this blue beauty yesterday, she thought.

One of the demons grabbed Cassian’s tail.

"Not today," Cassian snarled, whipping it off the ground and slamming it down hard enough to the soil.

Rafe was a shadow to the right, his eyes like cold fire. "Bella, keep your head down!" he barked without turning, his claws raking through a demon’s ribs.

Killian took the rear, his wolf crouched low. "You’re not touching her," he growled at the nearest demon.

There were four points now. The wolves made a circle, placing Bella in the middle.

The demons paced the edge of the circle, their pale bodies flickering in and out of sight like they were half in this world and half in their kingdom. They moved too smoothly for their broken shapes, their joints bending both ways as they closed in.

Suddenly, one of the demons lunged at Cassian’s side, biting into his wolf’s left breast.

Cassian grunted in pain. "That all you’ve got?" he spat, twisting its head until its bone cracked. He ripped into its throat with his teeth, only for it to dissolve into black smoke and reform right behind him.

"Killian!" Luca barked, shifting fully to block the second strike. His claws sank into the demon’s belly, and the same black smoke curled out. "Stop giving them openings!"

"Stop telling me how to fight," Killian snapped, hurling the demon away.

Rafe snapped at one that tried to dart past him toward Bella. His jaws clamped around its arm. The demon’s claws dug into his muzzle before he wrenched it free and flung it into a tree.

Bella’s breath was coming fast now. "Why... why are they all looking at me?" she called out, her voice trembling.

"Because you’re the reason they’re here," Luca growled without turning. "Don’t break the circle."

Her arms trembled when she tried to push herself up. "I’m not—"

"Bella!" Luca’s voice cut sharp, a warning that dropped her back to the ground.

"Stay down!" he snarled, lunging again. His claws tore through a demon’s chest, but there was no heart, no muscle, only a hollow cavity pouring more of that choking smoke.

Three more surged from the trees at once.

Cassian wheeled left to meet one. "Rafe, to your right!"

Rafe moved right without hesitation. Killian leapt clean over Bella, tackling the third before it could touch her. His jaws locked around the base of its skull, shaking until the head tore away. The body crumpled, twitching even headless.

Bella’s pulse roared in her ears. She could see their eyes, every demon, no matter where it was in the fight, staring through the gaps in the wolves’ circle.

"They’re not trying to kill the wolves," she whispered.

"They’re trying to get to you," Killian finished grimly, not looking away from the demon he pinned.

The wolves pressed tighter now, backs almost brushing. The demons kept coming in pairs, darting forward and back, each time edging closer.

Luca’s shoulder brushed hers as he landed from another kill. His fur was streaked with smoke and dirt, the scent of rot clinging to him. "We can’t hold like this," he growled.

"Then break it," Cassian answered, snapping another demon’s arm. "You take her. We’ll carve you a path."

"No—" Bella tried to push herself up.

But her protest was swallowed by another rush from the treeline.

Four stranger-looking demons this time.

They were taller, spines bowed in unnatural arcs, limbs ending in clawed fingers that flexed like hooked knives. Their skin was sickly grey and crisscrossed with black veins. Their eyes were pits of pale light, unblinking, fixed on Bella.

"Those aren’t scouts," Rafe muttered. "Those are hunters."

Each of them focused on a wolf.

The circle broke into a motion of claws flashing, teeth tearing, bodies slamming to the ground. Bella pushed up onto her elbows, blinking against the smoke curling over her.

She saw Luca’s shape just beyond the haze, fighting toward her. Then another shadow rose behind him, taller than the rest, with it’s pale eyes still locked on her.

Her stomach dropped.

She knew that face.

She had seen it before, in that first vision.

"Bella!" Killian’s voice broke through, but she was already frozen.

The same demon stretched it hand backwards and drew out something long and glistening.

A whip.

It looked alive, as the demon held it, it danced around it’s claws.

Bella’s breath hitched. "It’s him," she whispered.

"What?" Luca growled, eyes never leaving his fight.

"The one from my vision," she said.

The demon tilted its head, almost curious, then smiled, a slow, deliberate stretch of its mouth. It raised the whip and let it uncoil with a sound that split the air like a crack of lightning.

Bella flinched, the sound vibrating in her bones.

"Luca—" she started, but Killian cut in, "Don’t speak to it. Don’t even look at it."

Cassian’s voice was tight. "That’s no regular hunter. We need to move, now."

"We can’t outrun all of them," Rafe shot back, circling to keep two of the other demons at bay. "You drag her into the open, we lose our cover."

"Cover?" Cassian snarled. "They’ve been tearing through us like paper for the past ten minutes!"

"Enough," Killian snapped, but his eyes never left the whip. "Luca, if you’re taking her, you take her now before it closes the distance."

The demon stepped forward, the whip dragging behind it. The other demons slowed their circling, giving it space as if it owned the final price—Bella.

Her throat tightened. "It’s here for me."