The shadows breathed like beasts in the trees, twisting, slithering, watching him.
Sable's claws tore through bark like wet paper as he shoved through the dense forest, wings half spread and twitching with tension. The cold wind howled, but it was nothing compared to the storm inside him.
Thirteen hours.
The number pulsed in his skull like a war drum.
13:00:00
12:59:59
12:59:58
"What the fuck does it mean?" he snarled, slamming a fist into a tree so hard it exploded in a rain of splinters.
He didn't bleed. His demon form didn't allow it. But if he could bleed, he would've, just to feel something other than this maddening pull toward something he wasn't ready for.
Her.
The one he couldn't stop dreaming about. The voice he heard in every fucking gust of wind. The soul he wasn't good enough for.
She was calling to him.
He hated her for it.
He loved her for it.
He wanted to burn the world down to silence it.
The goddess's voice whispered like static in the back of his mind. Not loud. Not clear. Just a soft push.
Go to her.
But how the fuck could he?
He was tainted. Tethered. Marked by darkness. A beast made from pain and forged in hatred. He'd killed for less than what she was asking of him.
Still...
12:45:14
12:45:13
The timer screamed in his head. Panic coiled in his gut like poison.
Something was coming.
Something huge.
And for the first time in centuries, Sable, the monster, the shadowed alpha, the demon feared by worlds, he felt like prey.
He burst through another barrier of blackened trees, his stone like feet shaking the earth, his tail lashing behind him like a whip. Glowing red black eyes scanned the horizon, and he lifted his face to the wind.
A scent.
Faint.
But unmistakable.
Rain.
Magic.
Stars.
Her.
Rhiannan.
He dropped to one knee, chest heaving, claws digging into the dirt. He wanted to turn back. Wanted to run.
But he couldn't.
Even if he hated himself, even if he feared what he'd become, he knew one thing.
He had to find her before the timer hit zero.
Or the world would burn.
And he'd be the one lighting the match.
Blood sprayed like confetti as Sable ripped his claws through the throat of the snarl beast lunging for his head. Its body hit the dirt with a wet slap, twitching once, then still.
Another came from the trees, all six eyes glowing like coals. It shrieked.
He grinned.
"That's it. Come to daddy."
He ducked, pivoted, drove his fist through its chest and yanked free its heart, still beating, still steaming.
Splorch.
"Fucking gross," he muttered, wiping it on his thigh. "You'd think demonspawn would have better hygiene."
He kicked the corpse aside and crouched over the battlefield of wrecked limbs and cracked bones. Most men would throw up at the carnage.
Sable?
He picked up a particularly long, serrated fang and whistled.
"Well, hello, you little beauty."
He turned it in his claws, admiring the jagged curve, then dug through the bodies for more. Claws, teeth, even a chunk of plated bone.
All perfectly sharp. All perfectly terrifying.
"She'll love this," he muttered to himself, eyes gleaming. "Gonna make her the baddest fucking necklace this side of the void."
He shoved the teeth into his belt pouch like a goblin on a mission, already imagining the look on her face.
Would she scream?
Would she swoon?
Would she laugh and call him a psychotic bastard?
Gods, he hoped so.
"Gotta make it pretty," he said aloud, standing over the twitching remains of his enemies. "Maybe add some bloodstones... or the talon of that swamp harpy I killed last week..."
12:08:03
The timer flickered again behind his eyes.
He licked blood off his palm and kept walking, a low hum vibrating in his chest.
Rhiannan POV
Something twisted in her chest.
Not pain.
Not fear.
Glee.
She was on the training field again, sweat soaked, scowling at Elisha for yelling about her foot placement. But the sudden wash of emotion hit her like a warm pulse to the ribs.
And it wasn't hers.
She doubled over, hand to her chest, blinking in surprise.
Kaleb and Arwen were immediately at her side, shouting. Liam tripped over a water barrel trying to get to her. Elisha roared like a dragon about to torch a city.
But she just... smiled.
"He's coming," she whispered.
Kaleb narrowed his eyes. "Who?"
Rhiannan looked up, grin crooked, a sparkle of mischief dancing in her tired eyes.
"My demon," she said simply.
She didn't know how.
She didn't know when.
But she felt it.
Somewhere out there... her monster was making her a necklace.
And gods help whoever tried to stand in his way.