Even someone as legendary and fearsome as Death Thorn had physical limitations that pregnancy imposed on her body. When Elliana spun around to avoid the charging attack of an enormous gray wolf, her balance betrayed her. She lost her footing completely and crashed hard onto the ground, causing two bracelets to tumble from her clothing and land silently in the trampled grass.
She immediately tried to roll and push herself back onto her feet, but a sharp, stabbing sensation tore through her lower belly, freezing her movements completely. Find the newest release on Find_Novel(.)net
The wolves surrounding her instantly recognized her moment of weakness. Half a dozen of them abandoned their current targets and launched themselves directly at her.
“Elliana!” Cole’s voice ripped from his throat in a primal roar as he completely abandoned the wolves he’d been fighting and started sprinting toward her with every ounce of speed he possessed.
Jason’s face transformed into something cold and deadly as he, too, broke away from his defensive position and charged forward.
But before either man could close even half the distance, something utterly inexplicable occurred. The wolves that had been mid-leap toward Elliana’s throat suddenly stopped as if they’d slammed into an invisible wall. Their jaws snapped shut on empty air.
Then, as though some unseen force was physically dragging them backward, they scrambled away from her in chaotic retreat, putting a full ten meters of distance between themselves and her fallen form in mere seconds.
Cole arrived first, sliding to his knees beside Elliana and carefully helping her rise to her feet. “Are you hurt?” The words tumbled out in a panic-stricken rush.
Elliana pulled a small tablet from her pocket and swallowed it without water. “I’m fine.”
Cole released a long, trembling exhale of pure relief as he wrapped his arms around her in a fierce protective embrace. He turned to position himself between her and the wolf pack, his muscles coiled and ready for the next wave of attack, but what he witnessed left him completely stunned.
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The entire pack was withdrawing from the battlefield.
The living ocean of snarling, snapping beasts began flowing backward into the forest shadows, and within just a few moments, every single wolf had disappeared as if they had never existed at all.
When the forest finally fell into eerie silence, Taylor lowered his makeshift weapon, his face twisted in complete confusion. “What just happened? Why would they suddenly retreat like that?”
“Whoever controls them ordered them to stand down,” Elliana explained, her voice remarkably calm given what they’d just survived.
Taylor’s bewilderment only deepened. “But that man literally just threatened to kill every one of us. What could possibly have made him change his mind so completely?”
Elliana’s eyes dropped to the ground. She gestured toward the two bracelets resting in the crushed grass. “Perhaps these are what changed everything. He must have spotted them when I fell.”
Right on cue, the mysterious man’s voice drifted through the trees once again, though the threatening quality had vanished completely, replaced by a tone that sounded almost respectful. “Ms. Marsh, please accept my most profound apologies. I had absolutely no idea who you were, and I have clearly committed a grave error in judgment. I sincerely hope that you escaped serious injury. You have my solemn promise — no harm will befall you anywhere within these woods. You are free to travel wherever you wish without fear.”
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