Page 104 of Knight’s Retribution

“Of the shifter variety, yes.”

Kyler was beside him a second later, her back to his, and she drew her blade, one of his she’d claimed and had a serious affinity with. A growl came from the other side, and another branch snapped beside them.

“What are they doing here?” Kyler bit out.

“Witches sometimes use them to guard important things, like the knife. Willow can’t have known they were here.”

“Shit,” Kyler said, the muscles in her back shifting against his as she prepared for their attack.

“I don’t know who you are,” Roc said loudly, “but the witch who sent us for the dagger is a descendent of the one who hid the dagger here.”

One wolf moved forward into the moonlight, lips peeled back in a snarl, then shifted. One moment he was a wolf, the next a male stood in front of them. He was muscled and scarred, his skin smeared with dirt.

“Prove it,” the wolf said. “Or we’ll tear you and your mate to pieces.”

“You can try,” Kyler said, a snarl in her own voice.

The wolf’s eyes flashed. “Proof. Now.”

“Map, Ky, the one Willow gave us,” Rocco said and held out his hand.

She passed it back to him, and Roc held it up for the wolf. “Our friend was given this by her grandmother. It’s been passed down their line for generations.”

Another wolf changed, seeming to burst into his human form, and strode up, looking down at the map. “Looks legit. About fucking time.”

Rocco arched a brow. “Come again?”

The wolf looked at him, lip curled in disgust. “We’ve been tied to this fucking rock by your witch’s family since the dagger was put here. We couldn’t leave until someone with that motherfucking map showed up.”

“You sure that’s it?” the first wolf asked.

“Hold it up to the moon,” the second wolf barked.

Rocco did as he asked, and as the moonlight hit it, words appeared on the parchment and a whispered voice echoed around them, reading the words in a dialect he wasn’t familiar with. It was a spell, or more the breaking of one.

The wolves howled around them, snarling and growling as light shimmered over their bodies, as they were released from what tied them here.

“So what happens now?” Rocco asked the second wolf.

“We get the fuck out of here and we never come back.” He scowled at the map in Rocco’s hand. “And tell your witch to go fuck herself.” Then he shifted back to his wolf form, and he and his pack spun and ran off.

Roc and Kyler stood there for several moments, waiting, listening. Nothing. They’d gone all right.

“Well, that was unexpected,” Kyler said and took the stone map from Rocco and rushed back to the rock. “Here goes nothing.”

Rocco held the flashlight and watched as Ky slid the missing piece back where it had once been. There was a loud pop, and Kyler jumped and stepped back. A groaning sound came next, like the rock was cracking from the inside out.

And it was, because it split down the middle, one side tipping over unceremoniously, hitting the ground with a thud, and revealing the dagger imbedded in the other side.

“Holy shit,” Kyler said. “It’s here. It’s really here.” She grabbed it and moved it under the light, checking it out. It was ancient, roughhewn iron, primitive in its design. The handle was wood and carved, and there was leather wrapped around the base.

She looked at him and grinned. With that dagger, they had a chance of stopping Diemos.

Now they just had to work out how to get close enough to him to use it.

“Let’s get the fuck out of here,” Roc said.

Ky put the dagger in the bag slung over her shoulder and moved to him, grabbing his hand.