Page 116 of Bound to Three Fae Beasts

Then he rolled and pushed himself away. He let out a terrible groan, and suddenly sprang to his feet. His body rippled and shifted as the griffin shuddered, fraying at the edges. I dodged forward, but the griffin started to unbind before I could get close enough. Gareth spun beneath it, latched his jaws around its throat, and it collapsed in a heap of feathers and fur.

Meanwhile, Silas threw back his head. His form changed, erupting from the inside as though he was peeling back his humanity to reveal the beast. Within seconds, a massive bear, almost as tall as Jasper, stood in his place. His fur was covered in dark red blood, but his edges were solid. Magic haloed him, but it wasn’t an unbinding magic. It was pure and strong and took my breath away.

He shook his head and landed back down on all fours, turning toward me. When our eyes met, he let out a huff and shook himself. Then his gaze landed on Freta, unconscious. He took a step toward her and rippled again. A groan came from his throat, then he was human again.

“Z,” he gasped, and collapsed next to Freta.

I rushed forward, scrambling to retrieve the last of my healing potions. I only had one left, but I wasn’t sure who to give it to. Silas or Freta? Both were breathing. Silas had received the greater damage, but also had healing potions already.

Seb took human form next to me, letting out a pained breath. Blood stained his side deeply and every movement made him grimace.

“They teachers will come collect us now,” he told me as he took the potion from me. I thought he was going to drink it, but instead he tipped half into Freta’s mouth and half into Silas’s. As he spoke, Freta melted back to her human form. She was pale and still unconscious, but alive. “We’ve made it through. All five of us.”

Jasper knelt next to me while Gareth stood guard, watching for any further attacks. He maintained his jaguar form, almost invisible in the darkness. His tail twitched as I sagged into Jasper, practically too exhausted to stay upright.

We’d survived. All of us. I dug one hand into Jasper’s arm, the other reaching for Seb. “We made it through. It’s over.”

For now. Until next year, when it would all start again. My body felt so heavy. But we were alive right now. We were alive. The sobs shook my body again as relief poured through me. We’d made it out. Whatever happened next, we were together.

I knew exactly what I was going to do tonight. I was going to sleep. For the first time in what felt like forever, I was going to go to sleep and not have to be afraid of what tomorrow brought.

Gareth let out a hiss. “Someone’s watching us.”

My head jerked up, my vision still blurred from the tears in my eyes. “What—” I started, but Gareth shifted to jaguar form and leapt away. Jasper raced after them.

Seb started to get to his feet, but I grabbed his wrist, stopping him. Adrenaline spiked in my blood as I clung to him. His tunic was wet and dark from his own blood loss. He couldn’t run off and fight again. My muscles burned, wanting to go after Gareth and Jasper to help them, but I couldn’t leave Seb and my friends here, alone and vulnerable.

“Azriel—” Seb grunted, twisting his arm.

“You aren’t in any state to fight.” My voice came out more broken than I thought. “You have to stay here.”

“I’m not fucking fragile—”

“Stay. Please,” I whispered.

Seb stopped fighting against me. He turned his hand and pressed his palm into mine, then twined his fingers through mine. We stared at each other, the woods swallowing up any sound from around us. How much had the person watching seen? Was it another student who had succumbed to the Surrender, or someone who could reveal the truth about me?

He started to sway and I caught him. Why hadn’t I bandaged his injuries yet? I shook myself, mentally cursing myself for overlooking something so important. Quickly, I stripped off my tunic and tore it into strips to bandage his ribs. As I did so, Seb let out a soft snort.

“Guess the Surrender makes us stop thinking about unimportant things,” he quipped.

“You’re important,” I mumbled in reply.

He caught my hand again. “Azriel … I—”

Light flared in the clearing, making me scream in surprise. I leapt to my feet and prepared to attack before my eyes adjusted to the painful light. A handful of medics from the Academy were coming toward us, each one cloaked in a protective shield.

“Congratulations, students. You have survived the Surrender,” one of the medics said, bowing to us. “Lord Seb, we will heal your injury and escort you back to the Academy.”

“You will heal me and take these two back to the Academy,” Seb answered shortly as he gestured at Silas and Freta.

The medics hesitated. “We are not meant to—”

“You are not meant to disobey the heir of Court Laurel,” Seb snapped. “You will take Lady Freta of Court Alegro and her companion to the Academy. They have overcome the Surrender and have passed the test.”

My mind flashed to that Clarissa told Quincy about arranging an ‘accident’ for Freta. Had the medics been told to abandon her in the forest?

They didn’t argue with Seb, though. After they healed him, they gathered Silas and Freta onto stretchers and headed back out of the forest. They were protected. None of the students who had gone mad could attack them now.