Leonardo stumbled back, but Cora caught his arm before he could fall. Even though the only face she recognized among the hanging figures was Donovan's, the pure horror in Leonardo's eyes told her he knew who the rest were.
But… What was this?
Who would do sothing like this? Donovan was very much alive, they had both seen him, he sent them on this mission, so what was this?
"This… isn't real," she said quickly, shaking her head as if trying to banish the thought. She looked at Leonardo who seed far gone and made him face her. "I need you to listen to . None of it is real, okay? And we're going to hold on to that, what we believe is the truth, do you understand , Leo?"
She gripped his shoulders until his eyes finally t hers. For a mont, his gaze was distant, unfocused, then it flickered back to the grotesque tree. The more he observed the tree, the more familiar it was starting to beco.
He stepped forward slowly, hesitantly, only to stop short. It felt as though sothing unseen pressed against him, an invisible wall of cold air pushing him back. He reached out a hand, but his fingers t resistance - thin, solid and unnatural.
It wasn't real… in a sense.
But then, whose trick was this?
Whose dirty idea was it to mock his family like this?
Seeing the lifeless faces of his loved ones, after so many years, displayed in such a grotesque, humiliating way made his blood boil. His fists clenched tightly at his side till his knuckles turned white, his nails digging into his palms.
He couldn't stand the sight.
But what does this an? Why was Donovan and Irwin there as well? Was this… a sign that they were both going to die next? Did all of this… an sothing? Why wasn't he there then? Who is responsible for this nonsense? This didn't seem like sheer mockery, because whoever did this was equally hinting at sothing. But what? What was it? Was Don and Irwin in trouble too?
"What do you think?"
The voice ca from behind them.
Cora and Leonardo spun around - and the mont Cora recognized the speaker, her breath caught in her throat.
Mira.
She stepped out of the shadows with that unsettling calm, her lips curling into a faint smile as if she were admiring her own handiwork. Her pretty face barely slipped, and her outfit had changed into sothing more intimidating - a black cloak and a small crown made from thorns.
Leonardo didn't hesitate.
For the first ti, Cora felt it - the suffocating pressure of his killing intent. It prickled against her skin like static, and before she could even react, Leonardo lunged forward with the speed of a known werewolf. His hand shot out, seizing Mira by the throat, and with a violent motion, he lifted her off the ground. Her boots scraped helplessly against the stones as his grip tightened, and she noticed the faintest flash of sothing similar to ember in his eyes.
Mira's hand clawed weakly, her eyes wide, but Leonardo's grip never faltered, not even for a mont. Cora didn't try to stop him either. A part of her wanted to let him finish it - to make the witch pay for this cruel display. Leonardo was not soone who raised a hand to a woman, and that alone spoke volus about the depth of his rage. She, too, was angry on his behalf.
"Karnath!"
Mira's strangled cry tore through the air, almost sounding like a summon.
But Leonardo's senses didn't fail him this ti. He released Mira, and before the sound of her gasp could fade, he was already moving toward Cora.
The young lady barely understood what just happened. One mont she was watching Mira collapse to the ground, coughing violently, and the next, she was in Leonardo's arms. Her breath had been knocked swiftly from her chest due to how fast she was being swooped, but she recovered quickly.
Before she could ask what had happened, a deafening crash followed, and her eyes locked onto it.
The ground where she'd been standing erupted under a massive blow, splintering stones and filling the air with dust. Her eyes widened in pure horror.
It was the demon.
Karnath rose slowly from the impact, his fra outlined by the surviving lantern. His eyes darkened as he flexed his clawed hand, the ground hissing beneath his touch. He looked at Leonardo who stood on the safer side, not with surprise, but with fury. Even this ti, Karnath also felt sothing he hadn't sensed during their earlier battle, his equal rage.
"What is the aning of this?" Leonardo asked, and he was talking about the tree that had his family hanging.
anwhile, Mira, still struggling to breathe, glared up at Karnath through narrowed eyes.
"What took you so long?" She rasped.
Karnath didn't respond to her. He was still pissed about the rubble.
"Do you really think you can escape from here?" Karnath uttered, almost mockingly. "This place… you can never leave it. Not while you're still breathing."
He glanced at the tree. "The Morgrim family has fallen so low, haven't they? Are you surprised to see Irwin up there?" He chuckled, the alarm in Leonardo's gray eyes sharpening upon the demon ntioning his na.
How… How did he know?
He shook his head slightly upon noticing the look in Karnath's eyes.
"No."
"He was a good man," Karnath flashed a smile now. "But I couldn't… resist. My master wanted him dead. You don't have to worry, I made sure to make proper use of his bones, the sa way I'm going to make an even better use of yours."
And he charged at them once more. Leonardo acted first, fleeing from the area as Karnath continued to lunge at them. This was the first ti Leonardo had even bothered to use his wolf powers, and it was about ti he also embraced his wolf spirit.
"Why do you keep running, you coward," Karnath snarled after his attack had been irritatingly dodged yet again.
Leonardo carefully set Cora down, and despite the life-or-death situation they were in, Cora realized her foot had healed. She looked at Mira who, as if drawn by instinct, t her gaze as well. There was nothing readable in her expression, but it didn't matter. So what if she healed her, she had gone too far this ti.
anwhile, Leonardo was done playing their gas.
"You want a fight," his voice dropped low, steady and dangerous. "I'll give you a fair one, you bastard."
The air seed to shift the mont he uttered those words.
A heavy pressure rippled outward, distorting the space around him. Cora felt it too, the faint vibration that made her chest ache as if the world itself recognized what was about to happen.
Leonardo took a single step forward, and his gray eyes flared, blazing into molten amber. His canines lengthened into sharp fangs, his muscles tensed, and before Cora could even blink, the transformation consud him.
It wasn't gradual like most who were transforming for the first ti, his own was instant. One heartbeat he was there, human and furious, and in the next, the sound of bones and sinew shifting cracked through the silence.
Where Leonardo stood, a massive gray wolf now crouched low, its fur bustling, and eyes glowing like fire beneath the storm cloud. A snarl tore through its throat, deep, primal and powerful - echoing through the ruined hall.
Karnath actually hesitated, his expression flickering with sothing close to surprise.
Cora, however, stood frozen, her mind spinning.
Wait…
Her eyes widened.
He had his wolf this entire ti????
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