Lure of the Wolf

Chapter One "No!" Aragon yelled, leaping from his knees. Jared couldn't die. Shifting into his were-form, Aragon had to save Jared or die trying. Breathing hard, his fangs and claws clenched with frustration, he threw the full force of his massive were-form at Jared, desperately trying to free him from the Sacred Stones' killing hold. But Aragon hit an invisible wall before reaching the powerful force that held Jared's dying body captive. "By Logos! Let him live!" Aragon cried, clawing at the barrier. The spirit wind gusted in response and slammed into him, throwing him back twenty feet. He sat up, dazed, shaking his head, finally realizing that it wasn't his lack of might that was blocking him from Jared, but a force greater than any power he'd ever fought. Before he could react, he heard a mortal woman screaming Jared's name. She appeared at the opening to the Sacred Stones, fighting the wind that had just thrown him as she plowed to the center where Jared hung in the air, twisting in agony. Aragon started toward the mortal woman to rescue her from the same blast of power that had thrown him. What had dazed him would kill her. But she flung herself at Jared before he could stop her -- and penetrated the barrier with ease. She wrapped her arms around Jared's convulsing were-form. Jared recoiled as she clung to him, desperate to save him; but the love pouring from her, one as powerful as the wind, had come too late. Aragon watched in horror as Jared's spirit separated from his body and rose toward the heavens. The mortal woman held Jared's lifeless body to her and pressed her mouth to his. Her cry of pain ripped through Aragon like a knife, rendering his heart in two. He'd not only caused Jared's death, but he, who'd sworn to protect the Elan, had just caused great sorrow to one of Logos's chosen. Instead of accepting Jared's death, the woman pressed upon Jared's heart hard with her hand and gave him the very breath from her lungs. Again and again she repeated the motions, refusing to give up, fighting with a valor worthy of any warrior. Then suddenly, Jared's spirit came diving back down from the heavens, and his body shuddered back to life to feel the full force of the mortal woman's love. Jared was saved. Aragon ran from the Sacred Stones, his soul burning from the pain and the damage he'd caused. To have sent his brother to his death, to have been so wrong about Jared, made Aragon unworthy of anything. It didn't matter that love had saved Jared, that Jared had found salvation from the assassin's poison corrupting him. That only proved how mistaken Aragon had been. He didn't deserve to live, much less lead the Blood Hunters. He'd had no choice but to leave the Guardian Forces. His fate should be far worse than the punishment decreed by Logos for such an act -- to be exiled as a faded warrior, one whose spirit would remain trapped in time for eternity, having substance neither in the spirit world nor upon the mortal ground. He didn't know how much time he had before Logos stripped him of his warrior's powers and threw him into the torturous void, but he knew there was one last thing he could do for his brethren: execute Pathos. The former Blood Hunter was a bane upon the mortal world and had shamed the honor of all Blood Hunters. It would be breaking Guardian Forces law to seek another's death outside of battle. But Aragon had little doubt that he and Pathos would fight to the end, so bitter was the draught in Aragon's soul. In the spirit world a warrior's honor became entwined with that of the man who trained him. If he fought well, he brought honor to the one who'd done the training. But if he were cowardly or traitorous, he shamed his mentor as well as himself. When Pathos had become purely evil, taking up with Heldon within two short days of being poisoned by a Tsara, one of Heldon's spiritual assassins, theSt. Giles, Jennifer is the author of 'Lure of the Wolf ', published 2007 under ISBN 9781416513339 and ISBN 1416513337.