Tempted By my Evil Lycan Stepbrother novel Chapter 68

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Chapter 68: You Matter More

Riley’s POV

We left the safe zone while the sky was still dark enough to swallow us whole.

The mountain paths above the game field were nothing like the forest below. Up here, the wind had teeth. It came slicing between the rocks and scrub pines. The ground under our boots was pale and broken, and the moonlight made every ridge look sharp enough to cut skin.

Mom thought this game was child’s play.

Well, she couldn’t even survive a single day here.

Silas led us through the upper trail in silence. Odin stayed a few steps behind me, his hand never far from his weapon. None of us wasted breath on talk. We all knew what this hunt meant.

If we brought down the Mooncrown Stalker, the game was ours.

If Ezra got there first, we were done.

We heard the fight before we saw it.

A roar tore across the cliffs, followed by the crash of something huge slamming into stone. Then came another, and the whole ridge seemed to shiver under it.

Silas dropped into a crouch and held up one hand.

I slid down beside him and peered through a narrow split in the rock.

“Fuck,” I murmured under my breath.

Ezra’s team was already here.

I thought we were fast enough

we adjusted our plan right after resting and set off without even a moment to catch our breath.

Yet Ezra still managed to get here before us and intercept us. Smart bastard.

The basin below us looked like horrifying. Dust rolled in silver clouds under the moon. Broken stone was scattered everywhere.

One Stalker lay twisted near the western shelf, its fur black with blood. Another had collapsed near a boulder with its threat ripped open so badly I could see the shine of bone under the torn flesh.

And still Ezra’s team kept coming.

They had the beasts boxed in from two sides and were striking fast and hard.

Hansen drove a spear into one creature’s shoulder while another of Ezra’s teammates cut off its retreat. Ezra himself moved through the center like he could already see where every beast would go before it decided to run. He controlled the shape of the fight.

For a second, I almost forgot to breathe.

Then I looked closer.

They were doing too much damage, too fast.

Mooncrowns weren’t the kind of prey you crushed into submission. Hurt them badly enough and their instincts stopped being clean. They stopped retreating in patterns and started thrashing on pure panic and rage

The biggest male in the basin proved it a second later.

It took a slash across the ribs, wheeled with a scream that scraped down my spine, and launched itself the wrong way straight