The Lycan King’s Mark (Nevara) by Tiffanie L. Campbell novel Chapter 77

Chapter 77- The Snare

Nevara

The forest tears at me like it knows.

Branches whip my arms, pine needles stab my skin, frost slicks the ground beneath my shoes. Every breath is fire in my lungs. My wolf claws forward, urging, screaming, faster, faster, but she’s still weak-too long poisoned, too long caged.

I can’t shift.

That’s the worst part.

I can feel the shape of her inside me-coiled, desperate, furious-but she won’t come. The wolfsbane has drained us too deeply. All I have is human speed against something that is no longer human at all.

Another howl rips through the trees.

Closer.

“Shit,” I whisper, skidding around a fallen log, boots slipping on frost-slick bark.

I don’t even look back.

I don’t need to.

I can feel him.

I cut left, then right, zigzagging through undergrowth, using every scrap of training I ever learned from pack runs and survival drills.

But he’s faster.

Always has been.

The ground explodes behind me.

A massive shadow launches through the air.

I drop, throwing myself forward just as Tobias sails over me in full wolf form-black fur, elongated snout, giant paws tipped with claws, jaws split in a feral snarl.

He hits the ground and skids, ripping a furrow through dead leaves.

I don’t waste the opening.

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Chapter 77 The Share

I bolt.

My heart is screaming in my ears now. My legs are jelly. My lungs burn so badly it feels like I’m drowning in cold air.

I take a hard turn around a cluster of boulders, then another, then duck beneath a low branch, doubling back on myself in a tight arc.

He’s there again in seconds, skidding to a halt.

Slowly, deliberately, Tobias shifts back.

Fur ripples into skin. Bones crack and shorten. The wolf shape collapses inward until he’s standing there naked, breathing hard, eyes glowing faintly in the dark.

“Well,” he says, straightening, a smile creeping across his face, “seems someone’s been training.”

I back away, keeping distance between us. “Yes. I have.”

His gaze flicks over me, sharp and assessing. “And you’re awake now.”

“Very.”

The word feels good in my mouth. Solid. Real.

“I remember everything,” I tell him. “All of it.”

His brow lifts slightly. “Do you?”

“You poisoned me,” I say, my voice shaking with anger I’ve been holding in for days. “You blocked my wolf with wolfsbane. You kept me trapped in that cabin, drinking your little herbal brews like a pet.”

A slow smile curls his lips. “And how did you figure that out?”

“You were too invested,” I snap. “Too obsessed with me drinking it. That day I said I didn’t want tea and you got agitated-actually agitated-that’s when I knew. So I started dumping it

out.”

His eyes darken with something like admiration.

“Clever girl,” he murmurs. “You’ve always been clever.”

“Don’t,” I hiss. “Don’t pretend you ever valued me.”

He takes a step closer,

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“Why do you want me now, Tobias?” I demand. “You never wanted me before. You barely noticed I existed.”

His jaw tightens.

“Because I finally realized what I let slip through my fingers.”

I laugh a broken, bitter sound. “Oh? And what, exactly, made that sudden revelation strike

you?”

“Vanessa,” he says flatly.

The name still feels like poison.

“She let something slip,” he continues. “Something she didn’t realize I didn’t know. About that bear trap three years ago.”

My stomach drops.

“The one I was caught in,” he says. “The one that nearly killed me.”

“I remember,” I whisper.

“She told me it wasn’t her who saved me,” Tobias says. “That it was you. You were the one who pulled me out. You were the one who bandaged me up and stayed until help came.”

My hands curl into fists. “I did.”

“You never said a word.”

“Would you have believed me?” I shoot back.

He goes still.

The silence answers for him.

“Exactly,” I say. “You wouldn’t have. You were too busy staring at her to see anything else.”

His mouth tightens. “She also confessed to something else.”

My heart stutters. “What?”

“Tampering with Nickolai’s parachute.”

The world tilts.

“I knew it,” I breathe. “I knew she had something to do with it.”

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Chapter 77 The Snare

“She’s locked up,” Tobias says. “Awaiting trial.”

A sharp, savage relief cuts through me. “Good.”

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“I wanted to wait until you returned,” he adds. “So you could see her face when she realizes she’s lost everything.”

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