Page 88 of Wild Wolf

A spear of ice formed in my grip and I rolled as Gustard leaned over me, preparing to finish me. One more swipe of those claws was all it would take.

A howl of pure love left me as I thrust the spear at his chest and stuck him under the ribs, my blade driving in deeper and deeper.

A screech tore from Gustard’s throat as I pushed that spear in as hard as I could, using the full force of the strength I possessed. It sliced through him like a hot knife through butter, punching out of the other side of his body and ending him with a finality that made me release a heavy breath.

Gustard’s screeches were silenced and I shoved him backwards with a grunt of effort, rising to my full height as I did so and gazing down at the dead monster at my feet.

I pressed a hand to my chest through a tear in my shirt, sending healing magic into my veins while I caught my breath. The numbing air was stealing away the bite of pain in my injuries, but it was a relief all the same as they finally knitted over.

My gaze shifted to the open doorway and I stalked inside, ready to help track down Sin, Max and the Lion Order that had been stolen from my brother.

I gazed at the stairs and started up them, the wail of dying Fae carrying like birdsong all throughout the tower. And I knew that my pack mate had to be close.

CHAPTER FORTY FOUR

Benjamin’s beastly form swept overhead and I swung a flail of flames at his underbelly with a growl spilling from my lips. It crashed into his scales and threw him off course, his wings beating to try and counter the strike, but Rosalie sent chains of metal out to capture them, binding them to his sides and bringing him to the snowy ground in a collision that rocked the earth.

He struggled to get free, his immense bulk shattering one of the chains and I knew my time was almost up.

“Kill him!” Rosalie cried, running around to Benjamin’s jaws, trying to strap his mouth shut with her chains. The red glow of the fire in his throat shone through his scales and I saw the blast coming as Rosalie’s binds snapped and his mouth flew open.

“No!” I bellowed, shooting forward with a burst of speed and shoving her out of the way as the fire blasted from his jaws.

It slammed into me and I was thrown onto the ground from the force of the flames, engulfed as they burned into my chest. The snow melted around me in a pool as Benjamin towered over me and blood bubbled at my lips. His gaze turned to Rosalie as she stood to face him once again, but a snarl left me at him looking at her with a promise of death in those murderous eyes.

Rosalie cast a dagger in her grip, hurling it at him, aiming between his eyes but it deflected off of his scales, slamming down into the earth beside me.

The scent of burnt skin and the bloody hollow in my chest made it hard to move, my fingers flexing with the need to heal myself, but I was almost tapped out. Benjamin was about to blast hellfire at her once more and with just a scrap of magic left to me, I took the fallen dagger into my grip and swore on the moon that this woman would not die at the jaws of my oppressor.

Within a whip of fire that could have cracked the sky in two, I sent the dagger flying towards his open jaws, every ounce of power I had left going into the cast. It slammed into the back of his throat and drove upwards at the will of my fire, slicing in with a certainty that could only equal death.

Benjamin roared, his legs shuddering, eyes wheeling from Rosalie to me as horrified realisation found him. Then he came crashing to the earth, his life leaving him in a rush, finally releasing me from the chains of my past.

A heavy breath left me and it was laced with all the what ifs I had hoped to claim in this life. Rosalie was crying my name. I swear I heard the moon whisper to me that I had done well and then the world was too dark and death was tearing me away from the sole Fae who owned me to my core.

Death stole all chance for goodbyes, the sureness of it closing in around me and guiding me from Rosalie Oscura. She was the last thing I saw, haloed by moonlight with my name on her lips. And peace found me through the love burning in her eyes. Because if there was one thing in this world that had been worth giving everything for, it had been her. Forever her.

CHAPTER FORTY FIVE

With my chest agape and bloody, I’d torn the key to my magical cuffs from the pocket of a weaselly looking nurse then bit his ear off for good measure before releasing myself along with my magic. Now I was thick in the fray, bringing down a world of carnage upon the unfortunate souls who were close enough to taste my wrath. But they had caused this, they were sinners of the stars, their essences nothing but soot and cinders. I’d reduce them to less than that when I was done here.

Casting a chain of fire, I swung it around my head like a lasso and caught a fleeing little nursey around the shoulders. A sharp tug of my magic sent him skidding across the room to land at my feet. And what a place to be when your death was written in the sky.

“Time to go to sleep,” I growled, casting more lashes of fire around his limbs, ripping him apart with them until his screams stopped screaming.

Two more nursesy-pies came at me at once, magic and fury crashing against my air shield, but I was not just any Fae. I couldn’t be caught by the weak and these two looked as fragile as toothpicks. My air magic dealt with the first, bursting his lungs with a pop and a hiss, the next went out more spectacularly. Blood splashed and screams painted the inside of my skull as I took his head from his shoulders in a way that could only be described as extravagant. But that was me. No one could make a disco out of death like I could.

“Sin!” Max yelled for the hundredth time, and I finally turned from my blood bath, the nurse’s severed head swinging from my fist as I gave my brother the attention he desired.

“Yes, ma boy?” I called, tossing the head away and watching the arc of blood paint the walls in a red, red rainbow.

“The cuff key,” he demanded and I threw him the slippery thing, ripping his restraints off of him too before turning to hunt down my next victim.

Vard had scarpered from the room already, Lion jar in tow most-likely, but he wouldn’t get far before I caught up with him. However, the time for chasing Rolands into the night hadn’t yet come, because I wouldn’t be leaving until I was done making a pretty mess of this room. As I grabbed a scalpel from a nurse’s hand and stuck it in her eye, I set her hair ablaze and whirled around, seeking out the one I needed to kill most of all.

Jerome was by the door, stepping over Hastings who was slumped on the floor looking as sad as a sack of lemons and making a bid for escape, tossing a fearful glance over his shoulder at me. I grinned, my teeth still tasting of blood since my ear-ripping escapade and the sight of that got Jeromeo looking all kinds of terrified.

“This is what you wanted, brother!” I hollered as he sprinted out into the hall. “Deep down, you knew what would happen if you crossed me!”

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