Page 118 of Stroke of Shadows

“Drop the gun,” he warned.

Wyatt laughed, the sound erratic. “I’ve known about you since the beginning. You were so desperate to get my attention.” He licked along his bottom lip. “You honestly think I’m stupid enough not to know what you were? My father may be ignorant, but I’m not.”

“Put the gun down and fight me like a real man.”

“You’re not a man.”

Wyatt released Harper, who fell to her knees in front of him. She kept her head bowed, peering through the strands of her hair.

“I was just going to kill you, you know,” he continued, pointing the gun to the back of her head. “Once I grew bored, or until I figured out what you wanted from me.”

Harper tensed and Sythe’s beast snarled, claws pressing violently beneath his fingertips.

“Oh, so you still haven’t figured that out?” Sythe teased with a chuckle. “I thought you knew everything?”

Wyatt hissed through his teeth. “You were a pretty decent right-hand man, but then Bishop recognised your aura, or whatever the fuck you have.”

A few of the candles flickered, and Sythe felt a dark presence in the room with them. Gideon wasn’t making an appearance, but he was watching. Waiting.

“Make the sacrifice,” a voice breathed through the room on a strange wind. It swirled around them, tousling Harper’s hair and strangling the flames.

The fighting grew closer, the clash of weapons and smack of flesh on flesh. Wyatt heard it too, his confidence faltering.

Sythe creeped closer. “Bishop’s dead.”

The candles flickered once more, and a low hum filled the air.

“You’re lying,” Wyatt said, eyes darting around the room. “Daemon’s can’t die.”

“Is that what they’ve told you?” Sythe smirked, his boots now at the edge of the outside circle. Harper was so close. All he had to do was get her away from him. “What did you say about ignorance?”

Wyatt raised his hand, and Harper’s scream echoed around him. Pain tore through his chest, quickly numbing as his body shifted into the beast. His bones cracked, reshaping in metamorphosis as he landed on Wyatt with his monstrous paws. Serrated claws dug into Wyatt’s shoulders, sinking in deep as the momentum knocking him heavily to the ground.

Everything was more detailed when his beast took control. He could see every speck of dust glittering in the air, and every pore on Wyatt’s terrified face.

Harper scrambled back, knocking candles over as she backed herself against the altar.

He ignored the burn as more bullets made their way into his body, his beast having a linear mind that knew only violence, hunger and sex. He was built for destruction. A few bullets were nothing compared to everything else he’d faced and fought.

“Wait, wait, wait!” Wyatt cried beneath him.

Piss scented the air, but Sythe pressed his teeth against Wyatt’s throat. Not to kill, not yet. Just as a warning. A threat for touching his fucking mate.

Harper screamed. “Sythe!”

He released his hold, turning at speed to find Gideon standing over her. He shot across the space, curling his larger body around her shaking form. He snapped his teeth in warning, spreading apart his seven tails to whip at the Daemon.

Mine.

HARPER

Her back touched something cold, her arms pulling her legs up against her chest. A great beast stood where Sythe once was, her cousin screaming beneath him.

“Wait, wait, wait!” Wyatt cried, and she wanted to press her hands against her ears. To drown out the sounds of the snarls and shrieks.

A shadow covered her, and Harper turned to face Gideon. He was huge, his shoulders holding his wings above the flames of the candles. He sneered down at her, red eyes glowing.

“Sythe!” she screamed, only for the great beast to suddenly curl his larger body around hers. He snapped his teeth towards Gideon, a great creature that looked a mix between a wolf and lion. His build was powerful, strong, yet sleek at the same time. His fur was thick, but as soft as silk as she sunk her hand against his side, and so dark it seemed to absorb light.

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