Page 131 of A Blackened Bond

Ezra and I make it over as another group forms around Creed while he's finishing off the remains of the other attackers.

They quickly begin casting, their magic forming as Ezra uses his own abilities to help ward them off.

I dash toward them, my blade gripped in one hand as I dodge their attacks and take them out one by one. My movements are swift and precise as I target any weak spots I can find. I take down the three around me as Ezra and Creed deal with the ones closer to them.

I approach my fourth target as he turns toward me with two daggers gripped between his fingers. I reach him within seconds, my own blade ready. But before I can take him out, Creed’s black coils wrap around his neck and limbs before he can attack me. He lifts him off the ground, his smoky-black coils tightening further around the man as his eyes widen and bulge. A whimperleaves his throat before he falls silent and is dropped limply to the ground.

I glare at Creed before turning away and making my way toward Ezra, to make sure he’s okay.

He’s standing over two fresh corpses, his eyes bright lilac, before noticing my gaze. A gentle smile takes over his face as I reach him. His arms wrap around me instantly as his eyes soften and he leans down for a quick kiss. “You amaze me more and more every day, Micai.”

A smile tilts my lips before I hear a noise from behind me, and I twist around to meet Creed’s gaze.

“How do you know how to move and fight like that? The academy doesn’t teach such advanced techniques.”

Creed makes his way over, his brows knitted with blood splatters covering his face, his gaze questioning but with none of the normal anger or suspicion laced in the look.

But why did I have to answer the asshole? I didn’t owe him anything and won’t forget or forgive so easily for how he’s treated me.

I turn back toward Ezra before Annex’s crazed laughter pulls my attention toward him and the battle happening in the centre of the room.

“Is that all you’ve got?” He laughs dementedly as the group around him clutch large wounds or broken limbs. Some are even holding their bloody, dismembered body parts as he continues to cackle away.

A pile of corpses are strewn across the floor below him and around the broken bar as he twists a blade between his fingers.

“Who’s next?” He glares down at the group, some taking a step away before one of them calls to the back of the group. A large man appears, twice the size of the others around him, with his eyes glowing gold, before he quickly shifts into a large brown wolf.

The wolf has nothing on Mallyn’s beast, but would still be considered bigger than the average shifter.

He charges toward Annex while the men behind him cast their magic, forming it into blades and flames before aiming it toward Annex, standing on the bar.

I grip my own blade, ready to dash forward, but Creed places a hand out, stopping me in my tracks. I’m about to cut the dickheads arm off when Ezra asks me to watch him, a small grin on his lips as he nods toward Annex.

“He’s in his element. He needed this. Especially after you fell unconscious.” A frown coats his lips with the memory. “It’ll help him relieve that stress and frustration.”

I glance over, watching with my blade gripped between my fingers and ready to move in an instant. Instead, I observe Annex jumping from the bar, moving back and forth quickly between the men, a speed rivalling even my own as he takes them down one by one.

He knocks the shifter down with one hit, its force sending the large wolf flying past his group before crashing to the floor.

My brows creep to my hairline. I knew Annex was strong, but I didn’t think he wasthatstrong.

Annex then dashes through the magical attacks aimed toward him as if they’re nothing. The wounds on his body heal quickly as he slashes each man before reaching the shifter at the back.

“No one gets to enter our home without our permission.” A demented grin stretches his lips as he palms his blade, slowly stalking toward his prey. “And you certainly won’t be leaving with everything intact.”

The shifter attacks, feigning to one side before attacking from the other. Annex sees the bluff instantly, and as the wolf leaps, he twists around, slicing down its torso and toward its belly.

My nose scrunches up, a slight bit of bile rising to my throat as I watch its remains spill out onto the ground and toward Annex’s feet.

The crazy jackass just grins maniacally.

A roar pulls all of our attention toward Mallyn, his beast on a rampage before he’s surrounded by the last of the men. There are at least a dozen shifters all shifted into their animal forms, with another five warlocks casting restraining spells trying to hold his beast down.

Multiple chains wrap around his giant paws, holding him in place as the shifters all barrel toward him. The spells shake against his large body as the wolves attack.

I take a step forward to help, but I stop in my tracks as I glance toward the beast and his blue eyes. A familiar glint shines in them, and a toothy snare and growl leave its large lips.

He was playing with them.

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