Page 50 of Vengeful Mates

Terror’s grip on my throat tightened as I released pulses of dark magick to propel them back and give her a chance to escape. The disturbance was enough to let her shake off her falcon and ripple into her cow. Limping, she stomped unstably forward, spearing the first wolf with her horn. Agonized howls cut through the valley as she lifted him into the air, serving as a warning to the other animals. Spooked, they growled, circling Aaliyah, teeth bared and ready to tear into her.

This scared off the camels and they took off back where we came from.

Holding my burned torso, I faltered to her side to protect her. A rupture of magick singed the facial fur of Colton’s beasts and they backed away.

Zethan went crazy, beating at Colton with his Underworld tools when he should have wielded his fists to beat him to a pulp. Each strike burned our enemy’s flesh and Colton grunted as he raised his arms to defend himself. Wispy, dark magic elongated into Anubis’ sekhem scepter, a long staff used in ceremony. The two battled it out, swiping at each other and blocking blows. The more skilled of the two, Zethan drove Colton back to his knees where he belonged, begging for mercy or forgiveness before dying.

Colton laughed. Maniacal. Cold. Unforgiving. “You think you’ve won?” he gritted out between strained breaths, pulling a playing card from his sleeve and dropping it to the sand. “This is just a sleight of hand. The best trick is yet to come.”

CHAPTER18

Castor

Asshole tookthe coward’s route and vanished. Trick, indeed. What other ruses did Colton have in store for us?

His pack of animals whined and bolted.

Zethan bent down to collect the card and examine it.

Letting out a relieved groan, Aaliyah released her bovine form, and I was there to catch her. Naked. Grazed. Arm cradled.

I gave her dusty cheek a quick swipe before examining her arm. No broken bones by the look of it. I gently pried her arm and twisted, testing it.

“It’s just a sprain.” Aaliyah smiled weakly, not used to getting into scrapes and injuring herself.

Me, I had plenty of wounds from dealing out punishments and addressing those who spoke out of turn to my president.

Sprain or not, I peeled off my cut and shirt, fashioned the last into a haphazard sling and tucked her arm into it. “Let’s get you back to the club.”

She shrugged out of it and applied magick to her wound. “No, not until we finish what we came here for.”

This was what I loved about her. Woman was a fighter and didn’t take the easy route. The world could fall down around us, and she wouldn’t give up.

Zethan tucked his crook and flail under his belt, then displayed the playing card Colton abandoned as he approached. “Queen of Hearts.”

Underworld flames burned the card into nothing.

“Some sort of message, no doubt.” The rest I kept to myself to avoid alarming her. A threat to Aaliyah. The queen of our hearts.

Worried by the threat, I cradled my woman’s head and stroked her dusty back while she tended to my blistered wound. Magick trickled from her palm into me. Burned flesh stung as it peeled off, replaced with fresh skin and a healthy pink scar. She stroked her handiwork, kissed her fingers, and pressed it to my sides.

“Thank you, Sorceress.” I claimed her jaw, kissing her hard, then tucked her head against my shoulder.

Zethan crouched beside us, sweeping dusty hair from Aaliyah’s eyes. “Prick was hiding for two months and decides to attack now. Why?”

Attacked the key to our hearts. My chest thumped to a beat of frustration and despair that our enemy still lived. That Zethan wasn’t able to track him through their shared Underworld powers. That Colton just threatened his best trick and implicated our woman’s safety.

Zethan glanced her jaw with his knuckle. “Your shoulder good, Hellhound Bitch? I could dull the nerves for a while.”

She smiled at the nickname and rolled her shoulder to demonstrate. “It’s all good.”

Anger burned like ignited fuel in my veins that Colton hurt my woman.

Zethan reduced me to ash with his gaze for endangering her. His jaw and fists clenched, preparing to engage me in a fight, break me. “What are you doing here, baby?” None of that aggression came through in his question. Never with her.

Warmth washed up my back as Aaliyah’s palm traced the skin showing on his chest. “Chasing a lead on the curse.”

His lips rewarded her with a pleased smile, but his eyes promised me retribution. “Looks like you’re getting close.”

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