Page 84 of Infernal

Her legs flailed aimlessly as choking noises sounded from her throat, but it only made me squeeze harder.

The darkness that I had worked so hard to suppress was coming up faster than I could control now. It was angry, and it wanted revenge, and for the first time in my life, I was letting it take the wheel.

“Stop it! You’re killing her!” screamed Annabelle as she grabbed a lamp from the table and threw it at my head.

I wasn’t sure if it was the adrenaline or my dark desire to choke the shit out of Anita, but the pain of the lamp smacking me upside the head barely registered.

“Dammit, Ari! Get up and help me!” shouted Annabelle, useless now that her magic was no more.

My gaze snapped to Arianna, who was struggling to get back on her feet. Her face was already swollen and the cut above her eye was bleeding profusely, dripping red ooze down her face and making it impossible for her to see even two feet in front of her face. She lost her footing and dropped back to the ground.

Satisfied that she wasn’t going anywhere any time soon, I turned my full attention back to Anita just in time to watch her eyes lids flutter for the last time before her eyes rolled back into her head.

A small smile twisted my lips as the darkness continued to ride me.

My intention had only been to choke her out—to put her to sleep—and at the moment, I wasn’t sure if I’d gone too far, but the truth was, I didn’t give an actual shit if I had.

I released her throat from my grip and climbed off her limp body.

Annabelle was screaming in tongues I couldn’t understand, probably trying to summon her magic as I marched towards her. She quickly jumped back over the sofa, as though that would stop me. I hopped up on the coffee table and watched as she cowered behind the furniture while throwing inanimate objects at me.

I paused for a moment, allowing myself to bask in the sight of it. Annabelle Roderick, hiding—fromme.

“What’s the matter, Annabelle? You scared?” I asked, easily dodging her throws.

“Fuck you!” she spat and threw another book at me.

A freaking book.

I clinked my tongue at the pathetic-ness of it all.

“You didn’t actually think I was going to let you get away with what you did to him…did you?”

Her lips pursed together, but I could see them quivering even from where I was standing.

My deadly stare shifted over my shoulder as Dominic’s wolf came racing into the living room. “Took you long enough,” I quipped, quickly running my eyes over him to make sure he wasn’t hurt.

Sorry, angel. My date brought friends, he answered silently as he prowled over to Arianna. With his lip curled back over his teeth, he planted his paw on her chest and ruffled her, checking for signs of life.

She’s still breathing, he said.

“Good.”

What do you plan on doing with that one?he asked, referring to Annabelle.

“I’m still deciding if I want to kill her, or just make her wish I had.”

Then by all means, as you were, he said, watching intently as he guarded Arianna.

He knew more than anyone how long I’d waited for this day.

I faced Annabelle again. She was hiding behind an end table, chanting in hushed tones in a last-ditch effort to summon her magic. Her lips pressed together upon catching my stare.

“You don’t have to do this. We can work something out,” she pleaded as she held out her open palms to me.

I refused to dignify that with an answer. After what she did to Trace, she needed to pay.

They all did.

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