Page 76 of Fire Bound

Low growls cut through the night as their glossed-over eyes bounce between all of the pack members now standing around.

As if it were planned, each opposing side barrels at each other at the same time and when they collide, it’s like thunder booming as bodies slam together.

I knew this would be chaos, but to be in the middle of the madness is another thing. There are bodies and people everywhere. Claws and fangs of all different sizes are cutting through flesh. People are hollering in pain and others are shouting in victory as they take down their opponent.

I want to take pity on these people because under different circumstances, I could have been one of the ones out here forced to fight. Unlike the people who are coming at us like they’re deranged, I know what it’s like to be outside the confines of the ten-by-ten cells. I know what it’s like to feel love and be loved. None of these people have that.

But if I take too much pity, everyone is going to end up dead. In the end, we need to survive if we’re going to get any of these people help, so when they come at me with their claws drawn or power zapping from their fingertips, I show no mercy. I fight through them, taking down one after the other until my body is dripping in blood that doesn’t belong to me.

Hot poker-like nails slice down my back while I’m busy breaking the neck of another demon. Roaring in pain, I drop the dead demon and face my newest attacker. The girl in front of me has her claws drawn and just like the paws of my wolf, they flicker with embers. I know without a shadow of a doubt that the girl in front of me is one of Sterling’s failed attempts to recreate what he made with me.

“There can only be one,” I tell the girl before my hand grabs the back of her head and my palm slams into her mouth. Her screams of pain are muffled against my hand as I force hellfire down her throat. Her limp body joins the other demons.

I turn around to find my next opponent and find that one has already found me. A large muscular man with hair that hangs in his eyes is barreling toward me. I plant my feet and prepare for impact, but it never comes. When he’s three feet away, a sharp bladewhooshesright past my ear and into this guy’s forehead.

Isabeau emerges from the chaos. Just like me, she’s covered in blood, but unlike her usual calm demeanor, her features are overtaken with concern. She steps over a dead body and grabs my arm in a vise grip. “Jax!” she hollers over the battle. “We have to go.”

“What?” I yell back as I slam my fist into someone fast before gripping their shoulder and filling them to the brim with hellfire.

“Sterling’s not down here.”

“Iknowthat.” I bend down and yank the knife she’d thrown from the large man’s forehead. I toss it a few times in my hand before I send it flying across the space. Twenty feet away from me, it embeds into the throat of the woman Ryker is fighting. The tattooed wolf shifter turns my way and nods his thanks before continuing on.

“He’s not down here, because he’s up there.” Isabeau’s cold hand grips my arm and roughly turns me in the direction of the cliffs where Remington had screamed until she had nothing left. It feels like a lifetime ago. “I picked up his scent and I can hear them. They’re up there.”

I narrow my eyes in the direction of the dark cliffs, searching for a hint of life or movement somewhere within them. It takes a second, but then I spot it. The faint dancing flame of a fire. It’s as if he’s signaling me, beckoning me to him.

Isabeau catches my arm when I step forward and begin to let my power wash over me. “Wait for me, Jax,” she orders. “It’ll only take me a few moments to get up there. Don’t do anything stupid before then.”

Don’t do anything stupid, I swear those words are the kiss of death.

“I’m not waiting for you,” I snap, pulling my arm away from her. “My mate is up there and I’m tired of fucking waiting.”

Hold on, love. I’m coming for you.

Facing the man responsible for all my nightmares while he’s busy creating a new one in front of me is a special kind of hell. This new nightmare is even more terrifying than the one that’s plagued me for over a decade. Even if I do make it out of this alive, I’m not sure I’m ever going to be the same. The sight of Remington, wrapped in silver chains and standing on the very edge of the cliffside with helplessness in her stormy eyes is an image I will see every time I close my eyes from now on.

As well as the smirking and scarred face of my father. There were always whispers about Sterling’s burns, but I never saw them for myself. I always assumed they would have healed over time. Now that I’m seeing him for the first time in sixteen years, I find that he looks just as bad as when I first burned him.

He’s aged pretty exponentially in those years as well, but the dark cloud that’s always lingered around him has grown. It doesn’t matter what age he is, as long as that dark cloud of evilness is alive and strong, he will be too.

“Remington,” I call her name but keep my eyes on the predator in front of me. I’m aware of William standing like a captor near Remi. It’s like he’s been tasked with watching over her. A useless task given the only place she could go is down. So, so far down. “Talk to me, baby. Tell me you’re alright.”

I know she’s not alright, but I need her to tell me it anyway. Blood is dried on her pretty face and the skin around her eyes is bruised black and blue. She’s pale and wobbly on her feet because of the silver chains she’s wrapped in. “I’m okay.” While I’m relieved to hear her voice, it does little to soothe the storm building inside of me.

“Of course, she’s okay, Ibarelytouched a single hair on her head,” Sterling scoffs. His voice sounds different from how I remember it sounding, but if I had to guess, the burns are hindering his normal voice patterns. “But you know that quick temper you have? You inherited it from me.”

“Thank God you didn’t inherit any of his looks,” Remi pipes in. Even in the worst of times, she’s sarcastic. I’m relieved to hear it because as long as she’s making those comments, she’s fighting and she’s here with me.

“Do you ever stop talking?” Sterling growls at her.

“Honestly? No.”

Sterling gestures at William, a silent command transpiring between them. William nods once before taking a step toward Remi. Out of instinct, she shifts her body away from him, forgetting where she’s standing. She wobbles in place and before I’m able to fully lift my foot off the ground to go to her, Sterling is raising his hand andtskingat me. “I wouldn’t do that if I were you,” he warns darkly. “If you take so much as one step in her direction or try using your hellfire to get to her, I will have William push her over before you have time to open your mouth to cry her name.”

I grit my teeth and force myself to stay put as I watch Remi finally stop swaying. My palms are itching as the burn of my hellfire sets in. My chest feels tight as if something heavy is sitting on it, restricting my air. My wolf is going absolutely insane inside me. He’s ramming against his metal cage with a force I’ve never felt before. With each hit, I can feel the metal crack and his chains loosen. For the first time ever, I don’t feel the overwhelming sensation of shame or dread as he surges to the surface. For the first time ever, I need him.Sheneeds him.

I have to pry my gaze away from her so I can return my attention to Sterling. I can’t stop my eyes from roaming around his damaged face. The light from the torch they’d placed in the ground illuminates the carnage. Each imperfection and scar I left on his body are things I’m proud to have left. “I made myself a promise when I first left those scars on your body. I swore to myself that one day I was going to finish the job. I vowed that I would one day burn you so bad that there was nothing left of you but your corrupted bones. That was the price you were going to pay for killing my mother,” I darkly tell him as white hot, angry power begins to seep from my pores. “But now that you’ve gone and touched my mate, I’ve decided that burning you alive would be too easy. It’d be a fucking mercy, and you and I both know you don’t deserve that.”

---