Prologue—Rafael
Isobel was searching for me.
My Liberi heritage told me she wanted something. I was, however, too far away for her to use the bloodpower to force me to obey. So I shoved it aside.
Prowling Murnia’s back alleys was not for the faint of heart. The average resident roaming the streets would cut your throat for a few coins.
The true monsters lurked in the shadows.
Rage drove me to the overcast, rain-induced darkness. It clawed at me like a living entity, seeking release. My awareness rode a razor’s edge.
I knew he was there before he even moved.
He came at me fast out of the drizzle, a long knife in his fist. I spun the cloak to bind his knife arm and wrenched it sideways. Then I closed my fingers around his throat.
His eyes widened. In a heartbeat, his intent altered to a fear that radiated from him—and my beast rose within me. I envisioned it sniffing like a bloodthirsty hound.
The man met my gaze, and his fear escalated to terror.
The love and lust thirsty Satyr in me shouldn’t have wanted that. The Liberi side of my family tree was a different story.
My jaw clenched as I embraced the dark and deadly half of me—and turned it loose.
Feeding off my rage, Satyr and Liberiblendedto create something truly monstrous. My beast plunged its tendrils deep, feasting on the man’s terror, and sucking straight through it to the essence that gave him life.
Tangled in cloth, the knife fell from his trapped hand. His fingers rose to claw at those locked around his throat.
In moments, I was engorged with his energy. I then twisted, and used it to reach within him, to the muscle pumping the blood through his veins.
I shredded it—watching his body spasm, and his eyes glaze over as he died.
In truth, I didn’t give a single damn.
I dropped the body to the cold stone—just another dead thief lying in the alley. He joined the mercenary who’d killed my parents.
On Isobel’s orders.
How could I be so blind? The signs had been there—if I’d bothered to look.
I shoved my hands deep in the cloak’s pockets, and my fingers curled into fists as the rage scorched through me. My new and improved beast demanded more. I wanted blood. Wanted to kill anyone who’d had a part in the death of the only family I’d ever known.
Isobel had played me all these years. The coven did nothing without her approval. I didn’t know where Aurora fit into all this. But she was so close to Isobel—how could she not be a part of it?
I’d been a fool. I shook with the desire to make them pay for their treachery, but boosted as they were by the bloodpower—
To go up against them, was to die.
Fang tickled against my neck, hiding up beneath my hair. She’d been so still I’d forgotten she was even there. Now she vibrated, as though trying to soothe me.
She was spitting into a hurricane. After walking through five alleys, I was still determined to take on Isobel and the coven. Fang, however, didn’t give up.
Persistent critter.
Reason began to reassert itself. I needed a plan.
Isobel had stopped looking for me, but I sensed other energies coming closer, both familiar and unwelcome. I gathered my rage and sank it deep.
Where it simmered, waiting for its chance to strike where I could do the most damage.