Page 54 of Red Ruin

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Now his ass is slow.

I take him to the floor to work out my fire.

My knuckles split.

His face dents.

I catch a scent off his skin.

Something sweet and fresh and cool.

Something that belongs to me. Not to him.

This. Fucking.Bat.

I drop his collar as he goes limp.

Now that I have her scent, I can feel her.

Close.

“Wife?” I turn toward her energy ripples.

She’s calling me home.

Fuck.

My poison fang drops.

Pain stabs my jawbone.

It’s been too long.

Maybe she’s the one who ends it all.

I splash through hellfire, chasing the promise of coolness.

Of relief.

I melt through crumbled walls, but the fire uses me as fuel.

I need her.

Only my Guide can end this pain.

CHAPTER15

IRIS

Panting,I whirl my glaive.

No corpses surround my last stand—the wolves disappear when killed. But for every one I return to powder, two more pop up like rabid cabbages.

A bite from the wolf that almost ended me drips down my forearm, slicking my grip in blood. The burn on my thigh stops throbbing. Instead, it numbs, making it harder to dodge.

I am pretty well fucked.

My only hope is the flickering light of the array. The wolves aren’t infinite. They’re draining the crystals’ power.

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