Page 6 of Hellfire to Come
“I don’t know if he found them,” my mate snapped, yanking on the fur in anger. “I told him to take me wherever he was injured like this and he won’t move a paw outside the damn house.”
As subtly as I could, I lifted my gaze to check on Samir who’d been suspiciously silent through all this. The old Atua looked too pale as he stared at the wolf, his gaunt eyes too big for his face. His words came slithering through my brain like vipers.I made a promise that you would live. I never made a promise to be a good and kind male. To keep our word, one must do atrocious things sometimes. I am not proud of it.
A wet nose bumped the back of my hand where I still clutched my knee in a white-knuckled grip. My eyes darted to the animal, snapping me out of my thoughts.
“You found where they are squatting,” I told him. Not a question but a statement. He watched me steadily. “You know Iwill do anything to get Alice back safely, don’t you?” That earned me one slow, tentative blink. “Will you take me there?”
For the longest time the wolf searched my face, debating whether he should trust me or not. I would’ve thought he knew by now how much Alice meant to me, but if he was the shifter I was sent to kill, I couldn’t blame him for having his doubts. I didn’t trust my own kind further than I could throw them either. My gaze jumped to Samir again, just a quick glance to see him staring at us with a very peculiar expression on his face.
My chest tightened.
The wolf whimpered, snapping my focus away from the ancient Atua and pulling my full attention back to him.
Slowly, very slowly, he lowered his snout in a barely-there nod.
“You will lead me to them?” I asked again to make sure we understood each other. Adrenalin shot through me, warming my insides instantly.
Another nod, faster this time.
I rose from the chair, rolling my shoulders to release the tension bunching my muscles there. “I guess we have places to be, people to see.” Dominic was already on his feet, checking his weapons before I finished the sentence. You can join us if you like,” I said to the room in general.
“I thought you would never ask.” Chester clapped his hands gleefully, an evil grin spreading across his face.
Samir stared at me mutely, not standing from the chair.
I needed to find Alice. I’d deal with everything else later. Turning my back at him, I strode to the door, yanking it open with an ominous crack. I heard a chair scrape the floor behind me, but I didn’t turn. I took Dominic’s hand when he offered it and didn’t check to see if Samir followed.
I could always kill him after I had Alice safely home.
Chapter Four
DOMINIC
I used to believe I’d already met Hell on Earth.
I thought I knew what it meant for your soul to ache, truly ache, when my entire family was ripped away from me in the most gruesome ways imaginable. For so long, I was numb. Revenge became my lifeline. That was an acceptable existence. Clean. Simple. Until my mate barreled into it and shattered every wall I’d built, forcing me to feel everything I never wanted to feel.
And then, the Fates reminded me: you can still wither inside. You can claw at the ether, gasping for breath, even after you thought you’d drowned.
They gave me Brooklyn. And then they poisoned her blood. They dangled her life in front of me, a carrot on a string, reminding me just how easily they could rip her away, too. I remembered the old philosophy: if you are afraid of dying, you will not live.
But that wasn’t it.
I wasn’t afraid of dying. Never that.
I was scared shitless—for her.
Watching Brooklyn fall apart as Alice was taken... It stripped me raw from the inside out. Her guilt chewed through her like acid, and I could do nothing but watch. Powerless.
Helplessness was a curse I wouldn’t wish on my worst enemy.
I was worried for the human, yes, but not like Brooklyn was.
They had something, the two females. A bond I couldn’t name, couldn’t wrap my head around. I had horribly miscalculated how deep that connection ran. I almost lost Brooklyn when Alice was gravely injured. She unraveled before my eyes, piece by fragile piece.
And just when I let myself breathe, just when Alice began to heal, the cursed Council took the human.
And here I was again: blind with fear for Brooklyn, sick to my stomach thinking of what they were doing to Alice.
