Page 92 of A Reign of Malice
A sting between my ribs. The blade.
Aeson’s dagger has found its mark.
Sloane’s scream splits the air. “Julian!”
I stumble, legs buckling. Heat flares through my veins,followed by a cold that feels like it’s eating me from the inside out.
I’ve charged into danger, and instead of saving my mate, I might have just killed us both because whatever poison was on those arrows…
I have no doubt it’s on this dagger as well.
CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT
JULIAN
Pain explodes through my ribs the second I land, white-hot and blinding. The blade buried deep in my side is more than just steel. It sears like it’s been forged in hell, eating into muscle, flooding my system with poison. My body convulses, and for a moment, everything blurs.
Sloane’s scream cleaves through the chaos. “Julian! Shift, shift now!”
My wolf’s already clawing forward, frantic to protect her, but the agony anchors me, dragging me beneath the pressure of the wound. The air burns in my lungs. My limbs tremble. I can feel the poison racing toward my heart.
“Ah, this is better than I could have planned.” Aeson sneers, moving out from beneath me, his movements quick despite the blood dripping from his side. He goes to Sloane before she can get away and grabs her by the back of the neck, wrenching her forward so her uninjured eye has no choice but to look. “You’ll get to watch each other die.”
No, she fucking won’t.
A growl tears from my throat. I force myself upright witha roar of defiance, eyes rolling back as I call on the power that I know is still within me. I didn’t survive two hundred years locked in hell just to die now.
The shift crashes into me like a tidal wave. The pain should be too much, it should shred me apart, but instead it becomes fuel. The world slows, stutters, then flashes gold.
Not just any gold.
Hergold.
Aurora’s energy flares through my veins, unfamiliar yet undeniably mine. Not just power. Not just healing. Something wilder, forged only in the realm of gods. It doesn’t erase the pain, but it elevates it, turning this agony into something I can wield.
My body starts to slowly mend, and when I stand, I’m not just a man. I’m Alpha King.
Bloodied, burning, alive, and beyond furious.
Across the room, Aeson freezes mid-taunt. His blade is still slick with my blood, his smirk faltering as his eyes widen slightly. “So she gave you a parting gift,” he says, his voice a low rasp. “It won’t save you…or her.”
He lunges for Sloane, dagger flashing.
But she’s faster. A shard of glass clutched tightly in her palm slams into his thigh. It sinks in with a sickening crunch. Her own hand bleeds from the force, but she doesn’t flinch.
She jerks the fragment free, flinging it across the room, and scrambles to her feet. Her eye is wounded, blood painting the skin beneath it, but her resolve burns hotter than ever.
She reaches me and presses her palm to my chest. “His blood is toxic,” she warns breathlessly. “Be careful.”
I want to embrace her, but we don’t have time.
Aeson snarls at us. “You can’t beat me. Not after all I’ve sacrificed.”
He stalks toward us, uncaring that his pants are soaked with his own blood.
The room dims around him, as if the shadows are reacting to his voice.
“We’re not afraid of your sacrifices,” I growl. “Not even of what they’ve turned you into.”
