Page 109 of Wolf Caged
When night air kissed my skin again, I hurled the female forwards, sending her tumbling across the courtyard, and fought the hold the darkness had on me, the part of me that wanted answers refusing to let it kill the female before I had them.
“Why did you attack my little wolf?” I snarled and advanced on her.
She scrambled onto her knees and shuffled away from me. “She started it.”
I scoffed at that. I knew Saphira well enough now to know that she wasn’t the sort to attack unprovoked. Only when she had been pushed to her limit had she turned on me rather than seeking to excuse herself and leave my presence, choosing the more noble and peaceful way out.
“I ask again. Why did you attack my little wolf?” I stalked towards her, shadows snapping at the flagstones near her, keeping her hemmed in as the spell I had woven kept her magic from her, ensuring she couldn’t escape me.
She tossed fearful glances at each sharp black blade that slashed at the ground, her arms coming up to shield her chest as she curled inwards, trying to make herself a smaller target.
As if that would help her.
I had impeccable aim.
She swallowed and turned those deliciously fearful eyes on me, and then showed her fangs. “Little wolf? She is a mutt. A filthy fleabag who taints this noble court with her presence.”
One of my shadows lashed at her leg, drawing blood and a satisfying shriek of pain.
“You dare call her a mutt?” I stalked closer, canting my head as I studied her, cataloguing all the places I would slice her open before I was through. For every bruise she had inflicted on Saphira, I would inflict a cut upon her.
She would bleed for what she had done, and then she would beg, and then I would kill her.
“She is a mutt,” she snapped as she uncurled, planting her hands on her knees and facing me now, her courage rising as fire filled her eyes. “She is undeserving of a place in your bed, let alone one at your side. You are no better than your father, choosing a common whore as?—”
Shadows slammed into her, a thousand sharp needles that shot straight through her, punching from the flagstones behind her and straight out of her front as they lifted her from the ground, crucifying her.
She screamed, the sound garbled as blood filled her lungs, as it drenched her dress.
My chest heaved, rage so hot it threatened to burn away my sanity blazing in my veins as her words rang in my ears. My vision swam, the world wobbling and distorting around me, my head spinning as I replayed that blood-soaked night all those years ago, and then my memories unravelled, rolling backwards through my youth, through tender smiles and loving looks.
The images of my parents became clouded with blood. With screams. With a sickening replay of their final moments in this world.
And then Saphira.
Afraid.
Bleeding.
Broken.
The fae female’s screams rose in volume, pain-drenched as I tore into her with my shadows, as I hurled her to the ground with them and pinned her to the flagstones. An unholy snarl ripped from my lips as I launched at her, darkness descending upon the world, blotting out the night.
I ripped through flesh and bone with my claws, drenching my black-tipped fingers with her blood, the scent of it and her delicious cries fuelling me.
The ground beneath us quaked, the walls of the castle shaking as I unleashed my wrath upon her. The flagstones vibrated, several exploding into dust under the pressure as cracks branched out from beneath my boots, snaking across the courtyard and leaking shadows. The forest groaned, the sound of splintering wood echoing through the night as the stars winked out and the moon hid.
But still I was not satisfied.
Something dark and brutal within me howled for more, howled at me to protect Saphira, to remove all threats to her from this world.
The very air trembled around me, vibrating with the malice filling my heart, demanding satisfaction.
I would hunt all threats in this world down, and then I would travel to her world and end all threats to her there too. I would ensure no one dared harm her again.
The scent of Saphira filled my lungs, my mind, my raging heart. Green pastures. Sunshine. Endless blue skies. Everything I had loved once, long ago.
The world stilled.
