Page 103 of Lord of the Lone Wolf
Nasume snarled, abandoning defense for a reckless counterattack. Shadow tendrils erupted from the floor, wrapping around Kitsuki’s legs and climbing upward. Where they touched, a chill spread that went beyond physical sensation and grasped for his very essence.
Kitsuki channeled his dragon’s fire into his body, burning away the shadows before they could inflict damage.
“Do you feel it?” Nasume asked, his voice husky with excitement. “Shadow and necromancy, united in perfect harmony?”
Kitsuki broke free. “There is nothing harmonious about an abomination of the natural order.”
Nasume laughed. “What do we care about the natural order? We are magic incarnate. We make our own order.”
The surrounding shadows solidified into a pack of wolf-like creatures, their bodies composed of darkness and their eyes glowing with the same verdant light. They growled, circling Kitsuki with predatory intent.
“Your new pets?” Kitsuki asked, adjusting his stance. “Hollow creatures of darkness, animated by stolen power. They suit you.”
“Not stolen,” Nasume corrected. “Claimed. As I will claim you.”
The shadow wolves attacked as one, leaping toward Kitsuki from all directions. His sword became a blur of silver fire as he cut through them, but for each one he dispelled, two more formed from the ambient shadows in the room.
Kitsuki’s dragon pushed harder against his restraints.Free us so we can show him our true power.
But Kitsuki hesitated. The risk of his dragon losing control was too high when emotions ran so hot.
A shadow wolf slipped past his guard. Kitsuki pivoted, using the momentum to fling the creature against the wall, where it burst into wisps of darkness.
He channeled more of his dragon’s power, igniting his entire body with a silver aura that repelled the shadow wolves when they tried to approach. “Your corruption cannot touch me. My dragon burns too bright for your shadows.”
Nasume’s expression darkened. “We shall see about that.”
The wolf king raised both hands, and the scattered shadows throughout the room coalesced into a swirling vortex around him. The air grew heavy, charged with the wrongness of necromantic energy.
“I did not want to resort to this,” Nasume said, his voice distorted by the power he channeled. “I had hoped to take you willingly. But if I must break you first, so be it.”
The shadow whirlwind expanded, engulfing the entire room in darkness so complete that even Kitsuki’s enhanced vision could barely penetrate it. The cold intensified, a bone-deep chill that seemed to reach for his very soul.
Nasume’s voice came from everywhere and nowhere. “Can you feel it, Kitsuki? The touch of the Beyond Realm? This is how I brought Ishibiya out of hiding. It is how I will break you.”
Kitsuki focused inward, drawing on his dragon’s fire to create a sphere of silver light around himself, pushing back the oppressive darkness. “You cannot break what you do not understand, Nasume.”
“You say that, but I know that beneath your Ice King exterior beats the heart of a dragon. Possessive. Territorial. Hungry.”
Kitsuki spun, slashing with his sword, but Nasume had already vanished, melting back into the shadows.
“Why deny your true nature?” Nasume continued from another direction. “You play at being a benevolent king when we both know dragons are conquerors, destroyers, and takers of what they want.”
“Stop projecting your own vile tendencies onto me,” Kitsuki replied, maintaining his sphere of light as he tried to locateNasume. “Dragons protect what is theirs. We do not take what is not freely given.”
Nasume’s laughter echoed through the shadows. “Is that what you tell yourself? Is that how you justify your weakness? Your refusal to take what should be yours?”
A shadowy hand emerged, caressing Kitsuki’s cheek before he could react. The touch left a trail of numbness in its wake.
Nasume’s voice dripped with a twisted version of tenderness. “I could have given you everything. Power. Pleasure. The world itself.”
“I wanted none of that from you,” Kitsuki replied, his dragon’s fire flaring brighter in response to the violating touch. “I never wanted you.”
The hand withdrew as if stung by his fire. Nasume’s voice hardened. “No. You want my worthless failure of a bastard son.”
“Maseo is neither worthless nor a failure,” Kitsuki countered, using Nasume’s fixation to draw him out. “Unlike you, he is honorable, kind, and worthy of respect.”
A snarl of rage tore through the darkness before Nasume lunged at Kitsuki, his shadow claws extended. His face contorted with hatred, all pretense of seduction gone.
