Page 151 of Savage Blood
Death would wait for Barric as long as it took us. But I was hoping to end his pathetic existence tonight.
The coppery hint of blood perfumed the air, slowing my steps. The scent intensified when I traveled left, but Barric’s fear lessened.
He knew he was being followed, and he’d likely drawn his blood and created a trail to throw me off.
Instead of going left, I stuck to the same path until eventually halting in front of a heavy, ornate wooden door. A smile pulled my lips apart as I felt fear pulsing on the other side like a frantic heartbeat.
Thump, thump, thump, thump.
I slammed my boot into the gilded knob, and the door flew open, cracking in half. Barric shuffled along the paneled wall across the small ballroom that hadn’t been used in years, maybe even decades.
Dust and cobwebs collected on the iron chandelier above as it swayed from my violent appearance. Barric spun, his eyeswild and breathing ragged. A sickly hue draped his skin while his face appeared sunken in, deep shadows and lines etched across it.
“Look at you now, Barric.” My onyx talons gleamed in the lights. “What would your followers say?”
He stopped feeling for a hidden door within the wall and glowered. “I don’t give a damn what any of those idiots think. Besides, they’ll all be dead when this is over.”
“Just like those shifters you killed.” Flashes of visions raced through my mind, all those shifters tormented and mutilated. Their screams filled my ears as their pleading ripped gouges in my heart.
Barric hadn’t stopped, no matter how much the shifters begged for mercy. He reveled in their pain and misery and cast them aside once their life finally drained out.
Just like he did to my mother.
Fury pumped through my bloodstream like a drug as images of Tamara’s death played through my mind. “You killed my mother and took her away from me.”
Barric sneered. “Your mother made her bed. She knew what would happen when she chose you, a human child, over her mate.”
A scarlet haze clouded the edges of my vision, casting a red tinge over the paneled walls, coffered ceiling, and marble floor. “You should have been the one to die.”
His barking laugh bounced around the opulent room. “Are you going to kill me? Or are you going to wait for Fane to arrive and do all the hard work?”
“Iwill be the one to rip your last breath away.” My chest heaved, and the metallic tang of bloodlust spilled across my tongue.
Barric would pay for all he’d done.
And I would be the last thing he ever saw.
Rage glided over me like a second skin, my visions fueling the blazing inferno.
“You won’t be able to take me in your animal form.” He wiped sweat from his forehead as he called on his wolf, a golden sheen spilling into his irises. “And if you really want to stop me while also gaining control of The Collective, you’ll have to win this like a shifter.”
A tiny seed of fear planted itself in my center. Without the amulet, he wouldn’t be that mammoth beast, but he was still more skilled and experienced than me. He bore the scars of hundreds of battles and victories.
How many times had I even fought as my wolf? I always relied on my raven training and my demon side.
Could I take Barric in animal form?
“Shift then,” I demanded, sounding more confident than I felt. “I’ll wait.”
The sinister smile twisting his lips poured ice water down my back. “Now you’ll see how a real alpha wins.”
Chapter
Thirty-Eight
Barric’s spinecracked and curved forward as his irises burned gold. Serrated teeth grew in his widening mouth while thick scales popped across his flesh. Heavy paws with black talons slammed into the marble, rattling the candelabras in the corner.
My stomach dropped to my boots when the mutated beast emerged. My father wasn’t nearly as enormous as he’d been when he had the Infernal Sol, but he was still no regular wolf. As with the others in his inner circle, some effects of the stone remained.
