Page 49 of Savage Blood
As we collided, his sharp claws slashed at my side, and warmth leaked down my torso. A snarl slithered from mymouth when he tried to bite my neck. I swiped my paw at him, scratching his snout. The metallic hint of blood perfumed the air.
Other battles unfolded in the square as Enid, Alicia, and Ruin faced off with The Collective Nosterium. Adrenaline pumped through my veins, and rage consumed me while Torin and I fought. My moves were quick and certain, not giving a moment’s hesitation.
If I hesitated, I’d fall.
And I wouldn’t let Torin take me down.
After minutes of relentless assaults on him, I finally had Torin pinned against the broken fountain in the center of the square. The shallow cuts and bites he’d given me barely registered, just a distant throb. Saliva dripped from my jaws, and his blood already coated my tongue. For all his bluster, he wasn’t a particularly good fighter.
Or maybe I was just better than I thought in this form.
You’re fucking toast, douchebag.
He couldn’t hear my thoughts, but he got the message loud and clear. The fear in his citrine irises made that obvious. My talons dug into the ground, and my muscles coiled, poised to deliver one more attack where I’d sink my teeth into his neck to finish him.
Searing electricity struck me, and my back paws rose off the ground as something yanked my body backward.
Purple magic wrapped around my legs, and a string of curses flooded my mind.
Vulcrum cords.
Roman, standing across the street near a row of broken iron lampposts, clutched luminescent strands of his magic and dragged me closer. Beyond the purple sheen in his stare, regret radiated.
He had to play the part, and that meant he had no choice but to try to capture me.
Ruin darted between us and grabbed the Vulcrum cords, his teeth gritting as he ripped them apart, freeing me. The pain etched in his expression had my insides knotting. Screwing with witch magic like that wasn’t without consequences.
“Save yourself, Tate,” he demanded, black blood coating his bare torso from gashes in the pale flesh. “It’s you they want.”
I scrambled to my paws and yelped at the high demon, shaking my head. No way in hell was I leaving any of them, even him.
“Damn it, Tate!” He jerked his chin toward the left. “Get out of here. This is your chance?—”
His words sheared off, and heat descended over my back moments before a female coyote tackled me.
My spine hit the ground, and my skull rattled, my vision flashing red. Dirt and rocks dug into my back as she pinned me, her teeth snapping in my face and spit dripping onto my fur.
Was she trying to kill me?
A high-pitched whine sliced the night as a gigantic shifter, so distorted I couldn’t even tell what kind, sank his teeth into Alicia’s flank. Red bloomed across her golden-brown coat.
Dread unfurled in my chest as I tried to keep the coyote shifter at bay. Alicia needed help, or that mutated beast would rip her to pieces.
Another dose of adrenaline hit my bloodstream, and as if the coyote shifter pinning me could feel it, her muscles tensed moments before I kicked her off.
Without giving her a chance to counter my attack, I dove forward. My teeth sank into her neck, and briny, metallic bloodexploded into my mouth. Her ragged cry of anguish broke as I ripped her throat out.
Icky, slimy feelings of guilt flowed through my veins as she collapsed.
Show them no mercy.
Blood, a mixture of hers and mine, dripped across the ground beneath me, and I spat out a chunk of her flesh, gagging on the rotten-meat taste. The grotesque monster with sallow green scales, ruby irises, and horns protruding from his head and spine pinned Alicia, and he raised his claws to rip into her neck.
Saving her became my sole focus, and I dashed toward Alicia as my heart slammed against my ribs. But before I made it, a sharp, electric bolt rippled through my neck, and a giant ebony beast shot through the square, ramming into the shifter above her.
A gasp burst from my mouth.
It can’t be.
