Page 40 of Luna Cursed

"You are one crazy stalker, you know that, right?" Ciara side-stepped as Petra swung her sword. She was fast, but Ciara had fought wolves before. She attacked low, aiming for Petra's knees. Petra dropped her shield, and Ciara's blade cut deep into the wood. Petra immediately brought her sword down, aiming for Ciara's head before her blade was free. Ciara dodged it and felt the air of the blade on her shoulder.

Too close.She used Petra's forward momentum to drive the edge of her shield up and smashed the wolf in her pretty nose.

Ciara pulled her sword loose, yanking Petra's ruined shield off. The wolf backed up, trying to keep her feet as blood poured down her nose.

"You fucking bitch!" Petra screamed.

Ciara blocked out the sounds of the crowd, the beating of her own heart, and the smell of dirt and blood. She dropped down into her killing space, where there was nothing but her blade and her target.

They clashed, steel against steel, again and again until sweat was running down Ciara's back. Petra demolished her shield with one massive blow that would have pulverized Ciara's skull. She threw it off, ignoring the cut on her forearm that was bleeding freely.

She would never give up, never give in. The bond opened between Tor and Ciara, and new strength rushed through her body. Ciara didn't waste it, and she would never let anyone else have it.

"You had to come and interfere and ruin everything," Petra snapped. "Even Odin, who has ignored us for centuries, turned up because your slut cousin called."

"It's all a part of the Ironwood charm," Ciara replied, blinking sweat out of her eyes. "You think Fenris will be immune? I doubt it."

"Fenris will ensure wolves have their rightful place above the fae, the fucking elves, and the weak humans," Petra snarled. Her eyes went wide, realizing what she had said.

"Isn't that interesting?" Ciara mocked her.

Petra screamed and charged at her in a fury. Ciara ducked at the last second, her leg coming around and kicking Petra in the lower back with all of the strength Tor had given her. Petra went sprawling to the ground face down, her sword clattering outside the ring of stones.

Ciara raised her sword. "Yield. You don't have to die today."

"I will never yield," Petra snarled, rolling onto her side. She got to her feet and raised her fists.

"The fight's over. You lost," Ciara said.

She didn't want to kill Petra, even if she deserved it. If Ciara did, the wolves would never accept her. They would always blame her for killing one of their own. She didn't care what they thought, but it would matter to Tor.

"If you don't fight me, I will hunt every member of your family down before I kill you last," Petra declared. She spat blood and dirt at Ciara.

"You have no weapon to fight, and there's no honor for me fighting an unarmed opponent," Ciara said, trying not to let her temper overrule her.

"I don't need a weapon. Iamone." Petra's eyes glowed, the air shimmering around her. "I want you to know that once you're dead, I'll be killing your pretty brother next."

Ciara went still; all remaining compassion she had was gone. Petra shifted into a wolf with a roar and launched herself at Ciara. Ciara dropped to her knees; Petra soared over the top of her, and Ciara lifted her blade, cutting the wolf's belly open and spraying herself with blood. Petra went down, collapsing into the dirt beside her.

"Never threaten my brother," Ciara snarled and cut the wolf's head off. No one moved for a full ten seconds.

"Wolf Slayer," someone hissed. "Wolf Slayer, Wolf Slayer, Wolf Slayer." The name echoed around her.

Ciara's body was sticky with blood and boiling hot with fury.

"That's right! Iamthe fucking Wolf Slayer!" she shouted back at them. She pointed at the crowd with her sword. "You want to know about the wolves I've killed? Sigmund Wagner! He broke into my home when I was a child and killed my parents. He was about to rape and kill me when I took the knife from my dead father's hand and drove it into his eye!"

The crowd went quiet, but Ciara was too far gone in her anger. She started to list her kills, one at a time, with all the crimes they had committed before they got on her list. She stopped at her tenth, but gods, did she have more.

"Every wolf I killed had it coming! They were allowed to roam free, slaughtering humans and other beings because the wolves didn't do a fucking thing about it," she said, breathing heavily. "You think you are a clan of ancient and mighty warriors, but you hide here in your forest while one of your own tries to start Ragnarök. You have no responsibility. You havenohonor. It's no wonder Odin abandoned you all. Ifanyof you try and get between Tor and me or threaten my family again, you will end up like her!"

Ciara tossed her sword to the ground beside Petra's head and strode out of the stone circle. She needed to leave before she killed them all.

"Take her home. I'll deal with the rest," Tor said, his alpha power rolling out of him. Ciara's shoulders hunched inwards, fighting not to go to him. That would make everything worse.

Lachie took her by one arm, Layla by the other just as Alruna opened a portal, and they marched Ciara through it before anyone said another word.

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