Page 86 of Slay Me

Whirling, I grip him by the throat and slam him back against the wall. “Then where the fuck is she? You were supposed to be guarding her!”

“I was! She was practicing in the ring!”

“Then how the fuck did she get away from you?”

“It had to have been the gryffin,” Killian manages.

I release him.

“He’d gone in to practice their routine, but he’s gone, too.”

Fucker.I’m going to enjoy ripping him to pieces. “Can you track him?”

“No,” Bracken says as he steps into the room. “And we can’t catch a scent for Liv either.”

Blood pounds in my veins, a heavy drumming that obliterates all other sounds. Somewhere in this room, they’re speaking, saying words that I cannot even begin to focus on because, somewhere, Liv is scared.

She’s in pain.

And I know how to find her.

I turn and march for the door, but something on my face must have alerted Duncan because he steps in my path. “Get out of my way,” I warn him, magic sizzling along my skin.

The beast is calling to me, begging for me to let him out.

“You can’t do this,” he warns me. “The first time was risky enough.”

“The fuck I can’t. Now get out of my way, or I’m going to take this entire fucking place down with me.”

Someone new enters the building, a scent I know all too well.

Duncan turns as well. Then Killian and Bracken step up to my sides as Apollo moves into view. The fucker grins at me.

Grins like he wants me to rip his motherfucking head off and re-decorate the cream walls in crimson. “You look worried,” he says.

“Where. The. Fuck. Is. She?” I demand, the snarl that leaves my lips barely even human.

“Out of your reach,” the fucker replies.

I lunge for him, but Bracken and Killian grip my arms.

“In case you haven’t noticed, you have about two seconds before he kills you,” Duncan tells the gryffin. “Where is the fury?”

“Back where she belongs, and if you play your cards right, you’ll get to see her real soon.” Apollo crosses his arms. Arms I want to snap like fucking twigs. “Killing me will only end with her dead. They’ll cut her pretty throat if I don’t report back within the next thirty minutes.” He reaches into his pocket and withdraws a vial. “Drink this, and I’ll take you to her.”

He expects me to fucking bow to him.

To take his deal.

Fucker clearly has no idea who he’s dealing with.

Bracken and Killian release me. I lunge forward, grab him by the throat, and squeeze. The gryffin’s eyes widen, and he stares up at me, clearly shocked. He brings his arm up, prepared to smash the vial on me. So I grip that arm with my free hand and snap his fucking wrist.

He screams.

The vial falls to the ground and shatters, the unmistakable aroma of basilisk venom filling my lungs. “You massively underestimate my desire to kill you.” I let the beast out just enough that my teeth elongate into fangs, my eyes turning a blazing orange.

He squirms in my grasp, but I reach up and grip his hair, then rip. Blood splatters the walls and my chest. I throw his body down and turn to see all three of my security team and the berserker watching me carefully.

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