Page 82 of Hunted By Her Demon Wolves

Panic pumped blood through her veins as she turned back toward the claw. It was too far away, and she was still too weak.

She looked into the eyes of one of her zombie mates at the loud rattle of chains. He was missing an eye and his ribcage was visible through his thin, gray flesh.

He looked at her with wide-eyed longing. “Mate,” he slurred.

“Helius,” she whispered, nodding toward the charred claw. “Help me.”

She screamed when she was thrown across the room, her bones cracking when she slammed into a wall. Her vision blurred, and she looked into the blackened eye of her enemy.

He smeared black ink across his face with a snarl. “I need fresh blood.”

Holy Darkness! She tensed when he reached toward her with grabby talons. An ominous howl rent the air, and Gorgo spun around just as Helius had broken free of his chains. He launched on top of the mage with a roar, knocking him to the ground.

Phoenix gathered enough strength to sit up and push her back against the wall.

“Mate,” the zombie wolf growled while wrapping his hands around the mage’s throat. “Mate,” he repeated.

She desperately struggled to summon her strength while Gorgo thrashed and bucked beneath Helius, zapping him with white magic. Helius shook like a convict in an electric chair, but he refused to release his hold.

Phoenix called to her other mate fighting to break free of his chains. “Hurry, Drakkon!”

She pushed herself onto her knees and crawled toward the claw just on the other side of Helius’s mangled foot. She’d almost reached it when Gorgo zapped Helius hard enough to knock him on his back. Helius fell with a loud crunch. Phoenix cringed. One leg bone jutted through his thin flesh like a blade through paper, and his ribs split open, revealing decaying organs beneath. He blinked up at the ceiling, his eyes wide, his jaw slack, his gray tongue lolling to one side.

Gorgo spun around, his large eye barely visible through the black ink that coated his entire bulbous head. “You shall pay for the trouble you’ve caused!” He pointed at her chest, dark smoke oozing from his talon. “I will obliterate you just like I did your mother!”

She choked on a scream when black magic wrapped around her neck, setting her throat on fire.

Drakkon broke free of his chains, stumbling forward before falling on his knees. She sucked in a gulp of air when Gorgo released his hold on her and spun around, aiming his talons at Drakkon. But her mate had already snatched the claw off the ground, thrusting it into Gorgo’s belly.

The mage let out an ear-piercing wail, then burst into millions of fragments. Phoenix flinched, shielding her face when the fragments coalesced into fat drops of inky rain, splattering all over everything. She was too shocked to process what had just happened to be disgusted that she was covered in Gorgo! But then everything slowly hit her as her zombie mate looked at her with a slackened jaw. He was missing the tips of his ears, and he had maggots crawling out of his belly button. She repressed the urge to vomit when he crawled to her, his knees popping with the movement. She flinched when he reached for her, his hand morphing from a long, skeletal thing with crusty claws to a demon’s silvery fingers. Breath hitched, she watched in awe as he changed back into a handsome demon, though he was still covered in bloody cuts and holes, so many that he was barely recognizable. He also had a patchy beard that reminded her of a dog with mange. Gorgo’s death must’ve broken the spell, but it hadn’t healed their injuries.

“Mate,” he said, his features falling. Then he shook his head, recognition flashing in his eyes. “Bennu.”

Tears pricked the backs of her eyes. She took the blackened claw when he held it out to her. Magic instantly warmed her palm and infused her with energy, but it wasn’t as strong as she remembered. Something felt odd, corrupted. She looked down at that amethyst burned into her collarbone, and instinctively placed the claw against it.

Free me, she begged the claw.Free my magic.She swore when magic tore through her like a burning blade, splitting open the skin on her chest and expelling the amethyst. She fought the urge to pass out from the intense pain as she ripped the cord from her neck.

She licked her dry lips and waved him forward. “Come here. Let me heal you.”

He sat beside her, the smell from his many infected wounds nearly overpowering, but he’d survived the worst of this cursed dimension. He could survive this.

“Bennu,” he said to her when she held the claw against the hollow cavity of his chest.

She forced a smile, though inside she was falling apart. Her mother was gone, obliterated. “Yes.” Closing her eyes, she summoned her healing magic, letting it infuse through him.

He let out a low purr, his head falling back against the wall as the magic healed not just him, but infused her with enough energy that she had the strength to sit up on her knees. After she was finished healing him, she leaned back on her calves, smiling down at him as he looked up at her with sleepy eyes.

“Bennu,” he whispered, his voice sounding less gravelly.

“Bennu,” she whispered back. He could call her whatever he wanted, so long as he was healed.

Gone was the decaying corpse and in his place was a gorgeous demon with silvery skin and a broad chest with swirling tattoos. He had the face of a Grecian god, with thick brows, a long nose, and full, kissable lips. His beard had filled out, too. She would’ve loved her mates in any form, but she couldn’t stand to see them suffering as decomposing zombies.

How she wanted to kiss him, but her heart was too heavy to do anything other than crawl across his legs and press the claw to his brother’s chest, healing him, too.

By the time she was finished with her handsome Helius, with his wavy dark hair, long, dark lashes, high cheekbones, and a full beard, fatigue overwhelmed her, forcing her to fall against his broad chest and let the tears fall. Her mother was gone. For years Phoenix had either ignored or derided her mother, and yet Jezebeth had still given her soul to save her. She hadn’t even gotten a chance to tell her mother she loved her.

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