Page 15 of Betrayed Wolf Mate

“Probably because he’s really, really bad news,” said Tannen. “Based on the research I was able to find, he’s about as bad as they get. He likes terrorizing shifters, especially. He’ll target a town, and then he’ll slowly destroy it, taking out people until it’s nothing but a ghost town. Ever heard of Roanoke?”

“That’s where a bunch of early settlers went missing, right?” I asked.

“Yup. The theory is that was one of the human settlements Akron felt like targeting.” Tannen adjusted the notes in his hand as he spoke, flipping through them.

Mark let out a low whistle. “So the guy’s got some power behind him.”

“Oh, yeah. And what’s worse is that he doesn’t work alone. He’s got at least a dozen underlings who are obsessively loyal,” Rand said.

“Underlings as in other demons?” Luke asked.

“Not quite,” Tannen said. “They aren’t as powerful, and they can’t use magic like a normal demon. But they’re still bad news in big hordes.”

“How strong is their magic?” Jameson asked.

“How do you think I got this scar?” Rand said, grinning as he pointed to the thick line of jagged scar tissue running down his arm.

“I don’t know,” Alek said.

“You’ve literally never told us,” Klyte added.

Rand scowled, clearly annoyed. Klyte and Alek snickered.

“My buddies and I were going after a demon,” Rand said. “We got the jump on him, but it was still a near thing. We almost died before we killed him. At one point, the demon threw a slice of darkness at me like it was a knife. Nearly nicked an artery. I almost bled out before one of my friends got him out of there. So, they can wield darkness, are incredibly tough to the point of being nearly immortal, and this one in particular has a nasty reputation and is known for wiping out entire communities in the blink of an eye.”

“And we’re supposed to kill this guy?” Alek asked.

“Sounds like a piece of cake,” Klyte said dryly. “None of us are going to die or get seriously injured. I don’t see any problem with any of this.”

“Doesn’t matter how hard he is to fight,” I said. “We’re still going to go after him.”

None of them argued with me, and I was pretty sure they knew that I would fight back if any of them did. But I could still feel everyone’s eyes on me. It wasn’t hard for them to have guessed I knew Stella from before, and Mark had never beengood at keeping things quiet. I was certain that he had probably told everyone what he remembered about our original fling.

I didn’t have to explain any of that, which, honestly, was a bit of a relief. I wasn’t sure I knew how to articulate it all. And right now, I was too fixated on making sure Stella was protected to really care to try in the first place.

“So how do we beat this guy?” Mark asked. “Because right now, it’s sounding like there’s no real way to beat him.”

“Mark’s becoming a mind reader,” Klyte said, “because I was wondering the same thing.”

“They’re not impossible to beat.” Rand stood and stretched. “Otherwise, I wouldn’t be here. Cold, pure iron is the best way to weaken them. It hurts them pretty badly if they’re touched by it. A couple of iron spears and other weapons tended to do the trick.”

“There’s also finding their true Name,” Tannen mentioned.

Rand started laughing, earning a scowl from Tannen.

“Good luck with that,” he said. “Do you realize how hard it is to find a demon’s Name?”

“Akron,” Klyte said. “Found it. You’re welcome.”

“TrueName,” Tannen said. “Have you really never heard of Naming?”

“Nope,” Klyte responded happily. “Enlighten me, oh wise ones.”

“It’s an old-school form of magic,” I said, startling everyone. “Names are powerful things. Everyone and everything has a true Name—not the one they go by, but something deeper, linked to the soul—but not a lot of people know what theirsis anymore. If you can learn the Name of a being, which is incredibly hard to do, especially now, then you’re able to exert some control over them.”

Klyte stared open-mouthed at me. “Has anyone else noticed how chatty Sam’s been since Stella showed up? This has to be more words than he normally says in a month.”

“Knock it off,” Evelyn snapped at him, then turned back to Tannen and Rand. “So, we can learn Akron’s true Name and kill him?”

---