They swooped through the air and attacked the Rozzers; they cawed loudly and scratched at Lord Mordred, their focus entirely on the people in charge. The Rozzers fired at them, and black bundles of feathers fell from the sky.
“She is over there! Get her!” someone yelled at the Rozzers.
With a swift move, Cahir grabbed Seda, hoisting her over his shoulder, and sprinted toward the nearest exit. The panicked crowd all rushed in the same direction. Birds plummeted from the sky and crashed into people as they fled. Two Rozzers stepped in and tripped Cahir, yanking Seda from his grasp.
She spun around to face them, and fear seized her chest.
Michael and Alexi had her in a tight, painful grip, and memories of that day came flooding back to her.
“Not again. Not again. Don’t hurt me!” she shrieked as she clawed at them. “Please don’t hurt me. Please, please, please.”
As Seda broke free, Michael and Alexi pounced, tackling her to the ground. She shook with fear and let out a blood-curdling scream.
“Shut up! Call off these fucking birds. The last time they almost killed us!” Michael shouted as his rancid spit hit her in the face.
Chapter 14
Cahir
People trampled Cahir after he fell, but he rolled to the side and jumped up. He saw and heard the Rozzers with Seda, and rage clouded his vision.
The scars on one and the red hair on the other… Just as Seda described them. These were the fuckers who had hurt her, and they were the same ones who had tried to capture him before he left the dome the other night.
Anger surged through him like an erupting volcano, spewing burning lava that destroyed everything in its path.
Magic smoked from his nostrils.
He ran forward and ripped the red-haired Rozzer off violently, throwing him to the side with such force that the man slid across the gravel and cried out, clutching his arm to his chest. He plowed into the dark-haired one, releasing Seda from his grasp,and bit his grotesque, scarred face on the way down. His bite tore his cheek nearly in two, leaving it dangling from his jawline and revealing the man’s rotten teeth underneath.
Blood coated Cahir’s mouth, and he spat the mouthful of it into his face.
“It wasYOU!” He punched his nose with all his strength and felt the satisfying crack under his knuckles. He smiled down at him with a sense of satisfaction, watching one of the men who had hurt Seda desperately fighting for his life.
His life is mine.
The man tried to fight back, but his punches were weak compared to Cahir’s fury.
“This is for hurting her, for taking what you could never truly have, you fucking piece of filth.” He grinned wickedly, and the blood on his teeth exposed the monster he knew he was.
It felt like a lifetime for him to earn Seda’s trust, just enough to get a hug. He recalled all the times her body would tense when he got too close, especially when they were alone, sharing the same space and air. The way her heart would race, and how she would start fumbling over her words and picking at her nails.
She was so different from what he expected when he set out to find her. They sapped her of her strength, took her trust, and tried to strip her of her ability to find beauty in life and see the good in people.
They shattered her beautiful soul.
His anger exploded.
He beat his face until blood pooled between his fists, and the man’s skull was crushed into the ground. Then he shoved his hands into the man’s chest, ripping his ribs apart easily, and tore his heart out. He lifted the organ above his head and crushed it between his fingers as hard as he could, causing it to spurt out his thick blood.
The man’s body remained motionless on the ground.
One down, one to go.
“Cahir!” Seda screamed.
He snapped his head up and saw Seda staring at him with a look of pure panic as the red-haired Rozzer dragged her away through the crowd of panicked people. The Corvids swooped down and clawed at the Rozzer, but he kept his face protected with his wounded arm. Cahir surged to his feet with fierce determination and sprinted toward the stage. He forced himself forward with powerful strides, pushing past the strain in his muscles.
He tried to shift into his Fae form to reach her as fast as possible with his larger size, but his magic refused to accept the change.
