“You should be,” she mused, before resting her chin in her hand and making the slightest gesture with a single finger.
It felt like I had been set on fire, and I had to bite my tongue not to scream out in pain and surprise. It caused such strange dissonance in my brain, because when I looked down, there wasn’t a single flame on me. I didn’t know if it was in my mind orwhether her magic was in my nerves, but it didn’t matter. I was literally burning alive, and there was nothing I could do to stop it.
It was pure, undiluted agony. I didn’t remember ever setting any of her sons on fire. Maybe this was a warm up for her. And if it was just a warm up, that did not bode well for what was to come.
My inner wolf thrashed, panicking hard as it desperately tried to find a way to survive. I clamped down on it with all I had. There was no running away this time. This was our sacrifice to our pack.
He bristled at that, but stilled. If there was anything my wolf and I knew, it was that our pack was our ultimate responsibility. They came first in every way, as did our mate.
Ven.
Picturing our love gave us something to center on, and it was exactly what we did. It wasn’t all that different from how I’d retreated from the torture at the medical facility, except already this seemed so much more profound. I had no idea how I would endure everything the witch had in store for me, but I would do it.
“There it is. That’s the pain I wanted to see on your proud features. This is how my sons looked when you killed them all, isn’t it?”
I didn’t know what possessed me to respond, and it was definitely stupid, but I pulled my lips back from my teeth and snarled, “Usually they either had a dumb look of surprise or were crying as they begged for their lives.”
Even when I was trying to be noble, the more brutish side of me could still slip out. Oh, well. What was she going to do? Kill me harder?
“And here I was being so gracious.”
She raised her free hand, and it felt like every single bone in my body was being ripped through my skin. I screamed. But once more, when I looked down, nothing was moving under my skin, and my bones were all safely where bones were supposed to be. It seemed the son who specialized in pain had gotten his powers directly from the source.
“I don’t have to be nice, you know. I don’t expect you to be the politest guest, but do not mock me about my loss.”
Herloss? I wanted to spit at her, but I couldn’t. My jaw was locked in place, and it felt like my teeth were bleeding. Yes, her seven evil sons had died, but what about Ven’s mother? What about my pack? What about all the shifters who had been kidnapped and sold off or used as their personal harem? What about the ones who’d been turned into mindless security guards? What about the families her sons had torn apart, and what about all those who died? Their lives ended alone, possibly mind-controlled, separated from everything they knew and loved.
She knew nothing of loss. As far as I was concerned, she was a giant baby trying to masquerade as the boss, when really she was throwing her toys out of the cot because she was mad that her family finally got their just desserts.
“I see that contempt in your eyes. I’ve heard stories about you, Leo. I didn’t believe them because you are so very young, but in truth, it would take someone very special to take down all my sons.”
She squeezed her hand into a fist, and several of my bones cracked. This time it wasn’t just in my mind because I could feel the bones healing. The golems never let go of my arms, leaving me hanging in my torment.
A sharp scream tore out of me, and Katarina sat back in her throne, a pleased smile on her face. She lifted that clenched hand once more, and I braced myself for whatever awful sensationwas going to come next, but it never did. Suddenly, a glass bottle went sailing through the air and shattered on the throne right above the woman’s head.
“What the fuck?” she blurted as the liquid poured over her.
What the fuck, indeed.
As soon as the contents of the jar hit the witch’s skin, it began to sizzle and slough away, like acid eating her flesh. I watched her eye collapse in on itself and part of her cheek disappear.
Katarina jumped to her feet and waved her hand. Her skin returned to normal, like it had never happened at all. I got the impression that wasn’t usually the case when a witch was hit with whatever had been in that jar.
“What’s this?” she spat, her demeanor changing entirely. “I knew there was no way you were noble enough to come willingly!”
I had no idea what she meant until I craned my neck back. I gasped in horror as dozens of my pack members poured in from the open areas on the branches of the tree. Wolf shifters. Coyote shifters. Eagle shifters swooping in. Even a couple of bear shifters, and the giant of a man who waited until he was on solid ground before shifting into the behemoth of a moose he was.
“No!” I cried. “You can’t do this! She’s too powerful!”
Most people would be relieved to see their family rushing in to save them, but all I could feel was abject terror. I had been ready to die. I had sacrificed myself so they would live. But if they were here, there was a very good chance that we wouldalldie, and everything would have been for naught.
Katarina raised her hands, and suddenly a massive tornado formed in the middle of the room before rapidly moving to catch the sudden incursion of shifters.
“Get out of here! Are you insane?”
“Yes,” Katarina said. “Listen to your alpha. There’s no need for all of you to die, but I will bleed every single one of you outand dance on your corpses if you dare try to stop my revenge for my sons!”
“Your sons deserved what they got,” a familiar voice said, and for a moment I couldn’t believe it was actually her. Ven stood on a balcony a floor above us, determination etched on her face. “I will give you one chance to let our alpha go, and you are welcome to live out the rest of your long life however you want. But if you insist on enacting this insane revenge plot on your sons’ victims, then we will be forced to end your line entirely. The world will likely be better for it.”
