Damien snarled. “Don’t fucking look at her, and don’teverfucking speak to her like that, you sick mutt.” He moved to where I was now, completely covered by his shoulder. “You know what happens to sick mutts? They need to be put down.”
Grayson’s laugh bounded through the forest.
“Little bird, use your power now,” Damien growled.
“No,” Alister said. “He doesn’t need that information.”
“He won’t have it for long. I’ll rip his organs out.”
“I can’t wait to have my hands on what’s supposed to be mine.” Grayson’s voice sounded deeper.
“You’re delusional,” I whispered.
A deep mirth-filled laugh burst from Damien, and goosebumps lifted from my arms. Alister shrugged off his blazer and wrapped it around me before Damien stepped forward.
“You will never lay a fucking hand on her.” He lifted his hand, and the tree that Grayson had broken floated from the ground. Damien smacked his hand flat, and the tree followed, landing on top of Grayson.
Grayson’s body was crushed, and his head and left shoulder were the only part of him that stuck out of it, but he didn’t wince in pain at all. He just laughed. “Why cover up? I’ve already seen her naked.”
“You’re not going to see anything anymore,” Damien taunted as his shadows launched forward like a spear, sinking into his eye sockets and tearing both eyes out of his skull. Dark blood splattered on the surrounding snow, dripping down his cheeks.
Grayson’s laughter turned more chaotic, and Damien growled. “Why aren’t you feeling the damn pain?”
“First, I want to be a good mate and ask Wren something.” He leaned his head back against the snow as his blood just poured from his eye sockets. “Have you talked to Alice?”
My breath caught. “What did you do?”
“Oh, come on, Wren, you’re so gullible. Do you honestly think I let that bitch breathe longer than it took to cut off her pinky?”
Horror slammed into me as pain and guilt warred inside my heart. I sucked in a choked breath, dropping to my knees. Sobs shook my body. “No…”
“Yes!”He laughed. “I killed her, and do you know what that woman was worried about? You. She begged me to promise her that I would leave you alone after I killed her. I didn’t of course, but the look in her eyes when she realized that was glorious. This fucked obsession I’ve begun to have with you started after you broke our bond. This is really your own doing.”
I pressed a fist to my chest and rubbed, trying to ease some of the pain radiating from it. I leaned forward, touching my face in the snow as numbness spread over. The guilt was almost too much to bear. It should have been me, not Alice. “You’re lying.Please tell me you’re lying.”
“No, I’m not lying! I left her body for you, though. In the home you grew up in. I was kind of hoping you would go look for her. But that didn’t happen. I guess you really don’t care for her as much as I thought you did.” His laughter became uncontrollable.
Another cry left my throat. I glanced up to see Damien’s shadows slice his shoulder, chopping his arm off.
“Where is your pain?”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about. The only pain I feel is being away from Wren,” he said, black blood leaking from his shoulder. “They might let me mate her and create an offspring after she gives them a drake, that is.”
Alister growled and launched himself forward. “My power won’t work on his blood,” he snarled, but before he could get there, Damien’s shadows pierced Grayson in every single open area they could.
“Nice try, but you can’t kill me that easily,” Grayson sputtered before his body melted into black goo.
I pushed out a shaky breath as crunches of snow sounded behind us. What had just happened? “He’s not dead, is he?”
“I don’t think so,” Damien growled.
Alister looked over his shoulder. “About damn time you got here.”
The scent of ember surrounded me as Rowan’s strong arms wrapped around me.
“What happened?” Kian asked, and I turned to look at him, but he had that vacant look in his eyes he got when he was having a vision. Then he blinked a few times and his eyes softened as he looked at me. “Oh, sweetheart…”
“Baby…” Rhett’s voice hit my ears, and I shook my head.
