“Run!” Xander barked, launching himself onto the hound’s back. His arm encircled its throat as he tried to stifle its foul breath, full of dead carrion and rot. “Run!” he repeated as he was thrown, knocked against a headstone so hard it shattered against his back. The hellhound turned with a snarl, putrid lip peeling back to reveal three sets of sharp teeth.
Xander felt his tattoos blaze, the glyphs permanently marked on his skin glowing as arcane coated his fingertips. He cast a concentrated ball, the power ripping through the hound’s fur to leave even more exposed bone, and yet it didn’t give him a second glance as it bound after Kyra.
Xander charged after them both, heavy boots covering the distance almost as fast as the hound. He called to the other part of his soul, to his beast who always watched from behind his eyes. He welcomed the sweet pain as his body shifted, his arms changing to monstrous pure white paws with large serrated claws. He collided with the hound in a tangle of muffled snarls and sharp teeth, blackened blood coating his tongue within seconds.
The hound cried out, rolling them both as Xander’s teeth ripped flesh clean from bones. A sharp pain, nails scoring down his flank.
He ignored the burn as teeth dug into his shoulder, and venom pulsed through his blood. Green immediately began to weep from the wound, his body designed to repel any type of toxin that the Shadow-Veyn secreted.
This was what they were made to do, their sole purpose.
His beast analysed every angle to get his own strike, a linear mind that knew only violence, hunger and sex.
Kyra cried out, and his beast roared. He bared his teeth, a warning to the hound who cocked his head towards the sound. The hound panted, head low as the smoke that drifted through its ribs and nostrils began to solidify and crawl across its fur, attempting to heal the wounds.
The earth was wet beneath his paws, nails slicing through the dirt as he steadied his weight for the final strike.
Do it.
The command shot through his mind, his beast forcing their muscles forward. It only took a split-second, his fangs slicing through the hound’s throat with little effort and separating the head. Blood tinged his fur pink, his lips lifted into a wolfish grin as the Shadow-Veyn was swallowed by the very earth it had desecrated.
An angry shout, Kyra’s. It took him seconds to find her in the distance, her dark magic prickling across his senses. She was caught against a solid stone wall, too tall for her to climb. She stood, arm encased in her own deep purple arcane with licks of sparkling white.
Another hound tensed before her, ready to leap as she waited with features settled into a resolute expression. She was going to fight it.
Where the fuck did this mutt come from?
Xander had never moved so fast, his body like lightning as he shot across the cemetery. The hound’s head turned, and he didn’t give it a chance to attack. He leapt, landing between them with a growl of warning. His tail unfurled into seven distinctive whips, the tips sharp. The hound tested his patience, stepping forward until three of the tails thrashed forward to cut and slice. With a howl the hound jumped over the wall, and it went against every instinct for Xander not to follow, to kill.
Arcane burned against his back, his tail screaming with pain when he turned and found Kyra. Her eyes were wide, her blood fragrant in his nose.
Do it.
Xander frowned to himself, not understanding his beast’s thought.
Take her.
Xander shifted, pushing his beast back within the confines of his mind. An angry roar echoed between his ears, followed by a frustrated snarl.
His voice was deeper when he grumbled, his throat raw. “Were you bitten?”
She blinked at him, her body still tense as arcane cracked like flames down her right arm. “What was that?” she asked, her voice just as strained.
“Hellhounds,” he replied, raising his hands as if he were surrendering. Sweat was a sheen across his bare skin, the cool air reminding him that the remnants of his clothes were long gone. “Young, just a pup.”
“A pup?” she parroted, more of a squeak. She staggered forward, her legs unsteady.
“Were you bitten?” he asked once again. “Kyra?”
Colour drained from her face, and then he noticed the three distinct marks across her collarbone.
Chapter15
Kyra
Kyra sucked in a pained breath, her shoulder screaming as Xander stormed into the bathroom with her following quietly behind. The light remained off, the darkness enclosing except for the burst of brightness from the hallway. She didn’t struggle when he gently shoved her into the shower and the warm water began to cascade over.
She did, however, protest when she felt cold male flesh step beneath the spray too.
