Thick claws an inch long speared through his fingertips as he reared back his arm. Sam was ready for it, knowing that he wasn’t really a fighter, but knew that he when he went down, he would take his abuser with him.
With a snarl Sam moved towards the swiping claws, bending to tackle his father around the waist. They both fell in a clash of claws and teeth, Sam unable to shift anything but his hands as Conor turned his head, and bit down on his forearm.
Sam ignored the pain and hands on his shoulders, adrenaline racing through his blood. His claws pierced into Conor’s face, not enough to kill but enough for his concentration to break. With an angered grumble he turned, shifting faster than Sam could slice.
A grip on his throat, tight enough Sam had to release his own hold as he was forced to the side by one of the others, only to find a dark leopard snarling in his face with two deformed wolves flanking him. Sam couldn’t help but laugh as claws tore through his body, his father’s rage the one thing that would be his end.
Without Sam he didn’t have a pack, and Gideon would surely destroy him.
A comforting thought in his last moments.
“That’s enough.” A voice sliced through the air like a whip, but Sam was unable to turn as darkness touched the edges of his vision. He was no longer cold, a heavy heat radiating from his chest as the weight lifted, only for his lungs to burn seconds later, just as he fell into nothing.
Chapter31
Axel
Debris crunched beneath Axel’s boots, crumbling to dust as he broke open the chains locking the back entrance to Blood Bar. The inside was unrecognisable, destroyed, with every surface covered in grime. The once vibrant place, full of light and laughter, had been devastated, the natural wood turned to blackened rubble while everything else had disintegrated into various shades of grey.
Police markers littered the floor, footprints still visible in the ash as splashes of yellow tape brought the only colour. The ceiling had collapsed, exposing holes in the roof where rain drizzled through in a pitter patter against an exposed metal beam. Riley’s glass office had shattered, the only part remaining the reinforced ledge where the door had once been. The stairs had collapsed, the wall separating the staff room, bathrooms and closets gone to reveal everything gutted.
He could have spent hours going over every inch, but Axel knew he didn’t have long, awareness spreading as he opened his phone and pressed send.
‘Thank you for everything you’ve done over the years, for all the shit you’ve protected me from. Even as kids you were always there for me, and I took advantage of that.
You’re more than just my cousin, Ti. More than just my brother. I’m sorry.’
He ignored his phone’s vibration as he shoved it quickly into his pocket. A bag rustled, hand shaking as he brushed his fingertips against the packet of three pills.Just in case,he had thought. Three pills, each with a different coloured smiley face to take the edge off his panic. To help with the dread that had been biting at him with such sharp fangs he’d thought it would swallow him whole, more painful than anything he’d ever experienced.
The need to drown himself in a high, to knock himself out until there was nothing but peaceful obscurity, was almost overwhelming. Almost.
He was weak to buy the pills, but he hadn’t brought himself to take them. He had to stay focused, stay alert.
Because this wasn’t about him, regardless of how loud his addiction howled. How the whispers scoured across his brain, doubt, hate.
It was about Sam.
“Wasn’t sure you would show,” the familiar voice cut in, deep and edged with a dark undercurrent that immediately set Axel on alert.
He had sensed Bishop lurking in the shadows, like prickles against his chi. “Where is he?”
Bishop’s smile was full of poison as the air pressure dropped, and another Daemon appeared. He wasn’t as tall, head void of hair and dominated by thick horns that were more squarer than curved, angled towards his shoulders. His wings were held tightly to his back, thin membrane pulled tightly between the bones with only the primary feathers remaining at the edge. His fingers were long and thin, black nails broken as he gripped Sam’s arms hard enough his skin mottled in bruises.
“Sam?” Axel stepped forward, only for Sam’s head to be wretched back by his hair, throat exposed and a blade kissing his skin.
He had barely made a noise, eyes rolling in the back of his head as he remained limp. Small slices decorated the side of his face, the flesh angry while larger wounds bled down his chest. He was alive, but barely.
“You said he wouldn’t be harmed,” Axel said, voice a ragged rage that echoed in the broken room.
“And he wasn’t. At least, he wasn’t harmed by us.” Bishop gave a wicked slant of his lips. “You need to be more specific in your communication.”
Axel widened his stance, fingers itching to touch the blade hidden at his back as he calmed his temper down to a simmer. He had stolen it from Jax, the handle holding crystals to make the metal charged with a little bit of arcane.
But he had to wait, unable to do anything until Sam wasn’t blocking Baldy. He only had the one chance, and needed to wait for the best moment.
Axel couldn’t drift, the ability to break down your molecules to move one place to another in a blink of an eye, a rare ability amongst all Breed. But Daemons could, their magic evolving over millennia for them to drift through the veil separating the realms. So it took everything for Axel to remain where he was, to not burst from his skin and let his beast annihilate the Daemons who had taken his mate.
“Drop him,” Axel growled at Baldy, who just smirked with disdain in response.
