Rosalina stares at us. Tears shimmer down her face. “You came.”
For a moment, I can see through the fury. “Always, Rosie,” I whisper back.
“I don’t know who you three think you are,” the red-haired man rasps, “but this is between me and my fiancée.”
“Oh-ho-ho.” Dayton throws his head back in a humorless chuckle. “So, you’re the famous fiancé who’s unable to satisfy a woman?” Dayton strolls over, each movement laced with swagger. He grabs the wrist of the hand holding onto Rosalina. “Don’t worry. I took care of her for you.”
The man curls his lips over his teeth, but Dayton squeezes. Hard. Acracksounds through the dark room. The man howls and yanks his limp wrist back toward his chest. Rosalina immediately staggers to Dayton’s side.
“You fucking broke my wrist!” the man screams.
Dayton shrugs. “Count yourself lucky. I took the hands off the last guy who touched our girl.”
Rosalina glances frantically between the two of them. “Leave, Lucas. Just go.”
The man—Lucas—looks like his skin may melt off his bones. “Who do you think you are? Rosalina doesn’t know you. Get the fuck away from us!”
He raises the knife, a beam of sunlight gleaming off the tip. In a single fluid movement, Ezryn punches him in the gut. He snags the falling knife while Lucas doubles over, coughing.
“Last chance.” Ez holds the knife up to examine it. “Leave. Or we’ll make you leave.”
Rosalina trembles like a fall leaf beside them, her brown eyes frantic. Dayton and Ez have this demon. She needs me. Needs me to tell her it’s okay. We’ve got her. She’s not alone anymore.
But I can’t because every nerve in my body is alight. Like there’s no movement I can make, because if I even so much as blink, every piece of me will burst into flame.I should have come for you. I should have known.
I left you alone.
Shame floods me, but it changes to fury. She should never have been in this position.
Why wasn’t I strong enough to stop it?
The anger bubbles up inside of me like a noxious potion, filling my veins with heat. Even the surrounding air seems to grow thick, and I’m breathing too much oxygen, giving too much fuel to the inferno within.Stay calm, Farron. Stay calm.
Lucas looks up at Dayton and Ez. He isn’t aware of my presence. “Fine. Take your fucking whore. Just know she’ll come back to me.” He grins too wide. “She always does.”
I have but a single moment for one last thought: there’s nothing I can do. Farron is about to disappear.
And when he wakes up, he’ll have to live with what he’s done.
Excruciating pain rips through my body as the beast tears its way from my flesh and lunges straight at Lucas.
11
Rosalina
Everythingishappeningsofast, I barely have time to let loose a scream as Ezryn flings me to the ground and crouches his body over mine.
“Fuck!” Dayton snarls. “Farron!”
But it’s too late. The wolf rips its way out of the Autumn Prince. The massive beast lunges across the floor and tackles Lucas to the ground. Lucas releases an ear-shattering cry.
I stagger up, and bile rises in my throat. The wolf, brown fur embedded with rotten leaves and brittle twigs, has Lucas pinned beneath its claws. His chest is ripped open, flesh falling away like pages of a book. And he’s screaming, screaming, screaming as the wolf’s teeth clench upon his head—
Ezryn reaches into the neckline of his neon ski jacket and yanks out his necklace: a wooden square carved with floral designs. It clicks open into a locket, and he shines the light right beside Farron’s wolf. A shimmering portal erupts from the space. Ezryn turns to Dayton. “Deal with him. We’ll meet you out front of the castle.”
Dayton’s mouth is a thin line, eyes dark. He nods, and then his own skin melts away, replaced by the golden wolf. The beast lopes forward, snagging Farron by the loose skin around his neck.
I cover my ears, unable to take Lucas’s screaming or Farron’s howls. Ezryn still perches over me, holding Lucas’s knife toward Farron. Dayton yanks hard, and the Autumn wolf recoils from Lucas, his maw red and dripping.
