I was vaguely aware that Calan and Logan were there, but I didn’t give a fuck what they thought about what was about to happen. Rage held me in a firm grip, my pulse thrumming in my ears and drowning out all common sense.
Releasing his throat, I locked my jaws around Clyde’s left hind leg. With one wrench, I ripped the limb free.
Calan and Logan both paused, watching me warily. I ignored them as I went to Clyde’s other hind leg. Another wrench had that limb torn free.
His body moved suddenly. My head snapped up, blood dripping from my maw as a growl rose.
When I saw what Calan and Logan were doing, it died in my throat.
They’d taken one of his front legs each, ripping them from his body with the same cool efficiency I’d displayed.
That was the moment Clyde’s life returned to him. Ahoarse scream left his human lips as he shifted. If he was hoping being in his human form would encourage mercy, he was about to learn how wrong he was.
He hadn’t shown Reid mercy as a child. He hadn’t shown him mercy as an adult either, coming into his life and making him live with the fear of his own clan hanging over him.
He also hadn’t shown any mercy to Chester.
So fuck him. He was going to hurt in the worst ways possible.
I was about to continue shredding him into pieces, when Logan made an urgent chuffing noise. I tilted my head at him.What?
He couldn’t speak in this form, but as he tapped an exposed claw on Clyde’s naked chest, his meaning was crystal clear.
Logan also wanted to make him suffer…using his party trick.
Normally I couldn’t watch when Logan skinned someone. The screams of pain and just general gore were too much for me.
I didn’t look away as he did it to Clyde. Not for one damned second. I wanted to know he’d suffered. That he was finally paying for what he’d put Reid through.
As the light dimmed in Clyde’s eyes, his gaze sought mine. I shifted and smirked, crouching to make sure he could see me. “Reid is a thousand times the being you could ever hope to be. You’re going to die now knowing you failed. You didn’t break his spirit, and I’m going to protect it so no one else ever does either.”
Clyde had enough venom in his system to stop him reincarnating. His final death was less than a minute away. With the blood he’d lost, I was amazed he was still alive.
Somehow, knowing his eternal death was coming wasn’t enough. I wanted to be the one to end it. To strike the killing blow. I needed it.
Letting my hand shift partially, I used a single claw to cut the main artery in his neck. It was handily visible thanks to Logan’s efforts.
For those final few seconds, I freed every emotion I’d tried to mask during the meetings I’d had with him. Judgement. Disgust. Fury. I let him see them all.
I let him die knowing he was loathed. Truly hated.
It didn’t make up for what had happened to Reid. Nothing would. But at least Clyde died knowing he’d never hurt his son again. That whatever nefarious plans he had, they wouldn’t come to pass.
Because of the McCarthys. The attack on us all those decades ago hadn’t broken our spirit any more than Clyde’s abuse had broken Reid’s.
Reid.
The consequences of this slammed through me. Even if Reid hated the fucker, which I was sure he did, knowing Clyde had died would still affect him.
Someone had to tell him.
And I knew that someone had to be me.
Half an hour later, I was freshly showered and standing on Reid’s doorstep.
I stared at the now familiar doorway. I hadn’t been this close since the spider incident. Never expected to be again, either.
Knocking was easy, right? You just raised your hand and tapped it against the wood.
