“I messed up last time; badly. It’s no wonder you left me. I wasn’t…” His jaw tics, fists clenching at his sides. “I wasn’t good enough for you back then. I needed to prove myself, show that I was willing to follow you to the ends of the earth and do whatever it took to ensure you could be free and happy.” In a blur of motion, he grips my upper arms, the wild glint I remember so vividly reappearing in his eyes. “EverythingI’ve done, I’ve done for you. Played the shifters’ damn politics, built this place so you wouldn’t feel trapped in your own home. You see that, right? See how sorry I am?”
There's something morbidly comforting in Malcolm's carefully constructed facade slipping. Calculated, cunning Malcolm? Too attentive to details and an unknown enemy. Emotionally unstable Malcolm?Thatversion is familiar. Predictable, despite the mood swing whiplash.
Escape is inevitable, so long as I play my cards right.
“Of course I do.” When my voice comes out as a rough whisper, I swallow. Steadier, I say, “No matter where I ran, I could always feel you watching.”
A soft sigh of relief escapes him, and he loosens his grip slightly. “I tried to keep my distance until you’d forgiven me, but you had a tendency to attract whatever shifters were in the area. When they started getting too close, I had to do something to encourage you to move onto the next town.” When he presses a gentle kiss to my forehead, I stiffen. “And the humans you slept with to punish me-” his hand slides down my arm. “Despite my efforts to stay away unless you were in danger, I couldn’t help myself. I couldn’t let them live after they touched you.”
His hand settles on my hip, and I flinch. A low, discontented rumble builds in his chest, and I fist the skirt of my dress to hide my shaking hands. “I’m sorry, it’s not you. I just-”
Gripping my chin, he forces me to face him. Pupils slitted as his dragon rises to the surface, he declares with dark promise, “They’ll be dead soon, I promise. Then no one will ever try to take you away from me again.”
ChapterThree
STONE
The flames have spread from a barrier caging the wolves inside of the village they ambushed me at, to the homes of the ones I was here to kill anyway. Two birds, one stone, they scurry like rats on a sinking ship, frantically choosing how they want to die.
I’ve lost track of how many have willingly walked into the flames to escape the more agonizing death dealt by my hand.
Eyes narrowed with murder, the wolf alpha wraps a hand around my scaled wrist and attempts to siphon the feral energy burning inside of me, aiming to steal my strength for his own. His eyes widen in surprise as he catches a glimpse of the endless well of raw, demonic energy festering in the void where my soul should be.
“Where. Does. Mason Devlin live?” With each word out of my mouth, my grip tightens around the man’s neck.
Spitting vitriol, he rasps, “Even if Ididknow, why the hell would I tell you?”
Useless.
Partially shifting, I put my fist through his chest, talons wrapping around his heart. Before yanking my arm back, I duplicate his ability, storing it in the jade pendant hanging from my neck. His body drops like someone cut the puppet’s strings, and I turn back to what remains of his pack. Tossing the organ to the dirt, I skim my gaze over the handful of men that followed their leader in a pathetic attempt to rip out my throat.
“You’re wasting my time, and I’m out of patience. Where is Mason Devlin?”
One sneers in my direction, and barely has his mouth open before I slice open his stomach, blood spraying across my bare arms and chest. Grabbing a handful of his intestines, I wrap them first around his throat, then over the nearest tree branch and tie it off, letting him hang as he bleeds out. He won’t last long, but each second will feel like an eternity in Hell, and those that remain can see exactly how painful I can make their final moments.
Turning to the next in the line of bound men, I raise an eyebrow in silent demand.
Swallowing, he says, “We don’t know where he lives.” As I take a step in his direction, he stammers, “But I can tell you where he has us meet him!”
Crouching down, I grab the front of his shirt and drag him closer. “Spit it out.”
“Whenever he called to meet with Michael, it was about three hours later, and in either Harmond, or one of the surrounding cities. It was probably the halfway point, yeah?” He trembles as snarls surround him, his packmates turning on the traitor, which only adds credibility to the quivering man’s claim. “So if you’re looking for Mason Devlin’s home base, I’d say look a couple hundred miles southeast from here.”
The small jade pendant swings from the black corded rope, smacking against my stomach as I rise to my full height. Utilizing my newly acquired ability, I siphon the energy from the remaining bound men writhing in the dirt, sparing the one slumped at my feet.
Meeting his terrified gaze, I let the warning hang so heavily in the air, it’ll linger to haunt future generations. “Don’t give me a reason to return.”
Scales spreading across my skin, I let the shift wash over me, taking to the skies and praying with every heavy beat of my wings that this lead will finally be the one that brings me to my mate. And after I find the bastard that dared to touch her?
His death will be so brutal, even the history books will bleed.
ChapterFour
AMARA
"Come on, you stupid son of a bitch," I mutter, huffing in frustration as the lock refuses to click open.
Adjusting the angle of the lock picks hidden in the anklet Kodiak made, my hand slips, and I wince as the metal point rips the side of my thumb open. Popping the bloody digit in my mouth until it stops bleeding, I take a deep breath and recenter myself before trying again.
