Page 23 of Devoured

VANESSA

WE’RE NOT KILLING HER,” I SAY STAUNCHLY.

Evie arches a defiant brow that I know is meant for me, even as her gaze remains fixed on the looming wolf. “Right. Because letting her kill us is clearly the better plan.”

Amethyst growls again—or maybe she hasn’t stopped growling—but I shake my head. At Amethyst. At Evie. “No one is dying in this stupid room.” I scan the vast space for any other means of escape, any other means of fixing this. The fires continue to smother the labyrinth behind us, however, smoke burning hot in the air. There are no other exits that I can see. And even if we could find a way out of here, Amethyst has still seen us.

Amethyst is still in our way.

The wolf prowls forward, her claws scraping against the floorboards like nails down a chalkboard. The sound raises my hackles until the bones under my skin begin to bend with impending transformation. My spine begs to bow, to snap, but I tense my muscles, breathing harshly to try and stop it.

Transforming too late was what killed Queen Jae. Transforming too late could prove our doom now.

“I’m not seeing any other solution,” Evie says, her voice the rasp of a churning midnight sea. Deadly, infinite, and wholly unpredictable. “It’s her or us.” Evie’s knuckles crack, twisting beneath her flesh and forcing her claws to extend farther. She licks her fangs in threat as Amethyst’s growl reaches a vicious crescendo.

No no no. There has to be another way.

I reach for Evie before she can lunge, but I’m too late. Amethyst pounces.

Her paws slam into the floor with enough impact to splinter the floorboards, a mere breath away. Evie whirls around, dodging Amethyst’s fangs by an inch. Just one inch. Evie’s head snaps up, her gaze colliding with mine as she swipes a claw at Amethyst’s haunches. Amethyst doesn’t care about a scratch, though. She is a wolf right now, and as a wolf, she has relentless strength. Uninhibited momentum. Amethyst won’t parry as if this is a civilized duel. She’ll attack. She’ll go straight for the kill. This isn’t a game anymore. This isn’t chess.

This is life and death.

Amethyst throws herself at Evie, again and again, forcing Evie to sprint backward. Evie avoids the blows, but she can’t avoid the labyrinth. She’s too close now, and the fire rages all around her. Amethyst snarls, her wolfish snout curling into a violent smirk as black smoke clouds the room, casting a wretched haze between us as Evie darts around Amethyst—only to stumble into a stack of flaming pages. Only to shriek as the fire burns her arms. Her sleeve incinerates as Evie leaps away, then flips over Amethyst with a gymnast’s precision.

I move before Amethyst can round on Evie, quick enough to slide between them and wrap a hand around Evie’s wrist, pulling her away from the labyrinth and against a white arch.

Amethyst exhales a short breath, and it almost sounds like a laugh. Her yellow eyes glow brighter in taunting amusement. I grit my teeth as dark hunger pools hot in my stomach. I want to take Amethyst’s skull between my hands and crush it. I want to shove her into the flames and let them devour her the way this castle has devoured me. But we haven’t defeated Cora. This isn’t revenge. This means nothing.

“Compel her,” I growl.

Evie tears her gaze from Amethyst to gape at me. “What? Are you out of your mind?”

“We can compel her.”

Amethyst corners us slowly, but I stop paying attention to her. She may be brute force, but that’s all she is. I am not afraid of her. Turning toward me, setting those Beta eyes on my face with palpable bloodlust, Amethyst prepares to charge. But I already know the moves she’ll make. Instinct floods my senses. Amethyst will try to crush me against the wall. I simply twist away before she can, using the arch as a shield.

Separated by a column of the arch, Evie says, “Cora could still compel the truth out of her. She could scent something is wrong. Compulsion isn’t guaranteed. Especially not with someone as smart as Cora. It’s too dangerous.”

Amethyst snarls and slams into the arch. It reverberates enough to rattle the ceiling, the walls. Shit. Someone could hear. We have to finish this. Now.

“I don’t see what other choice we have. If we kill Amethyst, Cora will have the halls guarded even more than she does now. We’ll have no shot at getting close to her.”

“And if it doesn’t work? If this backfires on us?” Evie flies past me, a mere second before Amethyst tries to dig her fangs into my arm, and then throws herself onto Amethyst’s back. Amethyst bucks like a wild bull, but Evie impales her claws just beneath Amethyst’s neck, riding out the wicked movements, allowing Amethyst to tire herself out. If Evie wanted, she could slice a major artery. She could try slicing Amethyst’s head off. But she doesn’t—which means I’ve almost convinced her.

“We’ll go after Cora’s werewolves next. We’ll thin out her army. Take away her pack strength.” I barely swerve a crazed Amethyst as she barrels toward me and slams into the wall hard enough to crack the window above her. “We can compel Amethyst, Evie. Just her. No one else. Cora won’t know, and we’ll never do it again.”

Amethyst rears back and throws herself forward—hard enough to hurl Evie off her back. Evie soars through the air before smacking into the wall and landing in a heap at my feet. She groans, pushing hair and soot from her eyes. “Do you know how hard it is to make eye contact with a raging beast, let alone maintain it long enough to compel them?”

“Do we have any other choice?”

By the time Evie is back on her feet, Amethyst lashes me on the hip—claws cutting deep, right where Sin bit me three months ago, and I collapse with a snarl. The wolf doesn’t stop moving, though. Evie’s right. We can’t catch her to compel her. At least, not without greatly injuring her. Not without more noise, and blood, and evidence.

I climb onto my knees as Evie falls to hers.

“Do you realize how ridiculous this is?” Evie curses, pushing her hair behind her ears, then braces herself to stand. Amethyst slams a paw onto Evie’s spine and shoves her back on the ground. Evie’s chin cracks against the floorboards. The sound echoes in my ears. Sickening. Familiar.

Evie groans again, but it’s weaker this time. She tries to push up, to twist out from Amethyst’s grasp, but Amethyst weighs her down. Amethyst opens her jaw wide.