Page 159 of Hell Bound

The possibility of a future worth having.

I clenched my jaws, the wolf inside me finally rising.

Pain shot through me again, winding in my joints like snake venom. My lungs compressed as she reached for the vial.

You are not my mate, the wolf snarled, clawing inside my skin. Gnawing at the chains that held me captive.

I had Lilith back… I had her touch on my lips, the need for her emblazoned on my soul.

I would not allow Sameera to use me like this.

The agony was blinding. I pushed with everything I had, feeling the chains around me creak and groan, fighting against my free will.

It was the wolf who pushed past. The wolf in me—thatwasme—ripping through the bindings that tried to make me betray her.

I would not do this.

Not with my mate’s life on the line, with her needing me.

Sameera hissed, grabbing for the vial as my arms began to shake.

I pulled free before she could snatch it, gripping her wrists. The wolf’s power coursed through me, replacing what she had stolen.

Where blood had been in my body, hellfire now powered me.

“Never again,” I whispered, letting a ghastly smile crawl over my lips.

Sameera’s eyes widened as I squeezed.

She gasped in pain, releasing the vial. It shattered on the floor, rendered useless, and I shoved her off me.

She hit the floor hard, rolling over and coming to a tumbling halt. Within a second she’d flipped back onto her feet, her posture nearly feral, white hair spilling over her face.

“You fuckingdog,” she sneered, lunging for me.

I caught her by the throat.

She hissed and screeched, trying to claw at my body. When her nails missed me by bare inches, she began to shred the arm that held her.

Blood dripped, and I squeezed.

So tight that her pale face began to purple.

I slammed her against the wall, watching her eyes slowly begin to glaze over. And again, and again.

Soon her scalp was a bloody mess, and her movements grew weaker. Erratic.

I couldn’t bring myself to kill her. It had been hard enough just breaking the chains that allowed me free will; everything I had left in me had to be reserved for Lilith.

But Ihadbroken the chains, and that meant…

The guttering flame of hope in me surged back to a roaring blaze.

I could break them again to get her away from here. As far from the Infernal Court as I could manage before I collapsed.

Even if the curse tore me apart, flayed me from the inside, it would be worth it.

I dropped Sameera. She landed on the floor like a sack of dead meat, her breathing raspy, but she was still alive. Her eyes had rolled up in her head as she slumped to the side, sprawling in the most undignified way possible.

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