Page 178 of The Wolf King

Go for the throat.

In a swift movement, I slide the blade across Sebastian’s neck.

His eyes widen. He reaches for the wound as hot, red blood spills between his fingers.

“That is what I learned while being the whore to the Highfell Beast,”I snarl.

I expect to see horror on his face. Instead, his lips curve into a smile that mimics the slit across his throat.

“You. . . stupid. . . bitch. . .” he rasps as I lean over him. “Now you’ll. . . never know. . . the truth. Night. . . is . . . spreading. It will. . . take you all.”

A manic laugh bubbles from his lips with his last breath.

And then his body is still. Empty. Nothing but a grotesque and bloody statue of the monster he once was.

Disbelief crashes over me. I killed him. He’s really dead.

Shaking, I shove the door above me, and it flings open. I pull myself out of it, wood splintering my skin. Glass sprinkles off my dress when I stand. I think I am in shock, because everything feels far away. Cold adrenaline pumps through me, even though the danger has passed.

I stagger over the grass, almost tripping over the dismembered wheel of the carriage.

I’m in a clearing. The horses are gone. The man who was driving lies dead on the hill we rolled down. I’m alone.

The moon shines down on me, and the air has never tasted so sweet. It tastes like freedom. It tastes like a future I never dared to imagine. It tastes like hope.

I have just killed someone, and I’m sure I will feel something about that later. And yet, right now, I smile.

Until a growl rumbles through the night behind me.

I spin around.

A large brown wolf with markings on his legs stalks toward me, his muscles rippling with each thud of his paws. He bares his teeth.

I sigh, realizing what caused the carriage to roll over.

“James?” I say softly, soothingly. “It’s okay. It’s over. I killed him.”

His eyes flash with menace. I step back, frowning.

“James, what are you doing? You said...”

I sense the danger that emanates from him.

He is bigger, even, than Callum. The ground rumbles with every step he takes.

I do not know if he is angry I have robbed him of his kill, whether he wants to take something from Sebastian even after his death, or whether the wolf within him has taken over and just wants blood.

But his eyes promise death.

I release a half-laugh, almost manic, as hysteria bubbles inside me. I shake my head.

“No. You can’t do this. This cannot be the end.” My hand curls around the hilt of the bloody knife. “It can’t be.”

He growls, and I feel it vibrating through my soul.

“No.”

Yes,he seems to say.

---