Page 145 of Blood So Brutal

Chapter 56

Huntyr

FOUR MONTHS LATER

Wolf soared passed me in the air. His golden wings nearly blinded me as he narrowly avoided my face. “You’ll have to be faster than that, Huntress!”

This smug bastard.Some things really never changed. I pumped my wings harder, faster, soaring through the air beside him and twisting my body around so we faced each other. “You may have more practice with this,” I started, “but those glorious wings of yours do have one major flaw.”

He flew closer to me, our wings nearly touching. “Oh yeah? Do tell, my queen.”

Hells, I was never going to grow tired of looking at him like this. He beamed with happiness as we hovered in the air above our kingdom. His new wings quickly became a talking point, not just in Scarlata, but in the rest of Vaehatis too.

Wolf was the magnificent, powerful male who saved us all.

Before, he hated attention. He was used to walking around The Golden City with his head down, lingering in his father’s shadow.

But not here. Here, children screamed with excitement and ran to him when he walked into a room. Here, his golden wings were a sign of safety, of protection from the goddess herself.

Brought back from death and touched by gold.

“They're too damn big for your own good. Good luck keeping up with those!” I zipped past him, soaring even higher before funneling myself toward the ground and diving—fast.

Wolf’s wicked laughter rang out around me as he caught up effortlessly. We both knew the size of his wings was nothing short of perfect. They were the biggest wings anyone had ever seen, and he maneuvered them like he had worn them his entire life.

I stopped myself in the air a few feet over the roof of our building. Rummy stood there waiting, waving her hand in the air to get my attention. Wolf was right behind me. We lowered ourselves to the roof with ease—something I had to practice a few times before I got the hang of.

“Look at you two,” she said. “If I didn’t know you two were the damn saviors of this place, I would be scared shitless.”

Wolf sauntered forward, his wing brushing over mine and sending a chill down my spine. “Maybe wewantto scare them all shitless,” he joked. “It’ll keep them all far, far away from here.”

“Ignore him.” I pushed his shoulder. “You’re back early. I wasn’t expecting you until tomorrow.”

The smile grew on her face with every passing second.

“What?” I asked. “What is it?”

“It worked,” was all she said.

“It—” My heart stopped. “It worked? You’re sure?”

She could hardly contain her excitement, bouncing up and down like she used to do when we were young. “It worked, Hunt! We traveled miles from this place, and we didn’t see a single hungry one. It’s been months since the last one was spotted. Iknow you’ve been waiting on some big sign or announcement, but this?” She waved her hands to the side of her, motioning to our kingdom. “This place is safer than it ever could have been, all because of you.”

Wolf cleared his throat beside me.

“Oh, shove it,” she sneered. “Your head isn’t big enough with those wings yet?”

Hells, I loved her. Wolf pretended to look shocked, but I was too focused on the words that came out of her mouth.

When Wolf told me my blood was the cure to the hungry ones, I was skeptical. It all seemed too easy after how difficult the rest of our lives were.

But a few drops of my blood spilled into the lands of Scarlata, followed by Wolf chanting in an odd language I was certain only Era spoke, and it was done.

The hungry ones were actuallycured.

It was a massive relief that our own people wouldn’t have to fear the sickness, but it also sent a wave of ease through me at the thought of everyone else changing the way they viewed us. Vampyres weren’t blood-hungry, depraved animals who couldn’t control their cravings.

We were just like fae, just like angels, only way cooler and with some odd dietary restrictions.

---