Page 121 of Wrath

“What the fuck is wrong with you?” I bellowed, lunging forward. The guards reached to restrain me, but I easily swatted them away, continuing my forward momentum. “Do you even know what you’ve done? Do you?”

I was close enough now that I could see the whites of his eyes. I growled at him, the noise low and threatening, and he staggered back a step before catching himself. Stopping. Straightening his shoulders.

“I did what I had to do for my family,” Turner said stiffly, his glare penetrating.

“You killed dozens of your own kind,” Bash snapped.

Behind his back, green fire lit his hands, but with no way to direct the magic, it sputtered and then flickered out.

“You wouldn’t understand.” Turner bared his teeth at the mage before turning to me. “It’s your fault they were in this situation to begin with! You deserve to die for what you’ve done. They don’t!” His anger and fear were making him hysterical. Desperate. He whirled towards the warden with bloodshot eyes,a tremor raking down his spine. “Please. I told you I could get you the shifter prince. Let my family go. Please.”

“You fucking dumbass,” Bash muttered, too low for Turner to hear.

He shook his head ruefully and looked away, his jaw clenched.

But I remained watching, unsure of what the fuck I should be feeling as the warden stepped up to Turner, grabbed his head between his meaty hands, and gave it a sharp twist.

Turner dropped to the ground, dead.

What was this emotion bubbling in my chest? Guilt? Regret? Happiness? Triumph? Something else entirely? I didn’t know for sure, and that terrified me.

I didn’t want to rejoice over the death of another man, even one as awful as Turner. All he wanted was to save his family, and could I blame him? If Z had been the human in this camp, I would’ve done whatever it took to free her, consequences be damned.

But at the end of the day, there was nothing I could do to change how today had transpired. Turner didn’t trust me and my brothers enough to follow through on our plan. He’d always intended to turn us in.

Now I just needed to figure out a way to get us out of this mess. Z would have my balls if she had to save me.

“This is what happens when you’re a traitor to the crown!” The warden moved to stand on the rickety front porch of one of the buildings, the wood beneath him beginning to rot and decay. He flashed his fangs in a malicious smile and lifted a fist into the air. “We serve the true king!”

The guards around us all began to cheer and laugh. One of them purposely elbowed me in the stomach, though I didn’t stumble or allow even a smidgen of the pain I felt to appear on my face. I wouldn’t give any of them the satisfaction.

Bash shot me a look from across the way, his eyes expressing everything he couldn’t say out loud.

What the fuck do we do now?

Killian flicked his eyes my way before very purposely looking in the other direction—towards a large stone building covered in rows of unwashed windows. Thin, sunken faces peeked out, dirt smeared on their cheeks, their hair disheveled.

Humans.

They must’ve moved all of the humans into this building when they caught wind of our impending attack. I had no idea what it served as—maybe a cafeteria—but if the humans were there…

But no. I couldn’t expect them to fight. They were more than likely weak from years of malnutrition and beatings.

Scenario after scenario flitted through my head as I analyzed our strengths and weaknesses. Bash couldn’t use his magic currently, but that didn’t mean he was without protection. And Killian couldn’t speak, but if we could just get the gag out of his mouth?—

“Soon, the body before us will be that of the Liberator!” The warden flashed another grin, the motion tugging at the scars on his face and neck. “She’ll come for her mates, and when she does, we’ll show her how real men fuck.”

A red haze descended over my vision.

Bash bellowed something I couldn’t quite make out, and Killian screamed around his gag, rage emanating from his eyes. I processed this all in a way that felt almost disembodied, like someone else was experiencing this, and I was simply an observer.

Not Z.

Never Z.

I would not be used as a trap to capture and harm my girl.

I metaphorically popped back into my body with a snap, my veins alight and my pulse pounding. I was the embodiment of wrath.

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