Page 149 of Fated In Ruin

With a heavy sigh that was a tad on the dramatic side, I turned back to Ravok. His grin was pure triumph when I placed my hand in his, shuddering at the contact. “You made the right choice,” he murmured, his cold fingers closing cruelly around mine.

I forced myself to smile back, a frail, defeated attempt. “Have I really?”

His eyes narrowed. Too late, he noticed my other hand, the one hiding the vial filled with silver nitrate. The one I brought up in a swift, vicious arc.

The plunger sank between his ribs with surprising ease and I used both hands to drive the point even deeper, his eyes widening in shock as poison flooded his system. All around us, the walls trembled, he shoved me away, sending me crashing backwards into the pool of water.

Ravok grunted, clawing at the hilt imbedded in his chest, staggering into the wall, silver burning his insides, sending up wisps of acrid smoke. Black blood, thick as tar, oozed from the wound.

“Fucking kill her,” he commanded Malachi, his voice distorted as he clawed at the syringe, trying to tear it from his body. But he was too late. The silver was inside him, turning his blood to sludge, eating away at his insides.

“Kill her for what she’s done.”

The beast just grinned, baring long, curved teeth, eyes gleaming with malice as I splashed back to him, catching his hand. “Now,” I gasped. “Take me to Riordan and Blake.”

My ears popped when we disappeared, only to reappear a few feet away, just outside in the corridor, where Riordan stopped my frantic mate from jamming a very large blade into Malachi’s gut.

I glared up at the beast.Really? They’ve been out here this whole time?

You told me to bring you to them. Here they are.I swore a hint of Malachi’s old insolence seeped into the beast’s thoughts, but it was hard to tell when I was about to pass out from fear.

“It’s okay, this is still Malachi. Kind of.” I risked a glance over my shoulder. “Ravok will be incapacitated for a few minutes, long enough for us to get out, because if we use any magic down here…”

As if on command, the walls shuddered when Ravok’s enraged roar nearly deafened me. “Okay, time to get moving.”

“Eldric’s still back there.” Riordan hooked his thumb over his shoulder as Blake reached for me, only to have an enormous, taloned paw land on his shoulder and shove him away.

“Oh no, this is not fucking happening,” Blake hissed. “She is my fucking mate and I don’t even know what the fuck you are.”

“Stop that.” I glared at Blake, then up at the beast, putting some extra sternness into my expression, since he was like eight feet tall. “We have to get out of these tunnels. Now.” I turned to Riordan. “Eldric is where, exactly? We have to take this fight above ground or we’ll get buried down here.”

“Back there,” Riordan repeated, while Blake and the beast totally ignored me and bared their fangs at each other. “He stayed behind to deal with Romulus, and we came to save you.” Riordan’s eyes widened when Malachi leaned into Blake’s face and snarled.

“I guess we got here too late, since you already have a guard dog.”

“He’s not a dog. He’s a…well, he’s an Orcus, whatever that is.” Behind them, Ravok climbed to his feet, ripping the plunger from his chest black blood dribbling down his abdomen. “Look, we’re going to die down here if you three don’t get your shit tog…”

A hand as big as a dinner plate wrapped around my arm and we were gone.

* * *

The beast landedus on an outcropping across from the ruined castle, his taloned toes digging grooves into the granite. But this was perfect spot to watch Fiona stomp along the perimeter of the wards, Nash scanning the pine forest around them for threats.

“We need to get down there.” I pointed. “We have to warn them.”

But the beast just rumbled—purred, more like—in his chest, advancing on me like some otherworldly predator until I braced my hand against his slab of a chest. “Stop.” I shook my head as he leaned closer, ran his nose up the side of my throat and sniffed. “This is…”Not the time.

Never the time with something that looked so…strangely unlike the male he used to be and yet, the idea of being with him was so fucking intriguing I was aroused just thinking about it andwhat in the fuck was wrong with me? Had I lost my mind?

Or…was this actually a possibility?

One more glance down and I lost my breath…oh, no, he definitely wouldn’t fit.

I want so badly to taste you. You scent is intoxicating.That too-long tongue swept out again and the shiver that went through me had nothing to do with the cold.

And…definitely not the time.

“See all those people down there?” I pointed. “They are my friends. If we are all still here when Ravok reaches the surface, he will start killing them, one by one.” Of course, this was the exact moment Riordan and Blake reappeared beneath us, my mate glaring daggers at the two of us.

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