Page 28 of Gargoyle Sentinel

Malachi’s blazing eyes never left Emma’s face, his massive form coiled and ready to strike, his wings spread wide and tail raised high.

“You can’t win, Emma. I won’t let you hurt him.”

Malachi’s resounding voice filled the room, and Danny wondered where Henderson and the rest of the staff were. If they had any sense, they would be running for their lives.

Emma laughed. “Guess what? I think I’ll give my wedding gift to you both right now.” Her laughter took on a sickening edge, like the dying cries of tortured souls. “Surprise! I’m not alone.”

A shadow fell across the room as three grotesque creatures, which Danny assumed were corrupted gargoyles, burst through the bay windows, sending glass shards flying in all directions. Malachi lunged at the creatures with his fangs bared, talons extended, and a spiked club at the end of his tail. Even his wings bore a large thorn at their fold.

Emma backed away from the fight, dragging Danny with her, knife still pressed to his throat. He watched in horror as Malachi battled the creatures with terrifying efficiency, his stony form a blur of motion as he tore apart the first beast. Its screeching wail echoed through the drawing room as it dissolved into black ash.

“You see?” Emma hissed in Danny’s ear, still dragging him backward toward the hallway. “Your darling fiancé is as monstrous as they are."

Danny struggled against her hold. “He’s nothing like them! Let me go, you psycho!”

The remaining shadow gargoyles circled Malachi, their ruby eyes gleaming with malice. One lunged at him from behind while the other attacked from the front. Malachi caught the front attacker by its throat, crushing its windpipe with a sickening crunch before whipping his tail around to impale the other through its chest.

Emma’s grip faltered slightly when Malachi dispatched the final shadow gargoyle. But before he could cry victory, five more shadows rushed in from all sides, crashing through the remaining windows and the French doors leading to the garden. These creatures were larger, more vicious-looking than the first wave, their inky, twisted forms rippling with dark energy.

“Mal!” Danny shouted, his voice cracking as he struggled against Emma, battling her attempt to drag him away.

Malachi’s head snapped toward them, his glare burning with fury. The sound that erupted from him was pure rage—a battle cry that shook the crystal chandelier above.

“You made a mistake touching what’s mine!” Malachi snarled.

Right as the group of hideous shadows rushed Malachi, Emma’s laugh turned shriller, more unhinged. “Oh, this is even better than I hoped! Watch your precious gargoyle get ripped to shreds, brother dear.”

But Malachi moved with deadly grace, his centuries of battle experience evident in every calculated strike. He seized one shadow gargoyle by its wing and used it as a weapon to bludgeon another, both dissolving into ash. His tail lashed out, taking the head clean off a third creature.

Danny’s throat closed up as the remaining two attacked Malachi, one on either side of him. Malachi roared in defiance, but exhaustion was beginning to show in his mate’s less precise movements.

Danny was thrown to the floor by an unknown Slayer, with Emma still clutching him, but the force of the blow ejected the knife from her hand. They both landed with anoomph, and Danny quickly rolled away from his deranged sister. She lunged for him while scrambling to her feet, making it easier for him to throw her off balance with a volley of kicks from where he lay on the floor.

“Get the fuck away from me, you sibling disaster!”

She snarled and shrieked like a rabid weasel, clambering toward him with jerky movements, her mouth frothing.

Yikes.

Danny crab-walked away from her, and right as his back hit the wall, a Slayer plucked her from the floor by the back of theneck as if she weighed no more than a feather. Danny squinted at the gargoyle, something vaguely familiar about its eyes. Cassiel. His memory returned in a flash, remembering her face when he’d stared up at her as she flew him to safety.

“Danny!” Malachi’s voice cut through the chaos as he dispatched the last shadow gargoyle, its body crumbling to ash. “Are you hurt?”

“Mal!” He scrambled to his feet, rushing toward his mate, overpowering relief filling him that Malachi hadn’t been killed.

Malachi caught him easily, one stony arm wrapping around Danny’s waist while keeping his lethal talons angled away. As his mate inspected him, a rumble vibrated in Malachi’s chest.

“She nicked your throat.” His lips pulled back in a snarl. “She’ll pay.”

Cassiel held the thrashing Emma at arm’s length, her gargoyle strength making his sister’s struggles appear pathetic. Emma’s perfect makeup was smeared across her face, mascara running down her cheeks in inky rivers.

“Careful with this one,” Cassiel called out, her amber eyes fixed on Emma. “She’s on the verge of completely turning.”

“You don’t understand!” Emma screamed, her voice cracking. “They promised me power! Influencer fame beyond anything I’ve achieved! The diamond was only the beginning!”

Cassiel grunted. “Hate to break it to you, sister. But that diamond was chopped up a long time ago. Those demons lie likesnakes.”

Danny balled his fists. “You were going to sacrifice me forInstagramfollowers? Seriously?”

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