Page 40 of The Wolf's Appetite
And then there were the limbs—legs and armsthat were strewn around like discarded meat, torn clean from bodies. The sharp copper tang of fresh death clung to the air making my throat tighten with rage.
A man slowly walked past, deep gouges down the side of his face, one of his fucking eyes completely gone. He was in shock and didn’t evenseem to realize what was happening as he stumbled around, his steps jerky as he wandered toward the street.
“Go get him. He needs medical treatment,” I barked out to Tavish, who caught him and led him off to the side and to safety. We had a shitload of injured who needed to be seen… and even more dead bodies to clean up.
I felt my muscles tighten as the war ensued, and I was thrust back to the night we fought the Assembly. My body wanted to freeze, fear and panic trying to take control. But I refused to let it take over. If I didn’t keep my shit together, my family and my mate would be hurt, and there’s no fucking way I’d allow that.
“On your left!” Kane’s shout cut through the chaos.
I turned in time to see it. The Therabus in itsoriginalform headed right at me. The fucker was a grotesque thing, but I found my center, exhaled, and slowly smiled.
No blond hair. No deceptive blue eyes. Just the raw, unfiltered nightmare of what this asshole was when it didn’t have glamour in place.
Its scaled hide was covered in red blood from the humans and black from the few shots it had taken. The scales weren’t smooth—they jutted in jagged, uneven ridges making it look like a living weapon–and that’s exactly what it was used for.
It slammed its body into anyone who got close, using its scales to tear flesh and flay them open.
Its jaws hung open, unhinged to show three layers of glistening teeth, all dripping with shredded flesh, saliva, and black and red blood. Strings of muscle and sinew clung to its mouth as it roared and lifted its claws up, charging right to me.
And that tail—more likea longsword of bone—whipped through the air, smashing a market stall to splinters. A poor bastard screamed in fear and tried to run, but the Therabus whipped the tail out, punching through the man’s chest,liftinghim from the ground before tossing him aside like refuse.
A woman tried to crawl away, sobbing, her hands sliding in another person’s blood. The Therabus turned and tried to go after her, but three Lycan Guard were on it, using their knives and guns to plow through the fucker while another Guard pulled the woman away to safety.
I helped round up other survivors, some uninjured, others gravely hurt.
Rage burned white-hot in my veins.
“Mind Sweepers and witches get in position. We have to neutralize the fooker,” I roared and got my weapons out, diving into the fray and tearing into the Therabus, slicing and tearing, the acidic stench of its blood saturating the air.
Adryan was already moving, a dark, massive blur as he grabbed a human who hid behind a stall, filming on his phone. Crazy fucker that he was, Adryan at least had the sense not to kill the human. Instead, he smashed the device under his boot and snarled. A Mind Sweeper was right there, digging deep into the human’s mind and taking all memories over the last several hours. He was then shoved to safety, to the area all the other humans were being corralled to, the witches working their magic–literally–to keep this under control.
Kane flanked my right, tossing something toward the beast. I didn’t have a moment to see what it was before the fucking thing exploded. It roared, spinning toward the vampire. I opened fire, letting off round after round of poisoned, magic-laced bullets to help immobilize the creature.
But the damn thing wasn’t acting like it should and seemed more powerful than ever.
“Drive it toward me,” I snarled, yelling toward the vampires and Guard.
Sebastian blurred in from behind, his blade slicing deep into the beast’s hamstring, forcing it to stagger. The tail whipped wildly, but Kane caught it mid-swing with a weighted chain, yanking it hard enough to throw the creature off-balance.
I charged forward then, nothing else in my mind other than taking it down and ending this shit.
The witches were all around me now, chanting, and I felt their power surround me. My weapons heated white hot in my hands, and I secured them to my body, knowing they were fortified with the power I needed.
The Therabus was on me, taking me to the ground, but magic swirled and electrified around me, and I plunged my blade deep into its body repeatedly, covering me in its rotten blood.
The enchanted steel in my hand burned as I plunged it into the base of its skull. The knife met bone with a sickening crunch, shearing halfway through before the Therabus bucked and screamed. I twisted, pushing it underneath me so I could plant my boots on its spine. I pulled the blade free, and drove it down again, straight through the crown of the Therabus’s head so it came out through its eye socket.
Thick black blood exploded across the cobblestones. The beast shuddered once. Twice. Then went still. But the screaming in the streets didn’t stop.
I turned to witness a sea of witches, warlocks, and Mind Sweepers forming a tight circle around all the survivors. The Guard and vampires patrolled the area, gathering the dead. I knew a cleaning crew would have already been called, and the tech team was already doing damagecontrol on the internet.
Thick magic swept through the square like flashes of light and electricity. And as the seconds passed, the humans’ panic lessened as their eyes glazed over, their memories already being rewritten. Their fear was being replaced with the memory of watching a live-action scene from an upcoming movie that was being filmed in their town.
Then the scene was ours again, and we controlled the narrative. It was the only way to keep everyone safe.
25
LENNOX
