Page 47 of Bitten By Bloodmoon
“Fuck,” Emeric says under his breath, punching the wall and leaving the first mark.
“Then we kill Nyx,” Kael says, looking from Emeric to me.
“Nyx has done this before. Used his mind control against someone Ambrose loved. It didn’t end well,” Emeric says.
I stand, eyeing Emeric. I guess we are just spilling all of my secrets to everyone in this room.
“Then we definitely need to kill him,” Kael says.
“You and what army, kid? Don’t you think we’ve tried before? Why do you think the Moonfire coven joined forces with the Moonlight pack? It’s not because we get along so well. We’d all be better off if he were dead, but that’s harder to do than you’d think,” Isolde says.
“We have to try. We have to get Lumi back. If that means we have to find a way to kill Nyx, then…” Kael stops, then takes a deep sniff, his eyes darkening into balls of rage as he stares at me.
“What did you do?” he growls at me, the first slowly starting as his canines lengthen and his claws begin to form.
“I already told you.”
“You fucked her! I can smell her scent all over you.”
I narrow my eyes at him. “Yes, I fucked her. We’re mates. She loves me, or did until Nyx fucked everything up. We are two consenting adults.”
“No, you fucked her when you could have been saving her,” the deep tanner of his voice so intense that words rattle the room. He shifts into his muddy brown colored wolf.
I sigh. I knew I should have brought them to the backyard and magically soundproofed it. But this felt like there was a chance we’d be more civilized.
Isolde folds her arms and smirks at me. Emeric braces for the impact he’s about to endure as well. Kael is right. I should have been saving Lumi instead of fucking her.
Kael pounces with all the rage he rightfully feels. I don’t move. I don’t shift. I don’t build my magic in my veins. I let him tackle me to the ground. I let his teeth get one sink into my neck and his claws one swipe at my face. There’s a sharp sting in my cheek as blood drips and an even deeper twinge in my neck.
With a wave of my magic, he’s across the room, frozen to the spot on the floor.
“I deserved that. But killing me now won’t save Lumi. And every time you hurt me, you hurt Emeric. That’s his curse. He didn’t do anything to Lumi. I won’t let you hurt him.”
Emeric growls at me. “I can speak for myself. And you could have fallen in love with her while you were fucking her. You could have let a slip of your tongue kill her. How dare you!”
He shifts into his majestic sandy-colored wolf.
This time, I brace harder, knowing that when he hits me, it’s going to do far worse than just leave a scratch like Kael did. Kael has only had his wolf for a few weeks. Emeric has had years to harness his skills.
Emeric grabs onto my arm and then throws me with all of his might, right through one of the walls. The sheet wall scrapes against my skin, cutting me in several places, and my body hits the ground hard, knocking the wind out of me.
I’m slow to get up, not just from the pain, but because Emeric knows in a situation like this, I won’t fight back. Emeric could kill me right now, and I’d do nothing to defend myself. Not after everything we’ve been through together. It used to be the four of us: Emeric, Amara, Rowena, and me. Now there’s just the two of us left. The only time I’ll ever fight him is on a sparring mat. And in the end, I always let him win.
When I finally bring myself to stand, I expect to see Emeric already attacking again, not letting up. He’d do it for Lumi. For Rowena. For Amara. For how foolish I was being with her after everything we’ve been through. He’d be right, but he wasn’t there. Didn’t know how badly Lumi needed that connection, that safe place. It was almost as if she knew we’d never get away. The best she could hope for was a quick reprieve. A moment where she felt safe. A moment when she could stay connected to me when we were apart.
Instead, he stands just as frozen as Kael. Isolde walks forward, standing in front of the opening in the wall.
I narrow my eyes in a glare at her.
“What? As fun as it was watching you beat each other up and destroy your home, we have more important things to worry about, and time is quickly running out again before the next full moon. I didn’t agree to our deal with you to watch them squander it,” Isolde says.
“Stay out of it, Isolde.”
“No. We have a deal, you and I. I can’t stay out of it.”
“Release Emeric now, before I make you.”
“Not until we are done talking. Then I’ll release him, and you three can go back to killing each other all you want.”
