Page 76 of Bitten By Bloodmoon
I grind my teeth together as I pull my hand back from her body, refusing to scream in pain again. But it’s taking all of my focus not to scream out. I have to let Lumi know what’s happening, but if I open my mouth again, all I’ll do is scream.
“The witches. Hands. Pain.”I punctuate each word even in my mind to keep from screaming into her void.
Lumi’s eyes widen, getting the message. She grabs my hands and unwraps one of the bandages. We both glance down and see my blood turning black as it begins to spread from my hand, winding its way like twisted rivers up my arms.
“They’re trying to kill you. Why?”
I let out a whoosh of breath to keep another agonizing howl down.
“We have to leave. Can you run? Or shift?” she asks.
I have a feeling their magic won’t allow me to leave. But I don’t have much time.
“Stay here?”My words barely make it through our connection, but I hope she understands what I’m asking her.
She searches my eyes, trying to understand. “No, I won’t stay here. I’m not going to hide while you do whatever you think you can do to stop this from happening. I want to help.” Her voice is frantic but determined as I expected her to answer, but I had to try.
I let out a strangled growl.“Distraction—they won’t kill you. They think you are the key to breaking the curse.”
“I can do that. What are you going to do?”
I shake my head, my words hard to get out even through our connection. I jump out of bed, pulling Lumi behind me, wasting no time at all.
“Not to be an asshole, right now, but um…do you really think you are capable of stopping them when you can’t even speak?”
We reach the door of the hut, and I’m gripping her hand, keeping her behind me. I turn, looking her dead in the eyes as I answer, “Yes.”
Her eyes heat, and she bites her bottom lip at the single-word answer. “Later, love.”That is, if you still want me to kiss you after you see what I become.
I open the door, shielding Lumi with my body as I’m greeted by the full coven of witches. Lumi doesn’t care to use my body as a shield, though, as she quickly moves to standing by my right side.
“Tell me when,”she says calmly in my head, no fear or self-doubt in sight.
I stare them down. “I gave you an offering, and this is how you repay me? By spelling me?”
I can feel Lumi’s eyes on me with a hint of surprise at how well I’m speaking when I was doubled over in pain seconds ago. But it’s a skill I’ve had a lot of practice refining that I can do under the right circumstances.
“You lied to me,” Starling says coolly.
I raise my eyebrows. “I don’t lie.”
“Juliette has a gift for seeing what people try to hide. And you, alpha-lord, tried to hide that the curse can only be broken for one species. Either the witches, the wolf shifters, or the vampires.” She spits out the last word like a curse.
“Get ready,”I warn Lumi.
She reaches into the side of her boot and pulls out her blade. I don’t know what she plans to do with the blade, but I’m glad she has it.
“And you, alpha-lord, seem to think that you could be the snow wolf’s mate. Which would mean you would be breaking the curse for the vampires or the wolf shifters. We won’t allow that to happen.”
“Now.”
I don’t look at what Lumi’s doing to serve as a distraction. I trust her, and I know the witches won’t kill their only chance at breaking the curse.
Instead, I do what I’ve been trained to do—I kill.
The pain intensifies in harsh waves, traveling up my hands and through my arms. But I don’t need my arms to kill them. Only my teeth and speed.
They only see me as a vampire. So that’s how they’ll die, from the venom of a vampire. My teeth sink into the first neck before their magic even spreads past my shoulders. Before her body even hits the floor, I’ve sunk my teeth into two more—one wrist and one neck.
