Page 104 of Snag
Shaw completes his lunge, landing within reach of me. His hand extends toward my neck, claws primed to rip out my throat.
Rogue agent or not, Shaw killing me clearly wasn’t his original directive. Unfortunately, pushing people past their original intent is a fairly common side effect of me just being me.
Muta strikes first, fangs dripping with venom as he latches onto Shaw’s wrist. The canine shifter screams. The death god twists in midair, flipping off my shoulder to twine around Shaw’s forearm, then biting him again and again.
Shaw stumbles back a few steps.
DeVille— or rather, DeVille’s beast— crashes into Shaw from the side. I catch sight of a stunned Reck over the beast’s massive shoulder. Then DeVille is crushing Shaw’s head in his massive maw, fangs buried deep into his skull.
Muta falls to the pavement, coiling in on himself and hissing pissily. He’s clearly displeased that DeVille has claimed his kill, never mind that it would have taken fifteen minutes before his venom imploded Shaw’s heart.
“That’s going to be hard to heal,” Bellamy mutters. She steps back like she’s uncharacteristically afraid some of Shaw’s blood is going to get on her.
Sabertooth DeVille starts all-out mauling Shaw, who is very clearly dead. Then he’s batting the agent’s limp body from one side to the other, like a cat with a mouse.
Reck, seemingly recovered, strides toward Wilson. “Stop that,” he says to the sabertooth as he passes.
The sabertooth snarls at him pissily, but listens. Heabandons Shaw’s bloody body, settling down to lick that blood off his paws. His eyes are a blazing yellow, no hint of DeVille in their depths.
I’m not sure he’s going to fit in the SUV for the drive home.
Still on her knees, Wilson has recovered a shard of her wand and is in the process of using that shard to channel enough essence to cauterize her wrist. She looks up at Reck as he approaches, terror finally breaking through her deadened indifference.
“We were just following orders,” she says pleadingly. “We’ve been tracking Bellamy —”
“Lie,” Reck says.
“It’s the Authority mandate —”
“Lie.”
“Reck —”
“That’s not a name you get to use,” he croons with deadly intent. He crouches, almost lovingly cupping Wilson’s cheek.
“We’re loyal,” she insists. “Loyal to you. And even though she’s awry, we would never have hurt your sister —”
In a blur of motion, Reck snaps Wilson’s neck.
She falls to the ground at his feet.
Presh stifles a scream, drawing the sabertooth’s attention. He rises onto all fours and slowly pads toward his soul-bound mate. Not even a hint of violent intent in the movement.
Reck gazes down at Wilson. “More lies,” he murmurs thoughtfully.
“Well, that’s one way to tender your resignation,” Bellamy says mockingly.
It’s also an effective way to stop me fromasking questions and getting any answers from either Authority agent now.
Still crouched, Reck fixes his malevolent gaze on his newly revealed sister. “I still have you to turn in.”
Bellamy slips behind me, laying her athame across the front of my neck. “I don’t think so.”
“Seriously!?” Presh cries, grabbing fistfuls of the longer fur around the sabertooth’s neck as if she might be able to slow the beast down if he decides to charge again. “You said you needed help!”
“What I need,” Bellamy says, “is leverage. And insurance.”
I smile involuntarily, ignoring the blade lightly pressed against my skin. I can’t decide if Presh is just extremely gullible, or whether she’s so pure hearted that she actually does believe that everyone deserves grace and forgiveness. Redemption.
