Page 157 of Star Claimed Omega
A violet-gold flare erupted around him as he shifted into his spectral wolf form.
Huge. Radiant. Wrath incarnate. His claws gouged the sand.
His eyes were molten with torment.
‘Stay back!’ he roared, voice distorted by the shift.
Kaal shook his head. ‘I won’t. Face me, fight me like you would have Varnok, get that rage and bitterness to leak out of you, use me.’
Miral shook her head and countered. ‘Gentlemen, it doesn’t have to be this way.’
‘Since when were wefokkin;dignified?’ Kaal chuckled. ‘We’re lycans, Miral. We scrap and resolve our shit with claws and fists when conflict rises within or without us.’
Xander raised his hand to stay Miral, then nodded to sanction the face off.
Kaal growled as he stepped to Santi, goading him, taunting him, his talons extending as he gave a ‘come hither’ gesture to the soul-wounded man.
Santi roared and lunged.
Kaal met him first, shifting mid-stride, side-stepping a brutal swipe.
Miral braced for impact as Kaal pounced, larger, darker, his form erupting into a blinding wave of spectral energy.
OmegametGamma.
Kaal tackled Santi mid-air, their snarls echoing across the lake like thunder.
They crashed into the sand, spurs flashing, incisors bared.
But Kaal didn’t fight to injure; he fought to subdue.
Within seconds, he pinned Santi beneath him, massive fangs digging into the side of his neck, just above the glyphic knot.
It was a dominating hold, designed to subdue.
Santi writhed under him, once, twice, then stilled.
With a groan, he broke into guttural and hoarse sobs as his frame shuddered.
Kaal eased off, still in his wolf form, and pulled Santi close, cradling his collapsed friend against his broad chest.
Santi buried his face into Kaal’s torso and let it all pour out, the grief, the guilt, the ache of loss too profound for words.
‘I didn’t get to say goodbye,’ he choked. ‘I didn’t get to hold her. I didn’t,fokk, I didn’t tell her I was willing to work shit out, to forgive her.’
‘We know,’ Kaal muttered, returning to his human frame, pulling Santi’s head to his shoulder. ‘Weknow,hermano.’
Xander approached and, together with Kaal, they lifted him, his body limp from the breakdown, and guided him back to his cabin and into his bed.
Kaal and Xander stood at the foot, arms crossed over their massive chests, as Miral bent over him and placed her fingers on Santi’s temple.
‘My nanites will clear the alcohol,’ she murmured to Santi. ‘They’ll also administer a neural agent so your heart and mind find rest.’
He didn’t resist.
A soft pulse passed from her fingertips and into him. The toxins filtered out, his trembling stilled, and at last, the darkness claimed him.
He blacked out with a single whisper on his lips.
