Page 30 of Royally Hacked Belle & Flame
“Oh my God,” I burst out. “What the fuck is that thing?”
“Stay back,” Aurelia hisses, throwing her arms out to block Dessa and I from moving further into the cottage.
She doesn’t have to tell me twice, I’m already scrambling back from…whatever that thing is. It—she—reminds me of a horror movie monster, like Krampus crossed with a werewolf. She’s not an animal or a person, but some horrible blend of both which sends a primal terror shooting through my veins.
Unlike me, Aurelia doesn’t seem afraid at all. She smiles and charges toward the thing that was Mrs. Hilde, hands outstretched.
An electric current seems to crackle in the air and of their own accord, dozens of household objects—dishes, utensils, fire tongs, and even what’s left of my wedding cake—rise into the air and fly toward the monster. A sack of flour zooms off a shelf and bursts over her monstrous head, cloaking her in a blizzard of white dust. For a moment, she’s blinded and furious, shrieking as the flour clings to every grotesque crevice of her face.
Mrs. Hilde bellows a horrible roar that rattles the entire cottage and lunges after Aurelia. Aurelia darts out of the way and avoids being clawed but manages to slip on the frosting-covered floor and lose her balance. She scrambles across the floor and the monster lumbers after her.
Completely ignoring Aurelia’s instructions to hang back, Dessa grabs a rolling pin off the table and swings it like a baseball bat at Mrs. Hilde’s head.
She misses her target, but still manages to connect with the creature’s huge, hairy shoulder. A resounding crack rattles through the cabin and Mrs. Hilde roars in pain and rage.
Dessa grins, but her excitement is short lived. The monster swipes its injured arm toward Dessa, grabbing her by the throat and lifting her effortlessly, fingers tightening, squeezing so hard Dessa’s feet dangle off the ground.
I scream out of sheer terror, and to my surprise Mrs. Hilde stops shaking Dessa to look at me. Our gazes connect and she abruptly drops Dessa and changes direction, charging toward the next closest intruder—me.
“She can’t focus on all of us at once!” Aurelia yells behind me, having clearly had the same realization I just did.
Not that that knowledge helps me at all as I shriek and try to jump out of the way of the charging creature. My human reflexes are too slow and Mrs. Hilde swipes at me with enormous claws and I close my eyes just before I feel a hand shoving me out of the way.
I land hard against the wall and my vision blurs as Aurelia jumps in front of me. I blink in surprise when I see her wings are out.
I’ve never seen Aurelia’s wings before—or any female fae’s wings for that matter. They’re smaller than any other fae wings I’ve seen and are an electric blueish-green like a hummingbird.
I blink, dazed for half a second, before a loud bang and shouting jogs my attention.
I look around frantically for the source of the sound, my eyes landing on a door on the far wall. Oh fuck, the guys must be in there.
I stay on my hands and knees and crawl across the frosting-covered floor, wincing every time a shadow passes over me or the monster roars.
I reach the other side of the room and pull myself up on the door handle. It’s locked from the outside, but luckily the key is still shoved into the lock. I turn it and yank the door open.
Immediately, four large men and a boy come spilling out. If the cottage felt small before, now it’s suffocating. Daemon, Kastian, Fox, and Jett all have their wings out, and their wingspans are far larger than Aurelia’s. Between the eight bodies, five sets of wings, and one rampaging baker, there’s barely room to breathe.
Daemon grabs me roughly by the upper arms and shoves me back against the wall, shielding me with his body. My heart leaps when I lock eyes with Daemon, but he doesn’t look at all happy to see me. He grips me by the arms and hauls me behind him, practically suffocating me against the wall.
“What are you doing here?” he roars over the sounds of continued fighting.
“I could ask you the same thing!” I shout back. “You’re welcome by the way!”
He looks like he’s not sure if he wants to strangle me or kiss me, and winds up pushing me further behind him as he turns to face the fight.
I peer around his red and brown wing, and find that the fight is nearly over.
Dessa, bruised but back in the fight, swings the rolling pin at Mrs. Hilde’s head with a yell, just before Kastian reaches her. He doesn’t even waste his time on the monster, just grabs his bond and picks her up. She yells in protest as he carries her kicking out of the house.
Aurelia plants her feet wide, arms raised overhead. The air around her fingers crackles and pops, tiny blue-whitearcs jumping between her knuckles. Before she can unleash whatever’s building in her palms, Fox lunges between her and Mrs. Hilde.
His towering height and huge muscles cast Aurelia in shadow and put him nearly at eye level with the snarling beast. He snarls back before he throws his full weight forward, slamming Mrs. Hilde into the flour-covered floor. Fox’s muscles strain, veins popping in his forearms as he pins Mrs. Hilde’s thrashing body to the ground.
Then a blur of movement catches my eye—Archer, darts out of nowhere, his face set in grim determination, fingers white-knuckled around the wooden handle of a serrated bread knife that looks massive in his small hands. Without hesitation, he drives the knife down into the monster’s chest and a wet, gurgling sound fills the cottage as dark liquid spurts across Archer’s trembling fingers.
